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Kieron Gillen and Esad Ribic’s Eternals #7 begins an entertaining new story arc that will serve as a great entry point for new fans of the heroes.
Chloe Zhao’s Eternals movie officially welcomed Marvel’s cast of Celestials to the MCU. Fans of the movie looking to begin reading the comics need to look no further than Eternals #7 by Kieron Gillen and Esad Ribic. The beautifully drawn issue kicks off a new arc featuring Marvel’s cosmic gods and Thanos and teases an upcoming and cataclysmic event.
After learning that every time an Eternal is resurrected, a human is killed, the heroes are beside themselves with grief and guilt. Kingo, Thena, and Sersi decide to hide out in Lemuria, the land of the Deviants in an effort to change their ways. Ikaris flies off by himself to make amends to the family of the human who died so that he could be reborn. But, Kro, the king of Lemuria, isn’t thrilled to have a group of Eternals living in his domain. Some Eternals seem determined to keep Ikaris from sharing any of their ancient secrets with humans. To complicate matters even further, Thanos and Druig hatch a plan to seize power.
In Eternals #7, Gillen does a masterful job of exploring multiple storylines while providing a great deal of background information about the politics of the Eternals. Gillen’s story picks up where the series left off without missing a beat. However, Gillen sneaks enough exposition into the issue to make it accessible to new readers, whether or not they are already familiar with the Celestials. Both his narration and dialogue capture the lofty, cosmic tone of the Eternals while incorporating a surprising amount of humor. Gillen uses the bombastic aesthetics of Jack Kirby’s writing to acknowledge the classic nature of the subject matter and his self-aware humor to add a distinctly contemporary atmosphere to the ancient heroes.
Esad Ribic’s art perfectly matches the tone of Gillen’s writing. His character designs reflect the powerful, godlike nature of the Eternals while still providing a great deal of emotional range. In Ribic’s capable hands, these heroes are otherworldly without being inhuman. Ribic’s talents are on full display in Lemuria, where the Eternals stand out against the bizarre, timeless world and its grotesque inhabitants. Matthew Wilson’s colors add a lush, painterly quality to Ribic’s linework. Wilson’s sometimes subdued colors help reflect the somber nature of the story, but he still fills the pages of Eternals #7 with a dazzling variety of colors.
Throughout Gillen and Ribic’s Eternals series, they’ve chosen to include infographics explaining particular elements of Eternals’ culture. Eternals #7 includes a two-page infographic detailing the voting habits of immortal heroes. As informative and well-designed as these pages are, their inclusion seems arbitrary. While the information is essential to the plot, there’s no discernable reason for it to be presented in this way when Ribic’s art would be just as illuminating and far more engaging. These charts take the reader out of the story and make the reading experience more laborious than it needs to be. However, one misguided design choice isn’t enough to take away from the fundamentally entertaining and fascinating nature of Eternals #7. Gillen’s writing is fast-paced, fun, and full of promising ideas. Ribic and Wilson’s artwork is stunning on every page. The issue ends with a shocking twist that will leave readers anxious to see what comes next.
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