#and its still not enough. shes still victim to the vicious system of the citadel and is thrown away like garbage either way

[inhumansforever]

Death of The Inhumans #1 Review

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It’s the beginning of the end.  Co-conspirers Donny Cates, Ariel Olivetti and Jordie Bellaire begin their tale of the fall of House Boltigon and this first issue very much lives up to its ominous title.  Recap and review following the jump.  Beware, major spoilers and some significant characters deaths are entailed!

The story begins with a quick brush-up on the history of the Inhumans.  A refresher for those readers well aware of this history as well as necessary backstory for those relatively new to the mythos of The Inhumans.  

Centuries ago, The Kree Empire was still very much in the midst of their millennia-long war with The Skrulls.  Desperate to devise new weapons to use against their enemies, Kree scientists traverse the galaxy in search of planets with life in their more nascent stages.  They gathered samples of these lifeforms and conducted genetic alterations, combining the DNA of the beings with genetic material derived from the cosmic deities known as The Celestials.  The byproduct was a group of powerful hybrid races that came to be called Inhumans.  

Before the Kree could unleash these new weapons on their Skrull adversaries, however, an ancient prophecy was discovered… a prophecy that foretold that the Empire would be torn asunder and brought down by a being of their own making.   In light of of this prophecy, the Kree decided to end their experiments and destroy the progeny that their meddling had created.  All but five such Inhuman races were culled.  Those that managed to avoid destruction included the Inhumans of the Centauri system, those of the Badoon home-world, those among the equine Kymellians, those of Wraithworld, and finally The Inhumans of Earth.

That was then...  Much has changed for The Empire in the ensuring centuries.  Their war with Skrulls had ended, a new war against the Shi’Ar was waged, and then their home planet was ravaged to point of utter destruction by creatures empowered by The Black Vortex.   The Kree were scattered to different refugee settlements across the cosmos… the empire was but a sliver of what it once was.  The time for fearing ancient prophecies has long since past and a new power has risen among the ranks of the scattered Kree, a power that will stop at nothing to return the empire to its former glory.  And to achieve this end, a force has been dispatched to gather what is viewed as their property.  

The Inhumans were bred to be dutiful slaves and deadly weapons of The Kree.  And the forces sent to recruit the Inhumans have gone about their duty with brutal, vicious alacrity.  The choice forced unto these Inhumans has been simple and deadly succinct: fall in line with the Empire or perish... join or die!  

Those Inhumans unaffiliated with the five tribes were the first to fall in this bloody campaign, their bodies cast off into the void of space with command to join or die carved into the dead bodies.   Having become aware of this, the five tribes of Inhumans have come together to discuss this matter, to formulate a plan to address this dire threat that faces them all.  A conference was arranged on an undocumented alien planet so remote that not event the teleporting Lockjaw could find it.  

Traveling to this planet, King Black Bolt takes note of the dozens of Inhumans who have already perished in the initial salvo of the Kree’s campaign.  It is not clear how Black Bolt had once again assumed the mantle of king.   Last seen Black Bolt had lost his throne to former wife, Medusa.  Likewise, his lieutenant, Gorgon was lost on the World Farm of The Progenitors.  These matters are left unaddressed and readers will just have to imagine that the story-points were somehow figured out between now and the last time we saw The Royals.  As it stands, Gorgon is back and Black Bolt is once more king.  

Viewing footage of the murdered Inhumans, Black Bolt makes entry in a ledger.  He will not let these souls be forgotten.  He will transcribe their names in his ledger and honor their sacrifice.  His mournful meditation is disturbed by his wife, Medusa who has announced that they have arrived at the secretive confab where they will discuss strategy with the Universal Queens.  

There was a time that these queens considered Black Bolt their liege, their Midnight King destined to lead them on a conquest of the galaxy.  And Black Bolt appears confident that they will follow him once more.  The Kree has issued their ultimatum of joining the Empire or perish.  Black Bolt will choose neither… he will opt for a third option: fight back.   But he is too late.  

The Kree Forces had somehow learned of this conference and arrived their first.  The four queens and their procession have all been slaughtered.  The queens themselves butchered and strung up in a gruesome display.  It is a gristly and horrifying site.  

Triton notices that at least one of the victims still clings to life.  She appear to be a Badoon Inhuman who possess psychic powers and she uses this skill to show Triton what had transpired.   Triton relays what he sees in this psychic vision.  The Universal Queens had appraised the threat facing their people and ultimately chose to join The Kree.  The threat of their people being slaughtered was too great and they opted to pledge fealty to the Empire.      

And yet it did not matter.  A monstrous lieutenant was leading The Kree forces.  He wasn’t interested in these queens nor their people.  It was Black Bolt, whom he was truly interested in; and he slaughtered the queens and their persecution merely as a means to send and a cruel and daunting message to the Midnight King.

As Triton tries to ease the pain of this sole survivor, he noticed that a device had been attached to her side.  He quickly detects that it is a trap, an incendiary bomb.  It is too late for Triton and he uses his last breaths to warn the others to stay back.  

The bomb detonates and poor Triton is obliterated.  Medusa is also gravely wounded by the shrapnel.  

There is no time to mourn their fallen cousin.  If the Kree had known of this secretive conference, then their next move is clearly to lay siege to Inhuman citadel of New Artctillan.  They rush back to the craft and fire off in a desperate effort to make it to the earth’s moon… knowing that they are likely to be too late.  

The narrative switches back the lunar settlement of Arctillan where it is revealed that the Roaylas are indeed too late.  Kree forces have laid siege to the city, led by a patchwork monster known as Vox.  Kree science has created this being, sewing together the various attributes of the some of the more powerful Inhumans.  He is as deadly as he is merciless, cutting through the Inhuman forces with his scythe.  With Kree soldiers blasting away with their laser rifles any who manage to evade Vox’s path of carnage.  The Inhumans known as Naja, Sterlion and Glass Lass lay lifelessly on the ground.  Their fellow Inhuman, Flagman, makes valiant stand against Vox, but he too falls quickly to Vox’s scythe.  

Finally, Vox finds an adversary more on par with his deadly skill as a massive laser blast fires off and sends him careening.  Maximus introduces himself, sitting atop the royal throne holding a ridiculously large energy rifle.   Vox is none too pleased with Max’s prattling.  

The villain had cut through the less powerful Inhumans wit his scythe, but now it is time that he use his true power.  His mouth plate lows, revealing a skinless jaw, and he mutters the words ‘that is enough.’  And in so doing unleashes a sonic wave potentially on par with that possessed by Black Bolt.   A wave of energy fires forward from Vox’s mouth, dissolving Maximus’ rifle as well as a good portion of the mad prince’s arm.      

Back aboard the Royal Family’s vessel, Black Bolt attends to Medusa’s injuries.  She is in a healing pod and pleads with her husband that he do whatever he can to save their people.  He knows what he must do.  Venturing to the aft region of the ship, Black Bolt fastens himself into a harness and releases his sonic powers… creating a detonation that fires the ship forward at an incredible speed.  

It is not long before they are close enough That Lockjaw can teleport ahead.  He does so, and appears in time to save a wounded Maximus from certain death.  Lockjaw fights valiantly, but even he is no match for Vox’s awesome power.  Once more the villain unleashes his sonic powers and both Maximus and Lockjaw are apparently killed.  

Black Bolt will list and mourn for all of his fellow Inhumans who have perished, yet there are two in particular whose deaths will surely affect him the most… his brother Maximus and his loyal, lifelong companion, Lockjaw…

The battle is over by the time the Royals’ vessel finally makes it to Arctillan.  The city is in ruins, its subjects are dead.  Black Bolt and the others can only take in the destruction and mourn.   Overwhelmed by the destruction and carnage, Back Bolt cannot help but be reminded of the human tale of The Roman Empire… about a great and powerful nation that was built over the course of generations, and then burned in but a day.  

And it is on this somber note that this first, bloody issue comes to a conclusion; to be continued in the next installment.

As an Inhuman superfan, it isn’t really possible for me to offer up an unbiased appraisal of this issue.  The art by Arile Olivetti is pretty terrific, with cool action and a fluid movement that propels the narrative forward at an appropriately accelerated speed.  And Jordie Bellaire’s coloring is, as always, flawless.  Her decision to utilize a drastically different color scheme for the scenes on New Arctillan works quite well, offering up Vox’s killing spree a distinctively nightmarish quality with bloody shades of crimson.  

There’s a good economy to how Cates arranges this first issue.  He moves things forward quickly, but in a fashion that doesn’t cut corners.  Offering up a very succinct summery of the origin of The Kree and Inhumans, but not lingering there before jumping into the action.  

And I’m glad that Cates has taken note of the character development Black Bolt went through in course of his solo series by Ahmed and Ward.  Blkackgarr is no longer a stoic, withholding sort.  He allows himself to feel the pain and sorrow for the fellow Inhumans who have perished, listing their names lest they be forgotten and very much acknowledging that his brother and dog’s deaths will be the matters that pain him the most.  

The sense of parallel between The Inhumans of Attilan and the ancient Roman Empire is something had had been evident right from the beginning, with the Inhumans’ first introduction in the pages of Lee and Kirby’s run on Fantastic Four.  It makes for an interesting sense of bookending... that the end should along with the beginning.      

And I’m quite pleased that Black Bolt is using sign language.  His not using sign in many previous tales has been something that’s irked me for a long while.  

BB, Crystal and, to a lessor extent, Maximus are really the only characters who are given significant dialogue.  This dialogue is pretty good, with each character give a distinctive voice that gels with the characters and their pre-existing sense of character.     Karnak and Gorgon are left a bit perfunctory and not given much to do.  Hopefully the pair will be a bit more involved in subsequent chapters.  And Triton is there just to die  (alas poor Fishstick, I’ll miss you).

Speaking of deaths, killing Maximus is a bold (and I think foolish) choice.  The sense of wildcard instability that Max brings out has quite often acted to offer a great sense of dynamic tension in Inhuman tales.  Getting rid of him right from the start seems like an odd choice.  

Which brings me to the one death that I simply cannot abide…  How dare you kill Lockjaw?!?   This is unforgivable.  

Un-Forgive-Able…

And unless Mr. Cates can devise some means of bringing Lockjaw back to life before this series has reached its conclusion he will have earned himself an enemy for life.  

For all the anticipatory build up of who this Vox character is, he remains something of a cypher.  We learn that he is a creation of the Kree and has been imbued with many of the powers of The Inhumans, but that is about it.  Have the Kree always possessed the technology to create such a formidable foot soldier, and if so why haven’t they done so before?  Hopefully this questions will be more fully addressed as the story continues.  As it stands, he comes across as yet another over-powered, under-developed character wherein a writer uses the tired, hackneyed shortcut of trying to make a new villain seem way cool by having them kill off important characters.  

So where does the tale go from here?  There is only a small handful of Inhumans left.  I doubt Black Bolt and the gang will go to earth to recruit reinforcements among the newer Inhumans (or NuHumans)…  Ms. Marvel, Moon Girl and Inferno seem to have their own thing going on In Marvel Rising.   My guess is that the tale will continue to center on Black Bolt, Crystal, Karnak and Gorgon (with Medusa still convalescing from her wounds).  How will the four go about extracting revenge on a cosmic empire?   As much as I am saddened and angered by the character deaths, I am still looking forward to seeing how things progress.  

I recommend this book, but only to those with a strong stomach for fictional characters dying.  The carnage notwithstanding, it is a compelling story with truly excellent art and some good sci-fi action.  

I’ll give it two separate Lockjaw scores.  Three and a half out four Lockjaws as the official rating...  

...and a beforehand unheard of zero out of five Lockjaws based on the fact that Lockjaw died.