After reading Charles Soule’s She-Hulk and Death of
Wolverine, the guy can really do no wrong with me. That said, I have less than
zero interest in the Inhumans as the core protagonists of their own series.
Making matters worse, knowing that Marvel is “pushing” these characters so dang
hard makes it even harder to really be invested in them. I like the OLD X-Men;
I don’t need their corporate-approved replacements, even if it makes sense from
a Marvel Cinematic point of view. (For wrestling fans, it is sort of like how I
can’t get into Roman Reigns because you just KNOW that WWE has anointed him the
next big thing.)
Because let’s be honest with each other, this book is essentially
the X-Men. There are some different trappings thanks to Medusa’s royal status,
but c’mon. She’s Professor X, reaching out and discovering newly powered people
and bringing them back home. She’s got her core team of X-Men in the royal
family. And we’ve got newly discovered “mutants” like Inferno.
Oh! Medusa is also racing against an evil Inhuman who is out
to gain influence over these newly powered individuals. Just like Magneto and
the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants. In just about every way, this is an early-era
X-Men comic.
I will admit to being puzzled at the use of the royal family
though. None of the new Inhumans have grabbed my interest, yet old faces like
Gorgon and Triton really haven’t had much to do. I know Karnak is dead after
stupidly killing himself in the Inhumanity one-shot (which was a stupid and
short-sighted decision to start with), which doesn’t leave us with a lot of
big-time characters to use. Frankly, I think this book would benefit from using
Crystal. She’s got a good look and nice power set (although I guess Inferno has
the fire part covered). Heck, if Soule could get Quicksilver to make some
appearances, that would help too.
Right now, this feels like a bunch of stuff being thrown
against the wall to see what sticks. Maybe Inferno will end up being a
character I can really get behind, but for now, there are no new Inhumans that
I’m rooting for. Now is that my established prejudice against the Inhuman
concept? Or is it that Soule hasn’t hit on the right character yet? I’m not sure;
all I know is that I’m reading this book waiting to be hooked.
The most obvious strength of this title is Joe Madureira’s
art. After all these years, I still love his manga-influenced style. I love the
huge shoulders and chiseled chin on his male characters. I love the bubbly
bodies on his ladies. His work just screams 90’s comics, and since I dug comics
in that time, the fit is a good one for me. I’m not sure if Madureira made the
choice or not, but other than Medusa, no one is wearing spandex in this book.
That robs Mad of one of his strengths, he is dang good at drawing super-heroes;
I feel he’s a tad wasted drawing ugly looking mutants. Sorry! I mean Inhumans!
This book isn’t awful, but man, it sure needs something else
to hook me. Right now this FAIR comic is feeling way too forced.
