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Thursday, December 1, 2022
#IReadsYou Review: FANTASTIC FOUR: Full Circle
FANTASTIC FOUR: FULL CIRCLE
ABRAMS COMICARTS
STORY: Alex Ross
ART: Alex Ross
COLORS: Alex Ross and Josh Johnson
LETTERS: Ariana Maher
EDITORS: Charles Kochman and Tom Brevoort
COVER: Alex Ross and Josh Johnson
ISBN: 978-1-4197-6167-6; hardcover with dust jacket (also an eBook); 8 1/2 x 11 (September 6, 2022)
64pp, Color, $24.95 U.S., $31.99 CAN, £17.99 U.K.
Fantastic Four created by Jack Kirby and Stan Lee
The Fantastic Four #1 (cover dated: November 1961) is the comic book that basically started what we know of today as Marvel Comics and the “Marvel Universe” of superheroes. The Fantastic Four was created by writer Stan Lee and artist Jack Kirby, with Lee writing the story for the first issue and Jack Kirby drawing that first issue.
Returning to the Lee-Kirby era, Fantastic Four: Full Circle is a new original graphic novel from writer-artist Alex Ross. Published in an oversize format, 8½ x 11, Full Circle features the Fantastic Four (FF): Mister Fantastic (Reed Richards), the Invisible Woman (Susan Storm Richards), the Human Torch (Johnny Storm), and the Thing (Ben Grimm). In a story that is a sequel of sorts to a classic issue of the Fantastic Four, the members of the team find themselves fighting for survival in the Negative Zone, an alien universe composed entirely of anti-matter. The rest of Full Circle's creative team is comprised of Josh Johnson, who colors this comic book with Ross, and letterer Ariana Maher.
Fantastic Four: Full Circle opens on a rainy night in the Baxter Building, the Manhattan home of the FF. Ben is making himself a sandwich when an intruder suddenly appears in the team's living quarters. Upon investigation, they discover that the intruder is a man who once masqueraded as Ben Grimm. They soon discover that the man is a human host, used to deliver a swarm of invading parasites – carrion creatures composed of “Negative Energy.”
What is the purpose behind this invasion, and who is behind it? Now, the Fantastic Four have no choice but to journey into the heart of the Negative Zone, an alien universe that is parallel to Earth's universe and is composed entirely of anti-matter. They not only risk their own lives, but also the fate of the cosmos? Is there any hope for this journey, or will they discover hope?
THE LOWDOWN: I like that Fantastic Four: Full Circle has a direct connection to the Fantastic Four's vintage era (as I call it) when it was produced by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby. Full Circle directly connects to and is a resolution of Fantastic Four #51 (cover dated: June 1966). Entitled “This Man... This Monster!,” the story pit Reed Richards against an unnamed scientist who gives himself the powers and appearance of The Thing. The scientist's plan is to kill Richards, but those plans ultimately force him to save Reed's life while condemning himself to a sorry fate.
Full Circle returns to “This Man... This Monster!” in a deeply intimate way, or, at least, that is the way it comes across to me. In terms of graphics, illustrations, and colors, Full Circle is a direct descendant of the Lee-Kirby Fantastic Four. If Fantastic Four #51 is the parent, then, Full Circle is the child. Jack Kirby's dynamic, cosmic infused compositions are newly infused with the modern flourishes of the techno-marvels of software graphics and colors. Alex Ross even gives Stan Lee's chatterbox expositions new life simply by multiplying them in Full Circle, and Ross' take feels authentic. When one of the Fantastic Four speaks, their dialogue reads as if it were written by Stan the Man himself.
Alex Ross’s art in Full Circle is a combination of impressive line work and layers of brushwork that seems to sway like drapery. Ross and Josh Johnson color Full Circle in fluorescent shades: blues, greens, oranges, and purples. Their color choices also recalls the visuals and graphics of the “Pop Art” comic book movement (or moment) of the 1960s, somewhat similar to writer-artist Jim Steranko's work for Marvel, such as Nick Fury: Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D., in the late 1960s.
For a long time, I have described the comic books published in the 1960s by DC Comics and Marvel Comics, especially Marvel, as having a sense of wonder and mystery, of science/magic and hope, and of discovery and exploration. The modern comic book series that best exemplifies that is the late Darwyn Cooke's 2004 comic book miniseries, DC: The New Frontier.
Fantastic Four: Full Circle is both an homage and a return to a time when Marvel's comic book titles were about discovering the new. [Now, they are about IP maintenance and continuity, which is mostly fractured.] I love Ariana Maher vintage-styled lettering and the throbbing coloring that Josh Johnson commits with Alex Ross. All of it connects past and present.
I love that Alex Ross has presented Fantastic Four in this larger than usual format. Here, Ross' big, almost widescreen art both captures and replicates the big spirit and cosmic yearnings of Jack Kirby's best work on the Fantastic Four. I want to avoid spoilers, but I love Full Circle's ending, with its emphasis on hope, reconciliation, and peace.
Fantastic Four: Full Circle is published as the launch of “MarvelArts,” a new collaborative line of books between Marvel Comics and Abrams ComicArts. Abrams tells us that in MarvelArts “nothing is impossible and anything can happen.” I hope that this means that Abrams ComicArts will not just publish anything. Future publications should be as ambitious and as classically Marvel as this debut.
I READS YOU RECOMMENDS: Fans of the Fantastic Four and of Silver Age Marvel Comics will want Fantastic Four: Full Circle.
Reviewed by Leroy Douresseaux a.k.a. "I Reads You"
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I Reads You Juniors: September 2022 - Update #53
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NEWS:
COMICS - From CBR: Spanish comic book artist, Carlos Pacheco, has revealed that he has been diagnosed with ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis), also known as "Lou Gehrig's Disease" (named after the famous New York Yankees legend who died of it). Pacheco is best known for the maxi-series, "Avengers Forever" and for his work on titles featuring such characters as Captain America, the Justice League, and the X-Men.
DARK HORSE COMICS TO TV - From Deadline: Netflix has decided not to go forward with its 8-episode series based on Matt Wagner's "Grendel" comic book. Apparently, the bulk of the series has already been filmed, but the producers can shop the series around.
MANGA - From BleedingCool: Yen Press will publish an English-language edition of the manga, "The Summer Hikaru Died," from creator Mokumokuren. Both the manga and its creator are rising in popularity. Yen Press will announce the release date sometime in the future.
COMICS - From NBCWashington: Thieves steal tens of thousands of dollars worth of rare comic books from Victory Comics in Falls Church, Virginia.
DC COMICS - From MSNCBR: DC Comics will give it another try with a six-issue miniseries, "The Sandman Universe: Dead Boy Detectives," due this December.
MARVEL - From BleedingCool: Former DC Comics' boss Paul Levitz is writing his first comic book series for Marvel Comics. It is a limited series, "Avengers War Across Time," and it is set during the early days of the Avengers. Alan Davis will draw the comic book.
DC CINEMA - From Variety: In a surprise bit of news, Warner Bros. announced that it is making a sequel to its 2005 film, Constantine, with Keanu Reeves returning as John Constantine. The HBO Max TV series that was being developed by J.J. Abrams' Bad Robot has apparently been scrapped.
DC TV - From TVLine: Actor Chad L. Coleman will play DC Comics villain, "Bruno Mannheim," on the third season of The CW's "Superman & Lois." Coleman previously played "Tobias Church" on The CW's "Arrow."
EN MEMORIAM - From BleedingCool: Comic book artist, Eric Jones, has died at the age of 51, Saturday, September 10, 2021. He was the frequent collaborator of writer Landry Q. Jones. Together, they created the comic books, "Little Gloomy" (Slave Labor Graphics) and "Danger Club" (Image Comics). Jones and Walker also produced the six-issue miniseries, "Supergirl: Cosmic Adventures in the Eighth Grade."
DC COMICS - From DCBlog: September 17th marks "Batman Day 2022, and there will be a global celebration.
DC FILM - From DCBlog: There is a new trailer for DC Film's "Black Adam," which is due in theaters Oct. 21st.
IMAGE COMICS TO TV - From CBR: Amazon has cancelled its Prime Video television series adaptation of "Paper Girls," the graphic novel series from writer Brian K. Vaughn and artist Cliff Chiang. Series production company, Legendary Television, will shop "Paper Girls" around to other outlets.
EN MEMORIAM - From TCJ: Comics artist and underground cartoonist, Diane Noomin, has died at the age of 75, Thursday, September 1, 2022. She was the editor of the anthology title, "Twisted Sisters," and her work appeared in Underground Comix titles such as "Wimmen's Comix," "Young Lust," and "Weirdo." Her best known comics character was "Didi Glitz," which first appeared in "Short Order Comix #2 (1974). Noomin's spouse was acclaimed American cartoonist, Bill Griffith, the creator of comic strip character, "Zippy the Pinhead."
MARVEL - From BleedingCool: Marvel Comics announces its latest round of "Stormbreakers," eight artists who will receive exclusive contracts.
IMAGE COMICS - From Variety: Comic book writer Rodney Barnes, of "Killadelphia" and "Nita Hawes' Nightmare Blog," and the upcoming "Blacula" original graphic novel, has made "Variety's" list of the most impactful producers of scripted TV for the year 2022. Barnes co-wrote and was one of the executive producers of HBO's hit miniseries, "Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty."
DC TV - From DCBlog: "Stargirl" star, Brec Bassinger, talks about the upcoming third season of The CW series based on the DC Comics charactere.
MARVEL - From Marvel: Marvel Comics celebrates "Letterer Appreciation Day 2022."
DC COMICS - From Deadline: DC Comics' virtual event, "DC Fandome," is not happening this year.
HELP - From BleedingCool: There is a public appeal by Neil Gaiman and others to help raise money for former Vertigo Comics writer, Rachel Pollack ("Doom Patrol").
LGBTQ+ - From Time: Author Maia Kobabe expresses relief because a court ruled that sale of eir (their) graphic novel, "Gender Queer," cannot be restricted in Virginia.
MARVEL - From THR: The site has a first look at Alex Ross' upcoming graphic novel, "Fantastic Four: Full Color" (Abrams ComicsArts/Marvel Arts) and interviews the artist.
FRANK MILLER - From BleedingCool: The "Frank Miller Presents" ashcan will get a second printing. It had a 12,000 first printing which was allocated to comic book stores.
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Friday, December 31, 2021
I Reads You Juniors: December 2021 - Update #100
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NEWS:
MARVEL - From BleedingCool: Marvel Executive Vice-President Joe Quesada has denied that he is drawing writer Donny Cates' "rumored "Miracleman" project, but Quesada says that he does have a superhero project brweing for 2022.
IN MEMORIAM - From BleedingCool: Attorney, crime novelist, and comic book writer, Andrew Vachss, has died at that age of 79, Monday, December 27, 2021. His comics career began in 1992 with the ten-issue series, "Hard Looks," published by Dark Horse Comics. Vachss was also know for his work with abused and exploited children.
RUMORS - From ScreenGeek: Rumors suggest that Marvel Studios' "Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness" (May 6th, 2022) will introduce the X-Men to the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
MARVEL STUDIOS - From CBR: Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige explains why the Marvel Cinematic Universe's Spider-Man did not fight past movie villains until "Spider-Man: No Way Home."
MARVEL - From THR: Marvel Comics legend, Stan Lee, was born today, December 28, 1922. According to the article, Lee knew early on that collecting comic books would be a smart investment.
RUMORS - From CBR: Is actor Norman Reedus ("The Walking Dead") fueling rumors that he is the Marvel Cinematic Universe's new "Ghost Rider?"
DC CINEMA - From CBR: Warner Bros. has dropped a new trailer for director Matt Reeves' "The Batman" that focuses on Batman and Catwoman.
DARK HORSE - From CBR: Dark Horse Comics and "Hellboy" creator Mike Mignola warns fans about buying unauthorized "Hellboy" NFTs.
DARK HORSE - From BleedingCool: Writer Mike Mignola and artist Greg Hinkle present the two-issue miniseries, "Radio Man," with the first issue arriving March 2nd.
DC TV - From BleedingCool: Actor Tom Welling talks about his time as Clark Kent on The WB/The CW's television series, "Smallville" (2001-11).
IMAGE - From BleedingCool: Image Comics is going to publish writer-artist Liam Sharp's "StarHenge."
MARVEL - From BleedingCool: A new line of Marvel statues is coming from Diamond Select Toys. it begins with Professor X and Green Goblin statues.
SONY/MARVEL - From WeGotThisCovered: Sony Pictures and Marvel Studios are making a serious Academy Award PR push for "Spider-Man: No Way Home."
BOOKS - From BleedingCool: The winners of the 2021 Hugo Awards were announced at "Discon III" (the 79th Worldcon). "Parable of the Sower: A Graphic Novel Adaptation" won the Hugo Award for "Best Graphic Story or Comic."
DC CINEMA - From CinemaBlend: Michael Keaton ("Batman," "Batman Returns") will return as Batman for Warner Bros./DC Films' "Flash." Reports day he has signed on to also appear as Batman in the "Batgirl" movie.
DARK HORSE - From BleedingCool: Dark Horse Comics/Entertainment has been bought by holdings company, Embracer Group, a Swedish entertainment company comprised of many video game subsidiaries like THQ Nordiq, Gearbox Software, and others
SONY/MARVEL - From THR: Sony and Marvel’s "Spider-Man: No Way Home" spun a record-breaking web in its box office debut, grossing $253 million from 4,336 theaters to secure the third-biggest domestic opening of all time at the box office despite growing worries over the COVID-19 omicron variant.
From IReadsYou: My review of "Spider-Man: No Way Home."
From ComicBook: Jon Favreau's Marvel Cinematic Universe character, "Happy Hogan," is a hit in "Spider-Man: No Way Home," but he was almost killed off in "Iron Man 3" (2013).
From WeGotThisCovered: Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige talks about bring back iconic villains for "Spider-Man: No Way Home."
From IGN: Spider-Man producer Amy Pascal says that she threw a sandwich at Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige when he first suggested bringing Spider-Man to the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
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MANGA - From BleedingCool: Yen Press announces six new titles for June 2022, five manga and one novel.
DYNAMITE - From Comicon: Here is David Avallone's writer's commentary for "Elvira Meets Vincent Price #3" from Dynamite Entertainment.
MARVEL COMICS - From BleedingCool: After long absence, Chris Claremont is writing an X-Men comic book series, "Gambit." The titles arrives in 2022 with art by Sid Kotian.
DC CINEMA - From Complex: Matt Reeves, director of "The Batman," says that actor Robert Pattison's Batman is based on the late "Nirvana" frontman, Kurt Cobain.
MARVEL STUDIOS - From TheDirect: There have been conflicting reports about Sony and Marvel developing a "Spider-Man 4." In a recent interview, Marvel's Kevin Feige and Sony's Amy Pascal, the producers of "Spider-Man: No Way Home," say that the film is in early development.
DC COMICS - From BleedingCool: Writer Tom King and artist David Marquez launch "Batman: Killing Time" in March 2022.
From DCBlog: A look at the legacy of Dick Grayson/Nighwing.
COMICS - From BleedingCool: Dan Slott ("The Amazing Spider-Man") will be writing a few "Doctor Who" one-shot comic books for Titan Comics.
DC CINEMA - From Variety: Warner Bros./DC Films' "Blue Beetle" was to be an HBO Max exclusive, but now it will be exclusive to movie theaters when it debuts August 18, 2023. The film will focus on Jaime Reyes, the Blue Beetle that debuted in 2006.
FCBD 2022 - From BleedingCool: The site has a list of titles that will be available for Free Comic Book Day 2022.
COMICS TO TV - From Deadline: Netflix and writer Michael Starrbury may adapt writer David F. Walker's comic, "The Hated," into a live-action Western series.
MARVEL STUDIOS - From Variety: "Spider-Man: No Way Home" looks to set box office records this weekend. At the very least, it could be the first pandemic-era movie to gross over 100 million dollars at the domestic box office in a single weekend.
DC TV - From PopSugar: The site offers a profile of The CW television series, "Naomi," which is based on the DC Comics series and character.
MARVEL - From BleedingCool: Alex Ross will publish the first original graphic novel of his career, "Fantastic Four: Full Circle," a hardcover graphic novel published in the size of the 1980s "Marvel Graphic Novels." Abrams ComicsArts in collaboration with Marvel Comics will publish it August 2022 at $24.99.
DC COMICS - From Polygon: Writer Mark Waid and artist Dan Mora launch "Batman/Supeman: World's Finest #1" in March 2022.
MARVEL COMICS - From BleedingCool: On March 2nd, 2022, Marvel Comics' "Strange #1" will introduce the "Sorceress Supreme," who is the former wife of Dr. Stephen Strange, Clea Strange.
COMICS TO FILM - From THR: Netflix is adapting Donny Cates and Geoff Shaw's comic book, "God Country," into a film.
IDW - From Deadline: Top Shelf Productions' graphic novel series, "The Surfside Girls" will be adapated into a 10-episode live-action series for Apple TV+.
DC TV - From Variety: Three writers from The CW's "Batwoman" are developing a "Gotham Knights" TV series for the network.
DC CINEMA/THE BATMAN - From Collider: Warner Bros. is reportedly testing two cuts of its highly anticipated superhero film, "The Batman," from director Matt Reeves. One of those cut may contain an appearance by The Joker.
From TheNews: A new Japanese trailer for Matt Reeves' "The Batman" reveals new footage from the film, not revealed in previous trailers for the film.
From Movieweb: Hot rumor: Is Barry Keoghan "The Joker" in Matt Reeves' upcoming film, "The Batman?"
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IMAGE - From THR: Skybound, the Image Comics imprint run by "The Walking Dead" creator Robert Kirkman, is in negotiations with Hasbro to acquire the publishing license for two Hasbro propwrties, "G.I. Joe" and "Transformers."
DC COMICS - From DCBlog: A look inside "The DC Book" (DK Books) by Stephen "Win" Wiacek.
INTERVIEW - From YouTube: Daniel Fee33 interviews acclaimed comic book writer, Grant Morrison, who reveals some shocking information about plans for Superman that they foiled.
COMICS TO VIDEO GAMES - From BleedingCool: During "The Game Awards 2021," Rocksteady Games dropped a game play trailer for the video game, "Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League."
MARVEL STUDIOS - From ETCanada: On Wednesday, Florence Pugh claimed on her Instagram Story that she had been blocked from posting about her appearance in the Marvel series “Hawkeye” on her main feed, after fans complained about spoilers.
COMICS TO VIDEO GAMES - From BleedingCool: During "The Game Awards 2021," DC Comics announced that it is working with Monolith Productions on a new "Wonder Woman" video game.
ANIME TO LIVE-ACTION - From THR: Netflix has cancelled its ambitious "Cowboy Bebop" series after only one season.
GEORGE PEREZ - From THR: Legendary DC Comics and Marvel artist, George Perez, has announced that he has Stage 3 pancreatic cancer and that he has between six months and one year to live. Perez is known for his work on "New Teen Titans," "Crisis on Infinite Earths," and "Wonder Woman" for DC and "The Avengers" and "Infinity Gauntlet" for Marvel.
From BleedingCool: Comic book professionals talk about the life of George Perez.
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MARVEL - From Marvel: Marvel Comics has announced the next era of X-Men storytelling: "Destiny of X." One of the new titles emerging from that is Kieron Gillen and Lucas Werneck’s "Immortal X-Men," which will focus on the current leaders of mutantkind known as "The Quiet Council."
IMAGE - From BleedingCool: Could "G.I. Joe" and "Transformers" end up at Image Comics?
VIZ MEDIA - From ANN: Manga creator Inio Asano plans to end his current manga, "Dead Dead Demon's Dededededestruction" in the next ten chapters or sometime with the year.
DC TV - From Variety: Colin Farrell is playing "The Penguin" in "The Batman" film, and he will also star in and executive produce a Penguin spin off series for HBO Max.
DC CINEMA - From Deadline: Director Patty Jenkins is no longer directing Gal Gadot's "Cleopatra" film, so that she can focus on "Wonder Woman 3" with Gadot and also on the Star Wars "Rogue Squadron" film.
MARVEL STUDIOS - From Deadline: Destin Daniel Cretton, the director of "Shang-Chi and the Legends of the Ten Rings," has signed an overall deal which Marvel Studios with involves him writing and directing a sequel to "Shang-Chi."
COMICS TO ANIMATION - From CBR: Amazon has announced "Diabolical," an animated spinoff to its hit live-action series, "The Boys," which is based on the comic book by Garth Ennis and Darick Robertson.
SONY MARVEL U - From THR: At Brazil Comic Con (CCXP Worlds 21), Sony Pictures releases "first look" footage from "Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (Part One)." The film is due October 7, 2022, and is the sequel to the Oscar-winning, "Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse," which starred Miles Morales Spider-Man.
MARVEL COMICS - From CBR: Marvel Comics has announced a digital comic book miniseries, "Spider-Bot."
MARVEL COMICS - From THR: Rob Liefeld says he is channeling the film, "Saving Private Ryan" (1998) for his one-shot comic book, "X-Force Killshot."
MARVEL STUDIOS - From BuzzFeed: "Spider-Man" star Tom Holland reveals that an American driver told him that he might land the role because he was just unattractive enough.
COMICS - From BleedingCool: Little, Brown has picked up the worldwide publishing rights to "Art Club," a graphic novel from cartoonist Rashad Doucet, who is known for his other graphic novels, "Alabaster Shadows" and "Pax Samson."
COVID-19 - From THR: The second U.S. case of the COVID-19 variant, "omicron," is someone who attended the Anime NYC 2021 convention.
DC COMICS - From GamesRadar: "Newsarama" takes a look at "the Retaliators," DC Comics' latest take on Marvel Comics "Avengers."
ONI PRESS - From Nerdist: Oni Press' "Rick and Morty" comic books will parody "Dune," "Logan's Run," and "Star Wars" in 2022.
MANGA - From CBR: CBR takes a look at the best selling manga for the year beginning 11/23/2020 and ending 11/21/2021. "Demon Slayer: Volume 23" apparently has the top spot.
DC COMICS - From BleedingCool: "Shadow War" is a "Batman" event story line for 2022.
DC COMICS - From TeenVogue: Writer Stephanie Williams talks about living a comic book fan's dream as writer of "Nubia and the Amazons" and about making Wonder Woman's home, Themyscira, an accessible utopia.
SONY MARVEL U - From Deadline: Spider-Man producer Amy Pascal says that a new Marvel Cinematic Universe Spider-Man trilogy with Tom Holland is in the early works, one that keeps Sony Pictures and Disney’s Marvel working together beyond their already contracted Spider-Man: No Way Home.
DC ANIMATION - From DCBlog: DC Comics has released the first official trailer for its animated "DC League of Super-Pets," which is due May 2022, probably on HBO Max.
PREVIEWS:
From DCBlog: A 7-page preview of "Justice League Incarnate #2" which is due from DC Comics, Tues., Dec. 21st, 2021
From BleedingCool: 1 cover and 5 interior pages from "Miles Morales: Spider-Man #33," which is due from Marvel Comics Wed., Dec. 15, 2021.
From BleedingCool: 1 cover and 7 interior pages from "Batman & Scooby-Doo Mysteries #9," which is due Tues., Dec. 12th, 2021 from DC Comics.
From GamesRadar: A preview of "Batman: Urban Legends #10," due Tues., Dec. 14, 2021 from DC Comics.
From BleedingCool: 3 covers and 6 pages previewed from "Batman #118." It arrives Tues., Dec. 7th from DC Comics.
From BleedingCool: 4 covers and 6 pages previewed from "Star Wars: Crimson Reign #1." It arrives Wed., Dec. 8th.
From BleedingCool: 3 covers and 5 pages previewed from "World of Krypton #1." It arrives Tues, Dec. 7th from DC Comics.
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DECEMBER 2021 COMICS SOLICITATIONS:----------------------
Tuesday, August 31, 2021
#IReadsYou Review: THE ETERNALS #1
THE ETERNALS #1 (2021)
MARVEL COMICS
[This review was originally posted on Patreon.]
STORY: Kieron Gillen
ART: Esad Ribić
COLORS: Matthew Wilson
LETTERS: VC's Clayton Cowles
EDITOR: Darren Shan
COVER ARTIST: Esad Ribic
VARIANT COVER ARTISTS: Jen Bartel; Russell Dauterman with Matthew Wilson; Arthur Adams with Jason Keith; Alan Davis with Nolan Woodard; Mike Del Mundo; Inhyuk Lee; Peach Momoko; Jenny Frison; Rian Gonzales; Greg Land with Frank D'armata; Leinil Franics Yu with Sunny Gho; Otto Schmidt; Takeshi Okazaki with Edgar Delgado; Khary Randolph with Emilio Lopez
[The following artists are not credited as variant cover artists in the comic book, but Diamond Comics Distributors is offering issues with their cover art for sale: Alex Ross; Mahmud Asrar; Dave Johnson; Frank Cho; Jeff Johnson; J. Scott Campbell; Todd Nauck; Dan Panosian; Joe Quesada; Ron Lim; Walter Simonson; Superlog; Skottie Young]
32pp, Color, $4.99 U.S. (Jan. 6, 2021)
The Eternals created by Jack Kirby
“Only Death is Eternal,” Part 1
The Eternals are a race of humanoids in the Marvel Comics universe. They were created by legendary writer-artist and comics creator, Jack Kirby, and first appeared in The Eternals #1 (cover dated: July 1976). The Eternals are described as an offshoot of the evolutionary process that created sentient life on Earth. They were created by the immensely powerful alien race, the Celestials, along with the Eternals' destructive counterparts, the Deviants.
The Eternals first comic book series ran for 19 issues from 1976 to 1977, with issue #19 having a January 1978 cover date. In addition to Jack Kirby's original series, there have been miniseries starring The Eternals in 1985-86, 2006-07, and 2008-09. In the 2018-launched Avengers comic book series (written by Jason Aaron), the Eternals discovered that their creators, the Celestials, preferred humans over them, which lead to the mass suicide and death of the Eternals (as seen in the Avengers story arc, “The Final Host”).
Now, the Eternals return in a new comic book series. The Eternals (2021) is written by Kieron Gillen; drawn by Esad Ribić; colored by Matthew Wilson; and lettered by Clayton Cowles. In the new series, the Eternals face something new to them – change.
The Eternals #1 opens in “the Exclusion,” one of a system of sub-dimensional threads in “The Machine” (apparently the Earth-side system by which the Eternals teleport). The Machine also narrates the story, which opens with the resurrection of Ikaris, the last Eternal to die. However, the “Eternal Prime,” Zuras, has a surprise for the ever-direct Ikaris. Ikaris must awaken and take charge of Sprite, the murderous prankster Eternal.
Arriving in New York, Ikaris and Sprite meet Iron Man. Then, it is time to do their job, protect humans from “the Deviants,” especially those that become monsters. While the mismatched duo is away, however, new death in a familiar guise comes for the Eternals.
THE LOWDOWN: I recently read the original The Eternals #1, from 1976, which was written and drawn by series creator Jack Kirby. I did this in preparation for the new series and for the (eventually) upcoming film, The Eternals, from Walt Disney Pictures and Marvel Studios.
First, let me speak to the beauty of The Eternals 2021. I first discovered artist Esad Ribic when he drew the final two issues of the X-Men miniseries, X-Men: Children of the Atom (1999-2000), that was begun by writer Joe Casey and artist Steve Rude. I was not crazy about Ribic's art in that series, but it was clear to me that this artist had huge potential as a comic book illustrator.
I must say that he has developed way beyond what I expected. Here, Ribic's beautiful illustrations and Matthew Wilson's supernatural coloring combine to create gorgeous art that recalls the work of the late master, Moebius. The graphical storytelling reads and feels like superhero comics as real science fiction comics.
Kieron Gillen's story is intriguing and the script is straightforward and clean. His dialogue and The Machine's exposition made it easy for me to follow the story, setting, and plot/concept. Gillen is going to make me spend some money on this comic book series. So, if you don't want to spend more money on comics, dear readers, avoid The Eternals #1 2021. If you are just looking for a really good first issue, spend it on this one … which has a killer last story page.
I READS YOU RECOMMENDS: Fans of the Eternals and of good Marvel comic books will want The Eternals 2021.
9 out of 10
[This comic book includes a one-page tribute to former Marvel Comics publisher, Mike Hobson, who died in November 2020.]
Reviewed by Leroy Douresseaux a.k.a. "I Reads You"
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The text is copyright © 2021 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this blog or site for reprint or syndication rights and fees.
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