The Eternals #13
☆ Be the first to review + Add to your collection — Join freeThe Eternals #13 is the debut issue of the Forgotten One — the Eternal who would later take the name Gilgamesh — a character whose design draws on the deep wellspring of ancient Mesopotamian mythology and Kirby's recurring theme that human legends are really distorted memories of an immortal hidden race. The issue is also notable for delivering the first full visual appearance of the One Above All, chief of the Celestials, whose silent, decisive intervention in the three-way orbital standoff encapsulates Kirby's awe-inspiring conception of cosmic hierarchy. Because the character eventually crossed over into the Avengers and later anchored a significant subplot in the 2021 MCU film, this issue functions as a foundational link between the Bronze Age Eternals mythology and Marvel's modern cinematic universe. For readers tracing the arc of Kirby's late Marvel work, it also marks the moment Sprite — previously comic relief — steps up as a genuine protagonist, a small but resonant bit of character development within the larger 'Fourth Host' saga.
ComicBooks.com Value
Show all 17 grades ▾
This exact issue on ebay
CGC 8.5 ▾ $73–$75 2 listings
Raw / ungraded ▾ $3.5–$29.99 4 listings
More listings for this title
Sell my copy
Have this issue — or a whole collection? Get a fair offer from us, skip the marketplace fees and the hassle.
We Buy Collections ▸History
The issue was produced entirely by Jack Kirby, who served as writer, penciler, and editor, continuing the total creative control he exercised over the entire 19-issue run he launched in July 1976 after returning to Marvel from DC. Archie Goodwin served as consulting editor, as noted in the issue's credits — a standard arrangement for Kirby's Marvel titles of this period, where a more editorially experienced hand provided oversight without interfering with Kirby's vision. Inker Mike Royer and colorist Glynis Oliver (later Glynis Wein) rounded out the production team, the same core unit that handled much of the original series. The broader Eternals project was itself rooted in Kirby's fascination with Erich von Däniken's 'ancient astronaut' theories of the mid-1970s, filtered through his own mythopoeic imagination, and this issue sits right at the saga's dramatic midpoint during the Uni-Mind/Celestial Mothership story arc.
Trivia · 8 facts
- First appearance of the Forgotten One (later known as Gilgamesh and Hero), created by Jack Kirby and inked by Mike Royer — confirmed across multiple sources including the Marvel Database, Wikipedia, and MyComicShop.
- First full appearance of the One Above All, the supreme leader of the Celestials; the character had been first mentioned (but not shown) in Eternals #7.
- The story is titled 'The Astronauts!' and was released with a July 1977 cover date (placed on sale in April 1977); written, penciled, and edited by Jack Kirby, with inks by Mike Royer and colors by Glynis Oliver.
- The Forgotten One is introduced as an Eternal exiled by Zuras to a remote sector of Olympia as punishment for his pride and repeated, unsanctioned meddling in human affairs — a backstory that retroactively explained numerous ancient hero myths.
- The issue exists in three distinct editions: a standard 30-cent cover-price copy, a limited-distribution 35-cent price variant (one of a group spanning Eternals #12–#16 produced during Marvel's 1977 test-market pricing experiment), and a Whitman variant.
- The Forgotten One was later retconned by post-Kirby writers to be the literal historical source of the Gilgamesh epic, one of the oldest surviving works of world literature; Kirby's original script left this connection implicit rather than explicit.
- The character eventually joined the Avengers under the name Gilgamesh and was portrayed by Don Lee (Ma Dong-seok) in Marvel Studios' 2021 film Eternals, directed by Chloé Zhao.
- The entire Kirby run — including this issue — has been collected in multiple formats: the Eternals Omnibus (hardcover and softcover), Eternals by Jack Kirby: The Complete Collection (TPB), and a large-format 'Monster Size' edition published in 2021.
Full credits
Reprints
Reprinted in Gli Eterni #12 (1979), Superaventuras Marvel #48 (1986), Eternals by Jack Kirby [The Eternals Omnibus] #[nn] (2006), Les Éternels #1 (2007), Eternals by Jack Kirby #2 (2008), The Eternals by Jack Kirby Monster-Size #[nn] (2020), Eternals by Jack Kirby: The Complete Collection #[nn] (2020), The Eternals: The Complete Saga Omnibus #[nn] (2020)
Key issues in The Eternals
Variants (3)
Reviews
Reader reviews
No reader reviews yet.