Eternals #5
The Eternals face off against the Forgotten One in Eternals #5, by writer Kieron Gillen, artist Esad Ribic, colorist Matthew Wilson, and letterer Clayton Cowles. This issue is filled with twists and turns as Gillen and company revamp the Eternals for the 21st century.
The issue starts with Seris basically using Tony Stark as bait to get Gilgamesh to attack. Ikaris and Gilgamesh battle back and forth, and the other Eternals are able to restrain him. Meanwhile, Druig and Thanos talk, with Druig trying to figure out who Thanos is working with. The Eternals interrogate Gilagmesh while Phaestos tries to hold things in the Machine. It's quickly decided that Gilgamesh isn't the one killing Eternals or the one who sabotaged the Machine, but another Eternal, one who knows all of their secrets.
The Eternals can be a tough nut to crack, but Gillen is doing a great job. There are two ways to do the Eternals- either emulate Kirby as much as possible, which is what Neil Gaiman did, or take the fundamentals and move in a new direction. There's nothing wrong with the first method but emulating Kirby is why so many have failed with the Eternals- no one can match his talent or do what Gaiman did, which uses Kirby as a blueprint to work his own style into. Gillen is throwing a lot of fascinating sci-fi into the book, in ways Kirby never did before but probably would have if he was alive and working right now, and using that to take the book in a very different direction than before. It's still the Kirby Eternals DNA, just an evolution of it, and it works brilliantly. Like the Eternals at Marvel and the Fourth World at DC, Kirby's best ideas are perfect for the right creator to expand upon, and Gillen is the right one for the job with the Eternals. He's doing what Morrison with the Fourth World- taking the ideas and adding to them, making them something new.
This issue has a lot of Gillen's trademark twisty storytelling, from Sersi and company tricking Gilgamesh, to Druig and Thanos playing off each other, to the interrogation and the reveal of the real villain. He just keeps blasting the reader with more and more twists and then slows it all down for a moment so Tommy and Sprite can talk about death, which is a subject that's more apropos than ever for an Eternal- because they can die and while Sprite says they don't fear death, they should. It's little things like this, moments where it all stops, and Gillen shines a light on something so mundane that make this such a good book. Death is lurking everywhere around the Eternals, and maybe they should be afraid of it.
Ribic's art is as impressive as usual. The battle between Ikaris and Gilgamesh is short but powerful, and he does an amazing job of getting across just how hard-hitting of an affair it truly is. His weird faces are on full display in this book because, of course, they are, but it works really well in some scenes, like when Sersi messes with Tony Stark's mind. Even though his faces can be pretty strange, there's still so much to love about his art in this issue.
Eternals #5 is another triumph for this book. Gillen expands on the lore of the Eternals, introducing a new faction and using infographic pages to drop even more secrets and info on readers than before. Ribic's art is outstanding throughout, really capturing the emotion and power of Gillen's script. This issue sets up a lot of great stuff, and it'll be interesting to see how it all plays out.
