As some Eternals try to learn from their mistakes, Druig and Thanos make their move in Eternals #7, by writer Kieron Gillen, artist Esad Ribic, colorist Matthew Wilson, and letterer Clayton Cowles. Gillen and company begin a compelling new story arc in this issue.

As the Eternals in Lemuria deal with the Deviants, Ikaris prepares to tell Toby’s parents the truth when he confronts Jack of Knives, one of four Eternal crime lords who warns him that anyone he tells will be killed. In Olympia, Druig and Thanos make a plan to put Thanos up as Prime Eternal in opposition to Zuras. As Sersi prepares to make things better in Lemuria, Druig and Thanos enter the election, and things take an exciting turn.

Gillen mostly focuses on the events in Olympia for this issue because that’s the crux of the whole thing. Druig and Thanos are an interesting pair. Druig makes sure everyone knows he’s a snake, but he forgets that he’s not the only one. It’s wonderful to watch Druig and Thanos play with each other. Druig is an intelligent manipulator, but he doesn’t realize he’s in over his head with Thanos, and as for Thanos… well, Thanos is Thanos. He’s as in control as he can be in the situation, and he always has a plan of his own.

One of the most interesting exchanges in the book is between Ikaris and Jack of Knives. For one thing, why Jack or any of the Tricks, the Eternal crime lords care about humans not knowing the truth of the Eternals is interesting because there’s no reason for them to care. Jack intimates the only reason they care is that someone is paying them to but who among the Eternals would do so? It’s not like humans know enough about the Eternals for it to matter, and there would be no way that humans could figure out how to hurt them or stop it anyway. It feels like something Gillen is setting up for the future. There’s a great little character moment between Sersi and Kro, the Deviant leader, that also plays into both characters’ past.

Ribic’s pencils look more pencil-y in this issue. All the hallmarks of his style are there, but one can see the pencil strokes, even in shading areas. It’s different from his normal way of drawing, and it looks great, actually. Wilson’s colors keep this penciled quality and use a different kind of palette than he did in previous issues. Wilson is a great color artist, and the way he works with Ribic’s pencils is wonderful, keeping the effect Ribic was going for and making the art look that much better.

Eternals #7 does a lot of setup for this new story arc and possibly beyond. Adding Thanos to this book is the gift that keeps on giving, especially as he’s been missing from Eternals comics. Gillen is exactly the right writer to bring him back, as he seems to understand Thanos is more than a cudgel. Too many other writers don’t get that, and it’ll be great to see where Gillen takes things with all of the characters. Ribic and Wilson are working wonderfully together; the art looks sensational. All in all, this is yet another great chapter of this book.

Grade: A