Eternals: Celestia #1

Eternals: Celestia #1

Marvel Comics 2021

Written by Kieron Gillen

Illustrated by Kei Zama

Ink Assists John LIvesay

Coloured by Matthew Wilson

Lettered by VC’s Clayton Cowles

THERE IS NO GOD FOR THE ETERNALS!

Now that the truth of their existence is revealed, Ajak and Makkari must pick up the pieces and try to find a road forward... no matter how terrifying it will be, or how their choices will irrevocably shock the rest of the Eternals? Also: How do the Avengers of 1,000,000 BCE figure into it?

Oh I am so very much enjoying the current version of the Eternals as portrayed by Kieron. This is a great issue for so many reasons and not least among them is seeing Ajak formulate a plan that could turn into the next big Marvel Event, please don’t make it company wide and let it just be its own limited series nothing else. It does introduce us to Ajak and Makkari and their tumultuous family history which shows that families will fight with one another and still have their back no matter what. It also delves deeper into the Eternals' history and past and allows the reader to better understand these people and how they live now and in the past and it’s actually quite telling and interesting.

I love, love the way that this is being told. The story & plot development that we see through how the sequence of events unfold as well as how the reader learns information is presented exceptionally well. The character development that we see through the narration, the dialogue, the character interaction as well as how we see them act and react to the situations and circumstances which they encounter really brings their personalities to the forefront. The pacing is excellent and as it takes us through the pages revealing more and more of the story the more I want to see. It really has this wonderful cause and effect going on here and Kieron has turned these Eternals into one of my most sought after series.

I do appreciate how we see this being structured and the layers within the story begin to emerge and grow. The way that these layers open up these new avenues to be explored and boy are there a few that I really want to see more of. What these avenues add in terms of depth, dimension and complexity to the story is marvellous to see. How we see everything working together to create the story’s ebb & flow as well as how it moves the story forward is impeccably achieved.

The interiors here are utterly sublime. The linework is exquisite and how we see the varying weights and techniques being utilised to create this level & quality of detail within the work is just astonishing. That we see backgrounds like we do is amazing in how they expand and enhance the moments. They also work within the composition of the panels to bring out the depth perception, sense of scale and the overall sense of size and scope to the story. The utilisation of the page layouts and how we see the angles and perspective in the panels show a remarkably talented eye for storytelling. The various hues and tones within the colours being utilised to create the shading, highlights and shadow work show an exceptional eye for how colour works and how to maximise its effects.

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I absolutely love seeing more and more about the Eternals, their past and how it affects the present. This hammers home the idea that without their gods and without a real purpose, they don’t need to babysit the humans any longer, what is next for them? This is an exciting time for the Eternals and with the rising threat of Thanos and the Machine not functioning properly well it just makes what they experience all the more exciting. This is so expertly written with some wondrous characterisation and these utterly sublime interiors bringing it all to life beautifully. This is a phenomenal addition to the series and I hope we see more along these lines.