Eternals #3
Eternals Vol. 3 #3 (titled 'Hostage Situation,' cover-dated October 2006) is the narrative midpoint of Neil Gaiman and John Romita Jr.'s seven-issue limited series — the most ambitious attempt to rehabilitate Jack Kirby's long-dormant cosmic mythology since its 1976 debut. The issue is notable for containing the first appearance of The Archive, a new in-universe construct that deepens the Gaiman run's world-building, and it is also the issue in which Iron Man directly confronts Sersi over the Superhuman Registration Act, making it the series' sharpest point of contact with the concurrent Civil War event. The Gaiman/Romita run as a whole — with this issue as a pivotal chapter — served as the definitive modern reintroduction of the Eternals to mainstream Marvel readership, informing every subsequent volume and the 2021 MCU film adaptation. Gaiman's choice to frame the Eternals' re-awakening through the lens of identity and collective amnesia gave the property a philosophical weight that separated it from typical superhero fare and made this run the touchstone for all later writers handling the characters.
"Chapter Three: Hostage Situation" delivers a haunting, character-driven mystery in the Eternals series, as the immortal beings wake to find their memories stripped away—leaving only fragmented identities and cryptic clues. Neil Gaiman’s sharp storytelling, brought to life by John Romita Jr.’s expressive art and Matt Hollingsworth’s moody colors, explores a world where even Iron Man and a forgotten child star may hold vital pieces of the puzzle. Cover by Rick Berry captures the tension perfectly.
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Marvel editor Nick Lowe shepherded this series, which was originally planned as a six-issue limited series before Gaiman informed Lowe mid-run that his story required a seventh issue to be told properly — a testament to the scope of Gaiman's ambition for the project. The series ran from August 2006 through March 2007, deliberately overlapping with Marvel's Civil War crossover event, which Gaiman used as ambient backdrop rather than a central plot driver — a deliberate creative choice visible in issue #3's Iron Man cameo. The entire series was later collected in both a trade paperback and a hardcover edition under the title 'Eternals by Neil Gaiman,' and was subsequently adapted into a Marvel Infinity Comics digital edition in 2022.
Trivia · 8 facts
- Issue title: 'Hostage Situation' — the third chapter of the seven-issue Vol. 3 limited series (August 2006 – March 2007).
- Written by Neil Gaiman; pencils by John Romita Jr.; inks by Danny Miki and Tom Palmer; colors by Matt Hollingsworth and Paul Mounts; letters by Todd Klein; edited by Nick Lowe.
- Contains the first appearance of The Archive, a new in-universe construct introduced by Gaiman as part of his expansion of Eternals mythology.
- Iron Man (Tony Stark) appears as a supporting character and directly reminds Sersi that she must register under the Superhuman Registration Act — the issue's explicit Civil War tie-in moment.
- Featured Eternals in the issue: Makkari (Mark Curry), Sersi, Sprite, Druig, Thena, and Ikaris — along with Deviant antagonists Gelt and Morjak.
- The death of the minor character Pavel Prykrish occurs in this issue.
- The series was originally solicited as six issues; Gaiman and editor Nick Lowe expanded it to seven issues when Gaiman determined mid-run that he had more story than the original structure allowed.
- The full run, including this issue, was collected in the 'Eternals by Neil Gaiman' trade paperback (collecting #1–7) and later re-serialized as 'Eternals by Gaiman & Romita Jr. Infinity Comic' (2022), a Marvel digital-first adaptation.
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Reprints
Reprinted in Eternals by Neil Gaiman #[nn] (2007), Les Éternels #1 (2007), Eternals by Neil Gaiman #[nn] (2008), Marvel. Официальная коллекция комиксов #49 (2015), Eternals by Gaiman & Romita Jr. #[nn] (2020), Die offizielle Marvel-Comic-Sammlung #51
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