I’ll admit that there have been waaaay more crossovers going on at both Marvel and DC Comics than usual and that many of them have been rather uneventful (ironic in that these were all ‘event’ comics) in the end. But through them all, there have been two ‘sub event’ series at each company that have out-shined them all. DC had ‘Sinestro Corps War’ and Marvel had ‘Annihilation.’
A cosmic crossover that utilized the many space-faring heroes that had languished over the years. The first Annihilation crossover was so successful that it resulted in the relaunch of Nova, a series that was less than memorable to begin with and is now almost thew Marvel equivalent of Green Lantern (keep it up guys, you can do it!). The second Annihilation spawned Guardians of the Galaxy (another book that was less successful the first time around and is now a cult hit).
For the hat trick third cosmic event, Abnett and Lanning are pulling in characters from the X-Men universe and the long forgotten Inhumans.
For those not in the know, the Inhumans were created by Stan and Jack in the pages of the Fantastic Four back in the 1960′ as a super race wishing nothing more than to be left alone (aside from the evil Inhuman Maximus the Mad who wanted nothing less than total destruction on a grand scale). The royal family, consisting of the beautiful Medusa, the wise Karnak, gregarious Gorgon, silent Triton and angelic Crystal are ruled by the silent Black Bolt, who can never speak, his voice is so great. The family has braved many crises over the years, but in the past decade it has gotten decidedly worse for them.
The Inhumans have been used very well by a number of comic creators yet have remained in a kind of directionless limbo. Until last week, in fact, they remained exactly where they started; a race of super beings who wanted to be left alone.
That has all changed with Secret Invasion which saw the king of the Inhumans Black Bolt was kidnapped and his powerful voice (a mere whisper from his lips could shatter a mountain) turned into a weapon for the Skrull empire.
The Secret Invasion: Inhumans story brought up some key ideas that have been all but forgotten until recently. The Inhumans were originally created as a weapon to fight the Skrulls but had been forgotten, resulting in a race of intellectuals and artists rather than warriors (there are exceptions, of course). With the wraith of an entire race awakened by the damage done to their king, however, the Inhumans are out to earn their title of perfect warriors.
Seeking out the last remnants of the Skrull fleet from the doomed invasion of the Earth, the Inhuman city is now roaring through the stars hell-bent on revenge. No longer satisfied with isolation, they are now looking for domination over the other races in the galaxy from the Skrulls to the Kree to the Shi’ar… which will bring us to part two of my article to come tomorrow.
This is an incredibly exciting time for these characters. Seeing the Inhumans developed beyond a culture of isolation is a very big thing and the most interesting concept to be enacted since their creation.
But what will the consequences of the perfect weapons let loose upon the universe? Read the series (War of Kings- One Shot and X-Men: Kingbreaker- One Shot) on sale now to find out!
Recommended:
The Inhumans (Marvel Comics, Fantastic Four)
Fantastic Four/Inhumans (Marvel Comics, Annihilation)
Secret Invasion: Inhumans
