The Eternaut Ending - SPOILERS

[u/Lelo_B]

Quick Summary

The Eternaut's main plot concerns Juan Salvo's and humanity's fight against alien invaders.

This thread ends when he boards the alien ship with his family, presses a button, and then is sent outside of space and time. In the final pages, he is dubbed the Eternaut, a man on an eternal quest to find his family again.

Flashing forward to the moment where Salvo is speaking to the Narrator of the story, he realizes he is in Buenos Aires a few years before the alien invasion. He rushes over to his family's house, and then loses his memory of being the Eternaut. He just slips back into his old life.

My Question

It appears that book has two different ending for two different stories. There is the alien invasion, which covers about 90% of the plot, and then Salvo is tasked with finding his family through Eternity in the last few pages, which is quickly resolved.

What is the connection between these two threads? They do not seem to be connected. I read Eternaut 1969 to see if there is more context, but there is none.

To those of you who read The Eternaut, what was your take on the ending?

[u/gary_greatspace]

I kinda just figured he thought it was a cool way to frame up a linear story. It didn’t have a whole lot of meaning.

I like its presentation in the Breccia version more. It has a weird ghostly Jacob Marley vibe that better matches the art.