Eternals #8
As the Eternals get used to life in Lemuria, Thanos tries to fix what Phastos did to him in Eternals #8, by writer Kieron Gillen, artist Esad Ribic, colorist Matthew Wilson, and letterer Clayton Cowles. There’s so much going on in this comic and it’s wonderful.
This story takes place in Lemuria and Olympia. In Lemuria, Ikaris, Thenas, and Sersi all learn the consequences of living with the Deviants. Ikaris goes to the Reject to learn how to fight, as he has to fight to stay alive, something he’s not used to. Thenas learns her lover is about to go through the Change, will cause her Eternal instincts to kill him and blames Kro. Sersi dines with Kro when Thenas bursts in and blames him for what has happened. Afterwards, Sersi has an important meeting. In Olympia, Thanos resurrects Druig and the two try to see if Thanos can be connected to the Machine. He can’t without Phastos, so they go after, leading to when the two plot threads intertwine at the end.
Gillen is a masterful writer and this issue proves it. This is a normal length comic and he crams so much information into every page. He structures the whole thing as to make it as exciting as possible. Gillen is an expert at making info dumps exciting and the way he does it with the little things. For example, he lays out the Change that Deviants go through in the beginning of the issue, a piece of information for lapsed fans and new one alike, and the Eternal reaction to it in order to make the moment where Thenas finds out about her lover. It’s such a great way to set things up, give readers information they might not have, and pay it all off.
From there, Ikaris going to the Reject to learn how to fight is an excellent little development. Eternals never need to worry about that in the past and it’s yet another plot point that Gillen sets up in the initial battle. It’s not even something that a reader might recognize but once it’s set up by Kingo, it makes complete sense. There’s just so much great writing in this comic.
Ribic’s art is great but one can notice the shortcuts he takes to hit deadlines. There’s some parts where his detail isn’t great and his facial expressions don’t always work. He skimps out on the backgrounds a lot as well. However, there is a lot of really great art throughout. Thenas and her sadness is heartbreaking, Thanos looks amazing and he brings the cake. The fight scene in the beginning looks great. Wilson’s coloring does an amazing job of enhancing the pencils and sometimes look like colored pencils, which is a great effect that works way better than one would imagine.
Eternals #8 sometimes feels like Gillen showing off in the best possible way. Ribic’s art has a few little problems but it’s at its best when it needs to be, with Wilson’s colors making it that much better. This is still the best comic Marvel is putting out.
