INHUMANITY #1 REVIEW
Writer: Matt Fraction
Artist: Olivier Coipel
Inker: Mark Morales
Colorist: Laura Martin
Review by Suzanne Nagda
Extinction. What happens after an entire way of life is destroyed? Can a person or society ever recover from such world-altering changes? Avengers and Inhumans alike grapple with the fall of Attilan, the ancestral home of the Inhumans. Karnak, the royal Inhuman, is the window through which the reader learns about Infinity, Terrigen Mists, Inhuman ancestry, and the fate of Inhuman king, Black Bolt. Does that sound like a lot of plot to establish in thirty pages? Thankfully, Hawkeye and his more grounded perspective tempers Karnak’s oddity and lengthy exposition. Hawkeye has one of the most compelling moments of the book–it seems like that Matt Fraction guy might have something going there.
The story opens with Karnak ranting on the streets of Manhattan about extinction and warped worlds. The aftermath of Infinity is a complicated subject–with Attilan destroyed, Terrigen Mists fall on Earth and activate dormant Inhuman cells in unknowing people. Karnak theorizes with the Avengers about Attilan’s destruction and who holds responsibility for its demise. This issue raises more questions than it truly answers, especially because of Karnak’s imbalanced perspective. What about Maximus and Black Bolt? Or my favorite Inhuman, Lockjaw? Karnak is an unreliable narrator–so are his theories about them misleading?
This issue comes with all the gravitas of an event comic. It’s setting up bigger things, like the Inhuman series coming out this spring. Yet like many event comics at Marvel, it’s closely linked to the Infinity series and doesn’t feel self-contained. True confessions–I never read Infinity and had to do a little homework to catch up for this issue. Yet if you have passing familiarity with the Inhumans, this is a relatively easy hurdle to overcome.
Olivier Coipel’s pencils are very strong on this book. His range is impressive–from destruction in New York City to Karnak taking on the Avengers. He’s the type of artist who really excels at character moments like Karnak’s grim tears and shaken posture. In terms of colors, Laura Martin effectively uses a more muted palette on some of the flashback scenes.
The Verdict: Buy this book! Even if you haven’t read Infinity (like me), Matt Fraction and Olivier Coipel bring you into the world of the Inhumans that is both promising and intriguing. Can I get the first issue of Inhuman yet?
