Inhuman 1, New Warriors 3

Inhuman 1
Soule (w) and Madureira (a) and Gracia (c)

The Terrigenesis wave has spread across the world and it's brought out Inhumans new and old across the planet. On top of the new Inhumans who experienced Terrigenesis as a result of Black Bolt's bomb, factions of Inhumans have emerged to show off their philosophies. Primarily, that puts Inhuman Lash at odds with Attilan queen Medusa, effectively putting Attilan up against Lash's home of Orollan. Orollan had limited access to Terrigen and thus only evolved people who they thought had earned it and who they believed would help the community with their evolution. As a result, Lash and his Inhumans believe that Terrigenesis is not for everyone, as Black Bolt made it, and he wants to make sure that Inhumans only get stronger with this new wave. He captures one cocoon from Norway and waits for its inhabitant to emerge before deeming it weak and killing it. He then appears at the Des Plaines, Illinois home of a family with some amount of Inhuman DNA in them; the sick and frail mother has enough to trigger Terrigenesis but not enough to survive the process while her son Dante has enough to enter and emerge from the cocoon. Lash believes he's been unchanged and aims to kill him but Dante quickly bursts into flames a la Human Torch and attacks. Though Lash is impressed that he has indeed changed, he believes that Dante (who we may as well just call Inferno at this point) cannot control his transformation and still readies to kill him when Medusa appears to defend Dante and his still-human pregnant sister Gabriela. Medusa forces Lash to leave, though he vows that their paths will cross again, and promises to bring Dante to the remains of the Attilan family.

There are a number of questions to ask about this new series and the aftermath of the Terrigenesis bomb and almost all of them, for me, have to do with process. In this case, is this book going to have enough of an impact to make the Terrigenesis bomb and the new influx of Inhumans worth the wait? The problem with the delay (and I do believe, given what I know of the writer switch and everything, that the delays were worthwhile; you never want a writer who's writing something he doesn't want to be writing as it seems the case had become as the story broke more) is that now we've seen some of the effects of the Terrigenesis wave and, frankly, unless you're a diehard Inhuman fan, I think you're probably mostly over it. Of course, the plan had been to launch this book just after INFINITY and I think it would have had built in impact just with the timing. Now we're rather through the majority of tie-in books to this "event" and we're just starting the core book. While I do believe that the warring Inhuman factions is an interesting story and one well worth watching (hey, I finally mentioned something about this book specifically!), I worry that it may end up being too little too late. Instead of getting a boost from its well-timed release, now Soule and Madureira have to create a better book to actually entice people to pick it up in the first place. Feet to the fire and all that.

New Warriors 3
Yost (w) and To (a) and Curiel (c)

The High Evolutionary explains to Nova that the Celestials had long ago created the Eternals, the Deviants, and the Humans on Earth and that the Eternals and the Deviants fought one another while the Humans grew and evolved, much to their liking. However, all of the mutations and outside effects that have created the Marvel Universe as we know it (mutation, radioactivity, alien experimentation, Atlanteans, etc.) have caused humanity to diverge from the path the Celestials set for it and now they're coming back to erase their mistake. The High Evolutionary, then, is trying to save the world by purging it of the subsets of humanity who differed from the plan. In addition, his Evolutionaries have brought in Scarlet Spider, Hummingbird, and Water Snake (Faira) from Mexico. Meanwhile, Sun Girl and Justice come at odds with one another as they escape cops trying to shoot their new horn-headed pal. Justice believes that they should leave well enough alone and set Mark (horn-headed pal!) up with the Attilans while Sun Girl believes they have to get to the bottom of this. Justice reluctantly agrees to step up and says that their first course of action should be finding Nova. Speaking of Nova, Scarlet Spider manages to summon spiders to the High Evolutionary's machinery, breaking it enough that he can bust out of his holding cell and break everyone else out too. Nova vows to go get help but they're all quickly overrun by the Evolutionaries.

I've been a little iffy as this book has kicked off. I think Yost has done a pretty good job starting to establish his characters and giving us a story that's clearly got pretty big pieces to it but it was going to be a tough tightrope to walk (as opposed to the tightropes that are like, totally simple to walk) building the characters up while also navigating a complicated story. This issue proves that he'll be able to knock it out of the park. Really solid issue, we get a lot of character development with our team and one of the most concise and complete definitions of the Marvel Universe in the High Evolutionary's speech to kick the book off. Phenomenal work to clarify parts of the universe that are admittedly difficult to follow for an audience perhaps unfamiliar with it. Suddenly this series is not just a nice selection of characters melded together by a good writer, it's also a fully functioning story that will very clearly carry itself and which has been really well-defined for such a sweeping story. Check this book out for a great look at some neat and under seen characters and a pretty cool story to boot.

Avengers AI 10, New Warriors 2

Avengers AI 10
Humphries (w) and Araújo (a) and D'Armata (c)

In the physical world, the Gascheck app is still driving people crazy while, in the virtual world of the Diamond, the Avengers team still has to find the root of the problem. With the help of the Lovelace Army and Gibson, they find the giant monstrous being that is Gascheck. After Doombot's failed attempt to attack it, Pym talks with it and explains what's happening in the physical world. Gascheck reveals that Dimitrios hijacked his programming and that he only wants to help humans, not hurt them. To ensure everyone's safety, Gascheck deactivates itself, saving the people of Earth from themselves. After seeing Hank deal with the situation and seeing all the wonders of the Diamond, Captain America announces that he'll back Hank with whatever he thinks is right, even if it puts him at odds with SHIELD or the president or whoever. Meanwhile, SHIELD has sent the AI-hunting unit of Monica Chang and Jocasta to capture Jessie Clatterbuck, the AI who played a part in Dimitrios' first attack. They manage to capture her but Chang can't help feeling that something is wrong. Alexis, down in the Diamond with her sister Eton, realizes that she needs to prevent Clatterbuck from capture if she wants to save the world.

This is the first issue of AVENGERS AI since the cancellation announcement, so maybe it's just knowing that it is being cancelled and that it's going to end soon but there is a sort of rushed sense of finality to the issue. Obviously some of the pieces for the conclusion are just falling into place now or just starting to be realized now but some of the smaller pieces, that stuff that needs to get out of the way (like Cap and his Avengers' tie to this team) is getting out of the way pretty abruptly. I still can't totally get a feel for this team and I don't have a really distinct sense of any of the characters (aside from Doombot who doesn't have a whole lot to him), something that will be really hard to clear up as we race to the finish. It's hard to sustain interest in a book, particularly a book driven by lesser known characters, if we don't really understand our characters. Ah well, let's hope for a mighty conclusion as we head towards 13.

New Warriors 2
Yost (w) and To (a) and Curiel (c)

The Evolutionaries are striking at multiple locations and our heroes are finding out just how difficult they can be to fight. Their targets seem to be mutants, Inhumans, and other heroes or people somehow different on a biological level. This includes both Justice and Speedball and pretty much the entire population of New Salem in Colorado, Kaine, Aracely, and Faira Sar Namora in Mexico, and a new Inhuman named Mark in the sewers of New York, though it does not include Sun Girl, whose powers are derived from the technology on her back and not a power within. After Justice and Speedball force the Evolutionaries out of Colorado, they speed to Avengers Tower to access the database on these things, getting a bit of exposition out of a recording from Cyclops. When they've learned a little bit, they hear the fight in the sewer and join in, giving enough backup to Sun Girl and Mark that they force those Evolutionaries to leave. Meanwhile, Nova has been captured by the High Evolutionary and put into a containment field deep in Wundagore Mountain. The High Evolutionary explains that the Celestials are coming back to judge Earth and that he and Nova are the only chance for humanity's survival.

Things keep on racing along here as now two of our New Warrior pairs have met up and Kaine and Aracely have met up with Faira Sar Namora. The team is quickly coming together and we're starting to learn a little bit more of why they need to come together so quickly. Oftentimes a team like this, one made up of smaller heroes or more inexperienced and unknown characters, will start off stopping some sort of important but far smaller problem. Maybe they tangle with an AIM branch or something and stop civilian casualties. Maybe they team up during a big Marvel event when everyone is coming together and they decide to stick it out. Maybe they have a misunderstanding but realize their both actually fighting the same guys. But no, Chris Yost has decided he's going to put them up against the Celestials and the High Evolutionary, about as big as you can go in any direction. It's a bold choice and one that will have to play out fully before we really know if it was the best choice. The problem, of course, with a big foe like this is that it's harder to characterize if you have to spend so much time establishing. Yost is doing okay with it right now as he's mostly characterized Speedball and Justice with a touch of characterization for everyone else and he's at the point where the plot will still carry the book for a bit but soon we're going to need to get deeper into character if we're going to stay on this journey. I have no doubt that the characterization will come though and we'll be left with a pretty solid book.