The Once and Future King
The origin of the universal Inhumans is revealed as Hickman delves into the cosmic history of the Marvel U.
The Good
I'm a sucker for Black Bolt, The Inumans, and Marvel's cosmic gallery.
For those who haven't been keeping up with the Inhumans in recent years Hickman does a very solid job of paraphrasing the War of Kings. Anybody who's actually read the entirety of said event will certainly have an appreciation for what a herculean task that is.
The pacing and flow of this issue is superb. From a technical standpoint the writing on this issue is nearly flawless.
Maximus "The Mad" is one of my favorite Inhumans and though his appearance in this issue was brief it's nice to see that his gears are still turning. I'll have to wait til next issue for verification but I get the feeling that he's up to something big (I mean when isn't he?) and may possibly be playing a role in the return of his brother.
I love the way that Hickman plays with the history of the Marvel universe in titles like S.H.I.E.L.D. and Secret Warriors and FF is no exception. The lump sum of this story takes place on Hala hundreds of thousands of years ago and reveals details of the Kree breeding program that gave rise to the Inhumans.
As I've mentioned, and you've likely noticed, I'm a big Marvel space nerd. I've always been particularly intrigued with the Kree and their culture. The biggest thing about the Kree that captures my mind is that they are ruled by the Supreme Intelligence. The idea of a culture governed by the sum total of the combined knowledge of it's greatest scientist, politicians, philosophers, priest, etc. just gets my mind buzzing. The way Hickman shows this during the issue was perfect and the voice his writing lends the Supremeor is spot on.
Hickman uses this issue to set up a messianic mythology around Black Bolt. As Black Bolt is one of my favorite (and most underused) Marvel powerhouses, I must say that's quite fine by me. The Supremor's order to eliminate all Inhumans in the Kree empire bears more than a little similarity to King Herod's slaying of Israel's man children in hopes of eliminating Jesus. I'm always a fan of Biblical allusions when they're not ham-fisted. There's also some interesting parallels which can be drawn between Cronus of Greek Mythology and Freud's Oedipus complex .
Throughout all of his Marvel works Hickman has repeated certain themes/motifs. The most common of these would be fathers and sons, nature vs. nurture, and free will vs. destiny. This issue does an excellent job of touching on all of these and weaving them throughout the story.
The Bad
The FF aren't actually in this issue.
Beyond all others this issue is the one that will show new readers just how steep the learning curve on Hickman's FF run's going to be. For better of worse Hickman doesn't hold his readers's hands, but he does point in the right direction if you're paying close enough attention.
Greg Tocchini's art just isn't my cup of tea. Also this issue features another boring and bland cover. Black Bolt deserves better than this, bring Acuna back ASAP!!!
Waiting for the next issue's going to be torture!!! The parts of this issue taking place in the present drops some tantalizing bread crumbs which we'll have to wait to see resolved.
The Verdict
Buy This Comic
This is an issue you're either going to love or hate. If you're new to Hickman's Fantastic Four Run then you'll likely be wondering what Black Bolt/Inhuman's dog in this fight is and this issue may not mean much at all to you. In regards to this I'd advise you to track down Fantastic Four 577 or use the FF annotations on Comics Alliance of it. This issue raises many questions, that aren't answered here. Despite this I've got total faith in Hickman, because the guy's yet to let me down on anything I've read by him. This issue sets up the next which, from the previews I've read, promises to be action packed. All in all this was a great stand alone issue that just so happened to appeal to my sensibilities and felt rewarding to read as a long time follower of Hickman's Four work and Marvel's cosmic stories.