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Marvel Masterworks: The Inhumans #1
Marvel Masterworks: The Inhumans, Vol. 1
Collects Thor #146-152, Amazing Adventures #1-10, Avengers #95, Marvel Super-Heroes #15, Not Brand Ecch #6, 12
Hardcover
First published January 1, 2009
26 people are currently reading
220 people want to read
About the author
Stan Lee
7,562 books2,347 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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Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
March 31, 2020
This collection boasts some pretty great artwork (Jack Kirby and Neal Adams; 'nuff said) for the most part so it's a real shame that the stories themselves don't live up to their illustrations. It's not even just that the stories are bad; half of them don't even make any sense!
I'm glad I read this, purely for the purdy pitchers, but I'm pretty sure the stories themselves will keep me away from any potential re-reads.
I'm glad I read this, purely for the purdy pitchers, but I'm pretty sure the stories themselves will keep me away from any potential re-reads.
September 26, 2018
With the amazing success of the mutant storyline in X-men Lee & Kirby tried to do it again with a different set of outcasts, The Inhumans. Never the commercial success the X-men were I always thought the Inhumans had a very interesting background and storyline. Great stories collected here and some amazing art from the Silver Age, This is some of my favorite Marvel reads. Very recommended
June 2, 2022
This one was hard to get through. I found most of the stories nonsense, and the dialogs are way too long. But I do like the art from that period. Art *****, stories **.
August 28, 2020
There are definitely some highlights to the volume- anything Jack Kirby had a hand in was fantastic, and Neal Adams does some gorgeous artwork, but mostly it's a bore. It's great to collect these early stories, and that the Inhumans get a variety of voices to help flesh them out, but the stories aren't very exciting and I was just waiting for it to be over.
October 6, 2017
This volume of the Marvel Masterworks series collects an assortment of early Inhumans comics after their initial appearance in the pages of the Fantastic Four. Comics featuring the Inhumans mostly focus on the House of Agon, whose members include Black Bolt, Medusa, Crystal, Lockjaw, Triton, Karnak, and Gorgon along with the arch villain Maximus. Two of the comics in this collection appear in two other published collections: THE ORIGINS OF THE INHUMANS (the mini-comics from Thor #146-152) and AVENGERS: THE KREE/SKRULL WAR (Avengers #95).
The collection opens with a series of mini-comics from Thor #146-152. Each issue had a brief comic at the end that gave some back history to the Inhumans with the exception of the last few which are a Triton solo story. The origin comics are really good and are key starting points for anyone interested in the team, but the Triton story is just silly and forgettable.
This is followed up by Marvel Super-Heroes #15, a comic about Medusa rejoining the Frightful Four (the terrible villain squad she was part of in the early FF comics where she and the Inhumans first appeared) after they lie to her and tell her that they can help Black Bolt regain the power to speak. The history behind this issue is far more interesting than the actual story, it was originally the pilot issue for a Medusa solo series in an attempt to get the Inhumans their own solo series. It sort of works as you'll find out in the next comics in the collection.
After the idea of a Medusa solo series failed, the Inhumans were instead given a shared comic with Black Widow in a relaunch comic named Amazing Adventures. The Inhuman half of these 10 comics are featured here, taking up the largest chunk of this collection. They are not bad really, the stories are good for what they are. The first couple of issues have battles with Maximus and the Mandarian, but then things get weird. Maximus erases Black Bolt's memory and Black Bolt ends up in America accompanied by a young boy. He has run-ins with the Mafia and then the Black Panthers, who use the threat of his powers as a tool to get what they want. Thor appears and fights them while the Inhumans search for their fallen leader. In the final issues they fight Magento. These comics are okay, but they really show that there wasn't a clear direction for what to do with these characters at the time. Considering the lore they put into them in the earlier strips, to see them relegated to these sort of throwaway scenario without any interesting storylines is kind of a huge waste. The true highlight is Neal Adams artwork in issues 5-8, which was just so different from everything anyone else was doing at the time.
Avengers #95 is included here too, which presents some problems. This is the middle issue of an ongoing Avengers storyarc at the time called The Kree/Skrull War. It crosses over with the storyline started in Amazing Adventures where a memoryless Black Bolt is wandering the streets of San Francisco and Triton appeals to the Avengers to help get rid of Maxims and get Black Bolt back on the throne in the Hidden City. For no apparent reason and despite Vision's reasonable argument that they have fellow Avengers that need more pressing, urgent help, they decide to help Triton. There is some crossing over with the Kree/Skrull War storyline, but in all honesty it's kind of a throwaway issue. There's some interesting backstory about Black Bolt and Maximus, but other than that not much to really get into. The artwork, again Neal Adams at work here, is great though and if you can read the actual Kree/Skrull War collection instead of a single issue from it, I highly recommend that instead.
This collection is concluded with a series of Not Brand Ecch short parody comics focusing on the Inhumans. I'm not a fan of these comics at all, the humor is either quite dry or extremely dated and Mad Magazine did all this stuff better. I skipped most of these for that reason, but they appeal to someone out there I guess.
This is a solid little collection of Inhumans comics, but if you're looking for some deep storylines that contribute to the continuity of the group as a whole, this isn't it. Instead what we have here is issue after issue of reasons why they were relegated to guest appearances instead of given their own title. A fun read though, recommended.
The collection opens with a series of mini-comics from Thor #146-152. Each issue had a brief comic at the end that gave some back history to the Inhumans with the exception of the last few which are a Triton solo story. The origin comics are really good and are key starting points for anyone interested in the team, but the Triton story is just silly and forgettable.
This is followed up by Marvel Super-Heroes #15, a comic about Medusa rejoining the Frightful Four (the terrible villain squad she was part of in the early FF comics where she and the Inhumans first appeared) after they lie to her and tell her that they can help Black Bolt regain the power to speak. The history behind this issue is far more interesting than the actual story, it was originally the pilot issue for a Medusa solo series in an attempt to get the Inhumans their own solo series. It sort of works as you'll find out in the next comics in the collection.
After the idea of a Medusa solo series failed, the Inhumans were instead given a shared comic with Black Widow in a relaunch comic named Amazing Adventures. The Inhuman half of these 10 comics are featured here, taking up the largest chunk of this collection. They are not bad really, the stories are good for what they are. The first couple of issues have battles with Maximus and the Mandarian, but then things get weird. Maximus erases Black Bolt's memory and Black Bolt ends up in America accompanied by a young boy. He has run-ins with the Mafia and then the Black Panthers, who use the threat of his powers as a tool to get what they want. Thor appears and fights them while the Inhumans search for their fallen leader. In the final issues they fight Magento. These comics are okay, but they really show that there wasn't a clear direction for what to do with these characters at the time. Considering the lore they put into them in the earlier strips, to see them relegated to these sort of throwaway scenario without any interesting storylines is kind of a huge waste. The true highlight is Neal Adams artwork in issues 5-8, which was just so different from everything anyone else was doing at the time.
Avengers #95 is included here too, which presents some problems. This is the middle issue of an ongoing Avengers storyarc at the time called The Kree/Skrull War. It crosses over with the storyline started in Amazing Adventures where a memoryless Black Bolt is wandering the streets of San Francisco and Triton appeals to the Avengers to help get rid of Maxims and get Black Bolt back on the throne in the Hidden City. For no apparent reason and despite Vision's reasonable argument that they have fellow Avengers that need more pressing, urgent help, they decide to help Triton. There is some crossing over with the Kree/Skrull War storyline, but in all honesty it's kind of a throwaway issue. There's some interesting backstory about Black Bolt and Maximus, but other than that not much to really get into. The artwork, again Neal Adams at work here, is great though and if you can read the actual Kree/Skrull War collection instead of a single issue from it, I highly recommend that instead.
This collection is concluded with a series of Not Brand Ecch short parody comics focusing on the Inhumans. I'm not a fan of these comics at all, the humor is either quite dry or extremely dated and Mad Magazine did all this stuff better. I skipped most of these for that reason, but they appeal to someone out there I guess.
This is a solid little collection of Inhumans comics, but if you're looking for some deep storylines that contribute to the continuity of the group as a whole, this isn't it. Instead what we have here is issue after issue of reasons why they were relegated to guest appearances instead of given their own title. A fun read though, recommended.
January 20, 2019
Well, the saga, or arc, of Maximus the Mad's coup against Black Bolt was wrapped up in an issue of Avengers.
There follows some elaborate but not very funny parodies of the Inhumans (or Unhumans) in the style of Pogo, Charlie Brown, Prince Valiant, etc.
Some of the first Jack Kirby scripts (and pencils) before he left Marvel for DC.
So, more of historic interest than any intrinsic quality here.
There follows some elaborate but not very funny parodies of the Inhumans (or Unhumans) in the style of Pogo, Charlie Brown, Prince Valiant, etc.
Some of the first Jack Kirby scripts (and pencils) before he left Marvel for DC.
So, more of historic interest than any intrinsic quality here.
February 3, 2021
I love the Inhumans. But to this point, they are best presented in the pages of Fantastic Four and struggle in most of their solo endeavors. The slim exception is the short stint of Neal Adams on Amazing Adventures. The Jack Kirby account of their origin stands as essential if less than enticing.
January 6, 2020
I had never read these back in the day so I was eager to. Sadly the quality was all over the map - from great (Neal Adams and Gerry Conway) to poor (Jack Kirby, and later Mike Sedowsky art).
January 4, 2021
Solid stuff.
September 17, 2023
Thor #146-152, Amazing Adventures #1-10, Avengers #95, Marvel Super-Heroes #15, Not Brand Ecch #6, 12.
November 18, 2017
Fans argue whether Jack Kirby really created the bulk (or possibly even all) of the Lee/Kirby characters. I’m among those who believe that he did, and I think that the Inhumans is a case in point. They debuted as supporting characters in Stan Lee and Jack Kirby’s FANTASTIC FOUR, but they embody tropes that appear over and over in Jack Kirby’s work – including work that he produced without Stan Lee. Let’s do a “by the numbers”:
1) A hidden civilization? Check.
2) Advanced genetics making some people superior to humans. Check.
3) Extremely advanced technology. Check.
4) Aliens coming into contact with ancient civilizations (An idea advanced and made popular in the 1960s by Erich Von Daniken in his book CHARIOTS OF THE GODS). Check.
5) Characters with names and powers inspired by mythology. Check.
These ideas appear over and over in Kirby’s work, and besides the Inhumans, they’re particularly strong in his Fourth World titles for DC and in the Eternals, the latter of which is arguably just a reworking of the Inhumans in the first place (Like the Inhumans, the Eternals were created when aliens visited Earth in ancient times and evolved a group of primitive humans into an advanced race. Like the Inhumans, the Eternals were a hidden civilization of super-powered beings with advanced technology, and names and powers inspired by mythology.). Everything about the Inhumans screams “Jack Kirby,” really making you wonder what Stan Lee might have contributed beyond the dialogue and maybe some bits of characterization.
That’s an argument for another time, though. For now, suffice it to say that the Inhumans proved popular in FANTASTIC FOUR, so Marvel naturally thought of making them headliners. This volume collects the earliest attempts to do so, with stories originally published between 1967 and 1971. Those stories show, I think, why those attempts weren’t successful. The stories aren’t bad, but they’re pretty ordinary, and as in Lee and Kirby’s FANTASTIC FOUR, we continually see Black Bolt’s brother, Maximus the Mad, usurping or attempting to usurp Black Bolt’s throne. The Frightful Four, the Mandarin and Magneto do show up from other rogues galleries to provide a little variety (and, in the Mandarin’s case, a little outdated casual racism), but the Inhummans really needed more villains of their own and a greater variety of plots.
That said, the stories are not without their pleasures. Personally, I think that there’s a lot to like about the Inhumans themselves, an odd-looking group with equally odd powers (Imagine a woman with hair that stretches, or a man who shakes the earth by stomping his “thundering hooves!"). I always liked Black Bolt in particular, and I think that his signature power – a destructive voice that forces him to remain mute – wonderfully symbolizes the terrors of the nuclear age, and personifies adages about wise people remaining silent and power being both a blessing and a curse.
The artwork also elevates the largely average stories. We have some nice work here by Jack Kirby, Neal Adams and Gene Colan – all at essentially at the peak of their careers. A bonus for me was seeing my favorite Kirby inker, Chic Stone. I didn’t realize that Stone had done any work with Kirby past the mid-1960s, but…here he was on four Inhumans stories from 1970, and it was nice to see him. The only down side, artwise, was Mike Sekowsky, whose work I found a bit ugly. Sekowsky only penciled two stories in this volume, however (the ones with Magneto as the main villain), so I could live with it.
For most people, the first MARVEL MASTERWORKS: THE INHUMANS volume won’t be a “must read.” If, like me, however, you like the characters and enjoy this period of Marvel history, then you’ll at least have a good time.
1) A hidden civilization? Check.
2) Advanced genetics making some people superior to humans. Check.
3) Extremely advanced technology. Check.
4) Aliens coming into contact with ancient civilizations (An idea advanced and made popular in the 1960s by Erich Von Daniken in his book CHARIOTS OF THE GODS). Check.
5) Characters with names and powers inspired by mythology. Check.
These ideas appear over and over in Kirby’s work, and besides the Inhumans, they’re particularly strong in his Fourth World titles for DC and in the Eternals, the latter of which is arguably just a reworking of the Inhumans in the first place (Like the Inhumans, the Eternals were created when aliens visited Earth in ancient times and evolved a group of primitive humans into an advanced race. Like the Inhumans, the Eternals were a hidden civilization of super-powered beings with advanced technology, and names and powers inspired by mythology.). Everything about the Inhumans screams “Jack Kirby,” really making you wonder what Stan Lee might have contributed beyond the dialogue and maybe some bits of characterization.
That’s an argument for another time, though. For now, suffice it to say that the Inhumans proved popular in FANTASTIC FOUR, so Marvel naturally thought of making them headliners. This volume collects the earliest attempts to do so, with stories originally published between 1967 and 1971. Those stories show, I think, why those attempts weren’t successful. The stories aren’t bad, but they’re pretty ordinary, and as in Lee and Kirby’s FANTASTIC FOUR, we continually see Black Bolt’s brother, Maximus the Mad, usurping or attempting to usurp Black Bolt’s throne. The Frightful Four, the Mandarin and Magneto do show up from other rogues galleries to provide a little variety (and, in the Mandarin’s case, a little outdated casual racism), but the Inhummans really needed more villains of their own and a greater variety of plots.
That said, the stories are not without their pleasures. Personally, I think that there’s a lot to like about the Inhumans themselves, an odd-looking group with equally odd powers (Imagine a woman with hair that stretches, or a man who shakes the earth by stomping his “thundering hooves!"). I always liked Black Bolt in particular, and I think that his signature power – a destructive voice that forces him to remain mute – wonderfully symbolizes the terrors of the nuclear age, and personifies adages about wise people remaining silent and power being both a blessing and a curse.
The artwork also elevates the largely average stories. We have some nice work here by Jack Kirby, Neal Adams and Gene Colan – all at essentially at the peak of their careers. A bonus for me was seeing my favorite Kirby inker, Chic Stone. I didn’t realize that Stone had done any work with Kirby past the mid-1960s, but…here he was on four Inhumans stories from 1970, and it was nice to see him. The only down side, artwise, was Mike Sekowsky, whose work I found a bit ugly. Sekowsky only penciled two stories in this volume, however (the ones with Magneto as the main villain), so I could live with it.
For most people, the first MARVEL MASTERWORKS: THE INHUMANS volume won’t be a “must read.” If, like me, however, you like the characters and enjoy this period of Marvel history, then you’ll at least have a good time.
April 4, 2016
I enjoyed the origin stories from the back pages of Thor and the art by Jack Kirby and Joe Sinnott, but was less enthused by Chic Stone's inks on Kirby in early issues of Amazing Adventures (2nd Series). In particular, the Mandarin looked he had been drawn by Kirby during the 1940's in the age of stereotypical ethnic distortions :/ The Gene Colan art on Medusa's solo adventure in Marvel Superheroes #12 was lovely.
I enjoyed the writing of Roy Thomas and the art of Neal Adams/Tom Palmer in issues #5 to 8 of Amazing Adventures (and Avengers #95), but was saddened by the less able art of Mike Sekowsky in issues #9 and 10.
I enjoyed the writing of Roy Thomas and the art of Neal Adams/Tom Palmer in issues #5 to 8 of Amazing Adventures (and Avengers #95), but was saddened by the less able art of Mike Sekowsky in issues #9 and 10.
July 7, 2015
Amazing Adventures #9-10. Magneto is still in his evil phase.
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews