Posted in: Comics, Marvel Comics | Tagged: earth x, ebay, eternals, marvel

Speculation Corner: Marvel Comics' Earth X To Get Eternals Bump?

The new movie Eternals from Marvel Studios has naturally brought a heavy comic book speculator eye on The Eternals comic books as created by Jack Kirby and subsequent iterations of the characters from the likes of Neil Gaiman and John Romita Jr and more recently from Kieron Gillen and Esad Ribic. Some folks are also diving into the Infinity Watch comic books, as well as everything Jim Starlin brought to the party.

But there are other aspects at play, including the intriguing use of the Earth X series by Jim Krueger, Alex Ross, and the late John Paul Leon, all of whom get credited in the movie. Earth X was a parallel version of Marvel Comics reality that tied in together all manner of Marvel Comics continuity, redesigned, and reimagined for a more apocalyptic future. It was the first comic book series to do the kind of thing that is now more common in comics like DCeased, Dark Ages, or Age Of Ultron. But it also rewrote some of the more basic concepts behind the Marvel Earth, the reasons for superpowers, and the motivations of Jack Kirby's Celestials that play out in the new Eternals movie. As a result, if you were the kind of comic book speculator who wanted to jump on a comic book suddenly about to get a lot more attention, then Earth X #0 from 1999 might be something to pick up a few copies of, especially if the reality continues to play out in future Eternals movies.

And right now, copies of Earth X are at cover price or less on eBay. The first series ran from Earth X #0 through to Earth X #12, Earth X #X, and an Earth X Epilogue. The full set can be picked up on eBay for under $20 easily, and individual issues, including the first Earth X #0 from one to three dollars apiece, as is Earth X #9, which has the big reveal.

Initially, the Earth X storyline was purported as being the future of Earth-616. However, the series often substantially retconned the origins and workings of characters to better suit the story, to the point where they were no longer reconcilable with their counterparts in the mainstream Marvel Universe. One example is the revelation in Paradise X that Wolverine is not a mutant, but instead one of the few remaining "pure strain humans," free from the genetic manipulations of the Celestials, as well as a descendant of Moon-Boy. It is later revealed in issue #11 of Paradise X that the events shown in the series are not set in an alternative future, but rather an alternative present (the issue reveals that Paradise X is set in 2003, the year of publication).

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