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Fantastic Four (1961) #36,38,41-47,54, 62-65, Annual #5
Inhumans: The Origin of the Inhumans
In 1965, a strange family of outcasts made their debut in the pages of Fantastic Four. The uncanny Inhumans quickly became more than just another set of adversaries and they all but took over and made the magazine their own! The mysterious origins of Black Bolt, Medusa, Gorgon, Triton, Karnak, Crystal and Lockjaw were revealed month after month in FF until reader demand gave them their own feature in the back pages of Thor. Now, the story of the Inhumans and their wondrous, secret land Attilan is collected from the very beginning for the first time ever! From Medusa's debut as a member of the Frightful Four to the battle to break the Great Barrier, it's all here in incomparable Stan and Jack fashion! COLLECTING: FANTASTIC FOUR (1961) 36, 38-47, 62-65, ANNUAL 5 and material from 48, 50, 52, 54-61; material from THOR 146-152; material from NOT BRAND ECHH 6.
424 pages, Paperback
First published October 1, 2013
About the author
Stan Lee
7,578 books2,364 followersStan Lee (born Stanley Martin Lieber) was an American writer, editor, creator of comic book superheroes, and the former president and chairman of Marvel Comics.
With several artist co-creators, most notably Jack Kirby and Steve Ditko, he co-created Spider-Man, the Fantastic Four, Thor as a superhero, the X-Men, Iron Man, the Hulk, Daredevil, the Silver Surfer, Dr. Strange, Ant-Man and the Wasp, Scarlet Witch, The Inhumans, and many other characters, introducing complex, naturalistic characters and a thoroughly shared universe into superhero comic books. He subsequently led the expansion of Marvel Comics from a small division of a publishing house to a large multimedia corporation.
With several artist co-creators, most notably Jack Kirby and Steve Ditko, he co-created Spider-Man, the Fantastic Four, Thor as a superhero, the X-Men, Iron Man, the Hulk, Daredevil, the Silver Surfer, Dr. Strange, Ant-Man and the Wasp, Scarlet Witch, The Inhumans, and many other characters, introducing complex, naturalistic characters and a thoroughly shared universe into superhero comic books. He subsequently led the expansion of Marvel Comics from a small division of a publishing house to a large multimedia corporation.
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September 22, 20174.5 stars.
It's Lee and Kirby on the FF! What they accomplished on that title is nothing short of amazing!
And this compilation gathers up the bulk of their FF appearences in one volume for those interested in the Royal Family.
Whike there's sone (glaringly obvious) flaws, this a great overview of one of my favorite Marvel creations, coupled with my favorite Marvel super-team!
It's Lee and Kirby on the FF! What they accomplished on that title is nothing short of amazing!
And this compilation gathers up the bulk of their FF appearences in one volume for those interested in the Royal Family.
Whike there's sone (glaringly obvious) flaws, this a great overview of one of my favorite Marvel creations, coupled with my favorite Marvel super-team!
February 25, 2018
This book faces the challenge of purporting to present the origin of the Inhumans, even though for the majority of their early appearances they were secondary characters in The Fantastic Four, with their actual "origin" not beginning until a back-up feature detailing it was created for Thor, so the genuine "origin" part is actually thirty-five of the pages reproduced here. The rest is a sequential representation of their appearances and genesis in The Fantastic Four, sometimes represented only by a few pages (or even panels) from a given issue, and frequently presenting stories in which the Inhumans play minor roles at best. The point seems to be to include every early appearance, which I can understand, but the result is that the book is really more of a Fantastic Four collection than an Inhumans collection. And it's evident that Lee and/or Kirby had little to no idea of who or what they were initially. We begin with Medusa as a villain, joining the Frightful Four, before Gorgon comes looking for her and she begins to get retconned. The clearest marker of changing ideas, perhaps, is the reboot of Crystal literally from one issue to the next; she goes from having normal hair and clothes to that incomprehensible hair design (at first it's not even clear whether the black band is some sort of adornment or her actual hair) and yellow costume. Kirby's art is always a joy to look at, and he was certainly at or near the top of his game in these issues of the FF, with figures exuberantly and energetically bursting off the pages, but the stories and dialogue have not dated well. Interesting enough, but a bit of a dog's breakfast as a book.
June 2, 2017
While I love the concept of the Inhumans and the whole build-up, the over explained dialogues seriously get on my nerves. I read somewhere that their creative process had Jack Kirby creating the story and art first and then Stan Lee doing the dialogues...
I won't take away the story's greatness and long lasting concept, but then again... those horrible dialogues and suffocating captions...
I won't take away the story's greatness and long lasting concept, but then again... those horrible dialogues and suffocating captions...
April 4, 2021
3.5/5
Incredible art by Jack Kirby, and most of the stories were entertaining. Some felt too heavy and redundant, and to that was added Stan Lee's writing, which, I gotta say, is not my favourite (I am not a fan of over explanation in comics).
Incredible art by Jack Kirby, and most of the stories were entertaining. Some felt too heavy and redundant, and to that was added Stan Lee's writing, which, I gotta say, is not my favourite (I am not a fan of over explanation in comics).
February 8, 2017
It's hard to know what rating to give this comic. In terms of story, it's five stars. First, we get the introduction of Medusa, along with the Frightful Four. This was a different kind of story for the FF, because the Frightful Four aren't defeated right away. In a similar way the Green Goblin was reappearing to menace Spider-Man again and again, the Frightful Four kept escaping, or in some cases, out right winning! We then get the Inhumans story proper, which is another great story. Anyone of the Inhuman Royal Family members would have been able to fill an whole issue, but we get introduced to one after another, all of them with the power to take out the FF by themselves! How can the FF hope to win? We are then shown just how much stuff the FF title contributed to the Marvel Universe as we see the Negative Zone, and the introduction of the Kree Empire, which would cause no small amount of problems for the entire Marvel canon!
This stories are all great. Just larger than villains that really test the FF, and bring out the best in them. If the hero is only as good as his villain, the FF are certainly on a high here. The growing mystery of who Medusa is adds some intrigue and when Gorgon shows up to collect her, it sure is an awesome moment! Just great high melodrama as only Stan and Jack can deliver.
The problem of the book comes in the way it's formatted. See, it only deals with the stuff related to the Inhumans, so if they aren't part of the story at that time, that stuff was just cut out. If you were to pick up the book and flip through it, you would immediately stop when you hit the middle of the book. See, the Inhumans being trapped behind a "Negative Barrier" was a continuing subplot in the FF. But, sometimes, maybe they only showed one or two panels. So in the middle of this book you get pages which show ONLY those one or two panels. The rest of the page is basically blank! It certainly looks odd, and makes for a huge break in the reading. You just completely stop because it's such a break from the traditional way comics are done.
Some of the other parts of the story suffer from this as well. Now, I know this is just a book about the Inhumans, so I can't fault them for only including the stuff about the Inhumans, but it definitely takes away from the stories as a whole. The Frightful Four were reoccurring villains. They would show up for an issue, then be gone by the issues end. It was actually a continuing story that unfolded overtime. If you read the FF stories one after the other wondering when the Frightful Four will show up again is part of the fun. There's also a part left out that I think really hurts the story overall, when the Frightful Four manage to take away the FF's powers and leave them stranded on an island! But, the Frightful Four don't have anything to do with them getting there powers back, so all that stuff is left out.
It also becomes pretty clear towards the end of the book that Jack Kirby wanted to be doing a Inhumans book as it's own, so we get a lot of "backdoor" pilots. You can see him trying to show how that book would work. It's really played out in the fifth FF annual, where the FF are guest stars in there own book. It's basically all about the Inhumans and Black Panther. The FF mostly take a back seat.
The final part of this book collects the Inhuman back up strips that appeared in Thor, but it's pretty clear that it was intended to be a "first" issue of an ongoing that was broken up into chapters.
So, as you might have guess, the way the book is formatted was a big problem for me. I guess because I already know what happens in the those in-between parts it wasn't so bad for me, but if someone was picking this up with no clue about the early days of the FF, or the Inhumans, I think you would be a bit lost. I would say that you should only read this book if you have a way to read, or have already read, the other FF comics from this period. The book is mostly just for a quick reference for people looking to remember something about just the inhumans.
This stories are all great. Just larger than villains that really test the FF, and bring out the best in them. If the hero is only as good as his villain, the FF are certainly on a high here. The growing mystery of who Medusa is adds some intrigue and when Gorgon shows up to collect her, it sure is an awesome moment! Just great high melodrama as only Stan and Jack can deliver.
The problem of the book comes in the way it's formatted. See, it only deals with the stuff related to the Inhumans, so if they aren't part of the story at that time, that stuff was just cut out. If you were to pick up the book and flip through it, you would immediately stop when you hit the middle of the book. See, the Inhumans being trapped behind a "Negative Barrier" was a continuing subplot in the FF. But, sometimes, maybe they only showed one or two panels. So in the middle of this book you get pages which show ONLY those one or two panels. The rest of the page is basically blank! It certainly looks odd, and makes for a huge break in the reading. You just completely stop because it's such a break from the traditional way comics are done.
Some of the other parts of the story suffer from this as well. Now, I know this is just a book about the Inhumans, so I can't fault them for only including the stuff about the Inhumans, but it definitely takes away from the stories as a whole. The Frightful Four were reoccurring villains. They would show up for an issue, then be gone by the issues end. It was actually a continuing story that unfolded overtime. If you read the FF stories one after the other wondering when the Frightful Four will show up again is part of the fun. There's also a part left out that I think really hurts the story overall, when the Frightful Four manage to take away the FF's powers and leave them stranded on an island! But, the Frightful Four don't have anything to do with them getting there powers back, so all that stuff is left out.
It also becomes pretty clear towards the end of the book that Jack Kirby wanted to be doing a Inhumans book as it's own, so we get a lot of "backdoor" pilots. You can see him trying to show how that book would work. It's really played out in the fifth FF annual, where the FF are guest stars in there own book. It's basically all about the Inhumans and Black Panther. The FF mostly take a back seat.
The final part of this book collects the Inhuman back up strips that appeared in Thor, but it's pretty clear that it was intended to be a "first" issue of an ongoing that was broken up into chapters.
So, as you might have guess, the way the book is formatted was a big problem for me. I guess because I already know what happens in the those in-between parts it wasn't so bad for me, but if someone was picking this up with no clue about the early days of the FF, or the Inhumans, I think you would be a bit lost. I would say that you should only read this book if you have a way to read, or have already read, the other FF comics from this period. The book is mostly just for a quick reference for people looking to remember something about just the inhumans.
September 27, 2017
I have gone this far in my life without knowing who a lot of the major players in the Marvel Cosmic universe are and I decided to start at the very beginning with The Inhumans with their origins in the mid-60s. The Inhumans originally consisted of the House of Agon: Black Bolt, Medusa, Crystal, Gorgon, Karnak, Lockjaw, and Triton. They are genetically altered humans that have superpowers and a deep mythology related to the Marvel Cosmic universe. This collections collects primarily Fantastic Four issues that were related to them with a handful of mini-strips from Thor comics and a excerpt from an issue of Not Brand Echh.
I want to preface my review of this book by saying I really am not a fan Stan Lee's writing. It's an insufferable, repetitive mess that treats anyone reading it like they were 2 years old. Two notable trademarks of his writing: having characters explain exactly what they are doing, what they are going to do, or what just happened to them and alliteration. He also drops a lot of references to himself and Jack Kirby, sort of like an ever present, unnecessary narrator. There is very little substance to the stories in his comics, everything follows a very clear formula: bad guys show up, threaten to kill the world, good guys win no matter what (including just literally pulling a win out of thin air). There is no suspense, any major plot points are revealed pages before they happen through his narration or even on the front cover by literally saying 'In This Issue So and So Finally Wins!'. Just from a Fantastic Four stand point, he treats Invisible Woman as sort of a harpy/helpless woman whose powers are good for about 5 seconds before a man has to save her. I love the characters he created and the legacy of Marvel Comics he left behind, but the writing is pure shit.
The first 7 issues in this volume are dedicated to the Frightful Four, whom Medusa was a member of. These issues are quite a slog, especially if you're hoping for some exciting Inhumans stories. The Frightful Four consists of The Wizard, Sandman, Medusa, and Trapster (aka Paste Pot Pete) and for a squad of villains they are pretty terrible, there is no real suspense to anything and most of the stories are long and drawn out affairs that never go anywhere. Medusa is clearly the shining star of these issues. These take up almost half the book, but I feel like could have been skipped.
The next four issues and followup storyarc from various FF issues are the real introduction to the Inhumans. It starts off with Gorgon coming for Medusa and then turns into them ending up at a hidden land which holds the Inhumans secret base. Here we meet the rest of the House of Agon and it triggers an ongoing storyline that occurs over the course of the next several FF comics as B-stories. The Inhumans attempt to capture the Human Torch, but instead Crystal and him fall in love. The FF battles the Inhumans and eventually the Inhumans get trapped in their hidden land by a negative zone barrier that Maximus, the archvillain of the Inhumans, creates. Johnny Storm is obsessed with destroying the barrier and spends several issues trying to find it and then destroy it while the Inhumans try to find a way to escape. It's not the best story really because the Inhumans have these awesome powers and all you really want to see if them kicking ass or learn about their mythology and instead you get 'how we will ever escape this barrier and I love this dude I met for like 2 seconds'.
After that we have another 4 issues that find Reed stuck in the Negative Zone and Triton is enlisted to save him. Triton and Lockjaw, along with Crystal (who begins an extended run with the FF here, eventually becoming a member) just chill out with Human Torch while the rest of the team go on a vacation and stumble up Sentry 459, thus triggering the first mention/appearance of the Kree in the Marvel Universe, which becomes a game changer really for the history of the whole Marvel company, but it's handled very lightly here. These issues are as good as any other FF issue though, no outstanding storytelling on the surface, just in retrospect it's interesting what it all becomes.
The entirety of the fifth FF Annual is included here which is this epic team-up story featuring the FF, the Inhumans, and the Black Panther and it's wasted a shit-tier villain called Psycho-Man who can manipulate people's emotions with some device he made. This device is so over-powered, it's not even funny and Psycho-Man has like 20 deus ex machina moments in this 50 page comic. Like if you look again at that list of heroes fighting this one dude with a remote control and his two flunkies, there's just no reason that fight should last longer than like 3 pages. Maybe dedicate the other 47 pages to building up these characters and establishing relationships between them rather than 'oh no! Psycho-Man saw me coming and pointed the remote control at me, I am helpless' followed by 'I saw him coming and aimed the remote control at him, he is helpless now'.
This is followed by a series of snippets from Thor comics that thoroughly explain the origins of the Inhumans and some bizarre short tale where Triton lets himself be caught by a film crew so he can study human behavior. There are pretty awesome actually, the highpoint of this collection really (aside from the Triton nonsense) because you get to see the mythology behind them and it seemed like it was setting things up for their own stand-alone comic. In fact, from a business standpoint, their origins really started back in those first FF issues they appeared in when Stan was pushing to get them their own comic, but it never happened. These mini-comics were yet another push and almost succeeded, but they ended up only getting a half-comic shared with Black Widow called Amazing Adventures before finally getting their own (brief )series in the mid-70s.
The collection is concluded with a Not Brand Echh parody comic about Crystal and Human Torch. It the comedy is very dry and dated with the writing being overly long and wordy. I'll be honest, I didn't even get past page 3 of the 8 page comic.
Overall, as far as serving as an introduction to the Inhumans this succeeds partially. I would definitely skip those initial Frightful Four issues because they barely reference the Inhumans (in fact Medusa wasn't even considered an Inhuman for her first few appearances) and focus on the comics featuring more than one member of the Inhumans. The writing is nightmare, but a necessary one I suppose with Jack Kirby's artwork being the real standout here. Recommended.
I want to preface my review of this book by saying I really am not a fan Stan Lee's writing. It's an insufferable, repetitive mess that treats anyone reading it like they were 2 years old. Two notable trademarks of his writing: having characters explain exactly what they are doing, what they are going to do, or what just happened to them and alliteration. He also drops a lot of references to himself and Jack Kirby, sort of like an ever present, unnecessary narrator. There is very little substance to the stories in his comics, everything follows a very clear formula: bad guys show up, threaten to kill the world, good guys win no matter what (including just literally pulling a win out of thin air). There is no suspense, any major plot points are revealed pages before they happen through his narration or even on the front cover by literally saying 'In This Issue So and So Finally Wins!'. Just from a Fantastic Four stand point, he treats Invisible Woman as sort of a harpy/helpless woman whose powers are good for about 5 seconds before a man has to save her. I love the characters he created and the legacy of Marvel Comics he left behind, but the writing is pure shit.
The first 7 issues in this volume are dedicated to the Frightful Four, whom Medusa was a member of. These issues are quite a slog, especially if you're hoping for some exciting Inhumans stories. The Frightful Four consists of The Wizard, Sandman, Medusa, and Trapster (aka Paste Pot Pete) and for a squad of villains they are pretty terrible, there is no real suspense to anything and most of the stories are long and drawn out affairs that never go anywhere. Medusa is clearly the shining star of these issues. These take up almost half the book, but I feel like could have been skipped.
The next four issues and followup storyarc from various FF issues are the real introduction to the Inhumans. It starts off with Gorgon coming for Medusa and then turns into them ending up at a hidden land which holds the Inhumans secret base. Here we meet the rest of the House of Agon and it triggers an ongoing storyline that occurs over the course of the next several FF comics as B-stories. The Inhumans attempt to capture the Human Torch, but instead Crystal and him fall in love. The FF battles the Inhumans and eventually the Inhumans get trapped in their hidden land by a negative zone barrier that Maximus, the archvillain of the Inhumans, creates. Johnny Storm is obsessed with destroying the barrier and spends several issues trying to find it and then destroy it while the Inhumans try to find a way to escape. It's not the best story really because the Inhumans have these awesome powers and all you really want to see if them kicking ass or learn about their mythology and instead you get 'how we will ever escape this barrier and I love this dude I met for like 2 seconds'.
After that we have another 4 issues that find Reed stuck in the Negative Zone and Triton is enlisted to save him. Triton and Lockjaw, along with Crystal (who begins an extended run with the FF here, eventually becoming a member) just chill out with Human Torch while the rest of the team go on a vacation and stumble up Sentry 459, thus triggering the first mention/appearance of the Kree in the Marvel Universe, which becomes a game changer really for the history of the whole Marvel company, but it's handled very lightly here. These issues are as good as any other FF issue though, no outstanding storytelling on the surface, just in retrospect it's interesting what it all becomes.
The entirety of the fifth FF Annual is included here which is this epic team-up story featuring the FF, the Inhumans, and the Black Panther and it's wasted a shit-tier villain called Psycho-Man who can manipulate people's emotions with some device he made. This device is so over-powered, it's not even funny and Psycho-Man has like 20 deus ex machina moments in this 50 page comic. Like if you look again at that list of heroes fighting this one dude with a remote control and his two flunkies, there's just no reason that fight should last longer than like 3 pages. Maybe dedicate the other 47 pages to building up these characters and establishing relationships between them rather than 'oh no! Psycho-Man saw me coming and pointed the remote control at me, I am helpless' followed by 'I saw him coming and aimed the remote control at him, he is helpless now'.
This is followed by a series of snippets from Thor comics that thoroughly explain the origins of the Inhumans and some bizarre short tale where Triton lets himself be caught by a film crew so he can study human behavior. There are pretty awesome actually, the highpoint of this collection really (aside from the Triton nonsense) because you get to see the mythology behind them and it seemed like it was setting things up for their own stand-alone comic. In fact, from a business standpoint, their origins really started back in those first FF issues they appeared in when Stan was pushing to get them their own comic, but it never happened. These mini-comics were yet another push and almost succeeded, but they ended up only getting a half-comic shared with Black Widow called Amazing Adventures before finally getting their own (brief )series in the mid-70s.
The collection is concluded with a Not Brand Echh parody comic about Crystal and Human Torch. It the comedy is very dry and dated with the writing being overly long and wordy. I'll be honest, I didn't even get past page 3 of the 8 page comic.
Overall, as far as serving as an introduction to the Inhumans this succeeds partially. I would definitely skip those initial Frightful Four issues because they barely reference the Inhumans (in fact Medusa wasn't even considered an Inhuman for her first few appearances) and focus on the comics featuring more than one member of the Inhumans. The writing is nightmare, but a necessary one I suppose with Jack Kirby's artwork being the real standout here. Recommended.
December 28, 2015
A good compilation for the origins of the Inhumans. The selections here are full issues and other pieces from a variety of comics to successfully show the origins & early adventures of the Inhumans.
Unfortunately, these comics were all published in the 1960's, so they suffer from a number of issues, mostly rampant sexism and overly convenient plots. It's hard to overlook this in 2015.
I picked this up to better understand the background of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D; I definitely got lots of Inhumans backstory, although I'm not sure that it impacts the show at all. No idea yet if this group will be the ones featured in the upcoming Inhumans movie either but I'm glad to have read this so I can move on to more recent comics with this storyline.
Unfortunately, these comics were all published in the 1960's, so they suffer from a number of issues, mostly rampant sexism and overly convenient plots. It's hard to overlook this in 2015.
I picked this up to better understand the background of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D; I definitely got lots of Inhumans backstory, although I'm not sure that it impacts the show at all. No idea yet if this group will be the ones featured in the upcoming Inhumans movie either but I'm glad to have read this so I can move on to more recent comics with this storyline.
January 2, 2014
After having read more Fantastic Four comics today than in the last 30 years, I have to say Reed Richards is kind of a prick. However, this book does have The Inhumans so it was great for me.
September 23, 2017
I never read any of the Inhumans stuff as a kid, nor was I a big fan of the Fantastic Four so its kind of fun discovering a part of the Marvel universe that I heretofore knew so little about!
November 20, 2022
"SLOWLY, CALMLY, IRREVOCABLY -- THE SILENT SOVEREIGN BRACES HIMSELF -- THEN, WITH HEAD HELD HIGH, HIS MOUTH OPENS -- AND THE VOICE OF BLACK BOLT IS HEARD THRUOUT THE LAND --!"
- Stan Lee's narration Fantastic Four #59.
First, I bought this at Ollie's for like $8. Because I'm (usually) too cheap to drop $40 on a sample collection.
Next, as a collection of issues from the 60's, I had a rather negative attitude when I started this one. "Here comes a slog." And, "this s@#$'s gonna take forever. Kill me now!" In all fairness, I was dragging ass here for a while, but it was really quite good. Though a tad cheesy at times (most of the time). Honestly, the concept of taking all relevant issues and partial material, and then collecting them, really worked... in THIS singular case. I generally steer clear of books that skip issues by years (sometimes decades). An issue from '68, then another from '72, Three from the early 80's, an odd one from 2016, and so forth. UGH! I loath those collections because the art is so inconsistent. Yeah, I'm shallow, but I just can't look at Dave Cockrum's Wolverine on one page and then Jim Lee's on the next. It f@#$s with my head.
Tangent concluded. I really enjoyed this because the issue gaps remained tightly grouped. 1965-68. And the art didn't vary. All Kirby. After the stories with the Frightful Four, Medusa had her own story where she declared herself to be an Inhuman, and THEN the s@#$ gets rolling in very readable direction. Though it took me some time to read this in it's entirety, I had fun learning about the inception and progression of this super-group.
Finally, this was published two years before the failed TV series. Maybe the marketing people printed this to see if there already existed enough fans to justify a TV series. I watched it, enjoyed it and was disappointed to see it dissolve into nothingness.
Additionally, I'd LIKE to say that you'd be better off buying the two corresponding epics this book covers, but I can't. It's really quite concise. So, if you don't have the shelf space or the money for the epics (and if you can still find this at Ollie's), this is really an compact way to sum up the early adventures of the Inhumans. I'd be surprised if they DIDN'T make this is to an epic, at some point, like they did with Namor, Hawkeye, Ant-Man, Black Widow, etc. Similar layout.
Anyway. Classic Lee and Kirby at their best. Three stars.
- Stan Lee's narration Fantastic Four #59.
First, I bought this at Ollie's for like $8. Because I'm (usually) too cheap to drop $40 on a sample collection.
Next, as a collection of issues from the 60's, I had a rather negative attitude when I started this one. "Here comes a slog." And, "this s@#$'s gonna take forever. Kill me now!" In all fairness, I was dragging ass here for a while, but it was really quite good. Though a tad cheesy at times (most of the time). Honestly, the concept of taking all relevant issues and partial material, and then collecting them, really worked... in THIS singular case. I generally steer clear of books that skip issues by years (sometimes decades). An issue from '68, then another from '72, Three from the early 80's, an odd one from 2016, and so forth. UGH! I loath those collections because the art is so inconsistent. Yeah, I'm shallow, but I just can't look at Dave Cockrum's Wolverine on one page and then Jim Lee's on the next. It f@#$s with my head.
Tangent concluded. I really enjoyed this because the issue gaps remained tightly grouped. 1965-68. And the art didn't vary. All Kirby. After the stories with the Frightful Four, Medusa had her own story where she declared herself to be an Inhuman, and THEN the s@#$ gets rolling in very readable direction. Though it took me some time to read this in it's entirety, I had fun learning about the inception and progression of this super-group.
Finally, this was published two years before the failed TV series. Maybe the marketing people printed this to see if there already existed enough fans to justify a TV series. I watched it, enjoyed it and was disappointed to see it dissolve into nothingness.
Additionally, I'd LIKE to say that you'd be better off buying the two corresponding epics this book covers, but I can't. It's really quite concise. So, if you don't have the shelf space or the money for the epics (and if you can still find this at Ollie's), this is really an compact way to sum up the early adventures of the Inhumans. I'd be surprised if they DIDN'T make this is to an epic, at some point, like they did with Namor, Hawkeye, Ant-Man, Black Widow, etc. Similar layout.
Anyway. Classic Lee and Kirby at their best. Three stars.
October 15, 2017
Pretty disappointing. Like the other older comics I've read, the writing was, in general, bad, but on top of that, nothing seemed planned out. Medusa being a new species seemed like an after thought; the actual origin of the Inhumans (which the don't delve into until well into the collection) seemed like an after thought; Black Bolt's origins seemed like an after thought . . .
It also didn't help that the women were written horribly: Sue doesn't seem to know how to use her own powers half the time, what personality of Medusa's that we do see does a complete 180, & both women frequently seem more concerned with the man in their lives that with the more pressing events that're happening around them.
It also didn't help that the women were written horribly: Sue doesn't seem to know how to use her own powers half the time, what personality of Medusa's that we do see does a complete 180, & both women frequently seem more concerned with the man in their lives that with the more pressing events that're happening around them.
December 29, 2016
The origins of the Inhumans couldn't be more interesting. The silent leader, Black Bolt. The dumb but faithful Gorgon who'll stomp the enemy away. The wise but foolhardy Karnak who'll find the enemy's weakness. The seductive Medusa who'll whip you like crazy with her hair. The loving Crystal who manipulates the elements. The water loving Triton who fights like theirs no tomorrow. The giant teleporting dog, Lockjaw, loyal to the end.
July 27, 2017
So good at all.
June 22, 2018
Good to catch up with the story of the Inhumans Lee and Kirby!
November 10, 2021
A fine collection of classic stories from the age of the Comics Code Authority. The Inhumans here never kill anyone, never die or get hurt.
October 7, 2021
The story is very fantastic, speak about of the origin of the inhumans.
August 16, 2016
The Inhumans: The Origin of the Inhumans: written by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby; illustrated by Jack Kirby, Joe Sinnott, and others (1965-68/ Collected 2013): Fun, 400-page collection of the first four years of Marvel appearances of the Inhumans by Jack Kirby and Stan Lee. The mainstays of the Inhumans are here, the characters who would become the Royal Family of the group -- Black Bolt, Medusa, Gorgon, Karnak, Triton, Crystal, and super-giant-teleporting dog Lockjaw.
Medusa, with her crazy stretching prehensile hair, first appeared as a villain in Fantastic Four. Bigger things awaited, as she was eventually revealed to be an Inhuman and one of the good guys. What's an Inhuman? The result of an ancient attempt by the alien Kree Empire to mess with human genetics in the interest of... well, as presented here, simply because. Later retcons would make the Inhumans a weapons experiment, an idea that persisted on the TV show Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. this season. But here, the Kree are basically interested in the science of genetic engineering for its own sake,
So are born the Inhumans, who form a highly advanced society of super-powered beings while humanity still lives in caves. They'd eventually hide from the rest of humanity until they encountered the Fantastic Four and gradually came out of that hiding.
Ideas and characters come bursting out of Jack Kirby here, most of them still in use by Marvel today in comics and other media. Some issues of Fantastic Four have been carved up so that just the Inhumans sequences are reprinted. That's a good idea in this case -- in several cases, the Inhumans material is a B-plot that only gets a couple of pages in a comic.
Kirby's storytelling is action-packed and occasionally poignant. Two of the great under-rated Lee/Kirby superhero battles appear here, as the Fantastic Four battles two of the Kree, first the long-slumbering Sentry and then the 'public executioner,' Ronan the Accuser. Ronan got burned off in somewhat altered form in the Guardians of the Galaxy movie. Too bad -- he's a much more interesting character when he's not Cuckoo.
If one owns a collected Lee/Kirby Fantastic Four in some form, this volume isn't necessary (though it also includes Inhumans stories from the back pages of Thor). But even then, this is a pretty good way to encounter the Inhumans, who are sorta like mutants except that they're not. And as always with the Fantastic Four under Lee and Kirby's direction, there's a pleasing and almost unique blend of low comedy, soap opera, action, and cosmic moments.
Medusa, with her crazy stretching prehensile hair, first appeared as a villain in Fantastic Four. Bigger things awaited, as she was eventually revealed to be an Inhuman and one of the good guys. What's an Inhuman? The result of an ancient attempt by the alien Kree Empire to mess with human genetics in the interest of... well, as presented here, simply because. Later retcons would make the Inhumans a weapons experiment, an idea that persisted on the TV show Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. this season. But here, the Kree are basically interested in the science of genetic engineering for its own sake,
So are born the Inhumans, who form a highly advanced society of super-powered beings while humanity still lives in caves. They'd eventually hide from the rest of humanity until they encountered the Fantastic Four and gradually came out of that hiding.
Ideas and characters come bursting out of Jack Kirby here, most of them still in use by Marvel today in comics and other media. Some issues of Fantastic Four have been carved up so that just the Inhumans sequences are reprinted. That's a good idea in this case -- in several cases, the Inhumans material is a B-plot that only gets a couple of pages in a comic.
Kirby's storytelling is action-packed and occasionally poignant. Two of the great under-rated Lee/Kirby superhero battles appear here, as the Fantastic Four battles two of the Kree, first the long-slumbering Sentry and then the 'public executioner,' Ronan the Accuser. Ronan got burned off in somewhat altered form in the Guardians of the Galaxy movie. Too bad -- he's a much more interesting character when he's not Cuckoo.
If one owns a collected Lee/Kirby Fantastic Four in some form, this volume isn't necessary (though it also includes Inhumans stories from the back pages of Thor). But even then, this is a pretty good way to encounter the Inhumans, who are sorta like mutants except that they're not. And as always with the Fantastic Four under Lee and Kirby's direction, there's a pleasing and almost unique blend of low comedy, soap opera, action, and cosmic moments.
March 30, 2016
You can rate this on a sliding scale if you want - for the time it was published Fantastic Four was one of the best comic books. You have Stan Lee invested in the characters and Jack Kirby at his best and Joe Sinnott on inking duties. And you also have some of Jack's best new characters - the Inhumans. I say Jack because the Marvel way of writing had the artist plot the story and draw it and Stan Lee would come in and fill in the dialogue and captions. This sped up things but also made for some very disjointed writing and poorly constructed stories when it is clear Stan doesn't quite guess the intent of Kirby's scene and does his best to force fit some dialogue in there to try to have it make sense. Which is one of the reasons - if you are not rating this on a sliding scale - I have to give it 2 stars. The stories are fun, the Inhumans are one of my favourite side characters of this era, the drawing is solid but there is a lack of coherence in the stories - that is, the stories of this era don't hold up to modern story-telling. E.g. Black Bolt's lack of voice is first because of his brother Maximus doing something but later we find out it is because his voice can bring down buildings and he had this power since birth. Syan Lee/Jack Kirby forget or decide to reinvent origins on the fly.
One neat thing about this collection is it is truly a focus on those early Inhuman adventures - we get Medusa when she was part of the Frightful Four (which makes zero sense when she later turns out to be an Inhuman - see what I mean about lack of coherence/continuity?) and we get full FF stories with the Inhumans plus pages from other FF stories - editing out the story that doesn't directly involve the Inhumans. This makes for a disjointed book but I can live with it.
Overall it was a fun read but more of a nostalgia trip than because of the story quality.
One neat thing about this collection is it is truly a focus on those early Inhuman adventures - we get Medusa when she was part of the Frightful Four (which makes zero sense when she later turns out to be an Inhuman - see what I mean about lack of coherence/continuity?) and we get full FF stories with the Inhumans plus pages from other FF stories - editing out the story that doesn't directly involve the Inhumans. This makes for a disjointed book but I can live with it.
Overall it was a fun read but more of a nostalgia trip than because of the story quality.
September 12, 2020
This is a bit odd. It’s almost entirely stuff by the King (Jack Kirby) and the man (Stan Lee), which should make a 5-star guarantee, except well, it’s not. Presented as it is, with some complete issues, and some excerpts from other issues that focus only on pertinent narratives that involve the Inhumans, we get a clean narrative (yes) that illustrates how unplanned the development of the Inhumans had been. This is pure gold of the Fantastic Four, some wonderful stories, but it also shows a lot false steps, course corrections and narrative slight of hands. Medusa’s initial character inconsistencies are laid bare (this does eventually get addressed in the next volume), the development of the concept of the Negative Zone first a domed prison and then as a complete alternate dimension, Black Bolt’s evolving backstory and speech impediment. These things, among others, spotlight Kirby’s narrative process. He worked so fast that his stories require evolution in progress. Still, it doesn’t detract from the larger picture of the Inhumans and it wonderful to have so much of these early appearances all in a single volume, presented as a single narrative. This a wonderful collection and has been long overdue.
April 28, 2025
Average: 4.42 stars
FANTASTIC FOUR (1961) 36: 5 stars
FANTASTIC FOUR (1961) 38: 5 stars
FANTASTIC FOUR (1961) 39: 5 stars
FANTASTIC FOUR (1961) 40: 5 stars
FANTASTIC FOUR (1961) 41: 5 stars
FANTASTIC FOUR (1961) 42: 5 stars
FANTASTIC FOUR (1961) 43: 5 stars
FANTASTIC FOUR (1961) 44: 5 stars
FANTASTIC FOUR (1961) 45: 5 stars
FANTASTIC FOUR (1961) 46: 5 stars
FANTASTIC FOUR (1961) 48: 5 stars
FANTASTIC FOUR (1961) 50: 5 stars
FANTASTIC FOUR (1961) 52: 5 stars
FANTASTIC FOUR (1961) 56: 5 stars
FANTASTIC FOUR (1961) 57: 5 stars
FANTASTIC FOUR (1961) 58: 5 stars
FANTASTIC FOUR (1961) 59: 5 stars
FANTASTIC FOUR (1961) 60: 5 stars
FANTASTIC FOUR (1961) 61: 5 stars
FANTASTIC FOUR (1961) 62: 5 stars
FANTASTIC FOUR (1961) 63: 5 stars
FANTASTIC FOUR (1961) 65: 5 stars
FANTASTIC FOUR (1961) ANNUAL 5: 5 stars
THOR 150: 5 stars
THOR 151: 5 stars
FANTASTIC FOUR (1961) 47: 4 stars
FANTASTIC FOUR (1961) 64: 4 stars
THOR 149: 4 stars
FANTASTIC FOUR (1961) 54: 3 stars
FANTASTIC FOUR (1961) 55: 3 stars
THOR 146: 3 stars
THOR 147: 2 stars
THOR 148: 3 stars
THOR 152: 3 stars
NOT BRAND ECHH 6.: 1 star
FANTASTIC FOUR (1961) 36: 5 stars
FANTASTIC FOUR (1961) 38: 5 stars
FANTASTIC FOUR (1961) 39: 5 stars
FANTASTIC FOUR (1961) 40: 5 stars
FANTASTIC FOUR (1961) 41: 5 stars
FANTASTIC FOUR (1961) 42: 5 stars
FANTASTIC FOUR (1961) 43: 5 stars
FANTASTIC FOUR (1961) 44: 5 stars
FANTASTIC FOUR (1961) 45: 5 stars
FANTASTIC FOUR (1961) 46: 5 stars
FANTASTIC FOUR (1961) 48: 5 stars
FANTASTIC FOUR (1961) 50: 5 stars
FANTASTIC FOUR (1961) 52: 5 stars
FANTASTIC FOUR (1961) 56: 5 stars
FANTASTIC FOUR (1961) 57: 5 stars
FANTASTIC FOUR (1961) 58: 5 stars
FANTASTIC FOUR (1961) 59: 5 stars
FANTASTIC FOUR (1961) 60: 5 stars
FANTASTIC FOUR (1961) 61: 5 stars
FANTASTIC FOUR (1961) 62: 5 stars
FANTASTIC FOUR (1961) 63: 5 stars
FANTASTIC FOUR (1961) 65: 5 stars
FANTASTIC FOUR (1961) ANNUAL 5: 5 stars
THOR 150: 5 stars
THOR 151: 5 stars
FANTASTIC FOUR (1961) 47: 4 stars
FANTASTIC FOUR (1961) 64: 4 stars
THOR 149: 4 stars
FANTASTIC FOUR (1961) 54: 3 stars
FANTASTIC FOUR (1961) 55: 3 stars
THOR 146: 3 stars
THOR 147: 2 stars
THOR 148: 3 stars
THOR 152: 3 stars
NOT BRAND ECHH 6.: 1 star
September 29, 2017
I wish I'd posted this when I started reading it. I took my own sweet time and enjoyed every darn page! I don't remember when I've enjoyed a graphic novel this much! This tome is just a collection of The Inhumans earliest appearances in Fantastic Four, but the ginchiness of Lee's words and Kirby's creation really shone in these stories. There is no better master of action, forced perspective, and superdeformity than Jack Kirby. His art isn't for everyone. But for this comic book geek, it is the height of unfettered imagination and joy. With the new series about to come out on ABC, this collection is a great introduction for first timers. For longtime comic readers, it's an essential cornucopia of nostalgia.
January 5, 2015
Normally I can get through the sexism and occasional racism inherent in these stories, but no, I can't overlook how Sue kept being belittled and fainting throughout. The "Wives should be kissed and not heard!" comment just stopped me really having any charity to anything. This was in the 60s not the 50s or earlier and the attitude just made me want to go all supervillain on the male heroes and put them somewhere they could be treated just like they treat women.
The smart guys were stupid and the stupid guys barely breathing. Talking could have solved several of these stories.
The smart guys were stupid and the stupid guys barely breathing. Talking could have solved several of these stories.
February 27, 2016
It can be hard to read these stories from the 60's. The story of the Inhumans was great, but the Fantastic Four were rough. "Wives should be kissed not heard." "Stop sounding like a wife and find me that gun, Lady" "For cryin' out loud, Sue -- Use your head for a change!" Mr. Fantastic shouldn't be winning any Husband of the Year Awards.
December 2, 2015
Sobredosis de Inhumanos en este tomote que rescata hasta las historias de Medusa haciendo de villana de turno con la gilada del momento.
April 23, 2016
An okay collection of all things Inhuman, but very much a cut and paste, without much of a thought towards continuity.
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