Today I’ll be taking a brief look at the latest release of Marvel Knights Animation’s Eternals put out by Shout Factory! last week. Is it a worthy entry in the Marvel Knights catalog? My thoughts and more after the jump…

I’m pretty much a broken record and I apologize upfront for that BUT as usual my only real  gripe with this DVD is of course the constant chapter breaks that even while watching continuously you are forced to watch opening and closing credits on every new  episode. I don’t like that but I take advantage of that time and get snacks  and take potty breaks. I’ll never understand how the format is meant to be consumed but I always watch these movies in one sitting.

Moving on, I’m forced to repeat myself yet again, since what I loved most about this DVD is the fluid animation. I’ve watched so many of the “motion comics” that maybe I’m just used to it. But I can hardly tell the difference between these releases and minimalist animated films. It could be that I love this format and I’m desensitized to its faults. Whatever the case may be I’m never let down by the level of animation in these films. The pacing on this story was very suitable for a story that did not need a lot of motion or frenetic action.  It’s a small story on a wide scale.

Things don’t get wider or more epic than the King of Comics (and its anagram Cosmic), Mr. Jack Kirby. Eternals were characters created by Jack and as usual had a very deep mythology attached to them. I’m not familiar with the characters nor the original comics but even with Neil Gaiman’s writing and John Romita, Jr.’s art you can’t help but see the Kirby influence in every scene. I really enjoyed the story and was bummed that the DVD held a pretty self-contained story that was meant to set-up further adventures, ending on a slight cliffhanger.

The DVD has only one special feature and that’s a brief conversation with John Romita, Jr. discussing the process of creating this story with Neil Gaiman. It wasn’t the most groundbreaking material but it’s nice that they do add a little bonus on something that really doesn’t need the frills. I enjoyed Romita, Jr. discussing the mammoth sized task of walking in Kirby’s footsteps, a task I think he handled pretty well.

I would highly recommend this to Marvelites, Neil Gaiman fans, John Romita, Jr. fans, and of course any Kirby  aficionado. I dropped the ball on this review and got it out kind of late but the DVD is available as of last Tuesday. Please  check it out! Special  thanks to Tom Chen and Shout Factory! for passing this along!