A BIZARRE REVAMP ON AN OLD CHARACTER

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	• Kid Eternity Grant Morrison Vertigo, 2006 - 144 pages average customer review:based on 4 reviews view larger image
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Disregard the bad review

First off, this was done a long, long, long time before Grant's work on JLA and X-Men. I don't see how anyone can compare this work to those. This is about as close to a superhero book as Sandman was. Sure, the original Kid Eternity might have been a costumed adventurer, but then again, so was the original Sandman. This is more of a work of horror and black comedy.
I generally regard Morrison's work on the superhero books as bubblegum and a way to make some easy money. Kid Eternity, however, is a work of art.

It should be three and a half

Don't think that 3 and a half stars is a bad rating. Sincerely consider this a middle of the road rating for a peculiar graphic novel that might or might not appeal to you. Pretty ambiguous suggestion huh? But hear me out. The storyline demands that you put attention to detail and to take each page and soak it up in its entirety. This might or might not be a good thing for some people, but seeing as I really enjoyed the artistic sense of the novel, I consider it a pro rather than a con. Kid Eternity is a weird title, no doubt about it. But guess what, there are people out there who love weird titles. I'm a big David Lynch fan and it might seem moronic to love works of film I don't fully understand, but I just try to take an experience and inspiration with it, and Kid Eternity, like Lynch, offer a lot of material to mull over and think about. It's not as surreal, polished or beautiful as the Sandman series, but it is thought provoking and I enjoyed it enough to know I'll re-read it. The 3 star rating focuses on the story arc because it feels jumpy and maybe that's what the author was going for, but at times you can't help but need to go back two pages to re-read something just to be sure. In general, a good title for anyone into fantastic noir motif literature with a unique and darkly beautiful artistic style.

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A BIZARRE REVAMP ON AN OLD CHARACTER

Kid Eternity collects the three issue mini-series written by Grant Morrison in 1991. This was during a period when a number of lesser known characters were being revamped at DC. Morrison had previously taken over the reins of two other titles Animal Man and Doom Patrol to great critical success. Kid Eternity would be his next challenge and here was an indeed a rather forgotten character. Kid Eternity was originally published by Quality comics and made his debut in 1942. The origin at the time was that the kid was traveling on a boat with his grandfather that was sunk by a German torpedo. However Heaven made an error, and the kid was not supposed to die for another 75 years. The "Keeper" in Heaven granted the boy certain powers to use for 75 years to make up for the error. By saying the word "eternity" the kid could summon up historical figures from the past to aid him. Quality Comics sold their line to DC Comics in the mid-1950's and there Kid remained, relatively forgotten outside of a few cameo appearances until Morrison's dark revision in this mini-series.

Like most of Morrison's works the book is heavily metaphor-laden and one gets the feeling that Morrison has all sorts of secrets that he's reluctant to relate to the reader. This was a Pre-Vertigo release but for all intents and purposes it should be considered a Vertigo comic and as such aimed at a far more mature and sophisticated audience. The Kid's origin is thoroughly revamped and turned completely inside out. He now finds that he was never in Heaven in the first place but in Hell. This was all a part of a plot by the Lords of Chaos to use Kid as their unwitting agent in order to set up their Chaoshere engines to hasten humanity's evolution. They plan this as a gift to God to get back in his good graces and return to Heaven from where they fell. Kid discovers that Mr. Keeper was, in reality, a demon all along, as were the many historical figures that he could summon up over the years to aid him.

The Kid believes he and Mr. Keeper were capture and imprisoned in Hell and he has escaped and sought out the help of a two-bit standup comedian named Jerry Sullivan who has been critically injured in a car crash after being pursued by demons called Shichiriron. But it's when the Kid and Jerry (in spirit) wind their way through Morrison's industrialized version of Hell that Kid finds out about his true origins.

The plot tends to meander a great deal cutting back and forth between various plot elements with little explanation, as was often a trait of many of Morrison's earlier works. The events are really secondary to the revelations about Kid Eternity's true origins as his past is changed just as radically as Swamp Things was just a few years earlier, and in much the same manner although by the more accomplished pen of Alan Moore. Duncan Fegredo's painted art is appropriately dark, moody, and abstract and a perfect complement to Morrison's words.

It's hard to believe that it's been 15 years since this came out. Morrison, so well-known in his earlier career for taking over these lesser known titles has of course gone on to do many mainstream projects such as the JLA and the New X-Men. Perhaps a bit conceptual for the sake of it, Kid Eternity was still an enjoyable new take on a character that otherwise would be gathering dust.

Reviewed by Tim Janson

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Comics visionary Grant Morrison reimagines the unique character of Kid Eternity, a young man who died before his true time and returns to Earth as a ghostly spirit, along with his guardian Mister Keeper.In this 144-page trade paperback, illustrated by Duncan Fegredo, KID ETERNITY follows the terrifying night of aspiring stand-up comedian Jerry Sullivan as he joins Kid Eternity on a quest to free his Keeper from Hell.

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