Eternals #12 (September 1986)

It's that time again! It's time to, for the last time, join the Eternals in their greatest battle against the Deviants! Over the last year, we've seen death, betrayal, and revelations. Ghaur has planned, and he has schemed. And now, with his ultimate plan revealed, it's time to see how the Eternals save the world! Let's look at Eternals #12! 

The cover is a Keith Pollard and Walter Simonson piece. I think it's an awesome cover, depicting the Eternals and the Avengers fighting a Giant-Sized Ghaur.  

"The Dreamer Under the Mountain!"
Writer: Waler Simonson
Penciler: Paul Ryan
Inkers: Sam de la Rosa, Al Williamson, Walter Simonson
Colorist: George Roussos
Letterer: Rick Parker
Editor: Ralph Macchio
Editor-In-Chief: Jim Shooter

The story begins with Ghaur having finally obtained the power of the rogue Golden Celestial. And it has caused him to become a giant...literally. The man's so big, he's breaking the roof over the City of Toads.

 Because the city is located under the ocean, his breaking the rocky ceiling causes water to rush in, threatening to flood the city. Ghaur briefly panics, fearing he himself will drown. But he realizes something: He now has the power of a god. Thanks to the Celestial's energies within him, he has no need to breathe. And he can also control his size. He easily shrinks to a smaller size and repairs the damage (while stopping the flood with a literal wave of his hand).

Ghaur has the power of instant home repair.

That's pretty handy. And also I can imagine he may have saved himself a lawsuit or fifty.

While Ghaur is getting distracted with his new power, the Eternals decide to make a break for it.

Ikaris grabs the vial that contained the Golden Celestial's essence in the hope a way can be found to re-contain said essence. Yrdisis decides to stay, as this whole thing may provide some much-needed inspirations for her as an artist. Khoryphos stays with her as well, as maybe he can help out here. The rest of the Eternals seemingly just metaphorically shrug and are all fine with that.

They head back to Olympia, with Cybele wanting to know if they got Thena back. They did not. This leaves Cybele wondering why Thena would betray her people. Ikaris thinks Kro has the answer. Speaking of Kro and Thena, where did they get off to? Well, they're still in Lemuria. Kro was able to fake being put under the control of the brain mine thanks to his powers. He frees Thena, and the two make a break for it.

The two find a character we've met before: Cataphrax. Sadly, he's not the Deviant Kro once knew. Not anymore.

"By the gods, he watched Batman v Superman!"

I love that Thena is giving him a "what did you expect" look. Yup, his mind was wiped clean. He's basically a walking corpse now. He asks Thena to put him out of his misery, which she does. He laments that so many of his people have been turned into this thanks to Ghaur and the Priests, and he swears to avenge them all. The two make their way to a room where two attendants are making sure the coffins are constantly powered. Kro is about to pull the plug on the coffins, allowing the Deviants inside to die. But Ghaur appears, forcing the two to flee.

Ghaur commands his army of Deviants to rise.

When there is no room in Lemuria, the Deviants will walk the Earth.

It's something out of the Night of the Living Dead. With his army behind him, Ghaur introduces himself to the remaining Deviants as their new Celestial god. Of course, the Deviant population is quite shocked to find that their lost loved ones are alive and well. 

Oh, those sweet summer children...so, what are the Eternals doing? Well, not much. Even they can't put up much a fight against Ghaur now.

And to add further to the deck being stacked against our heroes, Gilgamesh the Forgotten One fears that Ghaur is merely a pawn for someone else. Remember that Golden Celestial mentioned earlier? The one that went rogue? Well, it's also known as the Dreaming Celestial. And that Celestial is still on Earth, sleeping underneath the mountains of California, dreaming of revenge.

Gilgamesh fears that this whole thing is a way for the Dreaming Celestial to wake up. And when he does, he'll wage war on the other Celestials...and Earth will get wrecked in the process.

Ikaris realizes that they have to summon the other Celestials to stop this. So, time to form...a UNI-MIND. The group (alongside Karkas and Ransak) do so. Ghaur senses this and moves to stop it. One Deviant notices that one of Ghaur's soldiers is his dad. He runs towards him calling out to him, and he gets vaporized, to the horror of Khoryphos.

Meanwhile, Ghaur flies towards Olympia.

"Come on! That's the fifth giant that buzzed me this week!"

Ghaur notices that he seems to be flying towards North America...even though Olympia is in Greece. Remember, the Dreaming Celestial is slumbering in California. In Olympia, the Eternals are failing to form the Uni-Mind. And then Ghaur attacks. He brings the Fifth Host with him.

"FOR HORSEY!"

And yes, a fight breaks out.

Ikaris himself engages Ghaur. He's able to hurt the Priestlord with the power he has now a Prime Eternal, but Ghaur's size makes him a difficult for to bring down. However, fate seems to lend a hand. Ghaur finds himself flying away against his will, and he screams for his followers to aid him. The Eternals are also under siege, as Ghaur brought a massive army with him. the Eternals are mighty, but they're way outnumbered. Again, fate intervenes as the army crumbles to dust, leaving a bunch of very confused Eternals. 

Back in Lemuria, the dusting effect is also hitting. Kro believes that he may have succeeded after all. Buddy, you didn't get to flip the switch. No, you did not. But that's not important. Kro and Thena fight their way to the Deviants' gathering, and Kro makes a speech, revealing everything. Including the recipe to Colonel Sanders' chicken.  

"WE DEMAND SHUBBERY!"

Kro tosses a Priest to the enraged crowd, calling for revolution. Meanwhile, Ghaur finds himself unable to control his flight, heading to California against his will. He gets detected by both the East Coast and West Coast Avengers, The West Coast Avengers (The Clint Barton Hawkeye, Mockingbird, Tigra, Wonder Man, the Tony Stark Iron Man) and Thor respond to it. Ghaur realizes he's heading for California, to the crypt of the Dreaming Celestial. And if it's breached, the world is doomed. 

Not necessarily! Thor and the West Coast Avengers arrive, the Eternals right behind them. The group of heroes attack the massive Ghaur. 

Ghaur attacks them while screaming for help, showing that the Dreaming Celestial has taken complete control of the power-hungry Priestlord. Ikaris has an idea.

Ghaur may no longer control his body, but his mind is clearly still free. If the Eternals form a Uni-Mind, they may be able to help him fight off the Dreaming Celestial's influence. But Ghaur needs to be distracted. Iron Man, Thor, and Wonder Man volunteer to distract Ghaur while the others help form the Uni-Mind. Kro and Thena also arrive. The pink-skinned Warlord has one last card to play: He pulls a small brain mine from Thena. The blonde Eternal is furious about this, believing that Kro manipulated her. Kro points out that Ghaur is the bigger problem right now, and she needs to help form the Uni-Mind. She vows to kill Kro when she sees him next.

She joins the Eternals and Avengers, successfully forming a Uni-Mind.

Page 478, Panel 3

The Uni-Mind attacks Ghaur, and it seemingly has no effect...or does it?

Yes, it seems the Uni-Mind was able to break the fusion between Ghaur and the Dreaming Celestial. Ghaur's essence dissipates, the mad blue Priestlord seemingly reaching his end. Despite that, the now lifeless body still digs.

There's still one chance. They have to wreck the armor that contains the Dreaming Celestial's energy. The heroes get on the attack. Ikaris manages to damage the armor, causing the energy to leak. The leaked energy consumes the armor, causing it to shrink. Ikaris uses the vial from the Pyramid of the Winds to recontain the Dreaming Celestial's energies. The shrinking armor still tries to open the vault, but the heroes are able to stop it. The passage to the crypt collapses, but our heroes escape. The energies have been recontained, but the vial still needs a proper cap to ensure those energies stay in the vial (The cap was destroyed in the last issue). Iron Man takes care of that by fashioning a new cap out of some metal from the vault. And Thor slams it shut with Mjolnir. Crisis over.

As the Avengers leave, Thena points out Kro, saying he should be thanked. He gave up his dream of Thena's heart to save the world, and now he has to play his new role as ruler of the Deviants. He has no plans to fight the Eternals or the Celestials. As a sign of good faith, he'll arrange for the body of Margo Damian to be returned to Ikaris, and he'll also allow Khoryphos to stay in Lemuria if he wishes. Who knows? Maybe this will lead to a new era of understanding between the two peoples. In an epilogue, Ikaris buries Margo in Greece, and the maxiseries ends with a quote from American writer Carson McCullers:

The heart is a lonely hunter.

I...I admit, I enjoyed this issue. I thought the climax was awesome. Bringing in the West Coast Avengers and Thor helped demonstrate just how much of a threat Ghaur had become thanks to his gaining the power of the Dreaming Celestial. 

In general, I enjoyed this maxiseries, although I do think it could have been improved in certain ways. I did give my thoughts in the past about Margo Damien being killed off, so I won't repeat them here. At least Dave Chatterton got an arc before he bit the dust and his last act helped save the day. I do think it would have been nice to have seen more signs of Ghaur being manipulated by the Dreaming Celestial. I get the whole "power lust leads to bad things" moral with the blue maniac here, but the whole "being manipulated by the Dreaming Celestial" bit did come a bit out of nowhere, at least in my opinion. 

I also felt that the maxiseries would have benefitted from focusing on the foil between Thena/Kro and Khoryphos/Yrdisis. They're both Eternal/Deviant romances, but from different perspectives. Thena/Kro was bonded by power (She was Prime Eternal, he was scheming to lead the Deviants), and Khoryphos/Yrdisis were both frustrated artists. Just a nice thing I noticed. Maybe the transition from Peter B. Gillis to Walter Simonson doing the penning hurt it.

So, whatever happened to Ghaur? Well, he would return in 1989, in Silver Surfer Annual #2. There, it was revealed that he had been turned into energy and tricked the Surfer into helping him regain his physical form. This would kick off the original Atlantis Attacks crossover, involving almost every Annual Marvel had at the time. He would go on to continue being a threat to the Eternals and Deviants, until he was seemingly destroyed battling another Deviant named Ereshkigal in 2012. 

If you want to read this issue, and this whole maxiseries for yourself, I suggest you track down the 2020 trade paperback The Eternals: The Dreaming Celestial Saga. Thanks for reading this blog entry! If you liked it, show it off! Take care of yourselves and each other! Stay safe, stay healthy, stay home, wash your hands often, wear a mask, and get your vaccine/booster! See you next time!

Eternals #11 (August 1986)

It's that time again! It's time to join the Eternals in their greatest battle against the Deviants! Last time, the Eternals infiltrated the Deviants' City of Toads, we learned the true plans of Ghaur, and Margo Damian met her end. We're coming to the home stretch, so let's take a look at Eternals #11!

The cover is a piece by...an unknown artist. Yeah. I'm not kidding. I use the Marvel fan wiki to look up credits for the comics I review, and the entry for this comic in the wiki says "not yet listed". So, if you knew who drew the cover, please let me know, and I'll edit this entry. 

"Shadowplay!" 
Writer: Walt Simonson
Penciler: Keith Pollard
Inkers: Geof Isherwood, Danny Bulanadi
Colorist: Bob Sharen
Letterer: Rick Parker
Editor: Ralph Macchio
Editor-in-Chief: Jim Shooter

The story begins with David Chatterton making his way to Olympus, the home of the Eternals. He finds Karkas and Cybele waiting for him. 

Thankfully for Sersi's new human friend, the two are friendly, and are familiar with him. He describes himself as Sersi's latest "pet", but Cybele tells him she didn't describe him that way. It's a nice little touch, showing that for all her...quirks, Sersi does have a heart. The two take David to the chamber where Ikaris became the new Prime Eternal in issue #9. Cybele fills David in what the Eternals have been up to, a way for the audience to get caught up on things. 

David overhears Ghaur giving some more exposition from a nearby crystal. Said crystal is one of Kro's crystals. We've seen them in previous issues. And speaking of Kro...

"We will finally get those blasted punk kids off our lawns!"

"We will finally get those blasted kids off our lawns!" After the events of last issue, Thena and Sersi are under Ghaur's power thanks to the brain mines. Ghaur shows off a new device his lab boys have made. They earned themselves a nice little bonus in their paycheck for this. 

The device strips away the willpower of its recipient, making them into little more than an easily suggestible automaton. Ghaur claims it's a more subtle device than the brain mine, which...makes a bizarre bit of sense as the device looks like a golden bracelet. At first glance, the bracelet is seemingly just a regular, if nice-looking, piece of jewelry. He puts the bracelet on Sersi, and has her imitate Margo Damian's appearance. He plans to use her to trap Ikaris. 

With that out of the way, Ghaur then reveals what this is all about. During the events of Jack Kirby's 1970s Eternals series, a vessel manned by the Priests managed to find something on board the Celestials' great ship.

“Oooooh, pretty crystal…”

The Priests were unable to steal the crystal from the Celestials' ship. However, they did manage to get enough information on it to create a perfect duplicate. And in issue #5, if you may remember, Ghaur managed to obtain the vial from the Pyramid of the Winds. The vial that contained the essence of the rebellious Golden Celestial. So, why do they need the crystal? Because the vial needs a special crystalline key to open it. 

No no, crystal key. That's the Ice Key. Thanks to the information they got from the Celestials' ship, they can create their own crystal key. Which means they can now open the vial.

Back in Olympia, David says Ikaris needs to be warned. Cybele and Karkas can't come, as they have to make sure Olympia is protected. They can provide some transportation to Lemuria, though. They give him a disguise and a device that can home in on Ikaris. Cybele also asks David to help Ikaris bring Thena home, if possible. After all, she worries about her daughter.

Yeah. Remember, Eternals are, for all intents and purposes, immortal. Meanwhile, Yrdisis wakes up from being kayoed in the last issue. She flees to her home, where she has some surprise guests. 

“SURPRISE! Happy birthday, Yrdisis!”

She's naturally confused by this, as the Eternals are supposed to be the enemies of her people. Yeah, she forgot about her hanging out with Khoryphos. speaking of Khoryphos, he introduces himself and his comrades to her. They head out, Yrdisis agreeing to come with them. I mean, they have a rendezvous to keep, and she presumably has nothing better to do. Who knows, hanging with the Eternals could get her creative juices flowing for some new paintings.

 Under the firepits of Lemuria, a disguised Kingo and Ransak infiltrate the complex there, and they find something shocking. What is it the Eternal and Deviant saw? Well, you'll just have to wait.

Patience is a virtue. Back in the streets, a lone Deviant is grabbed by the Forgotten One, and he wants answers. Because the Forgotten One has a lot of questions. 

He wants to know where Ghaur is...and where that pizza place he learned about is located. It's been a while, and the Forgotten One is hungry. The Deviant has no idea, so he gets a trip to dreamland. Dave Chatterton arrives in Lemuria, and his Ikaris detector lights up. 

While this is going on, Ghaur leads Kro and the controlled Thena to a vast underground chamber, where the rule of the Deviants is actually conducted from. The Priest has is one final surprise for the warlord. You remember how the Deviants were seemingly regularly culled in their "Purity Time" ritual? 

Ghaur played WAY too much Pokémon again…

Yeah. Turns out that they never were culled at all. They were actually just placed in these pods and dumped here. Millions of Deviants are here. This has been going on since Lemuria was destroyed by the Second Host of the Celestials. The Priests have been doing this so long, some of the pods even contain Deviants that were alive before Lemuria's destruction. This leads to another question: Why? Why do all this? What's the end goal?

No, not a team. Ghaur's thinking bigger. He's not putting together a team. The man is building an army. A massive army. Millions of Deviants all under his banner. However, there is a problem that Kro points out. All these Deviants would likely not be too open to the idea of fighting under Ghaur's banner. But the big blue maniac has kept this in mind. These Deviants will fight for him, as they will have no choice in the matter.  

You see, as these Deviants sleep in their pods, their brains are being wiped clean. They basically are being made into living automatons. Kro then asks if these will be the army of the Priests...or Ghaur himself?

It's not an unreasonable thing to assume. Ghaur points out that he speaks for the Priests, but it can be implied that he's in reality no different than any other power-hungry madman, in real life or in fiction. Kro ends up stuffed in a pod, and Ghaur is left wondering why despite his power to control any Deviant, Kro still is unaffected. 

Out on the streets of Lemuria, the group hide out, and Yrdisis spots a couple of guards ferrying someone down the street. Ikaris realizes that the person they are ferrying is Margo Damian. He's not aware she's dead. He rescues "Margo" from the Deviant guards, but David runs up to him, saying...well...

Indeed. It is a trap. And he gets blasted by "Margo" for it.

"DAVE! HE OWED ME TEN BUCKS!"

Ooh, that'll hurt. 😬

Ikaris punches "Margo" out. Makkari reports that Dave is alive, but he's in very bad shape. The mortally wounded mortal tells the Eternals about Ghaur's plans, and that "Margo" is really a mind controlled Sersi. Ikaris frees the Eternals' resident party animal, and she is horrified to see Dave in his state. Dave Chatterton's last words are informing Sersi that the Deviants killed Margo Damien...and that he loves her, even though the reaper claims him before he can finish that statement. The enraged Sersi and Ikaris fly off, as the time for subtlety has passed. In the Priests' temple, Ghaur is preparing to unleash the energies of the rogue Celestial. He's also trying on this snazzy new outfit.

"Yeah, I am the epitome of style, baby! I love the 80s!"

"Yeah, I am the epitome of style, baby." The Eternals bust into the temple like a summoned Kool-Aid Man. HEY ETERNALS!

The Eternals fight their way through the Deviants that attended Ghaur's ceremony. Ghaur tries to reach for the crystal key to open the vial, but Ikaris destroys it with a blast of his eye beams. However, the key starts emitting a high pitched noise that hurts everyone present.

A plasma field starts to form in the room.

Ghaur races into the field, and it grows to massive size. It overshadows the Deviants' City of Toads, and the story ends with the field forming into a gigantic Ghaur, seemingly having achieved his dream of becoming a Celestial. 

I do want to talk a little bit about Dave Chatterton's death. Thing is, I am not bothered as much by it as I was about Margo Damian's. Mainly because unlike Margo, we got to actually spend some time with Dave, we got to see him interact with the other characters, and this maxiseries does attempt to give him an arc, his re-embracing of life. Also, his final act can be considered a pretty heroic one. This story got one heck of a cliffhanger, though. I can't wait to see how the Eternals foil Ghaur. 

If you want to read this for yourself, I recommend tracking down the 2020 trade paperback The Eternals: The Dreaming Celestial Saga. Thanks for reading this blog entry!