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
| Kid Eternity | |
 Hit Comics #41 (July, 1946), Quality Comics |
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| Publication information | |
|---|---|
| Publisher | Quality Comics, later DC Comics/Vertigo |
| First appearance | Hit Comics #25 (December, 1942), Quality Comics |
| In story information | |
| Alter ego | Christopher "Kit" Freeman |
| Supporting character of | Marvel Family |
| Abilities | Summoning of historical or mythological figures, intangibility |
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 strip in Hit Comics #29 through #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 (similar to the plot of the 1941 film Here Comes Mr. Jordan) at the time.
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 #15)
[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 decided to revive Kid Eternity. Unlike most of the Quality stable, who were depicted as living on the parallel world Earth-X, Kid Eternity was retconned into the Marvel Family of Earth-S, which DC had acquired from another former competitor, Fawcett Comics. This change was made because the Kid's power bore such a similarity to the Marvels -- after a magic word was spoken, and a character who had not been present arrived in a bolt of lightning. (Although unlike the Marvels, the Kid himself did not disappear). In this revival, the Kid was given a new name -- Christopher "Kit" Freeman, and became the brother of Captain Marvel, Jr. (Freddy Freeman).
Kid Eternity became a supporting character in Shazam! stories, and there was even an eventual rematch with both Her Highness and Silk, and later Master Man. 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
| Kid Eternity | |
 Cover to Kid Eternity #8, the Vertigo series, by Sean Phillips. |
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| Publication information | |
|---|---|
| Publisher | DC Comics |
| Created by | Grant Morrison |
| In story information | |
| Alter ego | Unknown |
| Abilities | Summoning of demons that emulate historical or mythological figures |
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. While it kept most of the original continuity intact, it also made some 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 is actually a sexual-predator who had picked up the young orphaned boy for his own purposes. The fishing ship they are on is destroyed by a U-Boat and the Kid is killed. The Kid arrives at a fake heaven created by the supernatural Lords of Chaos, who make the Kid their unwitting servant by convincing him he had been killed too early and that they would return him to life for the error.
The Kid is given the power to summon people by saying "Eternity", but the people he summons are actually demons who assume the form of the figures he desires. He can choose any person or fictional character, without regard to "good" or "evil" to bring back. The Lords of Chaos give the Kid a guide, a minor Lord of Chaos called "Mr. Keeper". Mr. Keeper, who assumes the form of a pudgy, overweight human, acts as a guide the kid in setting up and turning on a series of "Chaos Engines", which is 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 feel God will forgive their past transgressions.
[edit] Current status
Kid Eternity is killed in the opening pages of JSA #1 (1999) by the sorcerer Mordru, who seeks to wipe out all agents of Order or Chaos. He later appears in JSA #48 as either a spirit within Doctor Fate's amulet or a hallucination (the story is unclear on this point). He returns 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 appears as an actual doorway, with 'life and death' written on it, as it is seen from Beast Boy's perspective, and that was all that Beast Boy's mind is able to comprehend. He returns and finally defeats Blood, who has been plaguing the Titans for some time using the souls of all the previous Brother Bloods, and is active once again.
In the pages of 52, Osiris mentions that he helped the Kid fight against the Keeper who was trying to control the dead.
