Kudos to writer Kieron Gillen. I don’t think any past writers took advantage of the fact Thanos was an Eternal in quite the way he has.
Issue:  Eternals #7, November 2021
Writer:Â Â Kieron Gillen
Artist:Â Â Esad Ribic
The Plot:Â Â While the series’s heroic Eternals regroup to try something new, Thanos makes a move of his own.
Commentary:  OK, I had a vague idea where this issue was going, and I was right, but I don’t regret that at all. Gillen’s take on the Eternals has led to a fun ride so far, and this issue keeps that streak going after the previous issue’s major revelation: a human dies whenever any Eternal is reborn. The series seems to suggest that most Eternals are unaware of that fact, and many wouldn’t care if they did. Likewise, there’s a hint that the Eternals have also learned this in the past but then had the idea wiped from most if not all of their collective minds, most likely during the Uni-Mind connection. However, Ikaris has decided to protect a boy he somehow knew was in danger, and he wasn’t wrong. He just didn’t know his own resurrection would lead to the child’s inexplicable death.
Now, one of Gillen’s concepts here is the Eternals are eternal in every possible meaning of the world, meaning they have a hard time being anything other than what they’ve always been, Ikaris has to be heroic, for example, while Thena will find herself attracted to Deviants and Sersi will do the same to humans. Their personalities are all more or less baked into their cells for all practical purposes, and that means that the main Eternals in the series opt to do something that’s hard for them: learn how to change. That requires spending time with the Deviants, starting with Thena’s current lover, an artist, and then more or less getting a pass from her ex, Warlord Kro
Yeah, if the Etenrals are constants, the Deviants are about nothing but change. No wonder the two sides haven’t always gotten along.
It’s an interesting concept, and it takes them out of the action when Zuras calls an election in the Uni-Mind to see if he’ll continue to serve at the leader of the Eternals worldwide. Without Ikaris and the others in there, it actually means Druig (something of a fool who thinks he has leverage over a certain Mad Titan) can find a way to maneuver Thanos onto the throne because some Eternals will vote for anyone if they’re running against Zuras.
Man, I hope that’s not trying to be allegorical.
Regardless, if the Eternals as a people were looking for change, well, they sure got it now.
Grade:Â A-
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