Eternals, Vol. 2: Hail Thanos

Eternals (2021)

by Kieron Gillen (Writer), Esad Ribić (Illustrator)

The Eternals have learned the truth of their existence. Their society is in shambles. Who can lead them? Who is the visionary that can raise them up from the ashes? Hail Thanos…the Mad Titan…Eternal Prime?! After warring with the Deviants for a million years, our Eternals have had enough. They want to end the endless war, to live in peace side-by-side. Unfortunately, the Deviants have other ideas. Meanwhile, to everyone’s surprise, Thanos puts into action a series of sensible policies for the good of all. There is a lie in this solicit. You may be able to spot it.
 
Collects Eternals (2021) #7-12.

Genres: Comics, Marvel, Graphic Novels, Superheroes, Graphic Novels Comics, Fiction, Fantasy

152 pages, Paperback

Published August 23, 2022

About the author

Kieron Gillen is a comic book writer and former media journalist.

Reviews

[˗ˏˋ n a j v a ˊˎ˗ · Rating 4 out of 5]

★★★★½
In a word: Epic!
Ladies and Gents and everyone else, I represent you: Kieron Gillen, my personal favorite Eternals-writer. Loved the storyline, the plot, the action and the graphics. We go from the history of Thanos' parents and how they met to him being the ruler of Olympia and wanting to restore his body, Ajak with the Avengers of the ancient time and her doubting the religion and the whole process to Eternals going to Lemuria, the drama of Phastos and Druig to the EPIC battle in Lemuria and sooo on...
This is undoubtedly the best recently-written Eternals series. I mean... The thrill? goosebumpsing! The action? exciting! The pace? praiseworthy! The art? eye-caressing! The sneaky humor? funny!

Sneaky peak: The Eternals vs. The Avengers was... real good! could be way more vast than it was but generally, enough. Spoiler, spoiler, spoiler, Tony Starks appearance was truly appealing! Not forcing anything, Gillen made a good choice in doing so; so that we enjoy Ironmans humor a bit, here too.

And at last, Judgment Day Is Coming fellows! Can't wait to see more battles of Eternals and Avengers.
such an experience!

[Subham · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was so good omg!

Collecting Eternals 7-12 and the three one shots!

Wow this one is massive like first we see how Thanos came into being, how his father and mother met and its interesting seeing the Eternal history and then a billion years ago what went on with Ajak and we see her questioning her religion in the modern time and something to do with Avengers and then we have the main story with Thanos now the ruler of Olympia and the other Eternals in Lemuria and what it all brings and the drama and conflicts there plus their new mission to save the deviants but Thanos wants Phastos and the battle in Lemuria is just epic!

And then the second part is the history of Uranos and his plans and like the massive conflicts in Eternals history and its certainly out there but does so well to honor Kirby's previous eternals series and ties it well with the Aaaron's Avengers run and all. Some eternals vs Avengers in their celestial base meanwhile some have to prevent the destruction of a town put in danger by Thanos and how they both intersect is epic!

And great revelations from different Eternals POV and an amazing battle! I loved this one and yeah the ending is not the greatest but it sets up Judgement day event pretty well so I am looking forward to it, the art felt meh but anyways a good read and yeah it took some time to finish but it was great!

[Robert · Rating 2 out of 5]

The narration blurbs were a little too precious for my tastes, and the continuous expansion of Eternals Lore beyond sensible bounds didn't help either. The Oceanic Guard, for example? They get referred to a lot but not really shown. Jack of Knives and the Four? Who?


Thanos the Populist.

I don't know if there's to be a third volume, but if there is I doubt I'll bother.

[Corey Allen · Rating 5 out of 5]

THANOS FOR PRESIDENT

[Fraser Simons · Rating 4 out of 5]

Even more enjoyable thank the first volume. This time the threat is much more directly Thanos and trying to find a way to get him out of the Eternal network—only he became Eternal Prime with so many people not on the scene to select someone. Very sneaky. I continue to love the art, though you can tell when he’s rushed, it’s still miles better than the cartoony looking stuff that is the industry default.

[Chris Lemmerman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ikaris and the Eternals, still reeling from the revelation that every time they resurrect, a human dies, head to Lemuria. But Thanos is hot on their tail, and now that he's the Prime Eternal, he can bring the whole weight of Olympia to bear against them. Hail Thanos!

Kieron Gillen is having the time of his life with this book. His super-sarcy inner monologue for The Machine/Earth frames the intricate goings-on in Eternal society nicely, introducing concepts and characters easily that play into everything going on here as well as the big Judgment Day crossover that's on the horizon. He clearly has a vision to flesh out the Eternals in a way that hasn't been attempted in a long time, and it's on display in every issue here.

Esad Ribic returns for most of the art here, before ceding the way to Guiu Vilanova for the last two or so. Trying to chameleon Ribic is always going to be difficult, but Vilanova does a decent job; Matt Wilson remains as colourist though, so that definitely helps things.

Hail Thanos is a beginning and an ending - it's the end of this series, but it's the beginning of something much bigger for the Eternals, whether they like it or not. For us readers though, it's a hell of a ride.

[Alex Sarll]

Through a combination of disenchantment with the status quo, and voters who don't normally vote being motivated to chime in, Thanos has been elected the new leader of the Eternals. Did we know they were a democracy? Fuck it, they are now; it's only the Eternals. Does this feel like quite a 2016 story? Perhaps, but it's not like we've exactly left that period behind us, is it?

Even more than the first volume, this is undoubtedly the best Eternals comic I have ever read, although it can't help reminding me often what a caveat that is; Gillen does his best to give them a distinct role, but when they bump into Starbrand and are described as 'rival planetary defence system' it's a reminder of quite how akwardly overlaid they'll always feel (and come to that, what about POD, who hasn't been mentioned for a while?). And who knows, the third volume might have been better still, but no such thing seems forthcoming, Eternals maintaining its heterological quality by once more expiring before #20. Partly that's because of this feeding into the upcoming Judgment Day event, but despite what the covers suggested, setting up the Eternals versus mutants conflict is more of a late swerve. Looming larger here is a showdown with the Avengers, within which Kingo gets the best scene of his comics career, but is still overshadowed by the only one of the bunch who was ever interesting before, and the one least like her screen incarnation, Sersi. Her 'versus' Namor is a natural pairing, and a joy, even aside from Tony Stark wondering whether Namor exists to make him understand how other men feel about Tony Stark.

[Billy Jepma · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm becoming increasingly convinced that Kieron Gillen was born to write the Eternals. While not as sharp as the first volume, this follow-up maintains all the ambition and intrigue and happily escalates it to another level. This is a big story Gillen is telling, and I'm all in for it. It's dense and bombastic and gleefully weird in all ways you want a Gillen comic book to be. I would recommend reading the three one-shots that I don't believe are included in this collection—Celestia, Thanos Rises, and The Heretic—as these play a significant role in setting the stage for the grander scale this story is building off of and leading toward.

Ribic and Wilson's art continues to be very good, too, in all the ways you expect it would. I will always be distracted by how Ribic occasionally draws faces, but in terms of dramatic images and visual momentum, he's one of the best. This volume also gives the art plenty of opportunities for fun, exciting action, which is a treat and helps ease the burden of all the lore Gillen is working with.

I will confess some hesitance over the idea of an X-Men versus Eternals event since I am rarely a fan of events. Still, it seems like this is something Gillen has had in his head since the beginning, so I'm letting myself be cautiously optimistic. Regardless, I'm eager to see what's in store.

[Dakota Morgan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Just as satisfying as Only Death Is Eternal even though Hail Thanos is a different type of story. I mean, it's right there in the title. In the previous volume, we're meeting Eternals, doing detective work, and trying to defeat a rampaging Thanos. Now, the detective work is complete but, uhhhh, somehow Thanos got elected as Prime Eternal. So it's a political thriller!

There's more, of course. The main batch of Eternals must gain Celestial knowledge to undo Thanos' plans, so they break into Avengers tower. They also uncover (theoretically) huge knowledge about the roles that Eternals and Deviants play. Druig is pulling Thanos' strings (or trying) and Thanos is attempting to resurrect himself into a healthier body via the Machine. Hail Thanos continues to be cleverly narrated by that same Machine, though I'm not sure why the Machine's quirky attitude remains after it's been rebooted.

I've been thrilled with Kieron Gillen's work on the Eternals and am sad, sad, sad to see that this is the final volume of the run. But it does very neatly set up the next big Marvel event with the Eternals vs. the Mutants. Bring it on.

[Tyler Jenkins · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another fantastic read. The stuff with Thanos and his search for restoring his body is very interesting and the morals of the Eternals expands quite a bit. And of course the moment I was waiting for us uttered in the final page of the last issue. The first hint at the Judgement Day event. The Earth as the narrator is much better not that it’s healed and not about to die. The Eternals get in a surprisingly well matched fight with Avengers which makes for a good look at how this event starting next week will go down. I’m excited to see how matched it is with more Eternal players and the X-Men at play.

[Guilherme Smee · Rating 5 out of 5]

Não é por acaso que hoje em dia, talvez Kieron Gillen seja um dos principais roteiristas da Casa das Ideias. Além de ter a verve inglesa dos quadrinhos, ele também consegue pegar alguns personagem que a maioria das pessoas desconhece ou não dá importância e insuflar eles com características e vontades únicas. É o que ele faz aqui nesta série dos Eternos. Neste segundo volume, ao lado de Esad Ribic e outros artistas, Gillen acrescenta um elemento que desanda anda mais a receita: Thanos. Isso leva os Eternos a entrarem em uma rota de colisão com os Vingadores, cujo Quartel-General se encontra na carcaça de um Celestial, criatuaras que os Eternos cosnideram como deuses, responsáveis por sua criação e propósito. Nesta série, os Eternos estão seguindo a máxima dos plots alanmoorianos de que tudo que os personagens sabiam sobre si mesmos era uma mentira. E isso é ótimo. Os Eternos, ao lado dos Vingadores e dos X-Men estarão no centro da próxima megassaga da Marvel, O Juízo Final, em que a máxima alanmooriana será evidenciada ainda mais ao colocar as três equipes em contato.

[jorge · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow, this was so much more entertaining than the first volume. I love the infographic pages detailing Eternal lore. The internal strife and politics with the Eternals was ever omnipresent as well as their eternal conundrum with the Deviants. What differentiated this volume from the first was the election of Thanos as Prime Eternal and the revelation of a being more colossal and sadistic than Thanos himself. The battle with the Avengers and Eternals was also cool to see but it sucks how the Eternals are so nerfed. I mean, they’re literally god-like beings. Overall, I’m rating this as 5 stars because I was not ever bored reading this volume.

[Brandon Daniels · Rating 4 out of 5]

This run continues to impress, and it looks to be getting even more interesting as this arc starts to set up the next big Marvel event, pitting the Eternals against the mutants while adding some interesting wrinkles into their lore. Special credit to Matt Wilson for adding cohesiveness to quite a variety of artists. And RIP to Ryan Bodenheim, one of my favorites, who did the Heretic issue.

[Adam Williams · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another good volume, with mostly the same notes. Gillen's script is fun, and Esad Ribić on art conveys both a mythological gravitas, but at the same time creating a little too much coldness in the Eternals. I liked the story but still mostly don't care about any of these characters, which is a little strange. But there's a draw to mythological storytelling that still compels me to probably check out some older Eternals stories at some point.

[James · Rating 4 out of 5]

Manipulation of an election and the winner can't get what he wants. Life is cheap. Evolution on a different scale. I like the charts that are spread out in the book that bring all the information together.

[Jackson Androski · Rating 3 out of 5]

I loved the political aspect of the eternals

[Shannon Appelcline · Rating 5 out of 5]

One volume in, I feel like I've come to accept the decisions underlying this new volume of the Eternals (lots of captioning, move-character looks, etc) and I *love* them. This is a terrific volume that builds on the twist that ended V1, has hilarious and exciting sequences, offers some great and surprising plot twists along the way, and then offers some big twists at the end which one more go to the core of who the Eternals (and the Deviants) are.

I'm come to enjoy these enough that I'd like to add them to my collection (after borrowing the originals from the library), so I hope the series is doing well enough that Marvel adds them to their HC/Deluxe series.

[Chad · Rating 4 out of 5]

More bad news for the Eternals. They just found out that a human dies every time an Eternal is resurrected. Now Thanos has taken over as the Prime Eternal. Then the Eternals have to sneak into Avengers Mountain to talk to the dead Celestial the Avengers are holed up in. The last 3 issues are the lead-up to the conflict to come in Judgement Day.

I liked this volume of Eternals much better than the first one. The writing is more straight forward. Gillen seems to be having a blast making the Eternals whatever he wants it to be, with lots of strange stuff.

[Jason · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've come to enjoy this book. The story has become compelling, and I am coming to know the characters. Although more characterization in general would be even better. Thanos helped. A known character helped to contrast and know the other characters better.

[Ross · Rating 2 out of 5]

(before we begin, yes, this collects issues #7-12 (the end of the series). This DOESN'T include this one-shots for some reason. Those are in a separate collection. Anyway...)

Something about this series doesn't sit right. I don't know if it's the portrayal of the Eternals as helpless programmed cogs in a Celestial experiment or if it's the feeling of the Eternals being Marvel's next big 'project' like the Inhumans. Both seem like they were broken down to their base structure and then rebuilt to be brooding, over contemplative versions of themselves. Is that what comics have come to? Is that where they belong? I don't know...I just feel like IvX (Inhumans vs X-Men) will have been a primer for AxE (Avengers vs Eternals).

But..
back to the story !!

Thanos, thought dead....was brought back by the Eternal, Phastos. (a boneheaded move, even if his heart was in the right place). Thanos likes to rule things. That rule is usually bloody, intense, and messy. Imagine the mess if Eternals keep getting resurrected (with a new catch that makes their immortality problematic.)

Thanos goes on a spree of killing and ruling that pretty much keeps him on the charts as the #1 villain in Marvel. The Eternals do....Eternal stuff (which in these books is a LOT of lying and half-truths. Didn't I say this sounded like an Inhuman series?) and save the day. Huzzah for the 'good guys'!! Even in victory they might have lost much in the end.

Bonus: Check out the art critique by Thanos.
Bonus Bonus: hahaha. Excessive Deviation Detected....

[Sandra · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ikaris und seine Eternals, die noch immer von der Enthüllung aus dem ersten Band erschüttert sind, dass bei jeder ihrer Wiederauferstehung ein Mensch stirbt, machen sich auf den Weg nach Lemuria. Aber Thanos ist ihnen dicht auf den Fersen, und jetzt, da er der Prime Eternal ist, will er natürlich alles vernichten.

Kieron Gillen hat mit diesem Buch die Zeit seines Lebens. Sein innerer Monolog der Maschine/Erde umrahmt das komplizierte Treiben in der Eternal-Gesellschaft sehr gut und führt Konzepte und Charaktere ein, die sowohl in das hiesige Geschehen als auch in das große Judgment Day-Crossover hineinspielen. Er hat eindeutig das Bestreben, die Eternals auf eine Art und Weise darzustellen, wie es schon lange nicht mehr gab, und das ist auf jeder Seite zu sehen.

Esad Ribic ist auch hier wieder für den größten Teil der Zeichnungen verantwortlich, ein kleiner Teil hat Guiu Vilanova übernommen, was meiner Meinung nach nicht gut zu Ribics Artwork gepasst hat. Wilsons Kolorierung ist allerdings wie immer makellos.

Ich muss gestehen, dass ich bei dem Gedanken an ein X-Men-gegen-Eternals-gegen-Avengers-Events eher zögerlich bin, da ich eher kein Fan von Events bin. Dennoch scheint es, als hätte Gillen diese Idee von Anfang an im Kopf gehabt, also bin ich vorsichtig optimistisch. Ich bin auf jeden Fall gespannt auf das, was uns bevorsteht.

[Michael Church · Rating 3 out of 5]

Like the first volume, I enjoyed this a lot more than I expected to. It was a slightly jarring transition since it was set up to pick right up from the previous issue, but it didn’t exactly match up.

The main plot contrivance, that the Eternals decide to sneak into Avengers Mountain, is a little strange. I think they could’ve asked to just do what they needed to, and probably kept their findings secret without needing to start this conflict. But comics are going to comics I guess.

I like the core of the story being told, about the relationship between the Eternals and Earth and evolution in general. The ending to lead into AXE feels a little forced, but it could have been worse. It does make me wonder how they’re going to bridge the gap from where this volume ended and where AXE goes.

The art was in keeping with the first volume. It kind of astounds me that Esad Ribic used to be such an exciting artist for me. There’s still a great quality to his art, but there’s also a serious inconsistency with some of it. One panel made Carol Danvers look about 90 years old. I think it’s partially because the eyes don’t have pupils sometimes? It works sometimes, but when it doesn’t, it really doesn’t.

[Camilo Guerra · Rating 3 out of 5]

Los eternos quieren cambiar, pero...¿tanto cambio es Bueno? , si parte de ese cambio es confiar tu raza a uno de los peores enemigos del Universo, probablemente no.

LO BUENO: El concepto del cambio, Lemuria y los desviantes son un gran concepto, y la historia de Thena y el amor, es muy buena, se siente real , mientras que la amenaza de Thanos crece y crece , con actos de villania que dan miedo y es que así deben ser los villanos( las múltiples ejecuciones de sus padres , son un detalle !!!), y lo que es Druig, es un personaje que le debe gustar escribir a cualquiera, tiene momentos de asco y de genialidad a partes iguales y, Esad Ribic un genio ,su arte es inconmesurable como siempre, amo su Ikaris pensativo y triste , sus visiones de los desviantes...casi todo lo que hace.

LO MALO: Esad Ribic es muy bueno, y Esad Ribic con tiempo es genial, mientas Esad Ribic en una serie mensual no da lo mejor que puede, y este es el caso, sin ser malo, no esta al nivel de majestuasidad de los primeros números. La derrota de Thanos es rápida y le falta emoción, algo mas de sangre y huesos rotos..

[Rick Ray · Rating 2 out of 5]

A little less lean than the first volume, and overly narration heavy in a way that only detracts. I like that Gillen wants to contribute a lot of ideas to the lore behind Kirby's later career creations, but c'mon man you gotta ease us in a bit more. The many concepts like the Prime Eternal selection protocols and internal politicking is pretty intruging stuff, but it's mired by the overly verbose captions. The artwork by Esad Ribic also feels a bit more uneven in this volume, and I genuinely adore most of his work. I respect the ambitious scope of Gillen's & Ribic's Eternals run, but I just don't feel like the execution landed all the way through the twelve issues. Still interested in checking out what Gillen cooked up with A.X.E.: Judgement Day which I should be reading in the coming months now.

[JCRD]

Kieron Gillen cada vez más en mi equipo.

Estoy disfrutando de esta serie bastante más de lo que esperaba, ya que tengo cero conexión con estos personajes (excepto por la peli), pero Gillen se esfuerza en mostrar el mogollón de ideas y conceptos interesantes que hay por explotar y en volverlos personajes relevantes dentro del panteón Marvel. Su forma de escribir a Thanos es la hostia, encima.

El dibujo hay veces que falla en las caras, pero eso es lo de menos. El trabajo de Esad Ribić en la mayoría de páginas es fantástico y algo muy único en el mundillo, y ya con el color de Matt Wilson es irresistible.

Quién me iba a decir hace unos años que iba a leer a los Eternos más o menos al día, todo gracias a la peli y a poner a alguien de la talla de Guillen a escribirlos.

[Clint · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 stars
An exciting grand finale that wraps up the conflict with Thanos in unexpected but fitting ways, and leaves the status quo in a precarious state leading into the Judgment Day crossover event (the first one of those I’m looking forward to checking out in a while). Ribic’s art continues to look amazing here.

“Art can be eternal, but it need not be. My art is transitory, beautiful, and awful, like life.”

“Tolau tried with his art and has misgivings. He can see nothing but flaws, something which his muse lacks. There is no perfection here, just a few tricks plastered over fatal flaws.”

[Rocky Sunico · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love Kieron Gillen stuff and I love Kieron Gillen writing about godlike beings. But maybe the stories of the Eternals are a bit too convoluted even for him. This book was interesting enough and tried to give a more substantial explanation for the whole Eternals vs Deviants relationship to still serve some greater (read: Celestial) purpose in the longer term.

Stressing Thanos being of both Eternal and Deviant lineage was also interesting as it was a key story driver and helped things along. But it was still a bit odd to have him in the mix of things (including joining the Uni-Mind!) but hey it's a story!

[Craig · Rating 2 out of 5]

I actually thought this was kind of dull. Was expecting more after the previous volume/story arc. Having the Earth itself narrate things in a snarky tone of voice falls completely flat. Much of the machinations concerning how Thanos comes to be Prime Eternal are drawn out and boring. His eventual fall seems far too easy. Esad Ribic's art is decent (though he can't draw a convincing face for the life of him), but the two issues featuring Guiu Villanova are risibly terrible. And this was all primarily table-setting for the big X-Men vs. Eternals story still to come.

[Daniel Centeno · Rating 3 out of 5]

Peca de los mismos vicios que su volumen predecesor, sin tener la intensidad dramática-emotiva de este. Sin embargo, las micro-historias del Desviante artista y Thena, por ejemplo, o la aparición de la madre del niño al final... calan hondo emocionalmente, incluso cuando la historia del artista y Thena no tuvo suficiente planteamiento o desarrollo para ganarse el puñetazo que regala con su desenlace. Este volumen representa muy bien toda esta etapa de los Eternos: momentos intensos, no necesariamente ganados por la historia, en un mar de caos y sin sentido.

[Vladimír · Rating 4 out of 5]

Politický úvod bol skvelý. Dal by sa označiť ako - Ak sa nezaujímaš o voľby, môžu ti ich výsledky vytrieť zrak! Thanos je stále bezkonkurenčný a páči sa mi, že ani na moment nezaváhal a stále si ide svoju megalomansko-tyranskú rutinu. Eternals stále pozerajú na Avengers ako na partiu školáčikov - a je to strašne vtipné. Rovnako ako komentáre "hlavnej mašiny". Gillen to uchopil skvele a vo výsledku sú tu solídne základy pre Jugdment day.