By Jacob Cordas — Eternals #1 is epic. It’s epic in scale, size, scope, artwork. Everything about it is big: the monsters fought in the issue, the guest spots from big-name characters, the different locations to which are heroes are transported. As such, Eternals #1 can at times be both exciting and daunting. When it’s focused on characterization, however, this is a comic that feels wholly engaging rather than overwhelming.

Indeed, writer Kieron Gillen (Die, The Wicked + The Divine) has always had a knack for quickly establishing characters. This comic is no exception. From the start, Ikaris — a character I am confident I’ve ever previously been aware of — is instantly recognizable in their unique humanity. Their sense of duty comes through from the first line, their acceptance of their own inevitability weighs on them from the start. The narration in Eternals #1 is an even stronger demonstration of Gillen’s vast skill as a veteran comics writer, capable of both idiosyncratic indie gems and giant Big 2 launches. The narration here is from a computer that could singularly serve as an exposition dumper but instead morphs into the main introduction of our theme of change.

What does it mean when even the computer system is becoming something different? This seems to be a society based on its own immortality, regardless of the weight of entropy. So what happens when entropy finally hits?

The artwork by Esad Ribić (Secret Wars, King Thor) with coloring by Matthew Wilson elaborates perfectly on every element Gillen sets up. Ribić has always brought a world-weariness to characters who are often afforded an escape from that, and Eternals #1 is no exception. His faces here carry such weight and gravitas, whether close up or from afar. An early panel of Zuras — a character I am again confident I have never previously been aware of — is especially a standout for everything Ribić does well. Seated with the confidence and ego of a god who you better not fucking trifle with, Zuras is instantly able to spark my imagination. From that single panel alone, I’d read an entire comic starring just this character.

Wilson’s colors, meanwhile, lend a faded warmth to the whole affair. Thanks to his excellent work, the comic feels aged within a world we have almost forgotten, filled with blues, reds, and greens. This is a palette that normally lends itself to a more traditional superhero comic, but, simply through washing out the color, Wilson brings grit to all of the grandiosity. It feels grounded without removing the scale, the dream of this kind of comic.

And if that’s all this comic was, Eternals #1 would be a phenomenal book. The problem, however, is that this comic also seems to attempt Jonathan Hickman-esque charts and graphics, and it flounders, hard, attempting to imitate what is essentially a singular accomplishment within Big 2 comics.

A great example of the problem comes directly after the phenomenal opening sequence. Where once would be creator credits or perhaps a summary page, instead Eternals #1 treats us to a series of lists. I’ve never seen so many names on a single page, just name after name of obscure characters from so deep in the Marvel vault I felt myself getting lost. There are no real graphics to help provide any context for who these people are or visuals to provide a face to what we’re reading. It’s all just names, immediately followed by another page of even more names with even more obscure characters.

I don’t know what I’m supposed to do with these pages. It’s as though they expect me to instantly care because it’s in chart form, but that ignores what makes the charts Hickman uses so interesting. There are no aesthetics dragging me through, demanding I check every detail, there are no lines hinting at relationships. There is no nuance. It is simply lists.

This is such a shame. I loved so much of Eternals #1, but anytime it returned back to these pages my eyes began to glaze over. It is a testament to the creative team that I so instantly cared about characters pulled from deep in the Marvel Universe canon. It is brilliantly written, beautifully drawn and brilliantly colored. But Eternals #1 tries too hard to be like the other big reimagining in the Marvel Universe, and in doing so, it loses the soul I quickly fell in love with.

If this comic can get out of its own way, it would be one of the best comics at Marvel today. I hope it can. Otherwise it'll end up being another Big 2 comic that taps a successful trend in hopes that more dollars will wash over it.

Overall: Eternals #1 tries to create an epic from discarded corners of the Marvel Universe, and It succeeds when the creative team is allowed to tell the story they want without having to emulate charts from Marvel’s other recent reimagining. 6.5/10

REVIEW: Eternals #1

Eternals #1
Writer: Kieron Gillen
Artist: Esad Ribić
Color Artist: Matthew Wilson
Letterer and Designer: VC's Clayton Cowles
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Price: $3.99
What’s the point of an eternal battle?
For millions of years, one hundred Eternals have roamed the Earth, secret protectors of humanity. Without them, we’d be smears between the teeth of the demon-like Deviants. Their war has waged for all time, echoing in our myths and nightmares.
But today, Eternals face something new: change. Can they – or anyone on Earth – survive their discovery?
From the thought-provoking minds of Kieron Gillen (The Wicked + The Divine, Uncanny X-Men, Thor) and Esad Ribić (Secret Wars, King Thor) comes a new vision of the classic Marvel mythology!
Release Date: January 6, 2021
Read It Digitally: Eternals #1

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My name is Jacob Cordas (@jacweasel) and I am starting to think I may in fact be qualified to write this.