The New Teen Titans #8 (June 1981)

The superhero life is one that is full of adventure and danger. But even superheroes have downtime, time to relax, time to heal both in mind and body. After all, if anyone deserves to have some nice downtime every now and often, it's the superhero. The New Teen Titans were no exception. These young heroes may have lives full of action, but even they had quiet moments, times where their stories could concentrate on their character growth. And one of the most famous of those times was the comic we are looking at today: New Teen Titans #8.

I wanted to look at this comic as I thought it would be nice to review one that was less about action and more about character development and enjoying a bit of time as just regular civilians. Also, it has been a while since a DC comic graced this blog. So, let's look at New Teen Titans #8!

The cover is a George Perez piece. And naturally, it's pretty epic. It depicts members of the titular group going about their day, engaging in various activities. I am amused by the stars with the heads of the Titans members on them at the top. 

"A Day in the Lives..."
Writer: Marv Wolfman
Penciler: George Perez
Inker: Romeo Tanghal
Colorist: Adrienne Roy
Letterer: Ben Oda
Editor: Len Wein
Executive Editor: Joe Orlando

The story begins with Starfire flying over the city. The alien princess is enjoying the warm weather, as it reminds her of the tropical climate of her homeworld of Tamaran. She's not just flying around for the heck of it. She's on her way to meet her friend and fellow Titan Donna "Wonder Girl" Troy for lunch. As she lands, she thinks on the concept of the secret identity. It's kind of hilarious that Starfire expresses confusion over the concept considering that Donna doesn't wear a mask or do anything to really hide her identity.

Anyway, Donna herself is hard at work. 

"Don't strangle the model, Donna. Remember last time?"

Donna Troy works as a photographer, and she's doing some photos for a Golden Jeans advertisement. One of the models is having a bit of trouble, and it's giving the Amazon a headache. The head of the jeans company is infuriated with Donna's photos, as he thinks they're making a model he likes look bad. A man named Carl tries to tell the jeans company man that the model is not right for the job, and Donna knows what she's doing when it comes to photography. But before a potential fight can break out, Starfire arrives.

"Who is this Annoying Orange? Everyone says I look like it."

The head of Golden Jeans, goes all a-gaga for the orange-skinned beauty. 

Donna and Kory leave. The two head to a restaurant, where a man calls out to her. Donna introduces Kory to him. His name is Terry Long. At Titans Tower, Dick Grayson heads out. He has duties at the old circus he used to work at, not to mention Gotham. Raven decides to use her soul-self to explore Manhattan University. Her being in the place called Azarath for many years has left her ill-prepared to deal with the outside world. Attending the university would be potentially a good way to help her learn and maybe even make some new friends outside of the Titans. Thing is, in the superhero tradition, a hostage situation has broken out on this day at the university. 

"By the way, what point are we making here?"

Raven easily takes care of the wannabe-revolutionaries, saves the hostages, and takes care of the bombs. However, her soul-self has been out of her body too long, and she starts to seemingly lose it.

Raven learned the hard way to never eat Starfire's cooking.

Yeah, her mind is undergoing the Dave Bowman treatment.

We then start an interlude. A man and his young grandson are heading to a toy store, where they notice a free toy giveaway. The man is a Jeremy Thornton, and it turns out he was invited to collect a free puppet. The toy store is hoping that if he and other prominent citizens spread the word about the store, it'll get more customers. Unknown to Thornton and his young grandson, they are being watched...and they are very pleased with the Thorntons accepting the free puppet. Yeah, this totally is not going to lead to something horrible.

We next go to the corner of 11th Avenue and 44th Street. It's a poverty-stricken area, and it's also where Cyborg of the Teen Titans lives. Here, Beast Boy tries to convince Cyborg to move to somewhere better. After all, he's inherited a nice little nest egg. He could even move into the Tower itself if he wanted to. Thing is, since his father Silas died, Victor Stone has been doing some thinking. He hated his dad for a long time for giving him his cybernetic implants, even though Silas did it to save his life. But the two managed to reconcile, so Victor has made peace with it. He's trying to figure out what to do with himself. They get a call for Beast Boy.

It's Vernon Questor, the business manager for Dayton Industries. Dayton is the company that Beast Boy's stepfather Steve Dayton (Mento of the Doom Patrol) runs. He informs the two Titans that two board members of the company have been shot in two days. He suspects foul play as it's way too obvious that it is.

Beast Boy heads home, but not before scaring off some carjackers by becoming a rhino. Cyborg goes to visit his former girlfriend Marcy Reynolds. She had not seen him since the accident that resulted in him becoming Cyborg. The reunion is not a happy one, as Marcy is disturbed by his cybernetics, and he tells him her parents didn't want her seeing him again. 

A depressed Victor heads to the park, where he thinks about how his time with the Titans had made him forget how different he was. He's not sure what to do with himself, as he can't spend his whole life being a superhero, but he can't go back to being an athlete either. He gets conked on the head with a baseball, and a kid asks for it back. He gives it back, causing the kid to see his shiny cybernetics. He worries the kid will freak out, but it turns out the kid finds it pretty cool. Because he's got such an arm himself.

"I wanted a gold arm, but got stuck with the pink one." 

The kid was part of a special school for kids who have prosthetics themselves. The school helps them adjust to them and live normal lives. Cyborg also meets their teacher, the lovely Sarah Simms. The kids want Cyborg to play some ball with them, and he happily agrees. 

Meanwhile, back in Titans Tower, Raven is going on a trip. And not the fun kind of trip. She finds her soul-self traveling through various domains and dimensions, seeing monsters, searing heat, freezing cold, being pounded by sand from a giant hourglass.

In Blue Valley, Nebraska, Wally West (aka Kid Flash) is discussing his plans for the future with his father. He wants to go to college, but he also enjoys the superhero gig. His father suggests that he can do both. Wally agrees that it is possible, but he isn't sure if he should do both. After all, he never asked to get superpowers. After cleaning his costume, his mother tells him that she does worry about him being a superhero, but she's also seen an upside: It's matured him. It's allowed him to grow into a upstanding young man. The family sits down to dinner, and Wally's dad invites him to cut the turkey. After all, it's traditionally done by the man of the house.

Back in Titans Tower, Raven has a bit of a revelation about the horrors she is experiencing. She realizes that these demons are actually her own inner demons, seeking to keep her mind and soul separate. They represent her own fears and anxieties.

Armed with this new insight, she pushes on and fully unites her body and soul. Raven feels proud and stronger now. 

"I AM RAVEN, HEAR ME CAW!"

Elsewhere, Donna is doing an impromptu photoshoot with Starfire as the subject. The alien princess asks how Donna and Terry met, as the Amazon never mentioned him before. Terry explains that they met about a year earlier, not long after his divorce. And he's aware of her being an alien. Considering that she has bright orange skin, solid green eyes, and makes no effort to hide any of it, I think anyone with half a brain would notice she's not from Earth.

Starfire notices the birds in the sky and gets inspired to take flight. She enjoys being in the air and reflects on how much she loves living on Earth. She spots a wild horse and carriage on the rampage in the park and is able to stop it. She decides to go visit Dick Grayson in Gotham. 

That night, Jeremy Thornton tucks his grandson into bed. He retires to another room, where he plans to finish up some reports and then take a bath. He hears a noise and thinks it's his grandson, but it's actually something much more surprisingly deadly. The puppet shoots the man, and evil laughter erupts from it.

I really enjoyed this comic. What's fun about it is that it's a character-focused comic. I did wish we got to see some development for Dick and Garfield, though. Dick basically just cameoed, and Garfield's scenes were there just to interact with Cyborg and set up a storyline. But still, the characters that actually managed to get some focus here get glimpses into their character. Raven's struggles with her powers, Wally's struggles with balancing superhero life with the civilian life, Donna's dealing with her civilian job, and Victor's finding kinship with a group of kids with prosthetics themselves. My favorite scene had to be Cyborg's meeting the class. That was very heartwarming. There's a wonderful balance of character and action in this comic. 

If you've read this blog, you may know exactly what I think of George Perez's art. I don't think I really need to go into it much further here. Yes, it's not as evolved as his later work in Avengers, but it's still a joy to look at. 

If you really want to read this for yourself, I recommend tracking down the 2014 trade paperback The New Teen Titans Vol. 1. Thanks for reading this blog entry! If you liked it, show it off! Take care of yourselves and each other! Stay safe, stay healthy, stay home, wash your hands often, wear a mask, and get your vaccine/booster! See you next time!

Galactus The Devourer #1 (September 1999)

The cosmos of the Marvel Universe is vast and wonderous. But it also has its fair share of things that would send shivers down one's spine. One of those horrors is a being that has been described as a force of nature, an unstoppable being the gains its sustenance from devouring planets. He is a being known by many names, but for the people of the Marvel Universe's Earth, he is known simply as Galactus.

Galactus first appeared in Fantastic Four #48 (March 1966), created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby. This comic would be the first issue of a three-issue storyline called "The Galactus Trilogy". The two wanted to create a new villain for the FF that didn't quite fit the standard mold of the supervillain. They decided on having his motivation for consuming worlds not be anything malicious, but due to a never-ending hunger for life energies. Kirby would draw inspiration from Biblical imagery to not just develop Galactus, but the concept of a herald for him: A being that would find worlds for Galactus to consume. The most famous character to hold that role would be an astronomer-turned-Sentinel of the Spaceways named Norrin Radd. You may know him more as the Silver Surfer. 

Despite Galactus not being intended to appear again after "The Galactus Trilogy", the character would go on to be a mainstay of the cosmos of the Marvel Universe. The Silver Surfer would also go on to have numerous adventures of his own, mainly because the character was a personal favorite of Stan Lee's. 

The comic we're looking at here is the first issue of a six-issue 1999-2000 miniseries called Galactus the Devourer. Louise Simonson, the writer of the miniseries, had originally intended to have taken place in the Silver Surfer's solo title at the time. The thing was, that series was cancelled due to low sales. In response, Simonson proposed that the story be told in a separate miniseries. The proposal was a bit "radical" due to its exploration of the importance of Galactus to the universe itself, which led to her fearing that Marvel would turn it down. Marvel not only greenlit the proposal, but she would also be paired with legendary artist John Buscema for most of it (He did not draw the first issue). This miniseries would be one of his final works with Marvel before his death in 2002.

The Surfer was not an unfamiliar character to Buscema. He did the art duties for Stan Lee's graphic novel Silver Surfer: Judgment Day (October 1988) which focused on a clash between the titular character and Marvel's resident Satan analogue: Mephisto. So, with that out of the way, let's look at Galactus the Devourer #1!

The cover is a John Buscema piece. It's really cool. It depicts the Silver Surfer, Iron Man and Thor of the Avengers alongside the Thing and the Human Torch of the Fantastic Four facing off against Galactus. Galactus is positioned right in the center of the cover and shrouded in shadow. It helps give the world-eater a menacing air, which really fits. 

"Hunger!"
Writer: Louise Simonson
Penciler: Jon J. Muth
Inker: Bill Sienkiewicz
Colorist: Christie Scheele
Letterers: Richard Starkings, Comicraft
Editors: Bobbie Chase, Brian Smith 
Editor-in-Chief: Bob Harras 

The story begins with the arrival of the titular world-eater on an alien planet. The narration talks about how many of the sentient races of the universe have their own legends and myths about Galactus. Some see him as a farmer, others as a wrathful god. Some even view him as a pest. Galactus will give these myths new meaning as he consumes a world. Those who are able to flee this world, their fates to tell others and contribute to the legends. 

The scene then shifts to Earth, a planet that is no stranger to the World-Eater. 

"Watch it! I paid good money for this load of books!"

These workmen are helping move some statues for a local artist: Alicia Masters. The pulley breaks, causing a large statue to fall towards some of the workmen. Luckily, these men will be saved today thanks to a certain metal-skinned sentinel of the spaceways. 

"Good thing you didn't mention you had two days till retirement, Jim."

The workmen are grateful for the save. After all, they usually had the help of the Thing to lug this stuff. At this point, they weren't together anymore. In a nice little moment, a kid the Surfer saved asks him to autograph his skateboard. The Surfer does so.

The Surfer comes to check on Alicia. At this time, Norrin and the blind sculptor were romantically involved. Makes a bizarre bit of sense. She helped convince him to turn against Galactus in the first place. Over at the Daily Bugle, two reporters discuss the Thing and Alicia's former romance, and the FF being celebrities. One of them is Alfie O'Mally, an ally of the Surfer at the time, I believe. He points out that the Fantastic Four may be famous, but they're also powerful beings. And as such, it's on the press to keep an eye on them, make sure they use that power to do good.

We the briefly visit the FF themselves. They have an invite to Alicia Masters' upcoming exhibit: Heroes of the Millenium. Johnny refuses to go, but Ben Grimm insists on doing so. High above the Big Apple, the Surfer does one of the things he's famous for: pondering.

He wonders what right he has to be happy considering his role in the destruction of the many worlds that would be used to feed the endless hunger of his former master. Later, we see Alicia preparing her exhibit. It's been a while since she had a major once, and she's understandably got some jitters.

Unknown to anyone, the Mole Man is a-plotting.

"ART MAKES ME ANGRY!"

The Surfer arrives. He takes on a human appearance to blend in, but Alicia convinces him to appear as his true self. The exhibit starts, and things seem to go well. There's even a nice little funny moment with the Thing and Norrin where Ben asks why he's not wearing a "monkey suit" (a term for a tuxedo, if you didn't know) and the confused Surfer answers that it's because it's not a monkey. That made me chuckle. The Mole Man is listening in on this, and he realizes there's some tensions between Ben Grimm and the Silver Surfer he can exploit. Remember, Alicia and Ben were together once. 

The Mole Man creates a wave of solid sound...somehow. Maybe he stole some of the tech from Klaw.

The wave causes Ben and Norrin to bump into each other. It seems like a fight will break out, but in a clever subversion, the two realize someone is trying to make them brawl. So, they decide to pull a little psychological warfare.

The two have a fake brawl, which helps them find the Mole Man. The two aren't able to catch him, but the villain has a plan B. They hear a rumbling from the gallery where Alicia is holding her exhibition. 

The other heroes in attendance (The Avengers and the Fantastic Four) work to get civilians to safety. The Surfer and the Thing race to get Alicia to safety when some rubble threatens to fall on her. However, she's saved thanks to a special suit of armor.

Alicia's armor was designed by Lady Gaga.

She got this suit of armor thanks to a past adventure with the Surfer in a place called the Macroverse. She ended up losing the suit in Silver Surfer #146 (November 1998). At least, she thought she did. The heroes try to figure out why Mole Man is behind this, but Alfie O'Mally alerts them to a sewage treatment plant disappearing into the Hudson River. Norrin, Ben, and Alicia fly off to check it out, as this is odd behavior for the long-time supervillain. 

Norrin and Ben arrive first. They discover that the plant is covered by a protective forcefield. The FF arrive, and they learn why the Mole Man is after the plant. He needs it to help the Moloids. They've been sickened thanks to the pollution of the surface world, and he needs the treatment plant to help them. Reed points out that if the Mole Man asked, they would have helped him. But the Mole Man claims that there was too little time. He makes off with it, but the heroes spot another crisis: A meteor is coming down. And it's going to turn Midtown into a pancake.

Norrin convinces the heroes to let him try and stop it. Norrin rushes towards the meteor, hoping to hit it at the correct speed and angle to deflect it to a safer landing spot. He succeeds, but the impact knocks him off his board and into a loop.

"...ow."

Yeah, Norrin got knocked the eff out.

The meteor then pops up out of the water, revealing that it was no ordinary piece of rock. 

"AAAAAAGH! I'M ON FIRRRRRE!"

The meteor was actually a ship. The sole occupant is mortally wounded. They die in Norrin's arms, trying to warn them that something is coming, but unable to say exactly who. The heroes are left confused, but it's not hard to figure out who exactly it is. Galactus finishes feeding on a world, but he still hungers. He calls in his new herald, a bring called Red Shift, to find another world for him to eat.

"I need more planets...to GET IN MAH BELLEH!"

I enjoyed this comic. It's basically just a bit of setup, but that's fine. Got to set the stage before telling the story after all. My favorite scene is when Ben and Norrin trick the Mole Man by staging a brawl. Shows that Ben Grimm is more than just the muscle of the Fantastic Four. It's a nice little surprisingly human story here. Jon J. Muth's art gives the story a bit of grit. 

If you want to read this for yourself, I recommend tracking down the 2014 trade paperback Galactus the Devourer. Thanks for reading this blog entry!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

 Happy St. Patrick's Day, everyone!

What is St. Patrick's Day? Well, St. Patrick's Day is a holiday held on March 17 of every year. The day is the day of the death of St. Patrick, the patron saint of engineers, paralegals, and most notably, the main patron saint of Ireland.

It commemorates the arrival of Christianity in Ireland, and is considered a celebration of Ireland and Irish culture in general, hence the drinking of Guinness and wearing green and the shamrock decorations.

The shamrock is often used as the symbol of St. Patrick's Day, because of the story that St. Patrick used the shamrock to explain the Holy Trinity to the Irish as part of bringing them to Christianity.

Here in the United States, St. Patrick's Day isn't a national holiday, but it is considered a day to celebrate the Irish and their cultures. Many major cities, most notably New York City and Boston (who's had a parade since 1737), have big parades, beer is drank, and the goal is generally to have a wonderful day and enjoy some great Irish music.

Minecraft Mega Man X DLC Trailer, My Thoughts

In 2011, the crafting game known as Minecraft was released. Minecraft would go on to be a critically-acclaimed game, as well as the highest-selling game of all time, with nearly 200 million copies, ported to numerous consoles and computers. The game has also been used for various crossovers with other franchises. And now, the 1993 SNES classic Mega Man X is getting the Minecraft treatment. Let's look at the trailer!

I admit, I am surprised to see this crossover. I actually thought if they crossed over, it would be the original version of Mega Man, not the X incarnation. This isn't a complaint, this is just a surprise.

Heh heh, Big Minecraft SNES.

Say what you will about Mega Man X, you can't deny it has a nice soundtrack.

I love that they incorporated the level select screen into a monitor in what looks like a futuristic control center.

I get the impression from this trailer that you play can play through Mega Man X in Minecraft form.

🎵 Stompin' around in my mech suit, yeah yeah yeah... 🎵

Hey, playing with friends? This would be a fun way to get through some tougher parts of the game. I mean, I've played some of Mega Man X, and I think it's a hard game...

Upgrading gear, huh? I wonder. I know in the original MMX, you can get armor pieces that give you different abilities. I wonder if this will go beyond that. Making your Special Weapons more energy efficient, allowing you to become more resistant to enemy blows, that type of thing. Make Mega Man X a full-on action RPG.

I wonder if in this lab complex, you can practice fighting the Mavericks so you can develop strategies for facing the real things. Would be fun.

Well, this looks really cool! I think I will definitely give this a shot. Thanks for reading this blog entry! If you liked it, show it off! Take care of yourselves and each other! Stay safe, stay healthy, stay home, wash your hands often, wear a mask, and get your vaccine/booster! See you next time!

Eternals #3

It's that time again! It's time to join the Eternals in their greatest battle against the Deviants! Last time, Warlord Kro went out a-plottin', we met Ghaur, and a new figure made their first appearance. So, what will happen in this latest issue? Let's look at Eternals #3!

The cover is a Keith Pollard piece. It's pretty awesome, in my opinion. Front-and-center is an Eternal named Phastos fighting Deviants. He's billed as "the Deviant-slayer Supreme"! It's...a bit deceptive. You'll see what I mean. I think it's a great cover.

Before we begin, I do want to warn you all: This issue does deal with themes of suicide. If this is something that makes you uncomfortable, then I would suggest you avoid reading this blog entry. I know there are people out there who may have some issues with that, for a variety of reasons. As such, I do feel I should put this warning out here just in case. 

"The Strategies of Suicide"
Writer: Peter B. Gillis
Penciller: Sal Buscema
Inker: Al Gordon
Colorist: George Roussos
Letterer: Joe Rosen
Editor: Ralph Macchio
Editor-in-Chief: Jim Shooter

The story begins with a man. A man named David Chatterton. 

He is a man who feels he has nothing to live for, no reason to exist. He figures if he jumps off the building, nobody would care. However, the building he jumps off of contains the apartment of Sersi. The Eternal woman stops his fall, curiously asking him why he's jumping. He explains that he's been looking at his life. All like is to him now is gray. Gray, small days. Meaningless days of a meaningless life. Sersi is unimpressed by this and brings him into her apartment.

"I bet a couch here costs more than I make in a year!"

He gets introduced to Samuel Holden and we get caught up on who the Eternals are and what they're about. We get a nice little humanizing moment with Sersi as she tries to help cheer Dave up. She gets a call from Ikaris and Makkari. They need an update on the location of the Eternal named Kingo Sunen. You see, when Makkari attempted to fix up some machines, they somehow erased the addresses. Oops.

Luckily, Makkari didn't get them completely screwed. Sersi still has files on him, and they're theirs to use. Sersi then uses her powers to give Dave a nice suit, and she takes her two human friends out to party. Meanwhile, Makkari, Ikaris, and Margo travel to Japan. On the way, their ship picks up a big concentration of energy near Lemuria, the Deviants' home. But they can't investigate it right now. Hang on to that.

The three arrive in Japan, at the home of Kingo himself.

In case you weren't aware this was made in the 1980s...

You may be wondering, "Wait, wasn't Kingo Indian?". Well, that's a bit complicated. You see, in the comics, Kingo is an actor like his MCU counterpart, but comic Kingo is Japanese in appearance. I have heard somewhere that Jack Kirby drew inspiration from Japanese actor Toshiro Mifune, but I can't confirm that. The MCU version was revamped to be a Bollywood star. Anyway, Kingo seemingly gets attacked by ninja vampires. I am not making this up. Ninja. Vampires. I love comics.

However, it turns out to be a movie being made. Yup, Kingo is working at his day job when not being an Eternal: acting. One of the extras in the film is another Eternal: Ransak the Reject. He's called "the Reject" because even though he's one of the Deviants, his appearance is handsome by human standards, which the other Deviants did not like. We get a nice character moment between the two as Kingo tries to help Ransak develop discipline but is hampered by Ransak's anger and temper. The two meet up with Ikaris, Makkari, and Margo. Ikaris briefs the two on the situation, and they agree to help.

In New York City, one of the subway trains races through a tunnel. A group of typical 80s punkers look for passengers on the train to bother. They find what looks like seemingly a homeless man and another man just reading the paper. When the punkers hassle them, they get a shocking surprise. 

"This is why I hate taking human subways, Tenatclor!"

Yes, the two "men" were actually Deviants. You'd think in the Marvel Universe, people would be used to weird stuff like this in New York City.

The train makes its way through a new tunnel. One that is not part of any official NYC subway line. Its destination is this complex.

"This thing better be able to run DOOM..."

This was the home of an Eternal named Sigmar. He was one of the Eternals that left Earth in Avengers. The deviants search the lair. Their mission is to find an item that is clearly of great significance to them. Which they manage to find.

"Behold, brothers! We can now finally open the red door on Phobos Base!"

Well, the Deviants won't get to open that red door, because this lair has a guardian. 

"I told you stupid salesmen, we don't want any!"

Yes, he did make a brief cameo in the first issue, but he fully shows himself here. Everyone, say hello to Phastos. You may know him from the MCU film The Eternals, portrayed by Brian Tyree Henry. Evidently, Sigmar was an old student of his, and he's not happy with these Deviants messing up the lab. He gives them a choice: Clean it up and leave...or get some serious pain.

The Deviants think he's nuts, so they charge him. Phastos activates the machines in the lab, letting them restrain the Deviants for him. Phastos demands the "tablet" (the red circuit board-looking thingy that they were looking for). The Deviant refuses, saying his life doesn't matter, just the mission. He seemingly kills himself by melting into a puddle. He tells the other Deviants that the machines will free them tomorrow. If they feel their lives are meaningless like their comrade, then he pities them. He was there himself once, and that's worse than anything he could do to them.  

Unnoticed by the Eternal, the Deviant puddle moves, taking the chip with him. Should've picked up the chip, Phastos.

The puddle that was once a Deviant warrior slithers away. It heads back to the train car, to a little device that was placed under it. The slime somehow reads what is on the chip and uses the device to transmit what it read somewhere, then stops moving...forever. So, where is the info going? To Warlord Kro, of course. The chip reveals where a weapon that can be used to destroy the Eternals is located: up in the North Pole, in a place called the "Pyramid of the Winds". Now that he has a destination, the Deviant undersea fleet have a place to go. Kro then gives his men a rousing speech.

"Not bad for something I just babbled off the top of my head..."

It gets the soldiers jazzed up and ready to throw down, but Kro himself has...other thoughts. You see, he was sent on this journey by the Priests of Lemuria, and he doesn't know the real reason why he's on this mission. That scares Kro. And a scared Kro is a dangerous Kro.

Let's check in on Sersi, shall we? Back in New York City, the resident party animal of the Eternals is doing what she does best: Throwing a party!

She is chatting it up with some movers and shakers. After all, Sersi is known for throwing the best parties in town. Dave Chatterton is with her, and sadly, he's still hurting. A model introduces herself to him briefly. He feels cynical about it. He's a curiosity to her, something to just ease her boredom for a while. Nothing more than a cheap novelty. Sersi uses her powers to illustrate something to Dave: that to her, every human is a novelty because to an Eternal, a human's lifespan is a mere heartbeat. She basically scares him a bit, telling him that that's what makes his life so precious. It's fragile. The story ends with Ikaris calling in. The Eternals are at war. 

I did feel this issue was a bit...weak compared to the other two. When it comes to a twelve-issue miniseries, it is understandable to me that there are going to be issues that read better when you're reading the story as a whole instead of the issue on its own. It's a necessary evil to me, and I try to keep that in mind here. I do think this issue had some potential that it really What I found interesting in this issue is the theme of suicide throughout the issue. Dave Chatterton is a suicidal man, one of the Deviants attacking Sigmar's lab willingly gives its life (twice) for a mission, and Phastos describes the attacking Deviants' view of their lives as a form of suicide. Speaking on that theme, I did frown a bit at Sersi's tactic to try and basically scare Dave Chatterton out of his cynical nature. I do get the reason for it. But it feels like the worst way to handle the situation. 

Speaking of Phastos, I did feel that we didn't really get much of his personality or character. A real shame, as the cover gave the impression that he would play a major role here. 

If you want to read this for yourself, I recommend tracking down the 2020 trade paperback The Eternals: The Dreaming Celestial Saga. Thanks for reading this blog entry! If you liked it, show it off! Take care of yourselves and each other! Stay safe, stay healthy, stay home, wash your hands often, wear a mask ,a