Review: Inhumanity

Quick Summary

Pros: This event pushes the Inhumans into the future and builds excitement while doing so. Some of the stories here are wonderful on their own and add to the overall experience. The artwork looks nice in most chapters.

Cons: Most of the stories here are pretty average and some are rather poor. Many of the stories have very little relation to the main event and make for a disjointed reading experience.

Overall: This event succeeds in getting its overall point across but stumbles in numerous places on the way there. This is a comic about the Inhumans and how a recent catastrophe has pushed them into a new age. Some of the chapters here recognize this and are able to use the tragedy to tell compelling and interesting stories. Unfortunately, most of the chapters end up being just average or worse. Plus, many of the chapters barely incorporate the Inhuman tragedy and tell almost completely unrelated stories instead. Readers interested in the Inhumans and their effect on various Marvel heroes will enjoy aspects of this book but those looking for a compelling and complete reading experience may want to look for a different event.

Story

Inhumanity is a diverse collection of stories all centered around the beginning of a new age of Inhumans. In this way, this collection is a transitory work that seeks to push the Inhumans from one era to the next, while also taking time to highlight the trauma of this transition. In this regard, Inhumanity is a major success. It shows how the Inhuman Royalty is dealing with this catastrophe while also taking plenty of time to show how humanity as a whole was affected.

Unfortunately, the quality level throughout Inhumanity is highly variable. There are a few standout stories filled with emotion and purpose but these are definitely in the minority. Instead, most of the book tells stories that are average at best. Plus, the focus of the tie-ins is often on what is taking place in that individual series, not the Inhumanity event as a whole. This leads to a choppy reading experience that will be especially painful for those with little knowledge of the tie-in comics. There are plenty of positives supporting this book but there are also plenty of negatives holding it back.

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Starting with the positives, it can easily be said that Inhumanity works in bringing about a new and interesting era for Inhumans. The first two chapters see Medusa forced to take on a leadership role while ominous tidings drift into her future. Her efforts to salvage something from this devastation can also be seen in some of the tie-in comics, particularly the Iron Man and the Avengers A.I. tie-ins. All of this builds up to a more significant Inhuman storyline centered around Medusa, which is both exciting and intriguing.

The collection’s other main positive comes from a few stellar tie-in chapters. The Avengers Assemble chapters detail an incredible journey of heroism through the eyes of a young and optimistic hero. Meanwhile, the Superior Spider-Man chapter is incredibly down to Earth and shows the human consequences involved in a blockbuster event like this. Chapters of this quality stand well on their own and enhance Inhumanity overall.

Unfortunately, most stories collected in Inhumanity do not reach this high level of quality. The vast majority of stories here are just average and fail to truly do anything unique or compelling on their own. In addition, the Indestructible Hulk chapters rely on ridiculous miscommunication to drive the plot forward and The Awakening chapters have some rather lame dialogue. There are definitely more than a few storytelling issues in various places throughout this book.

However, the biggest problem with Inhumanity is the lack of cohesion between the tie-in chapters and the main event. Some of the chapters, like the previously mentioned Avengers Assemble and Superior Spider-Man issues, utilize the destruction of Attilan to tell beautiful stories about loss and growth. Meanwhile, other chapters, like the Uncanny X-Men, Mighty Avengers, and New Avengers issues, barely mention the main event at all. These stories aren’t necessarily bad; they simply don’t fit in well with other, more focused, tales. It leads to a fragmented reading process where the destruction of Attilan is earth-shattering one second and then barely relevant the next.

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Art

The artwork in Inhumanity has its ups and downs but is mostly a positive experience. The collection starts out with a dark and serious chapter from penciler Olivier Coipel, an artistic highpoint that also helps set the perfect tone for the event. Later on, readers get a few great looking Avengers Assemble chapters that feature a wonderful combination of lighthearted pencils from Matteo Buffagni and bright colors from Nolan Woodard, both of which help complement the optimistic tone seen in this story. The penultimate chapter, by Stephanie Hans, is also an artistic standout, one that plays with light and darkness in a way that highlights the internal struggle within the Superior Spider-Man. Overall, most of the chapters within Inhumanity are positive and even manage to take things to the next level.

Continuity

Inhumanity is a crossover event that takes place throughout many Marvel Comics series. However, the source of the event can be found in the Infinity (Review) event, specifically Infinity #3, which directly kicks off Inhumanity.

In addition, Inhumanity contains a number of tie-in chapters that are all collected here. Each of these tie-in chapters directly relates to the story going on in that particular series at that particular time. Readers can more fully understand these tie-in chapters by reading their individual collections, including: Indestructible Hulk Vol. 4: Humanity Bomb (Review), Iron Man Vol. 4: Iron Metropolitan (Review), Uncanny X-Men Vol. 3: The Good, The Bad, The Inhuman, Mighty Avengers Vol. 1: No Single Hero, Avengers A.I. Volume 2: 12,000 A.D., and New Avengers Volume 3: Other Worlds. These tie-in issues will be explained in our “Inhumanity Reading Order” (coming soon).

Inhumanity has small effects on the comics it ties into, however these effects are dealt with in the individual series. The main story primarily continues in Inhuman.

This volume also makes references to other comic books, detailed below:

• References are made to past events surrounding the Enclave and the Beehive. These events are told in Fantastic Four #66-67.
• Iron Man mentions Hulk being sent into space previously. This happened in the Planet Hulk storyline.
• Wolverine mentions that he has been having problems with his healing factor. This started back in Wolverine Vol. 1: Hunting Season (Review).
• Spider-Man’s shift in personality can be explained by the beginning of the Superior Spider-Man series, collected in Superior Spider-Man: The Complete Collection Vol. 1.
• Daredevil’s recent encounter with Doctor Doom is mentioned. This happened in Daredevil #14-15, now collected at the end of Daredevil by Mark Waid Vol. 3 (Review) and the beginning of Daredevil by Mark Waid Vol. 4 (Review).
• Mr. Fantastic mentions that he built something called the “Bridge” in the past. He build this device at the beginning of Dark Reign: Fantastic Four.