Marvel Comics resurrects their Inhuman king Black Bolt in “Uncanny Inhumans” #0. The issue reads smoothly enough and holds the reader’s hand working quite well as an introduction to this massive chunk of Marvel’s world, but it’s the art by Steve McNiven that’s worth the price of admission.
STORY BY: Charle Soule
ART BY: Steve McNiven
PUBLISHER: Marvel Comics
RELEASE DATE: April 1, 2015
PRICE: $4.99 USD
The Inhumans are Marvel’s new mutants that much is certain. Within the last few months the focus on the X-Men has dwindled in favor of these much more interesting and vastly underused Inhumans. Now by virtue of what seems to be licensing rights these weird heroes are edging into the spotlight.
Charles Soule’s writing is standard and serviceable if nothing else. He seems to routinely play it safe with his scripts, nothing too bombastic coupled with smaller moments of action and interesting dialogue. Spending an issue following Black Bolt should be no easy task but thanks to the insanely awesome work by Steve McNiven the story never misses a beat.
The issue starts strong and immersive. Soule tells the reader that things are not going to be easy for the Inhumans. As the story progresses were introduced to a very familiar villain who will surely be one of the primary antagonists in further stories, but here he’s left to his own devices. It’s an odd gamble that pays off well.
Black Bolt has always been a little bit of an anti-hero and Soule seems to be following this thread. He’s done terrible things in the name of peace, and will continue to take chances to protect people. He’s a very absent king but his immense power puts fear on his side.
As a #0 issue goes. This works quite well at introducing the stakes of the world and the characters within it. It’s not hard to tell where the story goes from here, and despite being the story before the story it does a fantastic job at catching readers up to the world of the Inhumans.
Weirdly enough not enough happens. Everything in these pages feels like the filler that was cut out from the first issue. It certainly shows in the opening pages, and the final scene is really the only one that feels necessary to the story. Despite this it’s so pleasing on the eyes that it will make for an enjoyable albeit bland read.
As with most #0 issues this would only be for the diehard fans. Those of you who are not well acquainted with The Inhumans may find something to like here, but may find yourself more confused than engaged. It’s not quite the rollicking beginning to a new age of Inhumans that Marvel has promised but it gives the hint of that to come. So if you’re hungry for more Black Bolt than I’d say go out and grab it tomorrow, but if you can wait another month, you’ll have a much more interesting story to read.