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Tell us about CELESTIA, the second one-shot.
It’s a little quieter. It happened a billion years ago. [Artist] Kei [Zama] is awesome, its celestials are awesome, its alien tech has a real vibe.
One of the problems with the Eternals is that the cast is huge. The structure of the first arc was that each issue focuses on a single character, possibly a few characters. Makkari and Ajak are such great characters in mythology, but I never had the space to present them properly. Why did I start with Ikaris? It is the purest heart, the simplest in some ways, so it would be the most upset to find out the truth. [Laughs] He’s the one who’s most upset about it.
The recent continuity is that Ajak was ghosted by the Celestials. Ajak is furious. Makkari is the Heavenly Dream, basically the Heavenly Jesus Christ was my understanding. Ajak is completely furious and tries to assassinate Makkari. There is composure there. The Celestials then returned one last time and told Ajak that she was no good. This million years had nothing to do with it. Makkari was turned into pieces by a bunch of X-Men villains, including one I wrote, Mister Sinister. The arc of the story is this weird, weird couple brought together by their grief trying to figure out what their religion, their philosophy, does next.
Ajak and Makkari set off on a pilgrimage to the heavenly giant in which the Avengers live. The flashback is about the first time Ajak has contacted the Avengers in 1,000,000 BC. At one point, the Avengers and the Eternals are both on Earth and have to go up against each other for the first time. So we have two trips to the Avengers, an Ajak early in her career, one in the present where she is in this sad state of disillusionment.
How does it feel to play with the prehistoric Avengers? You really are one of the first writers to do anything with them besides Jason.
This is only half the story, so I’m not getting as many as I would like. The first time I saw Ghost Rider on the Woolly Mammoth, I thought, “I’m in it”. [Laughs] The comics are amazing. I’ve written Odin before, but writing young Odin is fun. My favorite part about writing the Eternals with the Avengers is that you get a slightly alien perspective on the Avengers. There is interaction with the Avengers in the second arc [of the main book] also. What does The Avengers Machine do? It’s funny. What do the Eternals think the Avengers are for? There is something invigorating about seeing someone like Ajak, who is a philosopher and a priest, meeting someone like Odin. Seeing his scientific breakdown of them. The funniest part is Jason who gets the ball and puts the Avengers in 1,000,000 BC. J.-C. and I return a curved ball. It’s the joy of a shared universe like Marvel. The “yes, and” of it. I wouldn’t have a good place for them to make a pilgrimage if Jason hadn’t stuck a goddamn celestial in a wall!
Is there anything else you would like to say about what awaits readers both in one-shots and then with ETERNALS when it resumes?
I wanted ETERNALS to be great. And with Esad drawing it, it’s never going to look big. I wanted him to have scale. With the Lord of the Rings you do not need read the appendices, but you know they’re there, and you know you’re in good hands. This is what one-shots do. They recoil. I could write these specials forever. All these little details in the timeline, there are stories there. These are things that I think are very essential to know now. Each is a stand-alone story, but each tells you something that is really important to the current story.
I’m writing a third special right now – if I’ve written two before, you’re probably assuming I’m doing more. It’s a similar thing, something really interesting to know, and it’s another time in the timeline, a time where I really want to do more. A lot of Eternals are terrible, but it’s the worst, and I’m including Thanos in that.
I have a bunch of other Eternals that I have referred to by name on this grid. I don’t want to rush to introduce them, but there’s one I’m bringing in issue 8 which is a really cool new take on things. It’s just a lot of fun. I wrote in number 12. I’m still thinking about what exactly I want to bring into the mix next. We have an abundance of wealth for our Marvel readers.
Read ETERNALS: THANOS RISES now, enter ETERNALS: CELESTIA on October 6th and get ready for the return of ETERNALS with issue # 7 on November 3rd!
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