Volume 53: Eternals

Eternals

Author: Neil Gaiman  |  Illustrator: John Romita Jr.

"Tell me, is it the slime of the tentacles that upsets you or the way they twine bonelessly, the faceless snaking of them..."

Taking place in an era and location far removed from his previous work for Marvel (see Vol 32: Marvel 1602), Gaiman's second book for the House is much better than his first, in my opinion. I've not read the original Eternals stories from yesteryear, so the heroes were mostly all new to me, but, as far as that goes, Gaiman's version of the group is a fascinating one that occasionally bears a strong resemblance to some of his previous works for other publishers.

It doesn’t even feel like a Marvel title for a long time. Building a world around a creation myth that isn't actually a myth is the kind of thing that Gaiman's really good at. When coupled with a peculiar state of affairs in which something that has existed for a very long time but until now has remained unnoticed by almost everyone, the created world feels like it has life – it's the fantastical made convincing.

The story references the super-human registration act that was happening within the Marvel universe at the time, but it doesn't dwell on it, which is a good thing for me because, frankly, I'm sick of it already. Its inclusion was probably an obligatory one, but, happily, if you weren't aware of the act or the many events surrounding it, then you might not even realise how widespread it really was.

Not knowing really wouldn't matter that much because, while the story takes place inside the extended superhero universe and will surely affect it at a later date, the text itself has pleasing borders.

Unfortunately, that doesn't mean finality when the last page turns, because nothing ends for real in Marvel world; even death can be just a temporary setback. The closing chapter leaves a door or three open for subsequent creators to enter through and mess up the sandpit.

The book collects together Eternals #1–7.

Verdict:

Volume 32: Marvel 1602

Marvel 1602

Author: Neil Gaiman  | Illustrators: Andy Kubert / Richard Isanove

"Sir Nicholas is our intelligencer, Doctor. All the plots and counterplots, all the words whispered and knives in the dark are his to unravel and employ. He does his job well —"

Also known simply as 1602, the eight-issue miniseries places a number of Marvel's most popular (and overused) heroes in the year 1602; not in a dodgy time travel scenario, but in an alternative telling wherein they exist separately in various roles and across various lands, but mostly in Elizabethan England. It's how the beginnings of the extended Marvel Universe might've been had it happened in a more distant time period, a kind of comic book 'what if...?' story.

Not all reinterpretations of characters are instantly recognisable. Some of the names are even changed by various degrees of subtlety in a bid to keep readers guessing (e.g. Count Otto von Doom, although it's one of the easier ones). So as not to spoil the surprise for anyone who would rather not know which characters actually feature in the book, I've left off the relevant labels on this post, instead using 'Crossover' as a basic coverall term.

It's difficult to explain why the story bored me without venturing into spoiler territory, so I'll say only that the coming together of different parties and the uncovering of truths about each one weren't at all interesting to me, stretched as thin as they were... and I'm confused about why the flying reptiles were there. I know there are people who adore everything Gaiman writes, regardless of its quality, but more cautious and/or frugal fans of his work might want to attempt borrowing from a library before throwing actual money down.

This is the part where I once again wish that from day one of this blog I'd decided to give separate scores for story and art, because Andy Kubert's art and Richard Isanove's colouring are both wonderful, achieved in the same manner as it was in Volume 26: Wolverine: Origin (for the record, it'd get five big thumbs both times), but my scores need to reflect true feelings about the book's re-readability so that in the future it can be an accurate guide as to which volumes to keep and which to dispose of. With that in mind...

The book collects together the entire first Marvel 1602 story, i.e. #1-8.

Verdict: