Writer: Rick Remender
Artist: Jerome Opena
Colorist: Matt Hollingsworth

Seven to Eternity has been a fascinating read. While Remender and Opena have worked together for years now, every collaboration may as well be the first time they’ve done something. While Seven to Eternity carries a lot of the traditional Remender character foibles and verbiage, a fantasy comic is a whole different bend for both writer and artist here, and so far it’s been an exciting ride. The first arc ended with Adam and the Mosak capturing the Mud King and going on a quest in order to cut him off from his followers.

What follows is fairly tense if not more dangerous than when Adam and the Mosak were still simply trying to capture the Mud King, since due to the nature of how the Mud King works: trading someone’s true desire in exchange for inhabiting their thoughts, any one of them could be working for him which doesn’t help to make their arduous journey any easier. Especially since they’re constantly on threat of being killed (or captured) by the Mud King’s men. For a book this early in, having the characters near what’s ostensibly the end of their quest makes for a fairly bold storytelling choice.

The best part of this book for my money always comes through in the art. A good story can be meaningless when mangled by a bad artist, but Opena makes a world that’s unlike anything else in comics right now. None of the main characters resemble each other. And the distaff designs – even among the Mosak alone – are quite alarmingly diverse, as well as the somewhat apocalyptic tone of the land of Zhal itself. As always, Matt Hollingsworth brings excellent colors to the fore and draws out what is possibly some of Opena’s best art, since Dean White colored him way back in the beginning of Hickman’s Avengers run. That being said: this book is pretty early in its run. However, with art this gorgeous, and a story this compelling, it’s best to get in early. You’d be doing yourself a disservice otherwise.

4 Mud Kings out of 5