The Origins Of The Inhumans!

When I stumbled across Erich Von Daniken's theories in the 1970's they sounded somewhat familiar to me. Jack Kirby and Stan Lee had told a very similar story a decade earlier in the pages of "The World's Greatest Comic Magazine", the story of the Inhumans. I confess that for some time I was not particularly an Inhuman fan aside from Triton who I liked especially because of his connection to the Sub-Mariner and his many guest-starring outings in that book. They were just a bit too weird for me at the time, though now of course it is that very weirdness that makes them resonate still in my aging memory. 

The Inhuman saga begins rather inauspiciously in Fantastic Four #36 when a mysterious woman with strange long and deadly moving hair named "Madame Medusa" joins up with longtime Torch villains The Wizard and Paste-Pot Pete (soon to be called "The Trapster") and the Sandman (who began as a Spidey baddie but soon became an FF-hating regular). This story by Lee, Kirby and inker Chic Stone showcases the debut of the "Frightful Four" a decent attempt to give the Fab 4 somebody worthy to battle. 

The Frightful Four return a few issues later and attempt to blow up Reed, Sue, Johnny and Ben but as usual fail. But they came darn close. Medusa at this time is a baddie for sure, eager to confront the FF and willing to challenge the others in her team. 

Medusa's time as a villain comes to a close in a whopping three-part story in which the Frightful Four manage to get control of The Thing and set off against his former partners. The battle is a savage one and before it's done the Frightful Four are defeated save for Medusa who manages to escape partially because the Human Torch fancies her a bit. For the first time the reader might get an inkling that there's more to Medusa than just being a villain. Soon we'd know the truth. 

The secret of Medusa begins to unfold in Fantastic Four #44 when a strange gentleman named Gorgon comes looking for her. She turns to Johnny Storm for help and later the entire FF is called upon to attempt to protect one of their enemies when Gorgon proves that his stomps are mighty indeed. (On an artistic note, this issue marks the beginning of the long-running Kirby-Sinnott team with Joe stepping in to embellish the work of a man he never met in person until after their association had ended. While I am a fan of Vinnie Colletta and Mike Royer, I have to say that Kirby's art never looked more elegant than when Sinnott applied the embellishment.)

It turns out that Medusa is just one of a family who Reed calls "Inhuman" at some point. A chance meeting between Johnny Storm and a young beautiful Inhuman named Crystal changes both their lives forever and they fall in love at first sight. But Gorgon has by this time recaptured Medusa and she seems to relent at last. Johnny meets the other Inhumans such as Karnak, Triton and a dog named Lockjaw. His partners turn up and the battle is on. It all blazes along until a mysterious figure named Black Bolt arrives on the scene. 

Black Bolt is the silent leader of these Inhumans and they do what he says, or more correctly indicates as he is mute. Black Bolt is strong enough to go toe-to-toe with The Thing and he can fly and generate energy blasts as well. Combine that with Medusa's proven abilities, Gorgon's powerful hooves, and Karnak's precise attacks and the Inhumans are a tough bunch to battle. Crystal's powers seem vage and poor Triton seems trapped in a watery bag for most of the story. 

These Inhumans seem somewhat like a band of Gypsies, living on the perimeter of regular society mostly in the shadows and timid in the face of authority. The authority in these stories is someone called The Seeker who is ordered by his leader Maximus to return this family of cousins to the Great Refuge. He does just that and then Johnny Storm really has a fit since his new girl is now among the missing.  The FF seek out the Great Refuge after learning that the Inhumans are a genetic offshoot of mankind helped along by alien intervention. They find it, enter it and very quickly we learn that Black Bolt is the proper king and he merely snatches the crown from Maximus who reverts to a gibbering genius. But his genius is such that he is able to ignite a device that encapsulates the Great Refuge behind a shield dubbed "The Negative Zone". Now Johnny is locked off from Crystal and the FF barely escapes being stranded inside the great hidden city themselves. But the Fab 4 don't have long to worry about it as arriving on Earth is being called the Silver Surfer. 

The Inhuman story is put on hold as the FF battle the Surfer and then Galactus and then travel to the kingdom of Wakanda, another hidden wonderland of technology. But slowly and bit by bit we see that the Inhumans are trying to get out of their Negative Zone prison but having little success. The exact nature of the Inhumans seems to have taken shape slowly in the minds of Kirby and Lee but eventually we get to  what became the status quo of the extended Royal Family leading the rest of Inhumanity.  The Human Torch meanwhile is determined to find Crystal and along with his new best buddy Wyatt Wingfoot does just that using a wacky flying machine donated by the Black Panther. They run into Prester John and his Evil Eye but their odyssey is only just begun.  

For many issues we follow Johnny and Wyatt and the Inhumans themselves as their story become almost a back-up feature with a few pages dedicated to it each issue while the rest of the FF fight off Doctor Doom. Eventually the secret of Black Bolt's voice is revealed and using his might powerful tones he breaks open the Negative Zone but only laying wasted to the Great Refuge itself. But they are free and before long they get out and about. 

Crystal uses Lockjaw to find Johnny and at long last the two young lovers are together just as Reed is lost in Sub-Space (which will soon be called the Negative Zone for reasons no one understands) and must be rescued. To save him Triton is summoned and this new heroic looking aqua-man succeeds and is around when Blastaar teams up with Sandman to battle the FF. The bonds of friendship between the FF and the Inhumans have now been firmly established. 

In Fantastic Four #64 and #65 we are introduced to the star-spanning race named the "Kree". The presence of the Kree is revealed when two archeologists following info from ancient Incan sources go to a remote Pacific island where they wake up Sentry #459 who proceeds to capture them. In a massive coincidence the Fantastic Four are taking a vacation on this very deserted island (selected at random) and come into conflict with the Sentry. It is thanks to Lockjaw that the Human Torch is able to join the fray is able to escape as presumably the Sentry destroys the island base. Later Ronan the Accuser is sent to Earth to check up on this occurrence and he captures the Fantastic Four but his unable to mete out Kree justice before he is defeated and sent packing. The importance of the Kree to the Inhumans will be revealed very soon. 

But first the Royal Family is given a showcase of sorts in Fantastic Four King-Size Special #5. There along with the Black Panther the Inhumans battle the threat of Psycho Man and his three gun-toting minions Live Wire, Ivan, and Shellshock. This is clearly an attempt to raise the profile of the Inhumans as well as Prince T'Challa though the Human Torch and the Thing do join the fray at last. For the record Reed and Sue discover they are pregnant in this issue as well. The fact that the Silver Surfer is treated to a solo story also points to the fact this is an effort to create buzz about these Kirby creations. 

Then in of all places Thor #146 we learn more about the Inhumans. Kirby retired the Tales of Asgard back-up feature and brought forth a five pager about the Inhumans instead. In the first two stories we travel back in time to see Attlian the island city of the Inhumans who already thanks to allien intervention are technilogicaly advanced on the typical human of this prehistoric era. We see the leader Randac enter the Terrigen Mists for the first time and become the very first "Inhuman". Later Sentry #459 visits Attlian to see the handiwork of the Kree and is impressed. 

Then there is a two-parter showing the babyhood and early manhood of Black Bolt. We meet the young Royal Family and see that a young Black Bolt is burdened with never being able to speak for dread of his mighty voice. 

The Inhumans back-up feature ends with a trio of tales featuring Triton. These short but highly effective tales evoke masterfully the 50's Creature from the Black Lagoon film. And we see Triton try to save a lovely babe beneath the waves but finds it's a film crew and he's captured but is curious enough to let them take him to NYC where he escapes to find only fear in the streets. He is on his way back to Attilan to report to Black Bolt who leaves then and there to seek the Great Refuge where the Inhumans can hide away. 

This first volume of Inhuman adventures close with a spoof from Not Brand Echh #6 which lampoons a potential marriage between Johnny Storm and Crystal when her in-laws seem to be everywhere. The "Human Scorch"is saved from his unseemly wedlock with "Gristle" when "Sandyman" arrives to save the day. Weird, but it features some rockin' Kirby art embellished by Tom Sutton. 

And that wraps up this first of two tomes dedicated to the "Incomparable Inhumans". These folks were clearly Jack Kirby's babies, not unlike the Silver Surfer. He had plans for them and he'd eventually get a small chance to realize those plans, but that's for next week. 

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