Writer: Kieron Gillen
Artist: Esad Ribic
Color Artist: Matthew Wilson
Cover Artist: Esad Ribic
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Reviewer: StoryBabbler
The Eternals are back, but they have the worst timing. You see, the Eternals discovered the terrible secret behind their resurrection technology, and now they want to “change” their ways. Slow progress on that, but the action hasn’t stopped since Thanos rose through the Eternals’ ranks to Prime Eternal. Now, while Thanos inches one step closer to regaining control of his body, the other Eternals seek answers to the secrets of his birth in Eternals #10, which can be found in Avengers Mountain.
Review:
If there was one word to describe this issue, it would be “disappointing.” Despite how the cover look and what the synopsis says, this issue is setup for the battle between the Eternals and Avengers as much as the summer event “Judgement.” The comic is more of a slow build-up to the upcoming fights, showing the Eternals try to sneak into Avengers Mountain to commune with the dead Celestial. This isn’t a terrible comic, it serves its purpose moving the characters into place, but there’s nothing fun or entertaining about this comic either.
Also, as I’m sure others will point out, this whole fight between the Avengers and Eternals feels contrived. This confrontation at least could easily have been avoided if the Eternals simply asked them to commune with the dead Celestial with the simple excuse that they wish to talk to their God after everything that’s happened to them. Now, I’m sure Kieron Gillen will give it his all to provide reasons for them to fight each other, but it won’t feel genuine. If Gillen plays it right, he could frame it as Ajak manipulating the Eternals to fight the Avengers, since he established in Eternals: Celestia #1 that she hates the Avengers and wants them dead for desecrating the Celestial.
For this issue, there are no cool or engaging interactions between the Avengers and the Eternals, with the narration from the Great Machine bringing any energy on their side. As usual, the real stars are Thanos and Druig, which makes sense since the story arc is called “Hail Thanos.” Now, I’ve criticized the mischaracterization of Thanos enough in previous reviews, so I’ll just keep it short here. Thanos does some classic super-villainy that we rarely get these days in Marvel and DC, and it’s fun for what it is. But like everything else in this comic, the portion with Thanos is still disappointing. And I’ll get into why in the Spoilers section.
SPOILERS:
See, if anyone read Eternals: Thanos Rises #1, you were probably wondering if Thanos would ever find out that his parents are alive and right under his feet. Well, he does, and it’s pretty brutal yet bland. See, Druig tells Thanos they’re in Exclusion and he goes to kill them, but you never see him do the deeds. The comic gives you several cutaways to the aftermath since he kills them multiple times, then resurrects them so he can kill them again before finally interrogating them on how they actually conceived him.
There are no interesting conversations, no brutal or creative scenes of murder by Thanos, just bland cutaways. It’s a waste, and Thanos’ interrogation of his parents isn’t that engaging either. Now, there’s plenty the series can explore with both Mentor and Sui-San alive again, and the centuries of psychological baggage and trauma they’d have by now, but I’m not holding my breath that the series will give them the time of day or even keep them alive for that long.
Final Thoughts:
While Eternals #10 has the Eternals sneaking into Avengers Mountain, it reads more like setup for Marvel’s upcoming Judgement event. Not that much happens here, but there are some interesting developments on Thanos’ side of things in the story. Also, the comic does set things up for more action between the Eternals and Avengers to look forward to in the next issue.