Marvel Comics announced a new ongoing title that might be a foreshadowing of things to come. Keiron Gillen and Esad Ribic will be the creative team behind a reboot of Eternals this November.
Writer Keiron Gillen, said that if he was going to return to Marvel that he would need to write something that he has never written before. The writer also expressed excitement to be working with artist Esad Ribic, who is best known for his work on Secret Wars and Thor. The creative team is looking forward to taking on the Jack Kirby created characters and promises fight scenes, horror, human drama, emotions, and explosions.
This announcement is somewhat of a surprise given that Marvel Comics has been discontinuing several titles in an effort to streamline its properties. This comic is expected to become an ongoing title rather than a mini-series. The Eternals do not extensive publication history the way other fan-favorite characters do. The first run on the title was published in 1976 and ran for 19 issues. There were two mini-series in 1985 and later in 2006. The latter was penned by Neil Gaiman.
Given that the heroes have less continuity to pull from and Kevin Feige’s tendency to simplify or streamline complex and convoluted character histories, this series could set up a status quo that will be more reflective of what we will see on screen. Notably is the film’s decision to change the gender and ethnicity of several of the named characters. While the teaser images from the comic are not reflective of these changes it does appear that characters Thena, Ikaris, and Sprite are set to return.
While not yet confirmed, it does appear that the character of Makkari will be changed to appear as a black female which is more like her on-screen counterpart rather than as a white male as the character had traditionally been portrayed.
Look for this comic in stores and online Nov 11, 2020.
