With Judgment Day, Kieron Gillen Achieves Something Incredible: An Accessible Comic Event

By: Mithrandiel

It's time, comic lovers! The summer event is here, helmed by Kieron Gillen of Die and more recently Eternals & X-Men (and many others of course).

Those unfamiliar with the premise, in a nutshell: Eternals are charged with eliminating excess deviation. Druig (who's now in charge of the Eternals after a ridiculous amount of shenanigans), has construed the mutants, now capable of resurrection, as having deviated a bit too excessively. So, of course, he thinks they should all die.

The Avengers, in the meantime, are sort of caught in the middle. There's been some tension with the X-men for various reasons over the years, but they're also not entirely keen with the Eternals, who are often aloof and fail to share very important information (like when Thanos is this close to ending humanity). So, they are actively working to soothe flaring tempers and attempt to keep the dogs of war well secured, thank you very much.

A really valuable and important part of the Avengers being the middle-man in this broader conflict is they serve as an extension of new readers stumbling into this massive event. Any confusion or clarifications that are needed can be conveyed to the Avengers as a natural part of the narrative, as opposed to excessive exposition or repetitive plot points.

Too often, bombastic comic events are deeply intertwined with years of building narrative. Aaron's War of the Realms, Cates' King in Black and Absolute Carnage, among others. It's promising to see a comic event of such scope, with such a large roster of notable characters, being built out with new readers in mind.

I also just love Gillen's sense of humor. While there are certainly very high stakes in the coming conflict, scenes like this keep a perpetual grin on my face as I flip through the pages.

There will be nearly 30 books coming out in the next 3 months, painting the broader picture of Judgment Day between the Avengers, Eternals and X-Men, and if these first two issues are any indication, it's going to be a hell of a ride.

You can pick up Eve of Judgment and Judgment Day #1 at your local comic shops right now!