Eternals # 1 Review
Author: Neil Gaiman
Penciler: John Romita JR.
Covers: Rick Berry, John Romita JR, and Oliver Coipel
First of all, like I said in the pod cast, I'm not crazy about the art work, but I love the front cover. Very dramatic and mysterious. The story so far…not that mysterious. I'm not familiar with Kirby's work on the Eternals in 1970s (I love how Gaiman throws in a reference to the 70s by one of the characters), but this issue seems more of a "catch up if you don't know the story" type of deal. Ike Harris, aka Ikaris, is an eternal being who is trying to convince a doctor-in-training, Mark, that he is also an eternal being named Makkari. The back story of eternals, deviants, dinosaurs, humans, why the earth was made, etc. is interesting enough, but like I said, I haven't read Kirby's original work, so I don't know how close to the original it is. I'm sure Gaiman is going to take it in a different direction, but with this first issue, I'm not seeing it yet. I would expect him to weave in the back story for the reader to discover a bit at a time like in Sandman, rather than use the cliché "Hi, I'm not human, and you're not either, let's be friends" argument right off the bat. I guess the mystery is: why did the celestials create the eternals, deviants, and humans to begin with?
My favorite part was when the two women Abi and Sersi have a conversation for three pages. I just love the way Gaiman writes dialogue! Again, like in Sandman, he hooks you in to a story about normal, everyday people before they get into some wacky shit. I wanted to keep reading about Sersi planning a party and teasing her friend rather than go back to Ike and Mark.
The facial expressions Romita, Jr. drew hurt my face. Let me explain. All Mark and Ike do is tilt their heads down at an angle and look up, trying to see past their huge eyebrows (do their eyebrows set them apart as eternals…?) Anyway, they always have that smirk on their faces. I know if I do that facial expression too much, it starts to give me a headache, so while reading the book, I started to have sympathy pains!
Although I'm not crazy about civil war, I like the reference to superheroes registering in Sprite's PSA about the law. Nice touch. Stark makes an appearance as well. He has Thena (an eternal) perfect a weapon, but there's no reference to civil war; it just seems to be good old military weapon development.
I have to admit, I'm a little disappointed in the 1st issue. Maybe there was some editing choice in there, but just seems like the whole story is laid out in one issue. No cliff hanger to speak of, don't have to think too hard to try to figure out clues, all the stuff I like about Gaiman! Hopefully, issue #2 will pick up the pace. C
I just finished reading the first issue and I liked it a lot, and I know nothing about Eternals. Like JRJR's art probably helps too.
I'm with Melanie, I never got into JR JR's blocky art style. But, the story was pretty decent. I've only read 1602 by Gaiman, but I'm going to have to read Sandman sometime.
Finally got a chance to read, it's good as far as a first issue goes, I know nothing of the previous work done by Kirby so it's all new to me. Honestly I think this book would be better had Marvel not placed it in the actual Marvel universe wherein Civil War exists, when it's mentioned it feels forced and unnecessary.
You know, the "blocky style" comments are getting tired. There are more than a large amount of artists that havean angular style to there art but my style seems to attract these types of complaints. I think, perhaps, the "blocky style" comment was made, long ago, and the critics, who can't come up with their own critique, latched on. Opinions vary...Eternals #1 has offered many of those opinions..and I don't mind a constructive criticism....But lose the "I don't like JRjr's blocky style" stuff....Yawn!
A simple "I hate his stuff because he draws heavy eyebrows"( which don't exist in real life)would suffice!:-)
Melanie, I'm not certain what you mean about not having a cliffhanger. Did you miss the last page of the book?
I really enjoyed this. I thought the character interaction was well done, as I'd expect from a Gaimen penned comic. It definitely has that building epic feel to it. I wasn't much of a fan of 1602, but really liked Gaimen's Miracleman and Sandman stuff, so it's nice to see him get his groove back.
Also, I've ben a fan of JR jr since his early "non-blocky" style in Iron Man, DD, etc. In fact, it seemed to me that on DD is when his style really matured. On the other hand, I have a friend who is also a long time collector who can't stand his art (although he admitted he liked his work on Eternals better than most), so different strokes, I suppose. I definitely think his art works well in this title, particularly the Kirby-esque style on the Celestials. Those sequences look appropriately impressive. The scale is perfect.