No one wants me to complain any further about Marvel’s abortive attempts at elevating the Inhumans. I’m even sick of hearing my own rants on the topic. Things were looking up in the aftermath of Jason Aaron’s Infinity, but from the moment Inhumanity was introduced as a focal concept on ABC’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., we’ve endured a mediocre Inhuman title, two sputtering All-New All-Different launches, and a positively atrocious television mini-series. The latest flame-out came as Al Ewing’s once-promising Royals series drew to a close with issue #12. This week, in order to provide some semblance of closure to the Inhumans’ intergalactic quest for answers to new questions about their origins, Ewing is joined by Kevin Libranda and Mike del Mundo on the one-shot Inhumans: Judgment Day.
Despite knowing what this comic was going to be — a semi-rushed capper to a storyline that likely had been envisioned for a much deeper run — there are three distinct takeaways worth appreciating. The first is the fantastic art of Mike del Mundo. Even though he shares duties with Royals fill-in artist Libranda, any opportunity to see interior work by del Mundo is worth the price of admission. And in this issue we get not one, but two multi-page spreads.
Saladin Ahmed and Christian Ward’s Black Bolt series continues to be one of the best comic books Marvel has published in years. Which is pretty important, I think, considering ABC’s Inhumans was one of the worst things to ever air on television. And recent efforts to push the New Attilan contingent to the forefront of the comic book universe have stumbled mightily. Poor Jack Kirby. At least Taika Watiti’s Ragnarok pays appropriate homage to the King’s style and legacy. But the Inhumans were always one of my favorite concepts, both in character origin and design, and it has bothered me to see so much of that colorful cosmically charged energy go to waste, whether in half-ass crossovers or gawdawful televised mini-series. Ask anyone only casually familiar with the Marvel universe for an opinion on the Inhumans, and you’re likely to garner a reaction ranging from dismissal to outright mockery.
I initially reacted with a little disbelief upon hearing that this Black Bolt series was the Inhuman king’s first solo series. Brought to life by Jack Kirby and Stan Lee in the pages of Fantastic Four in 1965, Blackagar Boltagon and his compatriots have been central figures in a multitude of mighty Marvel storylines for decades. But he’s never fronted his own title? Hell, even his damn dog got to star in Lockjaw and The Pet Avengers back in ’09. Then I quickly realized, well… a protagonist who can level a building with a whisper probably won’t factor well in a dialogue-rich comic book. Or, a comic with any dialogue, really. He’s always relied upon Medusa or another member of the royal family to translate a series of stern gazes and austere gestures. And a book featuring even one of those folks wouldn’t really be a Black Bolt solo title anymore, would it?
The Institute of Idle Time 