Rating:  -
This book immediately hooked me with the beautiful artwork of Jae Lee, and the ultra rich, deep colors. After getting into the story, and especially enjoying the introduction of a new generation of Inhumans, I began to feel some distance as the more mature, and more familiar Inhumans took over. Where the kids demonstrated a range of emotions, their adult counterparts appear overly serious. Sure, they're in a crisis, but the serious expressions never seem to waver, chapter after chapter. While Black Bolt dominates the action, and some of the others, especially Lockjaw are well represented, I would have loved to have seen Crystal, and particularly Medusa demonstrate their powers a bit more.
The story is predominantly told through close-ups, and very realistic facial expressions. While these facial expressions work effectively to demonstrate the depth of anguish and anger that is felt and expressed throughout the book, the repetition of this technique eventually begin to lose its power to convey the impact and scale of this crisis in Attilan. Besides the faces, and basic body language, backgrounds and settings are pretty much non-existent, most of the time. The bulk of the focus is on the face, usually just the eyes. As much as I enjoyed studying each magnificently drawn panel, I would have liked to see more action, more basic movement. There is very little variation in composition or perspective, which, in my opinion, really limits the potential richness of The Inhumans' environment. There are several distant looks at the domed city, but very few which show you what it's like inside. The Inhumans themselves are presented in great detail, but what of their world, their beloved home, which they are trying so desperately to save? I would have cared more about their world, if I could have seen more of it.
Instead of opening up a new world of imagination, I felt somewhat claustrophobic, as if The Inhumans had been meticulously packed into tiny frames, unallowed to burst from the pages. The Inhumans is a story told through eyes, words, and faces. The faces and words (and overall darkness in color found throughout the book) do relay the serious tone and depth of this crisis, but the repetition of the style over the length of the book keep it, for me anyway, from being a 5 star classic. It was pretty cool to see the Namor cameo, though.
Rating:  -
This book won't likely impress anyone who isn't already enamored with Marvel Comics superheroes.
On one hand, it's beautiful and vivid and even a bit haunting.
But it's also somehow hollow.
Consider- Everything is at stake for these characters: their home, their culture, even their lives. And yet it's all handled with such cold, distant narration that it's impossible, as a reader, to care.
Little surprise, then, that in a collection of twelve dramatic, explosion-filled issues, the most striking and memorable moment is a quiet scene halfway through in which a normally unreadable character collapses to his knees at the side of his giant dog and hugs him.
It's among the few moments of real weakness, conflict or feeling in the entire ponderous volume.
The artwork usually manages to be delicate and intimate, but even the powerful illustrations can't compensate for a lifeless script.
The Inhumans ultimately serves as a long, rich, vivid description of nothing.
Rating:  -
the best thing about the Inhumans by Paul Jenkins and Jae Lee is that you don't have to be familiar with the characters in the story to enjoy it. All I remembered about the Inhumans was that they appeared in the Fantastic Four a long time ago. I started reading the trade and couldn't put it down. Jenkins' use of narration in the second person places the reader in the story...
Rating: -
The 'Inhumans' surpasses all expectations and reaches a level that Marvel so often promises, but very rarely achieves. Paul Jenkins does an Alan Moore-type job of creating something daringly new out of the familiar, providing the entire royal Inhuman family with interesting quirks and personalities and a nail-biting plot that has a rogue band of guerillas attacking the entire city of Attilan (w/ help from Black Bolt's mad brother) and pits Inhuman against Inhuman till they are brought to the edge of destruction.
Jenkins also provides alot of depth to the story, switching viewpoints repeatedly, from the stunning opening chapter; to the coming-of-age ritual in Ch. 2; to the very sympathetic and tragic character introduced in Ch 7;7to Ch 8 - told partially from the viewpoint of Lockjaw (the Inhumans' bulldog on steroids)who only wants to play catch with a Ben Grimm doll while war rages all around to the plot swerves of the finale.
The very "human" shortcomings of the Inhumans are also shown (their very imperfect caste system and the ironic bigotry against those who remain genetically 'normal').
Jae Lee is the closest thing to Alex Ross I've seen and the mood of his drawing matches the story brilliantly, making this my 2nd favorite graphic novel (next to the X-Men's "Dark Phoenix Saga"). I'd love to see this writer/artist team redo Spider-Man's "Fearful Symmetry"and maybe give the "Inhumans" a run for its money.
Rating: -
The Inhumans by Paul Jenkins and Jae Lee is an incredible work. Told in 12 chapters, the story takes a bit of time to unfold and new readers will need a while to familiarize themselves with all of the characters. But once these two areas are handled...get ready for a fun ride.
It's impossible to describe the depth of this story. What other writers would present as a simple battle between government soldiers and a race of super-powered beings...Paul Jenkins pulls so much more from. There is slavery, penance, insanity, forgiveness, shame, understanding, heroism, loyalty, blind loyalty, manipulation, emancipation, love, and then there is family.
What makes The Inhumans work so well beyond the immense story is the uniqueness of the characters. The race of inhumans each have their own individuality expressed in their dialogue, their actions, and most powerfully in their appearence. What we might view as deformed...they would view as beautiful...two worlds that meet through a mirror (a symbol that is touched upon in the narrative). Pages could be written about these characters but then that would spoil the read and discovery so I'll confine mine to two characters.
TRITON - In what is probably the strongest chapter of the book, this character reflects back on his witnessing of the sinking of the Lusitania. It was his first encounter with humans in a positive light and lead him to think and rethink his thoughts on these creatures of a different race. The paintings of Triton standing on the decks of the Lusitania in present day are haunting.
BLACK BOLT - The king of the Inhumans who is not permitted to speak because his vocal cords can decimate mountains. He is also not permitted thought balloons because that would rob the character of so much. With the powerful king we have a character that will make you think. The weight of his people rests on his shoulders, and because of his complete lack of dialogue we are kept in the dark as to his motivations just as his closest family members are. Here is a character that could not exist in any other medium save the realm of the comic book (graphic novel to the elite). I found myself staring at every panel with this wonderful character present. The embrace between brothers Black Bolt and 'Mad' Maximus was especially gripping.
All in all I can not praise Inhumans enough. It has a creative energy that helps it stand apart from the typical superhero storyline. Much like each citizen of Attilan, there will never be another story like Inhumans.
Will you love it on the first read? Maybe not. Will you think about it when it's all over...definately. Will you want to return for another read?
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