We got a taste of what we can expect from Charles Soule and Steve McNiven back in April when the zero issue came out. The opening pages with Black Bolt, Triton, and Reader carries on from the first issue as Kang the freakin' Conqueror makes an appearance in a big way. Even though Kang has somehow been defeated over and over, he's not someone you really want to have on your bad side. Adding him to the mix as a thorn in the side of Black Bolt and/or the Inhumans will be fun to watch in future issues.
As some time has passed between the end of Secret Wars (which we haven't seen) and this first issue, Medusa and the Inhumans have a slightly different role in New York. This, along with Hank McCoy working with the Inhumans to solve brewing problem adds to the excitement of the series. There's no denying that we have a lot going on and a bunch of different characters that can come into the stories. There are some minor moments it feels like there might be too many characters. We'll want to see the Inhumans and NuHumans introduced in Soule's INHUMAN series get a chance to have their stories continue. And of course the presence of Johnny Storm will definitely add to the tension in the title.
McNiven's art is always great to see. There are some moments where it felt like the backgrounds were left kind of empty but we have some great moments throughout. I always enjoy a comic where you really feel the emotions pouring off a characters face.
To deal with the large potential cast of characters, we also get a back up story by Soule and Brandon Peterson. It allows some other characters to go off on their own mission while continuing to plant the seeds for upcoming stories. With so much going on, thank goodness we have ALL-NEW INHUMANS coming out in December. (Note: I believe a couple pages were flipped in the back up story).
The Inhumans are making their presence known in the Marvel Universe. Charles Soule is bringing them to the center stage with Steve McNiven. For characters that have long had a deep history in the Marvel Universe, it's fascinating to see them brought front and center. It goes to show you that Marvel has a bunch of great existing characters along with some great new ones created by Soule. I've said many times before that I wasn't the biggest Inhumans fan. Charles Soule is easily changing that. Having McNiven's art here is big plus as well. Now is definitely the time to jump on board to see the Inhumans' story play out in the Marvel Universe.