Life is not so great on the dark side of the moon. The heroes who fall under the title Inhumans are waiting for an attack, that will not only destroy the world they have built but also Earth. Black Bolt is gone, Medusa is dying, and those that survive are currently experiencing the wrath of the Progenitor, who is waiting to harvest their bodies for future use.
The battle that is coming cannot be fought on the ground but in the soul. Medusa is sent to the astral plain by Reader, where she reunites with the lost Black Bolt and loses him again. The Progenitor is destroyed for now, but an apocalypse is just around the corner.
My Opinion
The show, Inhumans, has gained a negative reception in the public mind because of the dismal ratings for the recent television show. However, one cannot judge the quality of a comic or the series of comics from a tv show. I was not a fan of the show when I watched it on ABC, and with the thought of this show, I was a little hesitant to step into the world of Inhumans. I was pleasantly surprised when I read Inhumans: Judgement Day #1. It’s a love story. Pure and simple, with a cosmic and super-powered twist.
Writer Al Ewing has done an admirable job in summarizing the knowledge and lore of the Inhumans throughout the book. Readers are given the backstory to past events, and if you didn’t know who Black Bolt or Medusa were, you learn quick. Ewing has crafted a story of lost love and places it amongst the royal family of the Inhumans.
For Inhumans: Judgement Day #1 I found that it was easy to identify with the royals that live on the moon, and even empathize with them. They were on one of the greatest quests for power and were ultimately burned if not consumed by that quest. The number of stories that have used that theme is immense, and the reason why it still works and is relevant is because we desire things that are beyond us. This storyline will continue to be used because it will always be relevant.
What I particularly liked about this comic, is that its sole focus was on Medusa. The queen who lost her hair, her power, her strength, gained it back by her own will. In her failing health, she is projected to a non-corporeal form and ultimately saves the day. The empowerment that Medusa experiences is incredible. At the start of the comic, how she is presented in art form, and in the text, doesn’t allude to some great strength or heroism that she will experience. Medusa is awesome, and comic fans should love her character.
The real stars of the Inhumans: Judgement Day #1 are artists Mike Del Mundo and Kevin Labranda. They have not only seamlessly, but brilliantly represented four distinct worlds in the comic. From the present to the past battle on the Progenitor homeworld, to the astral plane where Medusa reunites with Black Bolt, and then back to the present with the reborn Medusa, color matters greatly in comics. Shades of yellow and orange added to a scene help the reader distinguish between the physical world, and the non-corporeal world, and the faded colors used to represent Medusa at the beginning of the book to when we see her with her fiery red hair make the story pop. Inhumans: Judgement Day #1 is a feast of color.
Comic readers take notice of the text, but the visuals make the world live in the minds of fans and new readers. Inhumans: Judgement Day #1 was a fun read. I could easily orient myself in the world of the Inhumans, and I look forward to more