Award-winning writer Kieron Gillen will team with one of comics most singular artists when Marvel Comics launches a new Eternals series this November. Gillen, whose knack for telling winding stories that challenge readers’ established notions of characters such as Loki and Iron Man, is thrilled to take on the Eternals, a group of immortals whose incredible story hatched in the imagination of Jack Kirby:
I said if I was ever to do a book again at Marvel, it would have to be something I’ve never done before. This is exactly that. This is me teaming up with literally my favourite artist of the epic, taking one of those lightning-storm Kirby visions and re-making it to be as new as the day it was forged. While Esad makes whole worlds on the page, I’m applying all the skills I’ve developed when I was away. It’s a lot. It’s everything. There’s enough scale packed in here that I believe that when you look at the comic, you’ll see the pages slightly bulge. Essentially ‘Eternal’ has to mean ‘never going out of style,’ which means we’re aiming for ‘instant classic.’ Also — fight scenes, horror, human drama, emotions, explosions. Comics!
The trailer, which gives the tagline “Never die, never win”, seems to indicate some tension between Ikaris and Zuras, the leader of the Eternals. It also gives first looks at several characters key to the series and the ongoing mythology of the Eternals such as Sersi, Makkari, Sprite, Thena and more while also seeming to promise a take on the Eternals place in the history and evolution of mankind.
Gillen and Ribac represent a next-level creative team for the book. Gillen has consistently proven to be able to interweave fantasy and science fiction and Ribac’s art, as seen recently on Jason Aaron’s Thor and Jonathan Hickman’s Secret Wars, will add to the depth of the story and push Gillen’s creativity at the same time.
Eternals #1 will be up for pre-order this month once Marvel Comics November 2020 solicitations are made completely available.
