The Eternals - Secrets From The Marvel Universe!

Save for The Invaders, What If? was one of the most entertaining new comics of the Bronze Age. Whereas the former was a work of Retro-Continuiity, blending the classic advenures of Timely's Big Three - Captain America, Sub-Mariner, and the Human Torch into a broader canvas fitting into the Marvel Universe, the latter was just the opposite...sort of. What If? was about answering the questions many of us fanboys had asked about certain key moments in Marvel's history. What if  Spidey had joined the Fab 4? What if the Hulk had gained intelligence? These questions had been nagging and now we got answer of sorts. The fourth issue of What If? even contributed to the new history of the Invaders by showing how there had been a Captain America when Steve Rogers was on ice. So it wasn't a great shock when there appeared a back-up feature in What If? which showcased how the Inhumans, the Eternals, and the Titans were all connected. It took elements of stories told by Jack Kirby, Jim Starlin and others and wove them into a nifty fabric that was in the end greater than the sum of its parts. 

The Eternals - Secrets from the Marvel Universe was a nifty one-shot which featured all eight of these short back-up tales from issues #23 to #30 of What If?. The series was written by Mark Gruenwald and Peter Gillis. They are drawn mostly by Ron Wilson, though Rick Buckler does contribute one chapter. These stories function almost exactly like Jack Kirby's Inhumans back-up from Thor so many years before. In fact it can be seen as a continuance of that same series. The back stories of the Eternals, the Inhumans and the Titans seem to conflict at first glance, but a little manipulation and the application of a nimble imagination and we see that what was once in conflict is become elegant and beautifully blended. 

These stories were also collected in The Eternals - The Dreaming Celestial Saga. I'll be taking a look at that tome tomorrow. 

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Beware The Inhumans!

The Inhumans always proved to be a hard sell for a self-titled ongoing series. It's unusual that in a Marvel Universe which found room for gaggle of monsters in the early 70's that this truly weird outfit didn't find some better purchase. Now I have to say it was not for lack of trying on Marvel's part. Many of the Inhuman adventures from their early days are included in Beware the Inhumans. 

Such as this one-shot solo effort for Medusa in Marvel Superheroes #15. This effort by Archie Goodwin and Gene Colan wasn't all that stellar an effort if I'm honest. Medusa gets snarled up with her old Frightful Four allies and is forced to help them steal some exotic metal or some such thing. As you'd expect these four got along just as well as ever and Medusa was able to turn the tables and win the day to some degree. 

Not included in this collection is a crossover from the same month when Medusa tackles Spider-Man in his title. There doesn't seem to be much coordination between this story by Stan Lee, John Romita and Don Heck and the one in MSH. But Medusa look quite fetching in this issue. 

Also not included in this second volume of Inhuman tales are any of Triton's guest-star outings with Prince Namor the Sub-Mariner. Triton became something of a quasi-regular in the series, showing up every so often to help Namor out in some way. John Buscema's verson of Triton is still my favorite just beating Kirby's. 

The Inhumans come center stage again in the first Hulk King-Size Special. Gary Friedrich's story is a whopper at over fifty pages and showcases some outstanding Marie Severin and Syd Shores artwork. Also we get to meet some new Inhumans from the Great Refuge (which is weirdly in the Alps for this story) in the from of new evil allies for Maximus the Mad. They are Falcona the Huntress (who can command birds by the thousands), Leonus the Lion Man, Aireo the Floating Man, Timberius the Tree-Dweller (who commands plants to some degree) , Stallior a centaur, and Nebulo (a creature who casts a shadow but who himself cannot be seen). Only Aireo had been before, glimpsed in an early issue of FF. This gang battles with and against the Hulk until Black Bolt arrives to put the smackdown on everyone. The other members of the Royal Family are not around for this one. 

The scene then shifts back to the Fantastic Four where Crystal replaces Sue Richards after she'd given birth. No sooner is she made a member and helped the team defeat the Wizard than Maximus rises up in the Great Refuge (now in the Himalays again) and tries to take control with some sort of hypnosis cannon. It takes the whole of both teams to defeat this wild scheme, but of course defeat it they do. 

As far as I can remember the only time Inhumans pop up (aside from Triton's Subby appearances) is in two issue of the Hulk beginning with issue #119. It's Maximus again using much the same ploy as the previous time but having switched up his location to a the Latin American country of Costa Salvador. The baddie gang of Inhumans from the annual are back to roust old Greenskin again. 

In a few pages from Fantastic Four #95 Medusa suddenly shows up and demands Crystal come back to the Great Refuge with her. As you'd imagine Johnny's pretty hot about it. 

So hot that in issue #99 of the Fab Four's run he goes amok and chases off after her demanding she come back. He's seriously out of control and fights with everyone until he discovers the reason she was needed, to help an ailing Black Bolt with her powers. All is forgiven and she returns to the FF. 

Then at long last it happens. In Jack Kirby's final days at Marvel and likely after he knew he was planning to jump over to DC after having been offered a new contract which was well below his expectations, the "King" got to write and draw some of his special creations. In the new Amazing Adventures we are treated to four ten-page tales of the Inhumans in which they battle Maximus yet again which draws them into combat with the Fantastic Four, and then for a switch Iron Man's perennial baddie The Mandarin, who as usual is seeking a hidden treasure that will make him master of the world. Chic Stone steps in to ink these stories and injects some real energy into Kirby's pencils which had long been somewhat tamed by Joe Sinnott's masterful brushes.  

Not included in this collection is Silver Surfer #18, the last of that run and the one in which Kirby not only gets to draw the famous herald of Galactus but gets to write him as well. To their credit Stan Lee and John Buscema had fashioned some elegant tales of a Surfer who is full of angst and woe over the weaknesses of mankind, but the series wasn't a big seller (by the standards of the day I guess) and as it ended Kirby was drummed aboard to bring a fresh energy. This is a brash and brutal energy as this issue is a big old battle with the Surfer taking on the Inhumans. Inked by Herb Trimpe, this one seems a natural part of the story Kirby was developing in Amazing Adventures. 

Instead of that Silver Surfer tale we get part of Fantastic Four #105 which with art by John Romita details how Crystal must again leave the Fab 4, this time because of long-term exposure to the harmful effects of society's pollution. It's okay, but in this volume we never see Crystal again and it doesn't really add much flavor. 

Back in Amazing Adventures, with Kirby over concocting the Fourth World for DC, it's left to Roy "Houseroy" Thomas to take on the misadventures of the Inhumans. He focuses on the mute Black Bolt who leaves the Great Refuge with a lame plan to better Inhuman and human relations. He almost immediately falls victim to thugs who take adventage of a sudden memory loss on his part. This memory lost is caused by Maximus who also drives away Gorgon, Karnak, Triton and Medusa. Later Black Bolt comes under the control of ultra militant Mister Dibbs. Even a battle with Thor, while fun is mostly fuss and bother. The artwork though by Neal Adams is magnificent for four solid issues. 

The just like that the Black Widow is booted out of Amazing Adventures and the Inhumans (minus Triton), still lost in mankind's world take over all twenty pages. The art by Mike Sekowsky is energetic but unfortunately a fall off after Kirby and Adams. In these two tales written by Gerry Conway, the Inhumans battle Magneto who himself was fresh off a battle with the Fantastic Four. More fuss and bother alas as this storyline seems to all but forgotten when the Inhumans appear again. That appearance will not be in Amazing Adventures as issue ten is their last, the book will feature a transformed "Beast" in its next number. 

Roy Thomas and Neal Adams haven't forgotten their Inhumans though and the Great Refuge, Maximus, Triton and Black Bolt are all brought into the sprawling Kree-Skrull War epic for one issue of The Avnegers. This story closes out the plot Thomas and Adams had concocted in Amazing Adventures and totally ignores the later Conway-Sekowsky effort. To add insult to injury, Medusa, Karnak, Crystal, and Gorgon are all absent from this epic installment. 

 

This tome closes out with two Not Brand Echh tales, one showing Medusa seeking romance and the other a superb spoof showing the Inhumans as various comic strips such as Prince Valiant, Dick Tracy, Peanuts, and more. This is a wonderful volume, full of some really good stories and some outstanding artwork. But it could've been better alas. 

Next week the Eternals meet the Mighty Thor. 

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The Origins Of The Inhumans!

When I stumbled across Erich Von Daniken's theories in the 1970's they sounded somewhat familiar to me. Jack Kirby and Stan Lee had told a very similar story a decade earlier in the pages of "The World's Greatest Comic Magazine", the story of the Inhumans. I confess that for some time I was not particularly an Inhuman fan aside from Triton who I liked especially because of his connection to the Sub-Mariner and his many guest-starring outings in that book. They were just a bit too weird for me at the time, though now of course it is that very weirdness that makes them resonate still in my aging memory. 

The Inhuman saga begins rather inauspiciously in Fantastic Four #36 when a mysterious woman with strange long and deadly moving hair named "Madame Medusa" joins up with longtime Torch villains The Wizard and Paste-Pot Pete (soon to be called "The Trapster") and the Sandman (who began as a Spidey baddie but soon became an FF-hating regular). This story by Lee, Kirby and inker Chic Stone showcases the debut of the "Frightful Four" a decent attempt to give the Fab 4 somebody worthy to battle. 

The Frightful Four return a few issues later and attempt to blow up Reed, Sue, Johnny and Ben but as usual fail. But they came darn close. Medusa at this time is a baddie for sure, eager to confront the FF and willing to challenge the others in her team. 

Medusa's time as a villain comes to a close in a whopping three-part story in which the Frightful Four manage to get control of The Thing and set off against his former partners. The battle is a savage one and before it's done the Frightful Four are defeated save for Medusa who manages to escape partially because the Human Torch fancies her a bit. For the first time the reader might get an inkling that there's more to Medusa than just being a villain. Soon we'd know the truth. 

The secret of Medusa begins to unfold in Fantastic Four #44 when a strange gentleman named Gorgon comes looking for her. She turns to Johnny Storm for help and later the entire FF is called upon to attempt to protect one of their enemies when Gorgon proves that his stomps are mighty indeed. (On an artistic note, this issue marks the beginning of the long-running Kirby-Sinnott team with Joe stepping in to embellish the work of a man he never met in person until after their association had ended. While I am a fan of Vinnie Colletta and Mike Royer, I have to say that Kirby's art never looked more elegant than when Sinnott applied the embellishment.)

It turns out that Medusa is just one of a family who Reed calls "Inhuman" at some point. A chance meeting between Johnny Storm and a young beautiful Inhuman named Crystal changes both their lives forever and they fall in love at first sight. But Gorgon has by this time recaptured Medusa and she seems to relent at last. Johnny meets the other Inhumans such as Karnak, Triton and a dog named Lockjaw. His partners turn up and the battle is on. It all blazes along until a mysterious figure named Black Bolt arrives on the scene. 

Black Bolt is the silent leader of these Inhumans and they do what he says, or more correctly indicates as he is mute. Black Bolt is strong enough to go toe-to-toe with The Thing and he can fly and generate energy blasts as well. Combine that with Medusa's proven abilities, Gorgon's powerful hooves, and Karnak's precise attacks and the Inhumans are a tough bunch to battle. Crystal's powers seem vage and poor Triton seems trapped in a watery bag for most of the story. 

These Inhumans seem somewhat like a band of Gypsies, living on the perimeter of regular society mostly in the shadows and timid in the face of authority. The authority in these stories is someone called The Seeker who is ordered by his leader Maximus to return this family of cousins to the Great Refuge. He does just that and then Johnny Storm really has a fit since his new girl is now among the missing.  The FF seek out the Great Refuge after learning that the Inhumans are a genetic offshoot of mankind helped along by alien intervention. They find it, enter it and very quickly we learn that Black Bolt is the proper king and he merely snatches the crown from Maximus who reverts to a gibbering genius. But his genius is such that he is able to ignite a device that encapsulates the Great Refuge behind a shield dubbed "The Negative Zone". Now Johnny is locked off from Crystal and the FF barely escapes being stranded inside the great hidden city themselves. But the Fab 4 don't have long to worry about it as arriving on Earth is being called the Silver Surfer. 

The Inhuman story is put on hold as the FF battle the Surfer and then Galactus and then travel to the kingdom of Wakanda, another hidden wonderland of technology. But slowly and bit by bit we see that the Inhumans are trying to get out of their Negative Zone prison but having little success. The exact nature of the Inhumans seems to have taken shape slowly in the minds of Kirby and Lee but eventually we get to  what became the status quo of the extended Royal Family leading the rest of Inhumanity.  The Human Torch meanwhile is determined to find Crystal and along with his new best buddy Wyatt Wingfoot does just that using a wacky flying machine donated by the Black Panther. They run into Prester John and his Evil Eye but their odyssey is only just begun.  

For many issues we follow Johnny and Wyatt and the Inhumans themselves as their story become almost a back-up feature with a few pages dedicated to it each issue while the rest of the FF fight off Doctor Doom. Eventually the secret of Black Bolt's voice is revealed and using his might powerful tones he breaks open the Negative Zone but only laying wasted to the Great Refuge itself. But they are free and before long they get out and about. 

Crystal uses Lockjaw to find Johnny and at long last the two young lovers are together just as Reed is lost in Sub-Space (which will soon be called the Negative Zone for reasons no one understands) and must be rescued. To save him Triton is summoned and this new heroic looking aqua-man succeeds and is around when Blastaar teams up with Sandman to battle the FF. The bonds of friendship between the FF and the Inhumans have now been firmly established. 

In Fantastic Four #64 and #65 we are introduced to the star-spanning race named the "Kree". The presence of the Kree is revealed when two archeologists following info from ancient Incan sources go to a remote Pacific island where they wake up Sentry #459 who proceeds to capture them. In a massive coincidence the Fantastic Four are taking a vacation on this very deserted island (selected at random) and come into conflict with the Sentry. It is thanks to Lockjaw that the Human Torch is able to join the fray is able to escape as presumably the Sentry destroys the island base. Later Ronan the Accuser is sent to Earth to check up on this occurrence and he captures the Fantastic Four but his unable to mete out Kree justice before he is defeated and sent packing. The importance of the Kree to the Inhumans will be revealed very soon. 

But first the Royal Family is given a showcase of sorts in Fantastic Four King-Size Special #5. There along with the Black Panther the Inhumans battle the threat of Psycho Man and his three gun-toting minions Live Wire, Ivan, and Shellshock. This is clearly an attempt to raise the profile of the Inhumans as well as Prince T'Challa though the Human Torch and the Thing do join the fray at last. For the record Reed and Sue discover they are pregnant in this issue as well. The fact that the Silver Surfer is treated to a solo story also points to the fact this is an effort to create buzz about these Kirby creations. 

Then in of all places Thor #146 we learn more about the Inhumans. Kirby retired the Tales of Asgard back-up feature and brought forth a five pager about the Inhumans instead. In the first two stories we travel back in time to see Attlian the island city of the Inhumans who already thanks to allien intervention are technilogicaly advanced on the typical human of this prehistoric era. We see the leader Randac enter the Terrigen Mists for the first time and become the very first "Inhuman". Later Sentry #459 visits Attlian to see the handiwork of the Kree and is impressed. 

Then there is a two-parter showing the babyhood and early manhood of Black Bolt. We meet the young Royal Family and see that a young Black Bolt is burdened with never being able to speak for dread of his mighty voice. 

The Inhumans back-up feature ends with a trio of tales featuring Triton. These short but highly effective tales evoke masterfully the 50's Creature from the Black Lagoon film. And we see Triton try to save a lovely babe beneath the waves but finds it's a film crew and he's captured but is curious enough to let them take him to NYC where he escapes to find only fear in the streets. He is on his way back to Attilan to report to Black Bolt who leaves then and there to seek the Great Refuge where the Inhumans can hide away. 

This first volume of Inhuman adventures close with a spoof from Not Brand Echh #6 which lampoons a potential marriage between Johnny Storm and Crystal when her in-laws seem to be everywhere. The "Human Scorch"is saved from his unseemly wedlock with "Gristle" when "Sandyman" arrives to save the day. Weird, but it features some rockin' Kirby art embellished by Tom Sutton. 

And that wraps up this first of two tomes dedicated to the "Incomparable Inhumans". These folks were clearly Jack Kirby's babies, not unlike the Silver Surfer. He had plans for them and he'd eventually get a small chance to realize those plans, but that's for next week. 

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