An Inhuman Retrospective

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Amazing Adventures, collection, Doug Moench, first issue, George Perez, Gil Kane, Inhumans, Jack Kirby, Jae Lee, Marvel Comics, Paul Jenkins

We’ve always had a fondness for the Inhumans as characters and concepts despite the lackluster treatment they often receive in print. The Inhumans first appeared as supporting characters in the Fantastic Four when creators Stan Lee and Jack Kirby still masterminded that title together. In 1970, Kirby launched Inhumans on their own adventures in Marvel’s second attempt at an Amazing Adventures title.

Marvel ran the 1961 Amazing Adventures for just half a year, its first six issues collecting some entertainingly vintage stories by Kirby and Steve Ditko, Dick Ayres, Paul Reinman, Don Heck, and Larry Leiber. You can preview many of these golden-age sci-fi and monster stories in our archives.

Beginning with a new #1 issue – something that seems a monthly event at Marvel these days – the 1970 Amazing Adventures put both the Inhumans and the Black Widow on the cover. The Black Widow stories have some wonderful John Buscema and Gene Colan artwork you can preview at Diversions of the Groovy Kind.

The Inhumans get the full Jack Kirby treatment for three issues. He writes and draws them in pretty straight-forward superhero adventures. We have the first story in our archives. Like Kirby’s Black Panther, they lack  depth but make fast-paced action stories for young readers. 1970 also gave Inhumans fans another Jack Kirby treatment of his genetically-modified heroes: the final issue of the first Silver Surfer series.

Even the Mandarin appears in these Amazing Adventures, in his utterly ridiculous “Asian Villain” outfit! The Inhumans made it about 16 issues in this format, with Roy Thomas and Neal Adams stepping up to create new stories after Kirby left. But like Thomas & Adams’ X-men, the Inhumans were doomed as a publication.

Okay. Not exactly doomed. They got their own title after that! Leaving behind the anthology comic format, the Inhumans had earned their own shot as title characters. Doug Moench and George Perez launched them with Inhumans #1 in 1975. We have that first issue in our archives, too: Spawn of Alien Heat!

That series showed a lot of potential, but its struggle to find its feet is almost palpable. You can find it reprinted in a hardcover format as Marvel Masterworks: Inhumans #2 from 2010, the first volume of which covers all those Amazing Adventures stories plus their origin story from Thor.

Marvel billed the Inhumans as “uncanny” in this series, a word they would later apply to the X-men. The “Uncanny X-men” stuck, and few readers of bronze-age Marvel recall anyone but the X-men ever being uncanny! Gil Kane moved from cover art to interior art in this series. Although his style seems rough after Perez’s smooth work, Kane delivers some truly classic 70s work in stories like “A Trip to the Doom” in issue #7.

In what now feels like a desperate ploy to boost sales, the Inhumans fight Hulk in their final issue. The same thing happened to Kirby’s Eternals in the mid-70s. Bad sales figures? Hulk Smash! “Let Fall the Final Fury” turns out to be the last appearance of the Inhumans in their own title for about 25 years.

Despite some great guest appearances in John Byrne’s Fantastic Four in the 1980s, the Inhumans never really got a stellar treatment until Paul Jenkins and Jae Lee crafted a twelve-issue limited series for them in the 21st century. We have some of that artwork in our archives. The Inhumans live up to their potential in this compelling story, despite its reliance on the same old struggle with Maximus the Mad.

The four-issue Inhumans series by Carlos Pacheco earlier that summer had some stunning art by Ladronn. It attempted to free the Inhumans from the only two stories they ever seemed to get: the fight with Black Bolt’s mad brother, and their thing about needing to live on the moon. Pacheco stepped in and said, “Let’s shake this up a bit,” taking their conceptual struggles in the next logical plot direction.

But, in the wake of the Jenkins/Lee story, Marvel decided on a “next generation” approach to the Inhumans. The book became more teen-friendly and introduced a new, younger set of Inhumans characters, some of whom we met in Jenkin’s story. This 2003 Inhumans series ran for twelve issues. It has its merits and perhaps competed at the time with Marvel’s Runaways and Exiles for a teen audience wanting teen characters. Of those three, only Runaways kept our attention, proving to be a book about teens that older audiences could appreciate, too.

And that, dear Martians, is why some lucky buyer overseas ended up with a stack of Inhumans comics from us! We collected those first Kirby issues, the run of their 1970s title, and the Jenkins/Lee paperback, along with some other minor Inhumans goodies from over the years. It was fun to have them all close at hand for a few years, and we did hold on to our single-issue copies of the Jenkins stories.

As we liquidate our physical comic book collection to help pay for our Masters degree, you can support the Martian resistance by shopping in our eBay store. A special thank you goes out to our readers who have helped spread the word about our sales through Twitter!

Marvel Treasury Edition: Rampaging Hulk

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Adam Warlock, Counter Earth, Gerry Conway, Herb Trimpe, High Evolutionary, Hulk, Inhumans, Marvel Comics, marvel treasury edition, Rampaging Hulk, Roy Thomas, Warlock

Marvel collected some of the Hulk’s adventures in two Marvel Treasury Editions. #24, with the staggeringly low cover price of $2, finds Hulk playing a major role in the early development of Adam Warlock. Warlock here is in transition. Fantastic Four #67 by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby gave us the origin of Warlock, though he had not even a name back then. (It’s reprinted in Marvel’s Greatest Comics #50 if you want to own the issue without spending an arm and a leg on it.) After this story, Jim Starlin would take on Warlock and make the fledgling character truly great. Starlin’s first issue recalls some of the key plot points from the issues presented here.

In the opening chapter, Hulk tangles with the Inhumans and gets shot into space where (hopefully) he can’t hurt anyone. Greg Pak ran with this same idea in recent years, landing Hulk on a distant planet where he becomes a great warrior and leader, Gladiator-style. Gerry Conway sets Hulk on “Counter-Earth” instead, where the High Evolutionary has created some anthropomorphic Ani-Men (animal + men) that have become caught up in a war. Seems that these “furries” have many of the same conflicts we do!

This conflict brings Warlock and the Hulk together, and our lumbering green Goliath finds one of the few friends he will ever make in comics. Hulk’s love and dedication for his new friend take on an innocent, childlike tone that gives us another side of his character, while Warlock plays out a Christ story in his capture, death, and heroic resurrection.

Along the way we get some glorious Herb Trimpe splash pages, and a giant-sized two-page spread designed for this edition. Trimpe’s art really sings in this large format. Though the political and religious themes of the story seem aimed at a more adult reader, the writing is geared for young readers, too. Trimpe’s artwork embraces the childlike silliness of comics while delivering some fairly intense pathos and drama at the same time.

We read this Treasury Edition several times as a kid in the early 1980s, just after it came out in 1979. It was fun to pick up and read again, even if the story wasn’t quite as fresh these days as it was back then. Trimpe just kills it, as you can see on many of these pages in this post. We recently sold our copy on eBay, but you can usually find Marvel Treasury Edition #4: Rampaging Hulk in stock for a reasonable price. It’s perfect for fans of the classic Bronze Age Hulk as well as Warlock collectors.

Inhumans – First Issue from 1975!

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Doug Moench, first issue, George Perez, Inhumans

Marvel gave the Inhumans their own series more than once over the years. The Inhumans first had their own series in 1975 with author Doug Moench leading the charge. Moench used several devices which have formed the core of many Inhumans stories to come later: the destruction of their home Attilan, being at odds with the rest of Marvel’s characters, and Jack Kirby’s device of Maximus the Mad throwing a monkey wrench into every situation.

Gil Kane crafted the covers and provided some of the interior art. But, the art of George Perez got this series off the ground. Here, Perez develops what would soon become the distinctive style of his Teen Titans at DC Comics.

The pages of many of these early Inhumans stories seem cramped. Perhaps Moench’s scripts were so jam-packed with information that Kane and Perez had trouble finding room on the pages to tell the whole story. Perez would later find a way to put just as much detail on the page without seeming pressed for breathing room.

The Inhumans shine in science-fiction tales like issues #7-8, where they get involved in a inter-species battle on another planet. The insect-shaped ship where people have lived for centuries shows Moench’s sci-fi genius at work. Too often, the Inhumans succumb to well-worn superhero tropes such as fighting costumed bad guys who refer to themselves in the third person. At those times, they’re just another ho-hum Bronze Age bore. Based on some of the daring plot moves he makes, we suspect Moench wanted to really re-invigorate and re-imagine the Inhumans but got stuck in the rut of trying to sell a superhero book.

That’s less than our typically enthusiastic exuberance, so let’s just say that half of this series rocks and half of it doesn’t. If Moench and Perez had just spent a litle more time inhaling the Terrigen Mists, we might have had a sci-fi masterwork on our hands!

Collector’s Guide:
– From Inhumans #1; Marvel, 1975.
– Reprinted in Marvel Masterworks Inhumans #2, hard cover; Marvel, 2010.

Inhumans – Jack Kirby’s first issue from 1970!

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Amazing Adventures, first issue, Inhumans, Jack Kirby

In the second Amazing Adventures series, Jack Kirby took The Inhumans out of the Fantastic Four to star in their own stories.

Here in 1970, Kirby’s art moves towards the revolutionary cosmic style that defined his later 1970s works. Plus, he takes writing credit for these Inhumans tales. Most of them stay pretty close to well-worn Marvel scenarios: good guys manipulated by bad guys into fighting other good guys, or good guys punching evil costumed creeps. But, you can look at them as a warm-up for Kirby’s rise to greater creative control over art and story.

Kirby crafted the Inhumans stories in the first four issues of Amazing Adventures before other artists and writers took over. We see them as a middle ground between Kirby’s Fantastic Four work and the cosmic epics he would soon produce at the apex of his career.

Collector’s Guide:
– From Amazing Adventures Vol. 2 #1; Marvel, 1970.
– Reprinted in Marvel Masterworks Inhumans hard cover #1.

Jae Lee Gallery 2: ‘Ultimate’ Inhumans

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Fantastic Four, Inhumans, Jae Lee, Ultimate Fantastic Four Annual

Let’s look at more awesome art by Jae Lee! Here are some cerebellum-slashing pages from Ultimate Fantastic Four Annual #1, featuring The Inhumans.

Jae Lee Gallery 1: Inhumans

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Inhumans, Jae Lee

Let’s just Look at some awesome art by Jae Lee!

Here are some amygdala-annihilating pages from The Inhumans.

Spider-Man Meets Medusa!

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Amazing Spider-man, Don Heck, hair products, Inhumans, John Romita, Make Way For Medusa, Marvel Tales, Medusa, Spider-man, Stan Lee

Medusa, a member of the Inhumans, comes to New York City to study the humans. She tangles with Spider-man on the rooftops – all a big misunderstanding, of course. Then she decides to study people by… getting a job?! But the sleazebag who hires her to promote his line of hair products only causes more grief for the ol’ web-slinger. We took the liberty of editing out all the sub-plots from this issue so you can just kick back and enjoy Marvel’s hottest heroine and the amazing wall-crawler going toe to toe.

Collector’s Guide:
– From Marvel Tales #45.
– Reprints Amazing Spider-Man #62.
– Reprinted in Marvel Masterworks Amazing Spider-man #7.

Art & Story by Stan Lee, John Romita, and Don Heck.

What in God’s Name? Venom T-Rex!

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Black Bolt, dinosaur, Inhumans, Mark Millar, Old Man Logan, Steve McNiven, tyrannosaurus rex, Venom, Wolverine

Mark Millar has a direct link to our brains that must help him cook up insane ideas like “What if the alien symbiote Venom attached itself to a dinosaur?” Mark, we thought you’d never ask! Just make sure you get McNiven to draw that bad boy – and maybe you could work in Black Bolt from the Inhumans somehow…

Collector’s Guide:
– “Old Man Logan” spans Wolverine #66-72 plus Wolverine Giant Size Old Man Logan #1.

– Now collected in the Old Man Logan paperback and hardcover.

What New and Savage Madness is This?!

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Essential Silver Surfer, Inhumans, Jack Kirby, Silver Surfer, Stan Lee

Silver Surfer Vol. 1, #18: To Smash The Inhumans!

Reprinted in the Essential Silver Surfer #1 in black and white.

Jack Kirby‘s only artwork on this series.
Stan Lee script + Herb Trimpe inks; Marvel Comics, 1970.

A Rogue Moon, Armed for War!

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Inhumans, Ladronn

While browsing the eyeball-smashing artwork in Unhuman: The Elephantmen Artwork of Ladronn, it hit us: We’ve seen this guy’s work before, somewhere…

Ah, here it is: in the pages of a four-issue series about the Inhumans!

The Paul Jenkins and Jae Lee version of the Inhumans was the all-time greatest, Jack Kirby’s originals and the 1970s version notwithstanding. But this mini-series gives the Inhumans an unforeseen twist by revealing their true relationship to the Kree, and the purpose for their existence.

-From The Inhumans #2; Marvel Comics, 2000.
Artwork by Ladronn