Eternals #2
Ikaris battles Thanos in Eternals #2, by writer Kieron Gillen, artist Esad Ribic, colorist Matthew Wilson, and letterer Clayton Cowles. Gillen and company give readers a great beginning before expanding things, showing the scope of the current threat as the Eternals must figure out what's happening or the Earth will die.
Ikaris goes at Thanos with abandon, ordering Sprite back to Olympias to warn the others. Ikaris knocks Thanos through one of Titan's time portals, and the two battle through time, with Thanos getting the upper hand and killing Ikaris… or so he thinks. In reality, Sprite uses her illusory powers to make Thanos think he won, and the two Eternals escape the Mad Titan. Returning to the Olympus, they are met with bad news- the Great Machine isn't working, so Zuras isn't being resurrected. Druig and Ikaris verbally clash until Sersi arrives and offers to heal Ikaris. Later, Sersi, Ikaris, Sprite, and other Eternals try to figure out their next move. Ikaris leaves and offers to protect a human boy named Toby Robson, based on visions he saw in Titanos.
Gillen is doing a fantastic job so far. The Great Machine's narration of the story is amazing; there's a humor to the whole thing and personality that is highly entertaining. The Eternals are inhuman by nature, but the Great Machine's narration is anything but and does a wonderful job of setting a good tone and laying out for readers what is going on. It gives the story a flavor that it wouldn't have if it was narrated by one of the Eternals.
In the middle of the story, Gillen lays out a nice little aside that lets readers in on Ikaris's life and why he believes the vision he saw in Titanos- years ago, Ikaris saw a vision of a monster attacking a shoreline and a boy watching. He went to the shore and told the boy to stand watch, lighting a fire if the monster approached. He spent his whole life doing this, and when he died, his grandchildren built him a pyre. Ikaris came, and grandchildren berated him, telling him that their grandfather had wasted his life until one of them spotted the monster. It gives readers a look into just what the Eternals are and how they view life, especially Ikaris- he feels no remorse that a man died in his employ, his only satisfaction coming from knowing that his vision was correct and fighting the monster. He never thought of those people again; they matter little to him. It's wonderfully sobering and gives readers a glimpse of the way an Eternal sees the world.
Esad Ribic's art is perfect for this book. The battle between Ikaris and Thanos is well choreographed and looks amazing, a hard-hitting battle between two powerful opponents. Ribic's sense of scale really comes across in many panels in this book. He takes Gillen's script and brings it to life.
Eternals #2 is a great book. It starts with a great action scene and gets better from there, with Gillen adding more and more to the story. Who is behind Zuras's death and the damage to the Great Machine? What is Sersi's plan? How does it all come together? Gillen makes readers want to know the answers to these questions expertly. Ribic's art is the perfect compliment to his script, giving it the sense of scale and grandeur it needs. Eternals is shaping up to be something special.
