Eternity Girl is written by Magdalene Visaggio (Kim & Kim, Quantum Teens are Go, and Milk Wars) is illustrated by Sonny Liew (Doctor Fate, The Art of Charlie Chan Hock Chye) and is published under Young Animals a DC Imprint.
The issue begins with us learning about a superhero named Chrysalis, AKA Caroline Sharp. She has two master degrees and was a gymnast. She’s the definition of an over-achiever. Also I should mention she seems to be meeting a therapist for the first time, and this session is focusing on Carolines’ abilities as well as her past. She is a shapeshifter, she doesn’t bleed, and she’s pretty invincible. Immortal in fact.
Caroline has been listless for a long time now, and just wants everything to end. She goes into excruciating detail on how, where, and how often she has attempted to commit suicide to no avail. This all started when she was placed on administrative leave from Alpha 13. There was an incident where she kinda got frazzled and lost control of her powers for a little bit. She may or may not have hurt someone. And, she may or may not have caused a ton of property damage. Caroline been in a deep depression ever since then.
Even though Caroline is a shape-shifter she has been having issues holding onto her human form. This is upsetting to her because that’s her main ability. She goes on to brag about changing forms at parties for the hell of it. When Caroline’s friend Dani comes over to check on her she doesn’t stay in her human form for long. Dani does what any good friend would do. She checks to make sure Caroline is eating, going to therapy, and showering. For readers that have never dealt with/witnessed depression my last sentence may sound odd. But, depression can be a debilitating disease and affect a person physically.
Caroline feels ugly in her physical form and goes further to explain how her shape-shifting ability works. She doesn’t exactly have a form, she’s truly a wave function. After Dani leaves Caroline experiences something that makes her feel insane. She is visited by a person from her past that out of thin air, Madame Atom. Why would this alarm Caroline? Well, Madame Atom is dead and has been for years. Caroline tries to wrap her head around all of this. Madame Atom tells her that she knows a way for Caroline to die. It involves destroying the world, but Caroline will cease to exist.
The next day Caroline meets Dani for lunch. As they’re eating Caroline is approached by the Madame Atom again. While things are going on around the ladies lunch meeting Caroline seems to be in two dimensions at once. Speaking with both Dani and Madame Atom, interacting with both, even bartering with both. I can’t fully explain what needs to be done in order for Caroline to die, but I can tell you that Caroline is fully prepared to die. Will she accept Madame Atoms offer?
This story is so complex already. The way Chrysalis’ physical form is manifested is best explained by picking up this issue and reading it. As a person that has dealt with depression in the past seeing a superhero deal with it made me feel a bit more normal which helped me relate to Chrysalis. I didn’t divulge a lot about Madame Atom either. I really couldn’t without tons of spoilers.
I did pick up on something after reading through this issue again, Madame Atom seems to be in Caroline’s head from the very beginning. That’s a pretty eerie thing to think about. Eternity Girl has a story with so much depth, and has laid out so much amazing story line in the first issue already. Did I mention I read Eternity Girl #1 multiple times already? Yeah, that’s because I liked it that much and wanted to experience it again.
Rating: 9.5/10
