Something Inhuman Came This Way

Although they first appeared in backup stories in Thor, the story arc which really introduced the Inhumans to the Marvel Universe began in Fantatic Four 44, and continues here in Fantastic Four 47.

Mr. Fantastic and Invisible Woman try to rescue Triton who lies dying out of water, which leaves Human Torch and Thing to tackle Dragon Man who's running amok in the heart of New York City.

Reed and Sue do manage to save Triton's life - but only by turning him over to the Seeker who takes him prisoner back to The Hidden Land for judgement by the tyrant Maximus.

Overall this issue isn't up to the quality of the rest of the Inhumans saga, mostly because Stan's writing seems to be stilted, awkward or cliche.

As an example, look at all the information he tries to cram into this panel about Black Bolt (fig. 1).

The comic does have some great 'court intrigue' that sets up Inhuman society in a way that could make for interesting stories to come (fig. 2).

He also squeezes other changes in at inappropriate times, like Sue Storm's decision to change her hairstyle and then turn invisible to make a dramatic entrance when they all think she's lost in enemy territory - it just kind of seems too bimbo-ish a move for a seasoned team member like Sue (fig. 3).

Another example of perfunctory dialog occurs when Medusa waves a torch in front of Maximus and he suddenly changes his story about knowing Triton's whereabouts - really? This is the big, bad Maximus everyone is so scared of, a guy whose resolve can be threatened by waving an flame in front of him (fig. 4)?

There's also a lot of sappiness in this issue, including:

- an extended sequence of Ben and Alicia vowing to stand by each others side and worrying about each other during the Dragon Man fight;

- Sue pining about her husband treating her like 'one of the boys';

- and Johnny obsessing over Crystal over and over again (fig. 5).

But, despite it's downright cliched situations and dialogue (fig. 6), the Inhumans saga is still one of the best Fantastic Four story arcs, and you would do just fine if you were to read only the first issue of The Fantastic Four and then skip over forty issues, all the way to this storyline... especially since next issue it dovetails into one of the greatest Fantastic Four stories of all time... the Galactus Trilogy!

(please recommend review here)