Here Today, Gone Five Seconds Later

So I was fairly intrigued by the Stardust story in Annihilation: Heralds of Galactus #1 this week. The idea of a civilization made, not just of energy, but of the elementary particles remaining from the beginning of the universe was pretty cool, I thought. I'm not usually into what I'd describe as "non-objective art" (whether that's what it actually is, is another matter), but the second panel of the second page of the story is really beautiful. It makes me think of mesas in the American Southwest, only alive.

But I've been thinking about whether a civilization would spring up under the circumstances Stardust described, where everything they create reverts to what is described as 'dull, inert matter.' If things are in a constant state of flux, could a cohesive organization form? Stardust admits that its people (No clue if they have genders) were constantly changing, and if Stardust is any indication, they were as mercurial in temperment as they were in form. Stardust shifts from confused upon reforming, to focused on finding Galactus, to stunned when told of the Ethereals destruction, to violent when attacked by its kin, to regretful in the aftermath, to willing to sacrifice its species to Galactus, all in one story. The others don't seem quite that erratic, but they do go from angry at Stardust to grateful for survival within about three pages. So I'm just wondering whether organisms like that could form a civilization. I suppose they could be constantly organizing, then dissolving the next instant, then coming back together the moment after that.

Maybe it's just too alien of a concept for me to wrap my head around. I understand that in terms of geologic time, the monuments and art humans create are gone like that, but to us, compared to our singular lifespans, they seem to last forever. Could we build and organize if everything we did fell apart as soon as we finished? I doubt it. Maybe the difference (Besides the obvious that Stardust and its kind are fictional characters. Unless some exist in our universe somewhere) is that the Ethereals can merge, and maintain ties in that manner. That deeper connection promotes a group mentality that wouldn't otherwise be sustained.

I think the simplest answer is that if beings like this did/do exist, what they define as "civilization" wouldn't be anything we would recognize. Stuart Moore describes the situation to the best of his abilities, and does it well, but I think a lot of times we're hampered by what we know, and so any fictional civilization is going to in some way mirror the definition we have for that term. I mean, if it is a civilization, but one unlike anything we've ever seen or heard of, then how would we know it when we saw it? The writer doesn't want to lose the reader right off the bat, so he describes it in terms that are different (owing to the Ethereals different lifestyle), but also similar (because monuments and art are the things we'd associate with civilization). And I think that what it does is convey just how different Stardust's people are from the Skrulls, Kree, Earthlings, etc., and gives Stardust an unusual perspective on the whole thing.

Hopefully that makes some sense.