By Molly Jane Kremer. Our Week In Review sums up our weekly comic book coverage while squeezing in a new review or two before it’s all over. Did we miss your favorite books this week? Well. This is where you need to be.
Seven to Eternity #1
Image Comics/$3.99
Written by Rick Remender.
Art by Jerome Opeña.
Colors by Matt Hollingsworth.
Letters by Rus Wooton.
MJ: Every time I see Jerome Opeña’s name on the cover of a comic book, I’ll admit it, I feel a little flutter of anticipation. I feel a frisson of joy because I get to devour new Opeña art that I haven’t yet seen. He doesn’t do a ton of comics, so this elation happens infrequently at best, but the Image Expo announcement of Seven to Eternity and the artist’s reunion with Uncanny X-Force’s Rick Remender and colorist Matt Hollingsworth grabbed my attention like few other projects could.
Free of the fetters of superhero comics, Opeña and Hollingsworth make magic together. There is a depth and breadth to their work here that accomplishes more tangible world-building than a typical narrative ever could. Hollingsworth makes instances of magic glow from the page, emanating things beautiful, and at times, terrifying. Much of the latter is in the unsettling and creepy battle — fought with wolf-monster-summoning flutes, freaky disembodied floating eyes, magic light blades, and flying beasties — that ends with someone being devoured by the mud beneath their feet. This is imagery that has understandably stuck with me.
What’s especially striking is the book’s timely concepts. Seven to Eternity features a villain that rules by instilling fear and paranoia, and a cast of characters who have grown weary of the way things are in the world, eager for change but unsure how to implement it. The plot can be obtuse at points, but multiple readings only enhance the enjoyment, which is often true in a densely-told fantasy story. The comic opens with a page of prose — taken from the journal of our protagonist Adam Osidis — that establishes mood and themes instead of simply spewing exposition at us (though it does a little of that too). The issue is bookended with character design sketches by Opeña, all of them breathtakingly gorgeous.
If you like a little fantasy with your Westerns, peopled by characters that feel devastatingly human and surrounded by designs akin to Moebius, this is a comic you need to read. A great first issue to a more than promising new series.
8.5 out of 10
From earlier this week —
ADVANCE REVIEW: ‘JOSIE AND THE PUSSYCATS’ #1 Is An A+ Archie Debut
Make Way For Jennifer Walters, Hulk — CASUAL WEDNESDAYS WITH DOOMROCKET
What books did YOU read this week? We want to know! Tell us about those feelings of yours in the comments section below.
