This is a most curious reprint package. The Inhumans have a most curious publishing history and no small part of that was their stint as the front half of Amazing Adventures which was an early 70's attempt to recapture the magic of the classic split books of the Silver Age. It was somewhat successful, but eventually gave way as one feature, in this case the Inhumans eventually took over. The Inhumans were the creation of Jack "King" Kirby and he'd wanted to do a feature with them for a long time. Just before he left Marvel he got his chance to both write and draw these intriguing characters. The problem was that ten pages was a small space to tell a large story. After four issues he was gone.
And for a brief time, the great Neal Adams drew the feature, replacing Kirby just as he had done on Thor. Those Roy Thomas-Neal Adams adventures are the focus of this reprint as the story blends weirdly into the Kree-Skrull War being waged at that time in mighty pages of The Avengers. This skirmish informs our understanding of that greater conflict in a small way, and this collection will go nicely next to a gathering of that now famous Marvel epic.
Neal Adams gave way eventually on this saga handing the art chores to longtime DC pro Mike Sekowsky. Sekowsky did very little work for Marvel, this stuff along with a few issues of Super-Villain Team-Up as I recall. But with covers by the likes of Adams, John Buscema, and Gil Kane, the artwork on this storyline in Amazing Adventures looks impeccable.
In the very first issue Black Bolt leaves his Royal Family members inexplicably. They find Maximus in a weird box and both Gorgon and Karnak work to free him. But Maximus has a new secret power and immediately on his release sends a mental bolt which robs Black Bolt of his memory just as Black Bolt was reaching civilization in the form of San Francisco. Black Bolt takes off his costume to blend in and that proves to be a terrible mistake.
Realizing their mistake Gorgon, Karnak, Medusa and Triton battle against Maximus who has taken mental control of the rest of the small Inhuman population. Robbed of his memory Black Bolt has hooked up with a boy he rescued from abuse. Later, not knowing his immense power begins to speak and destroys a ship in the harbor. Neal Adams does a great job of rendering this chaotic event with the help of inker John Verpoorten. Verpoorten does some outstanding work on the work of Adams in all these Inhuman stories save the first one inked by Tom Palmer, and I'm sorry they didn't do more together.
(Mike Sekowsky and Bill Everett)
In the next issue Thomas and Adams are gone. Replacing them is the team of Gerry Conway and Mike Sekowsky with Bill Everett on inks. The chaotic storyline is made even more confusing when Magneto and a weird gang of mutants take on the Family. He also kidnaps Black Bolt and reunites the family save for Triton.
(Neal Adams and Tom Palmer)
Neal Adams and Roy Thomas welcome back their old partner Tom Palmer to take the Inhuman story back again in the pages of The Avengers. Triton finally returns and Maximus is still up to no-good, and we are presented with a strange event for Marvel when the Conway-Sekowsky issues are ignored, and the story picks up from when Thomas and Adams left the series. But more on that tomorrow.
I was never really a fan of The Inhumans. I thought they worked best as supporting characters in FF, but their own strips were kind of 'meh'. Interesting to think about how New Gods and Forever People, etc., would've been had Kirby not defected to DC. They'd likely have been supporting characters in Thor and FF - to begin with at least.
ReplyDeleteThe Forever People were indeed likely to become supporting characters, as they darn near were in their own book sometimes. The New Gods not so much, but I get your drift. I was cool to the Inhumans as a younger reader, but they've made more sense to me over the years. I liked the idea of a leader who never talked. Always loved Triton for some reason.
DeleteI first read Adams Inhumans strips in UK Marvel titles in black and white and loved it, not long after that I tracked down the original issues and it was even better in colour. I thought this series had some of Neal's best art and a pretty good story. I've never really enjoyed the characters since this series ( and the film was a bit of a dud). Like yourself I really liked the idea of their leader Black Bolt , being silent, clever stuff .
ReplyDeleteStan really worked hard to make Medusa a star, giving her guest-star gigs and even a try-out in Marvel Super-Heroes, but I found her weird. When she joined the FF I got more comfortable with her. The oddest one for me is Karnak. He's just strange.
DeleteMan, that Neal Adams splash page is way cool! I had forgotten all about it. I got absorbed in the Inhumans run in Amazing Adventures during its initial run -- a little whacky at times, but I thought the various "guest" issues were pretty good.
ReplyDeleteReading them again, it's clear they jammed a lot of story into a mere ten pages or thereabouts. More plot sometimes than any three issues of a modern comic book. Adams' take on Thor is way better here than when he drew him for his own book. The difference was Sinnott who smoothed things out too much sometimes. (Admittedly sometimes they needed smoothing.)
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