SEVEN TO ETERNITY #1
Written by Rick Remender
Art by Jerome Opeña, Matt Hollingsworth
Published by Image Comics
Release Date: September 21, 2016
In a world filled with chaos, a man is left with a hard choice – to accept his fate or risk everything to combat what drives his world towards paranoia-filled doom. Remender, Opeña, and Hollingsworth collaborate once more to give readers a beautiful world on the brink of destruction.
Remender comes out of the gates strong. The somewhat-prologue before the art begins sets the scene of a grim reality. Some parts of the issue feel a bit long-winded in dialogue and monologue, partially due to the nature in which fantasy characters speak and partially due to the choice of using a very long monologue in a particular character’s head to montage through a journey. If you are not a fan of fantasy writing and some of the baggage and exposition that may entail, this is not the comic for you. There are also a few scenes that carry some patronizing undertones towards female characters and just feel a bit dated in word choice, which is a bit off-putting to read. For the most part, the world is established beautifully through the writing and Remender does not give too much away as his character performs some slightly crammed exposition.
The art by Opeña speaks volumes about the world. There are two particular scenes that just show the imagination behind the world-building of this fantasy/sci-fi setting. One is a hunting scene where the design of the boar is mesmerizing, featuring stunning choices. The second is the city where the God of Whispers resides, in the dusk of a planet with two suns lies a city destroying itself.
Those two scenes, paired with Hollingsworth’s coloring, bring about a surreal mood only a science fiction fantasy can bring you. There are a few design choices in characters and animals that I feel could have been a bit more imaginative as well as the problem that a certain child of the main character kept changing her skin tone from more ambiguously biracial to plain white, which is not okay. The art is definitely something of note, though, and this pair does this story justice with their work.
Overall, Seven to Eternity has started off well. The first issue is a bit rushed, but I feel that the upcoming issues will most likely have better pacing and will also fix a few of the problems that this one has. I’m excited to see what’s in store. I recommend this to anyone who loves a good fantasy-science fiction combo.
The Verdict: 8.5/10
