Surprise! There is an all-new Eternals comic available now from Marvel

Eternals: The 500 Year War #1 cover (Image credit: Marvel Comics)

Surprise, there's a new Eternals comic from Marvel Comics available right now ... but only as a digital exclusive.

A complete, new seven-issue series called Eternals: The 500 Year War was dropped on the Marvel Unlimited digital reading service on January 12, focusing on the superhuman race as it battles against the Deviants, another divergent human race created by the ominous space-faring Celestials.

Eternals: The 500 Year War #6 cover (Image credit: Marvel Comics)

Eternals: The 500 Year War will also have a broader multi-cultural component, both on the page and behind the scenes. The seven-issue series will feature the Eternals interacting with various human cultures throughout time, with Marvel specifically mentioning "cultural artifacts that were gifted to them" by these societies.

Marvel boasts that Eternals: The 500 Year War will have an "international creative team of writers and artists" on the seven-issue series. The writers are Dan Abnett, Aki Yanagi, Jongmin Shin, Ju-Yeon Park, David Macho, Rafael Scavone, and Yifan Jiang. The artists are Geoffo, Rickie Yagawa, Do Gyun Kim, Magda Price, Marcio Fiorito; and Gunji. Colorists Matt Milla, Carlos Macias, Fernando Sifuentes, Pete Pantazis, and Felipe Sobreiro round out the creative roster.

"Bringing Eternals: The 500 Year War to Marvel Unlimited will open up doors for our international creative teams to tell much more personal stories by setting them in their homelands," says Marvel editor-in-chief CB Cebulski in the announcement. "These stories also break down borders and provide excitement beyond anything fans can imagine with these diverse, multi-cultural characters."

Eternals and its fans outside the US

Currently, Marvel Unlimited - and exclusive comics such as Eternals: The 500 Year War - are available to US residents only. But in a drive to get this multi-cultural story to territories outside of the US, Marvel has partnered with the international digital comics platform Webtoon and the series will be serialized on its platform beginning January 20.

"Marvel's Eternals are the perfect fit for Webtoon readers around the world: a global narrative crossing borders and boundaries, and a diverse new cast of heroes, all available in an innovative mobile format," says Webtoon US's head of content, David Lee.

"This series is perfect for anyone who wants to see more of the incredible Eternals in action, expanding their universe with new stories and a new format on Webtoon. We're thrilled to work with Marvel on Eternals: The 500 Year War and can't wait to collaborate on more incredible stories together."

Marvel previously partnered with Webtoon for digital editions of previous comic series such as the main Eternals series, as well as Black Widow, Avengers, Spider-Man, and Hulk.

Details about a potential print edition of Eternals: The 500 Year War were not specified, but some previous Marvel Unlimited exclusive comics have eventually been released in single issues and/or collected editions.

The real origins of the Eternals and the Deviants is quite the story; two words: Celestial vomit.

Chris Arrant covered comic book news for Newsarama from 2003 to 2022 (and as editor/senior editor from 2015 to 2022) and has also written for USA Today, Life, Entertainment Weekly, Publisher's Weekly, Marvel Entertainment, TOKYOPOP, AdHouse Books, Cartoon Brew, Bleeding Cool, Comic Shop News, and CBR. He is the author of the book Modern: Masters Cliff Chiang, co-authored Art of Spider-Man Classic, and contributed to Dark Horse/Bedside Press' anthology Pros and (Comic) Cons. He has acted as a judge for the Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards, the Harvey Awards, and the Stan Lee Awards. Chris is a member of the American Library Association's Graphic Novel & Comics Round Table. (He/him)