I was talking to my friend Larry yesterday mostly about Stormbringer & I mentioned Carcosa (again). We talked about alien technology & how to approach it in science fantasy gaming. We both agreed that it should be mysterious more then slightly menacing & very,very eerie. We both agreed that Promethean has the look & feel of where we want to go. Then we started talking about Marvel's Eternals. The original Jack Kirby run. There were so many ideas from that book. We both agreed that players should be scared as hell of artifacts. Then we talked about Eternals #1 where we learn the history of the human race. This book introduces some of the core concepts of the Eternals. The Eternals themselves, the Deviants, The Celestials, & the cosmic spanning history of the race. In case you need some background. From Wiki : In 1970, Jack Kirby left Marvel Comics to work at DC Comics, where he began the saga of the New Gods, an epic story involving mythological and science fiction concepts, and planned to have a definite ending. However, the saga was left incomplete after the cancellation of the titles involved. Kirby began The Eternals when he returned to Marvel. The Eternals' saga was thematically similar to the New Gods', but the series was eventually canceled as well without resolving many of its plots, particularly the Celestials' judgment over humanity (see Fictional Biography below). Initially, the comic book was not intended to be part of the normal Marvel continuity, but a stand-alone publication.
We talked about how when Exalted by White Wolf first came out we were both hoping for something that was a bit more like this series. Yet it seems that the writers & designers filled in every last little corner of the map of those worlds. Jack Kirby created mega-dungeon for Eternals #1 bits & pieces of it can be seen in this issue. I'm surprised about the number of reviews of the new edition of Carcosa who don't get this style of dungeon crawling. There were endless variations of this in products that were out & came after this series. Booty & The Beasts, Arduin, Expedition To The Barrier Peaks, Temple of the Frog, etc. all of them had elements of science fantasy artifacts that could rip your character's face off or turn them into a far more alien form. With the release of John Carter coming up the science fantasy scene is set to explode or fizzle. The results will depend on the fickle finger of fate that is gamer's tastes. Me? I'm already planning my own copy right free space gods that will exist in the public domain.
Now of course its kind of retro & interesting these days yet the number of folks who won't mix fantasy & science fantasy elements remains very high. Anyhow bask in the genius that is this series. We still haven't caught up to Jack Kirby.
CLICK TO ENLARGE & READ
Jack explains what it's all about:
Page 4 from The Eternals #4
From Jack Kirby Collector #18
Eternals ™ Marvel Characters Inc.
Art © Jack Kirby.
You can read more about the Eternals Here
You can read more about the Eternals Here
The Eternals & all works mentioned within this blog entry are the copy rights of their respective copyright holders. This is a work of fan appreciation & in no way a challenge to said copy rights.
While I couldn't find any External videos I was able to find some of Kirby's other wonderful creations. I hope you enjoy these.
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