This is now Day 29 of this year’s Jack Kirby Tribute Month. Not too many more to go! Today’s prompt is Thena of the Eternals.
I talked about The Eternals yesterday in more detail. It was one of the new titles Jack came up with when he returned to Marvel in the mid-’70s. While on the surface it might have looked slightly similar to some of what Jack had done with the New Gods in his Fourth World saga at DC, the inspiration for this one came from a different place.
Thena first shows up in The Eternals #5. She’s the daughter of the Prime Eternal, Zuras. Thena is no shrinking violet. She has a strong personality, and a direct approach to problems. When she finds out in her first appearance that the Deviants have resurfaced and are making trouble among the humans, her immediate response is, “…The Deviants must be taught to respect Eternals! You know that I intend to do the teaching!!” With that, she grabs the messenger, Makarri, by the arm and strides quickly out of Zuras’ presence to go take care of business.
But Thena also has a softer side. Included in my image here is Kro, the Deviant general, with whom she once had a relationship. Jack was apparently referencing the story of Persephone, daughter of Zeus, who went down into the underworld. In The Eternals, Kro hopes to rekindle their old relationship, yet there’s a lot between them that’s seemingly insurmountable.
As I said yesterday, if you’ve only seen the MCU version, you don’t know the Eternals. You should read the comic, if you get the chance. Jack told some really great stories during his run.
That’s Thena. If you’re interested, feel free to check in tomorrow to see who’s next.
I am reaching here, but the Dolly Parton of the Eternals maybe? Thena had the big hair. The more that I get into this Eternals business and see Jack’s bigger picture of creations, the more unbelievable his collected work becomes to me. It’s sort of formulaic, but at the same time universally unique from one to the other. I also lucked out and found an edition of the Heroes and Villains sketchbook that you mentioned yesterday. Thanks for that too. And dare I use the word “tender” in terms of Thena in your piece? The more all of her character comes through. And thanks once again this year (as in past years) to inspire book-buying.
Y’know, it might be possible Jack had a bit of Dolly Parton in mind, but I think it’s also possible the Farrah Fawcett hairdo (split in the middle, with the wings to the side) could’ve inspired Thena’s hair. The time was right for that.
I think at this stage in Jack’s career, his work was undergoing what might be called a “distillation” process, where a lot of earlier things he explored artistically had begun to be sloughed away. Sort of like how Chester Gould’s art became much more stylized and abstract late in his career, compared to when he started out.
“Tender” is a good word! That was what I was after. One of the interesting things about Thena’s character is how direct and forceful she could be much of the time, but yet she also had this other side. I wanted to show that.
And again, if anyone looks at my work here and is inspired to go find work by Jack that they hadn’t seen before, that’s a great thing. That’s the best thing I could hope for!