Comics
[Comic Book Review] “Eternal” #1 Is Derivative and Boring
In the future, cloning has been perfected and the death has become a thing of the past. Humanity has taken a new step towards a perfect society. Or has it?! “Eternal” #1 says otherwise.
WRITTEN BY: William Harms
ART BY: Giovanni Valleta
PUBLISHER: BOOM! Studios
PRICE: $3.99
RELEASE: December 10, 2014
Reviewed By Pablo Arriaga
A future that seems to favor clones over regular bred humans or “pures,” we follow the story of Gail Jensen, the leader of Human Liberation Front who fight the evil grasp of the organization who perfected cloning called New Life from taking all the pures and using their DNA. Or so it seems to be the story Harms and Valletta want to tell, but fail to make interesting.
The first pages seem intriguing. A good concept is set up with the story toying with the idea that since death doesn’t matter anymore, could it become something to play around with? Unfortunately it’s all used to transition into the life of Gail, who helps “pures” keep on the run from New Life, an evil organization who puts innocent people into terrible camps without food and sucks their DNA, use torture tactics, and possibly kill puppies and eat them while clubbing baby seals. Did I mention these guys are evil? I sure don’t do it as much as this book does.
They made the antagonist of the story so evil it’s almost boring. There’s that old running joke that when in doubt coming up with a bad guy, it’s always good to go with nazis? Well New Life are the nazis from the future. Regardless of the theme of this title, little of it is discussed. How did New Life do it? Why do they need to hunt down all the pures? What is their profit from all of this, and how much power do they have? instead the pages are spent continuously telling me that New Life are terrible, evil, bad, possibly puppy kicking motherfuckers.
The art on “Eternal” is choppy. Some panels seem very well crafted while others seem out of place, or lacking in comparison, particularly when it comes to the characters expressions. The coloring isn’t very vibrant, with plenty of action sequences to go around, they don’t leave lasting impressions, which is to say for the book overall.
The cover is pretty cool though.
—
Pablo Arriaga has been bringing the gospel of The Slacker Nerd to countless people the world over with Juatcast.com. He also writes the most metal rants on the web and knows a better recipe for tacos than you do. For more writings or to be baptized in the arms of Matthew McConaughey follow Pabby on Twitter and Facebook.
The supernatural world of Korean folk horror movie Exhuma grows larger with the arrival of prequel spinoff webtoon Maengjong this weekend, Variety reports today.
Naver Webtoon debuts Maengjong on May 30.
The series hails from Haemuri (Olgami) and will trace the high school origins of how shaman duo Hwarim and Bonggil, played by Kim Go-eun and Lee Do-hyun in the 2024 film, came together to face occultish threats.
The story is set to begin when “Hwarim, who has been concealing her identity following a childhood encounter with a snake spirit called Jin, crosses paths with Bonggil at their school.”
Variety notes that Exhuma director Jang Jae-hyun participated in the project’s early concept stage.
“We are presenting ‘Maengjong,’ a new series capturing the appeal of the horror-occult genre, ahead of the full summer season,” said Lee Jeong-geun, Naver Webtoon’s Korea webtoon content leader. “With the high school story of Hwarim and Bonggil, who left a strong impression in the film ‘Exhuma,’ enhanced by Haemuri’s characteristic tense direction, we expect it will be a welcome work for genre fans.”
“It is meaningful that the spin-off story of ‘Exhuma,’ loved by many audiences, expands by meeting the new grammar of webtoon,” said Lee Hyeon-jeong, managing director of the film business division at Showbox, which distributed the film. “We hope it will be a fresh experience for both film fans and webtoon readers.”
Exhuma was a breakout hit in 2024, becoming the first Korean occult film to surpass 10 million ticket buyers and the country’s highest-grossing film of the year. I wrote in my review that “the intricately woven Exhuma delivers one of the year’s biggest surprises in horror so far.”
The bond between Hwarim and Bonggil was one of the film’s highlights, making this prequel webtoon a must for fans.
You must be logged in to post a comment.