Inhumanity

 

I've always enjoyed the tales of the Inhumans, ever since we discovered that then-villainess Medusa was actually an amnesiac queen of a lost city of super-powered beings, engineered by the Kree to evolve much quicker than their other humanoid counterparts on Earth. The royal family - Medusa, Black Bolt, Karnack, Gorgon, Triton, Crystal and more - were introduced in varying degrees in various series, although originating in Jack Kirby and Stan Lee's Fantastic Four. The different individuals had relationships with various other humanoid races - most specifically Crystal with Johnny Storm - and we learned more about their extra-terrestrial origins as time went on.

This hard cover collection I picked up from our pal Kevin Wilcox at the Founder's Club's Punk Rock Flea Market at a very reasonable price and it was quite the bargain! With no less than 17 chapters, we get an update on practically every major player in the Marvel Universe.

While the Inhumans are highlighted specifically in only the first couple chapters, the plots all revolve around a single event - the release of the Inhumans Terregin mist, which in their homeland causes their powers to manifest once the time comes. In a bizarre series of events (that are only mentioned here), the mist is released worldwide and affects any presumed human who generationally had any contact with any Inhuman - which apparently happened more often than we might have thought! So, people who always thought that they were human suddenly become super powered and often with strange and sometimes grotesque physical attributes.

The super heroes attempt to stave off this continuing process due to its potential for damage'n'mayhem, but, of course, it is not an easy solution and they need to deal with the repercussions of the mutations as they happen while also attempting a cure. 

Although sometimes trying to navigate the current Marvel universe can be more than confusing for someone like me who has been out of the loop for decades, these stories give us updates on innumerable characters and their evolutions as time has gone on. I'm not sure if every character is supposed to be the same as the ones that I once knew, as their personalities and positions have often changed (and, in one case, Doc Oc has taken over Peter Parker's body and killed Pete, and has nonetheless become a hero himself, so I don't know where that stands in the known Marvel universe), but you get enough info to go with the flow here. Some of them are more obnoxious than previously depicted, which can be disappointing - I guess I still like my heroes to essentially be heroic - but most are recognizable.

Well written and nice artwork, overall - worth checking out, especially if you can find at a fair price, as I did!