Marvel Comics just announced a remake and deconstruction of Jack Kirby’s Eternals from writer Kieron Gillen and artist Esad Ribić.
In a blog post announcing the new series, Marvel Comics describes the series as a “brand new vision of Jack Kirby’s classic Marvel creation in Eternals #1!”
Gillen would then declare he’s re-making the series. He explained, “”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.”
He added, “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.”
Gillen then described what he plans to show off in Eternals, “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.”
He continues, “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!”
Marvel Comics would conclude their blog post describing the series as “an unpredictable journey that will change everything you thought you knew.”
Gillen would provide further details in his newsletter explaining that the reason he was lured back to Marvel was because he’s “not burned out any more.”
He would also write that he had an “itch” to return., “Planting clover for a while your superhero bit of your brain works. Plus, I’ve kind of been missing it a bit. Seeing old peers and people who came after me tear things up is a delight, and you do get an itch to get involved.”
He would reiterate that it’s an opportunity “to do something different, something I haven’t done yet.” He elaborated, “As in, taking a set of characters who’ve been a way for a while, deconstructing their engine apart, and re-assembling it and unleashing it.”
“Thirdly, Esad Ribic. I’d said yes before Esad jumped aboard, but my yes changed to YES! the second he did. I expect some YES! yelping from you lot when you see more,” Gillen continued.
As for what fans can expect Gillen claims the series will leave a significant impact on the Marvel Universe, “Key facts: it’s a clean, accessible book. It’s set in the Marvel universe, and will impact it hard, but it’s also designed to be picked up by anyone and enjoyed.”
“Plus it’s very much me trying to bring to bear the skillset I’ve developed when I’ve been away (especially from WicDiv and DIE) and a whole bunch of other things I’ve been chewing over, in terms of things one could do,” he added.
He then detailed the project includes a “huge bible document” and teased that the third issue “has something so offkilter I’m even giving myself side-eye.”
Along with their blog post they also released a trailer for the series to their YouTube channel.
Based on the trailer it looks like the series will feature Ikaris as he is seen moving towards a giant crystalline structure and then into what appears to be some kind of portal. Other identifiable characters include Sprite, who gets a redesign with green skin and Thena wearing the golden armor and the battle axe.
The other characters are a little harder to figure out. The second character shown could be a redesign of Zuras given the red hair and beard. However, the color scheme is wrong. Zuras wears green and the pattern is different on his outfit.
The other characters that do not pop out to me are the female Eternal clad in purple, the other female Eternal clad in red and white, and the black Eternal in the ninja gear.
Eternals #1 is expected to hit comic book shelves in November.
Do you plan on checking it out when it hits comic book shelves?