Eternals #1

Genre action Author Neil Gaiman Publisher Marvel Comics External Links Official Marvel Comics Website

Neil Gaiman has been regarded as one of the finest writers in comics since his landmark Sandman series. Since then, he's managed to become a highly successful screenwriter and novelist. Recently, he wrote 1602 for Marvel comics, an adventure story that set Marvel's cast of superheroes in the titled year. Now, with Eternals, Gaiman returns to Marvel in a very big way.

Mike Curry is a medical student at a hospital studying to become a doctor. A gold-eyed visitor named Ike Harris informs him that he's an immortal being with powers beyond his wildest imagining. In classic Gaiman style, Curry tells the Harris to please go away. So begins this tale.

This is the story of the Eternals, created by Jack Kirby, one of Marvel's founding fathers. Here Neil Gaiman is reimagining the Eternals and bringing them into context with the rest of the Marvel universe. With the possible exception of Ike Harris, they have forgotten about their past lives and integrated themselves into human society. This is the story of how they came to be, and why they forgot about it.

Accompanying Gaiman in telling this celestial tale is classical artist John Romita Jr., whose art may be perfectly suited to this story. Romita is hardly the most realistic of artists. In fact, his blocky, wide-eyed characters define any kind of realism. But Romita's panel layouts and storytelling techniques are nothing short of genius, and he draws the many fantastical elements with the same tone as the rest of the story. Best of all, his art style closely resembles that of Eternals creator Jack Kirby.

Neil Gaiman has always had a knack for taking the fantastic and incorporating it into everyday life. Eternals, therefore, is a story perfectly suited to his strength, and is classically rendered by John Romita Jr. This may not be a fast-paced story, or an action-packed one-though there is plenty of action to be had-but, like most Neil Gaiman stories, it is a rewarding read. And this is just the beginning.