Eternals #7, January 1977

"The Fourth Host"
Edited, written & drawn by Jack Kirby
Inker- Michael Royer

SUMMARY

Dr. Damian takes a photo of Jemiah the Celestial as Ajak reminds him that the Celestials are studying him as well. Jemiah and Gammenon are playing with a piece of equipment that Ajak identifies as a rod of "life seed" capsules- an instrument the Celestials use to collect samples. Gammenon offers a sample to Ajak, and he accepts. The sample is just a red cube, nothing of note- except that it was once three men!

Ajak brings the capsule within the temple and reassembles the molecules- revealing three SHIELD agents- Tyler, Parks and Stevenson. One of the agents has heard of Damian as a professor from Kingston University, and Damian informs them that they are within the base of the "giant aliens". They draw pistols to force more information from him, but Ajak blasts them from their hands!

Ajak:"ARE YOU FOOLS BEREFT OF YOUR SENSES!?"

Ajak tells the agents who the Eternals are, but all they care about is collecting information on the "giant aliens"- and tell, "as an AMERICAN...you've got to HELP us!"

Damian:"As a human being I've got to warn you that this is NOT the place or time for fool heroics!"

Ajak briefly recounts the history of the Celestials, and talks of the Third Host- the Host that Ajak witnessed, and how he and a "red-bearded fellow" [re: Zuras] aided the Celestials in their departure. Still, the agents don't really care- and the leader, Stevenson, has an ace up his sleeve! He punches Ajak and leaves Tyler & Parks to hold Damian while he runs to an opening, where he is able to see the Celestial Tefral- then throws a miniature nuclear device at it! Tefral waits for the ticking to stop- then destroys it!

Tefral is joined with the rest of the Fourth Host, as they send a message to their ship in orbit- contacting the One Above All! The One Above All teleports the Celestials away- except for Arishem, who remains upon the pillars.

Ajak warns the agents that they shall not leave the dome- not for 50 years, and they find this unacceptable. They have to try. They apologize for hitting the two men, and race for the barrier! There is a flash of light- and once again, a red cube sits upon the ground.

Arishem raises his hand into the air, his thumb turned sideways. Should his thumb fall, the earth will be destroyed!

COMMENTS

That was brief. Well, there are no sub-plots, and no funny dialogue, so I didn't have much to share. I did think it was odd that when the agents materialize, Damian is studying tablets. He couldn't sit still just 5 seconds? He MUST be studying tablets when the three agents meet him?

Oh, and in the Hostess ad, the Hulk battles a lady who wants him to join her plant shop with all her other big green pets. Uh-huh.

Okay, next time, it's back to our regular cast of Eternals and Deviants, as things start to get...interesting. More so, at any rate. [It's not that I mind this brief trip back to the Temple- it's just that it ends the same way it begins- and Ajak just ain't as interesting as Ikaris, Kro, Margo, Sersi, Thena & Makkari]