Kid Eternity
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Kid Eternity is a comic book superhero who first premiered in Hit Comics #25, published by Quality Comics in December, 1942. The character - as well as all of Quality's intellectual properties were sold to DC Comics in 1956 (though most of the said properties lapsed into public domain by that point). The character has continued to appear - albeit infrequently - in DC comic books since his revival in the 1970s.
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[edit] Kid Eternity at Quality Comics
Hit Comics, prior to issue #25, had a series of rotating cover features, including Hercules, the Red Bee, Stormy Foster and Neon the Unknown. However December 1942 saw the entire line-up of comics at Quality change their features (if not always the cover feature). Kid Eternity was brought in from the start as the new cover feature for Hit.
The character proved to be popular enough that when Quality Comics began expanding their post-war line, the Kid got his own self-titled comic book, Kid Eternity, in the Spring of 1946. Further illustrating the popularity of the character, his antagonists, Her Highness and Silk were given their own series (Hit Comics #29 to Hit Comics #57).
By the late 1940s, however, Quality Comics was experiencing the post-war bust that most superhero comics were. In November 1949, Kid Eternity's self-titled magazine was discontinued (with issue #18) and his lead slot in Hit Comics was given over to Jeb Rivers, a riverboat captain (with issue #61).
[edit] Character origin and powers
The Kid was originally a nameless boy (who only ever remembered being called 'Kid' by his 'Gran'pa') who was killed when a U-Boat sank his grandfather's fishing boat during World War II. Due to a supernatural mix-up, however, he was killed seventy-five years too soon (most likely this origin was influenced by the 1941 film Here Comes Mr. Jordan).
To rectify the error, the Kid was brought back to life for another seventy-five years with the mission of upholding good in the world. He was given the power to summon any good historical or mythological figure by saying the word "Eternity" as well as to use the same word to make himself material or immaterial. Kid Eternity was further assisted on his duties by the clerk who'd made the error, Mr. Keeper.
[edit] Notable Villains
- Her Highness and Silk: An elderly woman - complete with glasses and white hair - and her young, attractive assistant. Thieves and confidence scammers, the characters were humorous in nature, almost never succeeding in their plans but always willing to try another "get rich quick" scheme. (First Appearance: Hit Comics #27). Her Highness made a cover appearance in Hit Comics #28. In 1982, she and Silk were used in a Captain Marvel story guest-starring Kid Eternity (World's Finest #282).
- Master Man: Kid Eternity's opposite number, Master Man was given powers similar to the Kid's by the Devil. When Master Man said "Stygia", he could summon any evil historical or mythological figure (First Appearance: Kid Eternity #16)
[edit] Kid Eternity at DC Comics
In 1956, Everett M. "Busy" Arnold, the owner of Quality Comics decided to leave the comic business entirely for the more profitable arena of Men's Adventure Magazines. He sold the Quality Comics line to his competitor, DC Comics. DC kept a number of Quality's titles running, but it wasn't until the 1970s that they went back to look at the long cancelled superhero characters (with the introduction of the Freedom Fighters)
In the early 1970s, DC had licensed the rights to the Marvel Family from Fawcett Comics. When it was decided to revive Kid Eternity, they retconned a name in for the previously nameless Kid - Christopher "Kit" Freeman. Further it was revealed the Kid was the brother of Captain Marvel, Jr. (Freddy Freeman), with both living on Earth-S. Kid Eternity became a supporting character in Shazam! stories, and there was even a return visit from Her Highness and Silk. Kid Eternity's powers prove a valuable asset at least once when a villain cast a magical black void around the Marvel Family in their regular forms, thus preventing them from calling down the magic lightning to change. Although the villains also bound and gagged Kid Eternity, he managed to remove the gag to summon Zeus who supplied the magic lightning necessary for the Marvel Family to change. Earth-S was merged with Earths One, Two, 4 and X in Crisis on Infinite Earths and Kid Eternity vanished along with the original version of the Marvel Family.
[edit] Modern incarnation
In the 1990s, a different and darker version of the character was introduced. This was done with a three-issue mini-series written by Grant Morrison with art by Duncan Fegredo in 1991. This version returned the Kid to his nameless roots and severed ties with the Marvel Family but made significant changes to the character's back story.
When DC began their mature-readers Vertigo imprint, they went back to Kid Eternity, with a new series written by Ann Nocenti with art by Sean Phillips. This series quickly moved away from the continuity established by Morrison, and instead focused on the everyman qualities of the character. It lasted 16 issues (May 1993 - September 1994)
[edit] Revised origin
The boat captain the Kid referred to as his grandfather was actually a sexual-predator who'd picked up the young orphaned boy for his own purposes. The fishing ship they were on was destroyed by a U-Boat and the Kid was killed. The Kid arrived at a fake heaven created by the supernatural Lords of Chaos, who made the Kid their unwitting servant by putting on a show that he'd been killed too early and they'd return him to life for the error.
The Kid was given the power to summon people by saying "Eternity", but these people he summoned were actually demons who assumed the form of the figures he desired. He could choose any person or fictional character, without regard to "good" or "evil" to bring back. The Lords of Chaos gave the Kid a guide, a minor Lord of Chaos called "Mr. Keeper". Mr. Keeper - who assumed the form of a pudgy, overweight human, was to guide the kid in setting up and turning on a series of "Chaos Engines", which was part of a plot by the Lords of Chaos to earn their way back into heaven by forcing the evolution of mankind, a deed for which they felt God would forgive their past transgressions.
[edit] Current status
Kid Eternity was killed by the sorcerer Mordru in the opening pages of JSA #1 (1999) who sought to wipe out all agents of Order or Chaos. He later appeared in JSA #48 as either a spirit within Doctor Fate's amulet or a hallucination (the story was unclear on this point). He returned in Teen Titans #31 (2006) having been used by the newest Brother Blood to wedge open the doorway between life and death, to which he was chained. This doorway appeared as an actual doorway in the issue with 'life and death' written on it, for it was all that Raven and Beast Boy's minds were able to comprehend. He returned and finally defeated Blood, who had been plaguing the Titans for some time, and is active once again.
