Eternal(ly) Grateful: An interview with Tom Scioli
Eternals art by Jack Kirby
Cartoonist Tom Scioli hails from Pittsburgh, PA. As someone who draws, inks, and letters his own work, he's also one of the planet's premier Jack Kirby historians. Starting with Godland from Image Comics, his style is 100% influenced by the King. Moving on with titles such as American Barbarian, Transformers vs. G.I. Joe, as well as Fantastic Four: Grand Design, Scioli carved his path in the comics world without having to compromise, leading to 2020's gem of a biography in Jack Kirby: The Epic Life of the King of Comics. With this release, Scioli has cemented his position in the comics world as someone who cuts through to the truth of a story, fiction or not, and exposes it, flaws and all.
In honour of the new Eternals trailer that dropped this past week (a Marvel property created by Kirby), Layered Butter chatted with Scioli to discuss…
LAYERED BUTTER: What was your initial reaction to the Eternals teaser? What was good for you? What was not so good?
TOM SCIOLI: I was glad to see it. I like the whole energy of it. I think it was very restrained. I get the feeling that there are going to be a lot of fun twists and surprises that might be revealed in upcoming trailers so I might avoid checking out any further publicity to prevent any spoilers. I feel Kirby’s spirit in there, though it’s visually different than his comic from a costume and special effects standpoint, but I think there’s more to Kirby than just squiggles and crackles. I think they captured the essence of Kirby’s broader themes and ideas, and we’ve only seen a fraction of it.
Considering how the MCU likes to amalgamate stories for their movies, what do you want to see in this movie?
I’m assuming it’s going to lean more into the Neil Gaiman/John Romita Jr. version rather than the Kirby since I think making it function within the larger Marvel universe was one of the goals of that miniseries, where Kirby was more interested in making a standalone universe. I think Gaiman and Romita’s approach was interesting and entertaining in its own right, obviously. I like a lot of the things he brought to it like macro technology and stone circuitry. He came up with a cool mechanism that explains the Eternals unique version immortality, which was one of the bolder ideas in Kirby’s original and one of the more misunderstood aspects. As far as what I want to see in the movie, I’m looking forward to going on the ride, wherever it takes me. I’d like to see as much Kirby content as possible. Maybe some Starlin stuff, too. I’m sure young Thanos will show up. I’m assuming along with the Space Gods we’ll see stuff like the caveman Avengers or whatnot, like the ancient JLA (Justice League of Antiquity) from the Snyder Cut. Some Kree. Some Skrulls. I think it’s going to be a lesson in Marvel’s ancient history.
How do aesthetic changes to the characters (gender/race swaps, actors with disabilities) sit with you in terms of telling an adaptation?
I think even when you’re doing an adaptation, you’re creating a completely new work with its own demands. I think you can and should change whatever you need to change; you’re the creator. Whatever happened before, you and your collaborators are in the driver’s seat now. If superhero comics are our modern mythology, they can be told and retold in a number of forms. The stories are here for us, not the other way around, so they should be revised and re-envisioned to speak to the concerns of a global audience. In movies and television, making the roles more inclusive is basic workplace fairness and social responsibility, opening up these opportunities to everybody. That responsibility needs to extend to behind the camera as well. I think a lot of progress has been made on that front but there’s still a long way to go.
With this being Jack Kirby's first solo adaptation, what kind of feelings and expectations do you think his many fans will have?
That’s the aspect of Eternals I’m most excited about. I am a fan of Kirby, and this particular work; it’s one of my favorites. I even made an unauthorized Eternals fan comic 15 years ago. I’ve since been able to do officially sanctioned work with a couple of the characters and the overall premise in Fantastic Four: Grand Design. I think they’re saving the best for last. I’m looking forward to seeing the Celestials and I’m hoping the Forgotten One shows up. I want to see Olympia and Lemuria in all their splendor, I want to see what cameos they’ve made throughout history, all that fun stuff. This is entertainment after all. The big thing I’m looking forward to is the credits. Hopefully there’s a big one right up front saying “based on the comic book series The Eternals by Jack Kirby” or something along those lines. No “Stan Lee.” No “Larry Leiber.” Just “Jack Kirby” as far as the eye can see. I’ll be grinning ear to ear. I wish his name was on the poster, and I hope they’ll eventually fix that.
Do you feel like gatekeepers will prevent themselves or others from enjoying this movie? I see some comic readers speaking out how the movie doesn't represent their Eternals.
I don’t have any interest in that kind of talk. Trolls have been dogging the Eternals since the Jack Kirby days. Look at the letters columns in the original issues. I talk about it a little in Jack Kirby: The Epic Life of the King of Comics. The letters were part of a deliberate harassment campaign from inside the Marvel offices. There was a deliberate agenda at work. Some people in the Marvel offices wanted to write the words that accompany Kirby’s stories. Kirby wanted to write them himself. They loaded up the letters columns with “Kirby can’t write” comments. Kirby fought to get control of the letters column for the rest of his tenure on the book. The same kind of stuff is going on today, but the whole world is a letters column now.
Have you read the current run of Eternals by Kieron Gillen & Esac Ribic? Any thoughts about it or this run's creators?
Yes, I’m enjoying it. Artwise, I’ve been a big fan of Ribic’s work going back to his run on Thor. I’m enjoying the writing, too. Gillen is synthesizing a lot of the elements Neil Gaiman brought to the table along with his own spin.
Check out Tom Scioli’s Twitter
Click here to purchase a copy of Jack Kirby: The Epic Life of the King of Comics
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