Eternals: A History Written in Blood
“Judgment Day” may have been the final part of Kieron Gillen’s “Eternals” storyline, but it’s not the last of it. That would be this collection which bundles the three one-shots he wrote – “Thanos Rises,” “Celestia,” and “The Heretic” – along with some old “Eternals” stories from the late 70’s to pad out the page count. While all three of the one-shots are worth reading for fans of what Gillen was doing with the characters, the real surprise here is how relevant the older stories are to what he was doing. What we have here is a rare example of older material being packaged in a way that actually speaks to the modern stories it inspired and has them coming off as more interesting than they normally would have.
Thanos Rises: 200,000 years ago the Eternals were in the midst of a civil war. On one side was A’lars and his faction, and he was opposed by Zuras and his. At issue was the idea of whether or not Eternals should breed and have actual offspring together. This was eventually resolved in an event known as the Titan Schism where A’lars left Earth, took a wife named Sui-San who shared his interests and ambitions, and settled on Titan to begin the work of procreation. While Titan turned into a thriving center of civilization, A’lars’ – now known as Mentor – efforts on the other matter were markedly less successful.
Which is putting things mildly when the result is the birth of the Mad Titan, Thanos. He barely makes a cameo in this story, but he doesn’t need to as the goings-on are plenty interesting on their own. Gillen, and artist Dustin Weaver combine a lot of disparate parts of Marvel history into a coherent whole (which is a trend in this volume) to create a mini epic where the best of intentions go very, very wrong. A lot of ground is covered here, and while it feels like the story is in a hurry to get where it’s going, the emotional beats still hit in the way you’d expect. Especially at the end when Mentor has to face the rest of his life after what he’s done. I do wish that Weaver had employed his usual ultra-detailed style here instead of trying to kinda-sorta channel Jack Kirby, which is likely why the overall results are just good instead of great.
Celestia: The Eternal known as Ajak has a problem. For almost a million years she was the Prime Interpreter between her people and the Celestials. Then the Celestials stopped talking to her and said that the Eternals weren’t needed anymore. However, they, or at least the Dreaming Celestial, did talk to speedster Makkari, which led to Ajak trying to kill her in a fit of jealousy at one point. They’re on better terms now that they’re both being ignored by their gods; though, they’re at a loss as to what to do next. Which is why they’ve decided to go on a pilgrimage to the remains of the only celestial on the planet: Avengers Mountain.
This story is meant to act as a bridge for the characters between the Neil Gaiman and Knauf Brothers stories which featured them, to what Gillen is doing with them now, and as setup for “Judgment Day” as well. It also finds time to work in what Jason Aaron did with the Celestials in his “Avengers” series and the Avengers of One Million B.C. over there as well. It takes even more disparate story elements than were featured in the previous story and still makes fitting them all together look easy. It may feel like things had to end the way they do because of the upcoming crossover, yet it all makes more sense than I was expecting. Kei Zama provides the art and while she doesn’t work in a very superhero-friendly style, it’s an instance where things look more interesting because of that.
The Heretic: If you thought that there wasn’t enough Thanos in the issue that bore his name, this one has you covered. Now that the Mad Titan has become the Prime Eternal he’s taking stock of the Eternals around him and he’s not impressed with what he sees. Until Druig tells him about his grandfather Uranos the Undying. Once the head of an Eternal Dynasty, he’s since been kept in isolation because he’s too dangerous to be let free, or to kill. Why is that? Because he once had a revelation as to how all Eternals could be free of their Celestial overlords. The problem was that it was a method that only his grand-nephew could appreciate.
While Gillen continues to draw from previous stories featuring the characters here, this one features the most original elements of the three issues collected here. Coming in the middle of the second “Eternals” storyline, you’ll get to find out how Thanos got access to Uranos’ armory in addition to understanding why it was a VERY BAD THING that the elder Eternal was let out of isolation in the course of “Judgment Day.” It’s an appealingly twisted portrait of unrepentant evil, in other words. The late Ryan Bodenheim and artist Edgar Salazar provide the art, and they give Uranos’ character and actions the sinister heft that they deserve.
What If…? #’s 24-28: The first of these five-page stories was written by Ralph Macchio with art by Rick Buckler. It’s described by Gillen in a preface as the five pages he mined the most over the course of his run. This isn’t hard to see why as it involves the falling out between Kronos and Uranos during the Age of the Patriarchs and how it changed the course of Eternal history. The four stories that follow are written by Mark Gruenwald with art from Ron Wilson and they tackle the formation of the first Uni-Mind and whatever happened to Uranos and his followers after they lost the war.
On their own, these stories would likely come off as amusing curios in their efforts to flesh out one of Kirby’s most niche concepts. Taken in context with Gillen’s current run, they become a lot more interesting. While the writer isn’t exactly kicking them out of continuity, they read more like propaganda pieces for the winning side. What they’re saying isn’t exactly untrue, but Gillen’s efforts to detail what really happened makes them more compelling to unpack in that context.
I really wish that I could say that of all the older material Marvel throws in to pad out the page counts in certain collections. That’s because most of the time it feels just like that. Padding. In the case of “A History Written in Blood,” they complement the issues collected here in unexpected and fun ways. While I may have initially been upset that these issues weren’t collected as part of the two proper volumes of “Eternals” the writer did, the way they’re packaged here turned out to be unexpectedly satisfying.