Inhumanity 1, Young Avengers 13, Secret Avengers 12

Inhumanity 1
Fraction (w) and Coipel and Morales (a) and L. Martin (c)

The Terrigen Mists have flooded the Earth, revealing new Inhumans all over the planet. To add to the confusion about the new Inhumans, Attilan has fallen and our core Inhumans are spread about the world. Karnak, one of the wisest Inhumans, has gone a little crazy and the Avengers try to talk him down before having to bring him down and contain him at Stark Tower. Hawkeye gets him talking a bit and, as Karnak relates the history of the Inhumans, more Avengers filter in to listen and ask questions, including the Illuminati and Cap, among others. Karnak explains the origin of the Inhumans, the Kree experiments that led one-time neanderthal humans to be enhanced and to evolve faster. He talks about the Terrigen Mists as a way to enhance the new Inhumans further, to prevent the Kree from ever coming back and trying to absorb them into their kingdom. With the Terrigen Mists came the splintering of Inhuman tribes, with many Inhumans refusing the Mists and separating from the core of the people. As they separated and spread further over time, more and more Inhuman children were born and then had children and so on, never exposed to the Mists. Karnak deduces that Black Bolt and Maximus brought down Attilan, an unfortunate side-effect to their true goal: world-wide Terrigenesis of these hidden Inhumans. At this point in the explanation, Medusa has shown up and questions Karnak further. Things start to piece together in Karnak's head faster than he can explain them and he realizes that he's made an error in calculations and that, to survive as the new leader of the Inhumans, Medusa will have to forget everything she knows about their past and their people. As he says this, he bemoans the fact that he was wrong and that he failed her so, all while using his finger to crack the unbreakable Wakandan crystal that the window is made of. The window shatters and before Tony can turn off the forcefield keeping him in, he throws himself from the building. They manage to get in and peer down in time to see his body on the ground below, dead.

Ominous start to this little event. It's a little hard to say what this event is going to entail and how long it's going to last, let alone the effects. The start was pretty strong, with solid writing and, somehow, still enough time for characterization. The INHUMANITY checklist at the back of the issue lists a lot of tie-in books but nothing by way of an event ongoing or anything like that, though I believe there's supposed to be an INHUMANS book coming, from Fraction as well, that will be an ongoing by itself, not serving as an event or anything of the sort. Still, this issue serves as a great introduction to the Inhumans for people who aren't so familiar but covers enough new ground so as to not bore longtime Inhuman fans. As I said, on top of the expanding plot and the need to educate, a solid amount of characterization comes through, helped by the fact this this book is a bit longer than a typical one, just shy of a true double-issue. Nice start to this whole little event and something certainly worth exploring further.

Young Avengers 13
Gillen (w) and McKelvie w/ Norton and Thompson (a) and Wilson (c)

Loki, as Loki does, was manipulating everything. He betrayed Mother, he created all of their resurrected villains (not the ones from the other dimensions, but the ones who directly impacted our heroes, except the Patri-not, who is still mysterious and about), and it's only after America sacrifices herself to save him that he realizes what he's done. It's not a full sacrifice, though the intention was there; she dove in front of the Ultimate Nullifier's ultimate nullifier to protect Loki but, of course, it was eventually revealed to be Loki-created so it goes away when Loki confesses. And Loki does confess; he confesses everything, even up to the fact that he's a copy of the old Loki who was left to destroy the kid Loki (of JOURNEY INTO MYSTERY fame), and that he's not the murderer Loki, he's the murderer's weapon Loki. With the confession, there enemies disappear and Loki is able to save Teddy from being a chair. David convinces him to go to Billy and to give him the strength he needs, reassuring him that whatever it is they have, whatever started it, is really love. With their love rekindled, Billy is able to ascend to Demiurge status and look over creation, enough to vanquish Mother once and for all before being pulled back to his real place in the world (had he stayed, he might have fixed everything or, as Loki points out, he might just have broken it more). With the spell gone, the adults of the world would have been able to see the other-dimensional invading villains and so, rather than get destroyed, they all go home. Everyone (including Billy's parents) is restored to normal and Loki disappears, hiding himself away from the rest of the team. It's not the end, it only feels like it.

I'm not sure how much more I have left to say about this series as a whole. It's wonderful. Every issue has a real and defined root in its characters and the story has been built upwards from that. As impressive as the plot has been (or, perhaps, as the characters would likely tell you, as cliche) it's all worked because this book and a sincere love for its characters and for its storytelling, which is sometimes more important than the story itself. The plot of this issue involved everything coming to a head, all of the plots we've already seen including Loki's past, Loki's manipulations, Billy and Teddy, Mother, the Patriot, parents, Kate and Noh-Varr, America's past, and more AND YET, everything I'm taking away from this issue has to do with the characters and the way the story unfolded (and with the art, but that's a different bit entirely). That's not to lessen everything plot-wise that happened here; it's to show how well-formed and important these characters are. Loki has a huge, emotional moment. Billy has a huge, emotional moment. Teddy has a huge, emotional moment. Prodigy has a huge, emotional moment. America has a couple huge, emotional moments. Kate has a huge, emotional moment. Noh-Varr has a huge, emotional moment. This issue is normal length and it never once drags. It could probably have used more space but Gillen and McKelvie made sure it didn't need it. the plots, the characters, the questions, they're all resolved by issue's end. Well, not resolved, maybe, but addressed, certainly. It's a truly wonderful book with some of the most awe-inspiring art I've seen in comics in the last few years. That is to say, it's just another issue of YOUNG AVENGERS.

Secret Avengers 12
Spencer and Kot (w) and Guice (a) and Wilson (c)

Mockingbird is still deep undercover at AIM and not exactly sure why. Unfortunately, she doesn't have much time to figure it out as she's expected, in the guise of her AIM officer, to give a presentation on a project she's supposedly working on to the high council. She tries to stumble through it but eventually Scientist Supreme Forson reveals that he knows she's Mockingbird and they bring her to the interrogation room. Forson's show in front of the high council only engenders more distrust towards him, which might be part of why a group of AIM scientists has gone to Maria Hill to try to work out a deal. A faction of AIM, not led by Forson, wants things to go back to the old way but to work with SHIELD more than against, like, as they describe it, Nazi scientists working with American scientists after the war. She's skeptical so they offer her, in exchange, knowledge about Forson's secret underwater base, where he's training his black ops team. She sends Fury, Black Widow, and Hawkeye to check it out and they're quickly set upon by Yelena Belova and her troops and someone who looks and acts an awful lot like Avenger Shang Chi. By the end of the issue, Maria Hill has discovered that these scientists, the ones who don't want to keep working under Forson, are led by someone else: Modok.

Let's talk about SHIELD a bit. I've had some qualms with this series in the past because, by its very mission statement, SHIELD pretty much runs this op. Ask me how many times I've actually sided with SHIELD over the course of a series, let alone wanted to follow their exploits. I'll assume you asked. Twice. Steranko was a legend with them, Hickman was great with them. The thing about SHIELD is that, in most Marvel superhero comics, they're opposing the superhero in question in one way or another. Sure they might work alongside now and again and, perhaps, as an entity, they're not as bad as AIM or someone along those lines. As an entity, they're trying to do good. That doesn't really help the fact that they tend to oppose our favorite superheroes. The other thing about SHIELD is that, typically, there are ulterior motives at play. When done well, this can mean an exciting wheels-within-wheels story, like Hickman developed back in SECRET WARRIORS. When done half-heartedly or with too many irons in the fire, it can weaken what might have already been a fairly weak story. I had the chance to talk recently over Twitter (the only way anyone talks these days, right?) with writer James Asmus about ABC's Marvel's Agents of SHIELD show, which it occurs to me I meant to review at some point and still haven't. Asmus was wondering why he liked the Marvel movies so much but didn't like SHIELD and I raised the points then that I raise now, about SHIELD being pretty terrible in the comics too, aside from Hickman and Steranko. He brought up the fact that there's no espionage element to it, no shady underside, pointing out that Captain America: Winter Soldier looks like it will delve into more (guys, it's seriously gonna be so awesome). He also mentioned that it feels like the show is limited in what it can use and not having something like Hydra or AIM is really hurting it. Why isn't AIM in that show? Seriously. Then I got to the last page of this issue and remembered a discussion my girlfriend and I had had about that very topic and about how Modok exists. Okay, whatever. The point is, this issue STILL DIDN'T HAVE WINTER SOLDIER IN IT.