Creative Staff:
Story: Charles Soule
Art: Pepe Larraz
What They Say:
Thought dead by most of the world since Infinity, King Black Bolt steps back into the spotlight! Black Bolt and Maximus have been busy over in New Avengers, but that’s not the whole story of what is going on with the Boltagon brothers!
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
Inhuman’s quick movements with its stories have been frustrating on some level as it feels like there are a lot of areas where it could slow down and really tell a more engaging story over a couple of issues. But it’s also hitting a lot of neat ideas fast in a way that helps to expand that overall narrative, and I’m enjoying what that’s bringing to the table over the months since the fall of Attilan and Medusa setting up her new city where she is, all while the Terrigen cloud continues to roll around the world. This issue is one that does slow things down a bit as it focuses on some intriguing areas while also bringing in some new characters to deal with. The expansion of the cast is certainly welcome and watching a little more crazy Inhuman mindsets doesn’t hurt either.
One of the aspects of the Inhumans that have to be dealt with is the desperation that a lot of its original residents are feeling when it comes to their children. With there being no more Terrigen for them to have during the maturation process where they transform and take on their powered up lives, we see through the security service side of the city how there are people taking advantage of residents by distributing and selling fake Terrigen crystals. This introduces us to Auran, the best from before the fall of the city and the best now. She’s gained herself a new partner in the last few months with a NuHuman named Frank McGee, a twenty-six year New York City veteran cop who had his life fall apart after gaining abilities having survived the cocoon process. There’s a really good dynamic between the two, the whole “a cop is a cop is a cop” angle and all, and seeing the process of them investigating things together adds a new twist to the world.
And what an investigation the two get as Medusa reveals to them that Black Bolt is actually alive and she wants them to find him in secret. That’s a fun part of the book, but a lot of the book shows us events from the other side, before and after that, as we see that Maximus has gained control of Black Bolt and has been keeping him to himself as he plays around and bides his time until the end of everything, which references events over in New Avengers. Maximus certainly has a lot of style about him and seeing him working a kind of playboy image here while tormenting his King definitely works, especially since we get to see him cut loose a bit with the kind of control his power really does have.
In Summary:
Inhuman finally starts dealing with some of what’s gone on with Black Bolt after all this time since his dropping of the Terrigen bomb and it certainly explains a few things. There are more questions than answers, as I have no clue what the Incursions he references are from New Avenges as I’m not reading that book, but it looks to all tie into what Black Bolt was trying to do in unlocking so many NuHumans to help fight against what’s coming. Maximus is definitely a fun character that I want to see more of as he really plays well against not only Black Bolt but also Auran and Frank when that confrontation has. It’s a lot of exposition, but Soule presents it well and he lucks out even more as artist Pepe Larraz really brings it to life in a beautiful way with some very great, dynamic panels and designs.
Grade: B+
Age Rating: 13+
Released By: Marvel Comics via ComiXology
Release Date: October 29th, 2014
MSRP: $3.99
