A Dally With Deviance in Eternals #3

Thena’s questionable dating history gets scrutinized, but the Eternals are no closer to finding the traitor in Eternals #3, written again by Kieron Gillen, art by Esad Ribić, colors by Matthew Wilson, with VC’s Clayton Cowles doing the lettering and design.

Zoe Tunnell: WHO KILLED THE PRIME ETERNAL??? Three issues in and I still don’t have a damn clue, but if Eternals keeps putting out bangers like Eternals #3 I’m not sure I mind too much. What a book. We finally got to the Deviant fireworks factory this issue Karen, how did you find it?

Karen Charm: This is my favorite issue so far, I really really loved it. The relaunch has been exciting and fun to read, but here is where it really gets into my skin. I think I remember reading Kieron Gillen say somewhere how much he loved Thena, and it is very clear from this issue as she makes her debut. That this growing murder mystery just continues to add dimensions… something quite spectacular is building here. We should get to talking about it, otherwise I’ll just ramble on.

No Scrubs

KC: The issue opens with SCANDAL as Thena wakes up in the bed of some Deviant other than my beloved Kro. I won’t lie, I was a little shook right from the start, but I was able to gather myself as I read on. Esad Ribić and Matthew Wilson provide some truly spectacular views as Thena steps onto the balcony to look upon Lemuria, the Deviant city (I adore this splash page, the moody architecture stacked up in the horizon). Whereas Ikaris is an “arrow” and Sersi is “complicated,” Thena is described as “the book and the blade,” a warrior who is presented here as having an open heart and tragic taste in partners.

For those keeping up with “Kro Watch,” he doesn’t actually appear in this issue besides the mention of his name. That doesn’t mean his presence isn’t felt. It looks like Gillen is taking the illicit romance between Thena and Kro and spinning it out to something of a character trait for the expat Eternal – while he may not be the only Deviant that Thena has or will ever love, he seems to be the template. But like I said, he’s not in this issue, so let’s focus back on Thena. She looks great here. I know you’re also a big fan of this character, what did you think of Thena’s introduction?

ZT: This issue honestly the most I’ve ever liked her. And I’ve liked her just fine before! Past takes on Thena, to me, have relied much harder on the Warrior Woman aspect of her than anything else and it is nice to see Gillen play a different angle. The reason Thena, across multiple incarnations, is the one who constantly forms familial bonds with humans and deviants alike is…that’s just who she is, and always has been. Sersi schemes, Ikaris fights, and Thena loves. It doesn’t take away from her competence or stature in the slightest (the brief sigh of annoyance she has before casually plucking Kingo out of the sky was incredible) and really gives her a new and exciting niche in the pantheon while still remaining firmly Thena.

One of the other big moments of these early pages, which I’m sure you loved as much as I did, was Gillen REALLY going hard on Deviants as more than just the Eternals’ mortal foes. The big splash page where Gillen spits out hundreds of different Deviant names (tag yourself, I’m Snowpotato) was such a fun bit of world building while also being a legitimately well played gag thanks to Cowles’ absurdly sharp lettering and design.

KC: Oh boy, that Deviant list hit like a ton of bricks haha – I’m torn between “Poisonlove” and “Slugmax.” But yeah, I really respond positively to Gillen making Thena’s affinity for the Changing People a believable motivation for the character. Her Eternal cousins have come to find her after the Machine recorded her having a disagreement with Zuras just before his death. She was telling her father that rather than just seek out monsters and “correct excess deviation” like we’ve seen Ikaris do, she wanted to go to Lemuria to work with the Deviants directly. We’re reminded of the context that, after the recent events in Avengers, that the Eternals are somewhat adrift in their purpose, and Thena is setting out to chart her own destiny. Zuras doesn’t warm to the idea, and she storms off vowing to kill the Prime Eternal. Sersi, Kingo, and Sprite can be forgiven for finding this evidence a little incriminating.

ZT: The moment where Thena is confronted with this and just completely no-sells it because an Eternal threatening death on another Eternal is one of the most toothless things they can imagine was just such a fun little character beat for her. Ribić sells her immediate shock and resolve after learning The Machine is broken so well, you can see a little glimmer behind the stern leadership that points to Thena thinking maybe she does have a chance to make things different for the first time in her so-very-long life.

KC: Speaking of that long life, we get another flashback fairy tale corner to some 100,000 years ago when Sersi sat Thena down again about another loser boyfriend. Besides the joy of getting to see both characters in their more classic costumes, I love how this draws out the difference between the two characters. Thena is quick to point out how Sersi has her own thing with humans, but Sersi’s approach is much more cynical. She cops to a “weakness of character,” and admits that humans are fun for the night, but really don’t last much longer than that. Thena, on the other hand, really feels it, and you know, I want to listen to a singer-songwriter album that she surely has to have written at some point. This website is no stranger to Taylor Swift, but I just know that Thena can pen a heartbreaking ballad and I would like to hear it.

In this case, Sersi is right – Thena’s boyfriend is a murderous loser. However, I can’t help but find the truth in Thena’s earnest hope. Have I said how much I love this issue?

ZT: It’s a really good issue, is the thing.

Negged by an Alien

ZT: Picking back up where we last left Ikaris, he has now graduated from hovering outside of a teenager’s window to hanging right in the middle of the street outside of his house. I loved this whole sequence, as it managed to walk the line between genuinely funny while also establishing just how weird and distinct the Eternals are from other Marvel superheroes. The Robson family, Ikaris’ somewhat reluctant hosts, live in New York so they’re no strangers to weird superhero madness. But even with that built in tolerance, the buff, weirdly silent guy floating outside their front door saying he is there to protect their son throws them for a loop. But hey, at least he likes coffee.

KC: Now that more characters have joined the book, Ikaris is back to being the most boring Eternal. That doesn’t mean he’s as boring as he used to be, of course, as I still find him quite endearing in his blunt demeanor. His interaction with the bewildered yet polite family was pretty great, just blurting things out like how he sees nothing special about Toby. His mom had me chuckling with her line about surfers (don’t trust ‘em).

My main take-away from this scene was Gillen taking a swing at the common predicament of superheroes causing as much if not more destruction as they try to stop. The Robson’s make this plain – if Ikaris is there because he feels responsible for the danger Toby’s in, how does the Eternal know he won’t be culpable if and when it occurs? This echoes last issue’s story about the other boy Ikaris tried to save, so whatever hope for a happy ending I may have had at the time is fading quickly. You did try to warn me, Zoe. I’m intrigued, nonetheless.

ZT: Gillen never met a heart he couldn’t break, my friend. The big question mark I have with the Ikaris-Toby plotline is just how Gillen is going to get us all the way to Ikaris, who is particularly stiff and passion-free outside of combat in this incarnation, being tormented over Toby’s grave. It’s a hell of a narrative shot to call, as far as telling readers to expect the emotional weight there to pay off, and thus far I really don’t see where Gillen is going with the two of them. Not that that’s a bad thing, I am always happy when a book can keep me guessing, and Ikaris drinking coffee and dunking on the Silver Surfer for using a cosmic surfboard to fly is good readin’ in the meantime.

KC: Absolutely. And how this fits in with the Thanos plot remains just as mysterious…

Something Rotten in Polaria

KC: While Ikaris is getting to know the Robsons, Sersi receives a call from Druig back in Lemuria. This was my other laugh-out-loud moment, when Sersi puts him on telepathic speaker phone and, when asked if she’s alone, she responds in the most existential way possible. Druig, the snake, has returned home to Polaria where he finds… more dead Eternals. Woopsy.

ZT: The ending here felt like a bit of a misstep for me! Not the killing of most of the Polarian Eternals, that’s fine, but the specific framing of Druig revealing their death and then getting another page realizing he is now a suspect in these serial killings. It felt like a big DUN-DUN-DUNNNN dramatic reveal but went just a hair too long to have the proper impact. Ultimately a minor complaint, really, as either way we are left with Druig now standing as one of the most powerful Eternals on the planet. Not great! For everyone! Except Druig, I suppose.

KC: The way Druig relays the information to the others is really curious, isn’t it? He starts by saying that his father Valkin is “unwell” before saying that everyone has been slaughtered in a “bloodbath.” You started this article wondering who was killing the Eternals, and while the comic is telling us that Thanos is, we still haven’t actually seen him in the act. Just like with Thena, Druig, Sprite, and even Ikaris, we just have a series of people being caught in incriminating circumstances. It’s starting to feel very Clue to me, with Gillen always several steps ahead of the reader’s guessing. Personally, I’m riveted.

(Pause to note how gorgeous the coloring is again on this splash page, with the light pouring in from a gap in the ceiling. Polaria looks like a Zelda dungeon and I love it.)

ZT: Ribić has been on fire since issue one but this issue was especially gorgeous, for me. Lemuria as the big pseudo-steampunk inspired city of towers and airships is such a fun take and his version of Thena is…Very Good, to my deeply lesbian eyes.

Like you said, this is the issue where things start to feel like an actual mystery rather than just a chase to stop Thanos, and I’m a big fan. The Eternals are dying, for the first time in history, and both the reader and the surviving members of the team are slowly realizing they have no idea what comes next. That’s a book I’m excited to read every month.

KC: I’ve never played Among Us, but I feel like this is what that game is like. We’ve already been won over by how Gillen and Ribić have reinvigorated these characters, and for the actual story to be this good already, on the third issue, it’s a truly wonderful feeling. I’m so glad that it looks like Sersi and Thena will be leading most of the action, those are adventures I want to see. And hey, the month-long wait between issues is even starting to feel more manageable after those long patience periods. Everything’s coming up Eternals!

Marvelous Musings

Thena, I am looking respectfully.
Thena, I am looking disrespectfully.
(Zoe said that one)
We didn’t talk much about her, but Sprite continues to be very adorable throughout.
Kingo being way into ninjas because he played one once is REAL FUN. Believe it!
I tried to find Karkas and Ransak’s names in the data pages but… there are just so many Deviants.