Eternity #2 Review

Eternity #2

Writer: Matt Kindt
Artist: Trevor Hairsine
Inker: Ryan Winn
Colourist: David Baron
Publisher: Valiant

A review by Josh Rose

Eternity #2 is a story about the origins of the godlike cosmonauts, Abram and Myshka. On their way to retrieve their son who was kidnapped by the Brothers of the Bomb, they find themselves back where they first got their powers. And it’s a place full of wonder and fantastic characters. During their search for their son, they learn that he was taken from the Brothers by someone called Krakor.

Eternity #1 set the stage and introduced a world that was an homage to Jack Kirby in its style and other-worldliness. Eternity #2 takes Abram Adams and dives deep into this new world. The society and complexities of the Unknown are completely new and different compared to Kirby’s Fourth World of New Genesis and Apokalypse. It still has a theme of duality, but it isn’t black and white, good and evil. It’s destiny, choice, and the edge in-between. And, lost in it all, is the mystery of who killed the Observer.

Something that has been constant throughout the Divinity series is the theme of stories and books. The first volume of Divinity talked about how science fiction novels inspired Abram, and he even refers to his own life as a book. In Divinity II, Abrams talks to Myshka about a book they read in school, and even some of the panels were designed to look like pages being flipped. The Observer’s platform in Eternity #2 is designed to look like a book, and Myshka comments that the world of the Unknown looks like different pages in the most fantastic book.

I thought that things were huge last issue. The more I read, the more I realized just what a huge scale this whole world is on. Alongside the grand scale of the Unknown, is all of the fantastic characters and their settings. I love the design for the sputnik, inspired Brothers of the Bomb and the City of the Golden Virus.

Some people must look at David Baron’s colours and think that Kindt told him to go wild. Each colour change in the background tells us we are in a new place. One minute we are in the City of the Golden Virus (which has a lot of yellow), the next we are on the Future Light God Platform looking up into a purple sky. The transition of purple to blue as Abram and Myshka descend into the Forest of the Fumes is particularly fantastic.

The Verdict: Buy it!

Eternity #2 continues the adventure into the Unknown. While inspired by Jack Kirby, this book takes on a life of its own. The plot thickens and the mystery deepens. Who killed the Observer? This series is a slow burn so far and that is great. We need time to get to know the cast and setting before the action can really get rolling.