Inhumans: The Origin of the Inhumans
is what i reread recently
and will post my thoughts about due to popular demand (one [1] beloved mutual)
i dunno i feel like i dont post enough about comics here
this is basically a bunch of mid-60s FF comics that feature the Inhumans, stitched together to kiiiind of create a narrative.
The book can be vaguely divided into three sections, first the build-up, where the Inhumans aren't technically introduced yet but we're moving towards them, then the main Inhumans arc, where the Inhumans are the primary antagonists/supporting characters, and then the aftermath, where they become kind of minor recurring characters.
Obviously not unique to this book, but my god. they were allergic to periods. I did not read a single sentence that did not end in "!" or "?" or "..." or multiples and combinations thereof.
I think the largest problem is just inherent in what this is. There is no overarching story to the Inhumans, because for almost half of the book they're just side characters with cool powers. The FF get development (you know, relative to 1960s comics), since they're the main characters, but that makes this book an awkward read.
Some more specific thoughts:
There is movement in the Inhumans' story early on. FF #36, 38, 41-43 start slow, with the FF fighting the Frightful Four, of which the as of yet backstoryless Medusa is a part of. Towards the end, we get Johnny letting Medusa go, for reasons that he can't articulate, but seem like foreshadowing his special relationship with the Inhumans and Crystal. #44-48 is then the main Inhumans story and honestly very enjoyable. If someone asked me to recommend them like the most essential classic Inhumans story, I'd probably go with #44-48. The slow introduction of Medusa feels well payed off by first having her enemy-of-my-enemy the FF against Gorgon (who is hunting her) and then have her appear as part of the Inhuman family when Johnny follows Crystal.
#44-48 also does a very good job of upping the stakes. First we have Johnny basically falling in love on first sight with some mysterious woman, then it's revealed that she is part of a family of powered individuals in hiding, then it's revealed that Medusa and Gorgon are there too and everyone keeps referring to their most powerful member, Black Bolt. Black Bolt appears later than the rest and is immediately unique due to how powerful he is and because he doesn't speak (although the reason isn't immediately established). But we're not done yet, cause it is revealed that the Inhumans come from a secret city called the Great Refuge and Black Bolt is the deposed king, who is then swiftly reinstated. And two issues ago we were in some alley in New York!
so, it's enjoyable, but it doesn't really make a terrible amount of sense though. For example, taking back his crown is literally as easy as that for Black Bolt. Like he literally just takes it from Maximus' head. Why did they have to flee in the first place? Maybe Priest knows! But that's not for now. There's also the Inhumans' attitude towards the human world. At first the Inhumans are staunchly against their existance being known to the wider world, which is why Gorgon was so extra about collecting Medusa. Okay, fine. Then Reed holds a speech (mediocre, I've seen him do better) and Maximus tries to kill all humans with a machine that kills all humans but it also affects Inhumans because they're not so different after all (which is fine and good). These two things then somehow convince the Inhumans that they awrongly feared the human world and want to rejoin in. Which I don't buy. At all. Their fear of humans was are clearly social and not based on some innate resemblance. Gorgon literally says that humans can't be trusted two pages earlier, and I'm supposed to think he changed his mind because we all vibrate at the same frequency?
So anyway, this becomes academic for a good bit, because Maximus traps the Great Refuge in a barrier (called a Negative Zone, which predates the antimatter universe by a few months). This end the Inhumans' dominance over the ongoing FF plot and relegates them to a few panels every issue (which is still very impressive). These panels are usually dominated by Johnny and Crystal being sad that they're not with each-other (IMO this is the most compelling part of this "era". While I'm not a love at first sight kinda gal, I can at least buy it as a motivation for Crystal to return to the human world more than Reed's speech.) and with the other Inhumans (who've all had a change of heart), trying to break through the barrier, which eventually works, thanks to Black Bolt's voice (more on that later!). The Great Refuge is damaged by Black Bolt's scream, so the bulk of the kingdom decides to rebuild, while the main characters are to leave and seek out humanity.
they proceed to find some island where they hang out on, until the FF need them, then they help the FF and go back to their island.
Also the island is a part of nato and the Inhumans repel an anti-nato invasion. so like. i just wanted to mention that.
this is where the worst part of the book begins, the Inhumans are just relegated to being muscle. Beyond Crystal and Johnny getting together, nothing interesting happens to the Inhumans at all. And I think that's a shame, because they had a pretty clear goal of getting to know humanity, but they just? Don't? At least so far.
after that, there are some back-up stories from Thor of all places, starring the Inhumans, but since those are character focused, I'll get into them in a moment.
And some random observations:
These issues of FF clearly have no interest in the Inhumans as a culture (despite what Reed says). First it's just about Medusa, then about the main Inhuman group (Medusa, Gorgon, Crystal, Lockjaw, Karnak, Triton, Black Bolt) and their enemy Maximus (and his three goons) and then it's not about the Inhumans at all. But we don't really get anything on the Great Refuge beyond it being a monarchy and that the Inhumans love their king.
one thing that I find genuinely remarkable in these older stories is the willingness to just come up with new shit even if it barely fits with what just came before. I mean, Medusa being a member of the evil FF before being revealed as a member of a royal family of super-powered mountain-dwellers makes not a lick of sense, but it is bold and it is an improvement. And I do really like that they would rather write something good than something that perfectly lines up with what came before.
I don't think I ever appreciated what an awesome name Johnny Storm is before having Crystal call him that eight times in this book. I think the combination of "world's most generic name"+"cool noun" is just really good.
The family status of each of the main characters is actually very ill-defined until the Thor issues. Medusa and Crystal are called siblings and Black Bolt and Maximus are called siblings, but beyond that nothing. Gorgon calls the six main characters the "royal family and court", kind of implying that maybe he or Karnak aren't blood-related to anyone, but "just" part of the court? Of course then the Thor issues call everyone cousins.
These are comics from the 1960s, so there is a lot of racism and sexism. In the sexism department we have of course all women being defined through their romantic attachments to others (Crystal with Johnny, Medusa first as the object of desire in the Frightful Four and then pining for Black Bolt [although I think she's probably got the most going on beyond romance] and Sue is of course wife to Reed. I often see Sue and Reed pointed out as some all-time classic great couple, presuambly by people who mostly read modern comics. But godddd. The 60s attitudes about women and wives and marriage sure do come out here. Malice was right etc. etc.). In the racism department we have an auspicious lack of people of color in vast swathes of the book. The most prominent non-white character is Wyatt Wingfoot, Johnny's Comanche college roommate who goes on a few adventures with him. Apart from that, one issue has the FF hanging out with the Black Panther briefly and some Wakandans appear in the background (and that comes with all the 1960s portrayal of the Wakandas). To the best of my memory, the Inhumans and New Yorkers are all white.
Also a feature of the time, but a less sinister one, is the very descriptive dialogue. I do think the book would be better if characters didn't waste my time shouting "the wall has come alive and isn't letting go of Karnak", when I can see a beautiful Kirby-rendered wall coming alive and not letting go of Karnak. On the other hand, I do quite enjoy when new characters are introduced and kind of monologue to themselves, or perhaps an invisible theater audience, their motivations. I think that has a certain stylishness to it that I like. I also think that Black Bolt kinda helps with this, because he can't speak. One of my favourite panels here is Black Bolt silently reaching out to Medusa who's facing away from him, talking about how they can't be together due to Black Bolt's destiny.
while i previously derided the back-half of this book for lack of Inhumans there is a funny amount of first appearances relevant to my interests: First we have the Negative Zone's (yes that one, not the barrier) very own Blastaar the living bomb-burst. Not really a lot to say about him, he's a monster from outter space who loves crime. Then we have the Sentry Sinister (aka Sentry 459<-yes i knew that number by heart). With this introduction of the Kree we kinda see again what these comics were really good at: upping the stakes. First we start with what seems like a fruitless archeological expedition that finds a living relic of what we're told is a long-dead alien civilization that visited Earth. Then it fights the FF on probably outdated orders. Then we learn, in a fantastic cold opening, that the Kree aren't long-dead at all, they're just so fucking grand they don't care at all about Earth (<- those extra spaces were for you to get your laughter out), but now their creepy leader with the unpronouncable name has deemed the FF enemies and is sending an agent to kill them. Fantastic. I'm having a blast. Except, where are my Inhumans :( And then finally, we also get the Psycho-Man from what will be known as the Microverse and is now usually called Subatomica (which goes harder as a name). The Psycho-Man is of course a mainstay of the Microverse, you can't go there without having to deal with him. But also I could care more, frankly. For some reason his goons include a cowboy.
okay so now I'll look at all the Inhumans, briefly, as their own characters:
Medusa. She got the most to do here. FWIW with her time as villainess in the Frightful Four she kind of comes out of this as the woman with the most agency and lowest amount of romantic motivation, which ends up making her a fair bit more interesting than the average female charactere here.
Gorgon also takes a special position because he's kind of introduced as a villain. And maybe it's just bias from later stories, but I always felt like he was the most conservative and least open of the main Inhumans.
Crystal! I I do like Crystal. I dunno, something about the way she is introduced as mysterious and powerful just works for me. And she gets an arc, hampered by the era's sexism, but at least it's something.
Karnak. His power is cool! And he's a jerk!
Triton. He's got a fair amount going on, with his inability to breathe air, and arguably mild dependence on Maximus. We do actually get a bit more of him in the Thor back-ups, but nothing that really changes him as a character.
Black Bolt! Here we got a lot. So in the issues of FF it's first implied that his power is electron manipulation and that his being mute is the result of a recent accident, probably caused by Maximus. Characters report not having heard his voice since the accident as well. Not much later, it is implied that Black Bolt actually retained his ability to speak since the accident, but doesn't use to due to its now destructure power. And then in the Thor back-ups it is revealed that Black Bolt's parents genetically engineered him (which is implied to be normal in Inhuman culture) for hovering and matter reconstruction, but that he accidentally ended up with the voice thing as well. After accidentally destroying a building (though his parents survive), he is locked away in some soundproof chamber until he was old enough to know better than to speak. This is another example of Lee and Kirby just not caring about previous continuity and doing something more interesting instead. Yay!
On Inhuman culture at large: it is revealed early on that Inhumans ahve genetically engineered themselves and that they have been on this kind of technological level since forever. Later, in the Thor back-ups, it's revealed that the Kree artificially accelerated the Inhumans' evolution and that's why they're like that (and that's also why the Kree stuff is in this collection). The terrigen mists (originally terrogen mist) are first introduced by some fucker named Randac.
