Editor's Note: Eternals #3 arrives in stores tomorrow, August 6.

"Apostate Betrayed"

This series is starting to grow on me, but one thing concerns me. What the hell is wrong with little Joey's head? It's freaking huge! And his body is so tiny! Is that some sort of side effect of being a Horde spy? Why doesn't anyone else notice this? Are they just being polite? I know you don't want to piss off Thena, but seriously, the boy needs to see a specialist. If it looks like that now, when he grows up he's going to need some Ultimate Leader Brand Headgear to hold that melon up.

I'm also getting a little tired of having to dig out the previous issue to find out what this one is called. It's nice that they preview the next issue's title at the end of the comic, but just a quick mention at the top of the book would be nice. Or better yet, really harness that Mighty Marvel Bombast and give the issue a different name from what was mentioned last month.

That bombast, by the way, is another thing that really isn't working. The material between the recap and the preview copy is much more serious and dramatic and contrasts sharply. It's a lot like the recap copy in JMS' The Twelve, or as I like to call it, The So Depressing They Make You Want To Slit Your Wrist Funnies, but I think he's doing it for thematic purposes. Here, it's just annoying.

But with those complaints out of the way, I must say that this is developing into an interesting and entertaining story. Ikaris and Druig is AWOL this issue, but we get some nice progress in Ajak's subplot. I'll admit, though, that I didn't know that there was anything untrustworthy about Ajak until the Introductory Bombast questioned whether he was to be trusted. Hmmm. I guess that's another strike against the Knaufs.

I'll just write that off to them being distracted as they get Iron Man cancelled out from under them.

So anyway, Ajak isn't to be trusted. I like this development. It creates a much more interesting dynamic than just the traditional dialectical conflict of "good" vs. "evil," etc. That wild card element should provide ways of really examining the Eternals' overall mission and how they actually do their jobs. And we haven't even seen the Deviants yet. These are all Eternals factions bickering amongst themselves as the Horde gets closer and closer.

Speaking of the Horde, Little Big Head's days may be numbered. That's all I'm going to say about that. But the scenes with Joey and Zuras are the most straining in the book, so hopefully he'll be disintegrated or taken to a side-show somewhere sooner rather than later. No matter what the Knaufs think, that child shouldn't be calling anything "Dope," especially not a freaking decommissioned rocket.

Acuna's art is either getting better or I'm just getting used to it. But I didn't notice too many floating eye problems this issue. One or two maybe, but not as many as in previous issues. (By floating eye problems, I mean where it looks like the female characters' eyes are a photoshop layer that isn't properly positioned, so the eyes seem to be floating just a touch to the left or right of where they should be.) He really shines, though, in the big Celestial fight.

Oops. I've said too much already. But you need to see it. It's nice.

So, in summation, this series is shaping up, but still has quite a few problems (mostly centering around Little Big Head). It's a good read, but not really anything special yet. And to be honest, in retrospect, I probably should have given last issue 3 Bullets as well (instead of 4), but the contrast between the horrible first issue and it skewed my perspective.

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