It would appear that The Inhumans are the newest group of characters that Marvel wants to put out front and center; they are a huge element to Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., and I would bet we will be seeing a movie somewhere down the line in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. So now we have a new number one, a perfect time for new readers to jump in and get to know these characters, but also for long time fans to get back to the characters they know and love. Overall, Uncanny Inhumans #1 is successful on both fronts, but it does suffer from one minor down point.

We start of with Black Bolt, Triton and Reader having arrived in the past, to the early days of the Inhumans and Attilan, but Black Bolt has come on a mission; to retrieve his son from Kang the Conqueror, a story line that started some time ago in Uncanny Inhumans.  Kang, understandably, is very unhappy that Black Bolt has gone against the deal they made when Black Bold agreed for Kang to take his son to save him, and he intends to punish Black Bolt for this act.  The three Inhumans manage to escape, but know that Kang can easily find them and must come up with a new plan to retrieve Black Bolt’s son.

While all this is happening, we see Medusa and a team of Inhumans in New York, fighting off a group of Chitauri warriors.  They easily take them down, and they are approached by media and fans alike, Medusa easily slipping into PR mode, assuring the gathered group that the Inhumans are ready to defend the world they now share with everyone else.  They return to New Attilan, where we discover that Hank McCoy, aka Beast, is now residing in New Attilan.  He and Medusa allude to him working on finding a solution, to ensure that the X-Men and Inhumans can exist together, and one side not succumbing to death.  Medusa is then alerted to a visitor, who turns out to be Johnny Storm, the Human Torch.  We find out that has been appointed as the liaison between the Inhumans and the city of New York; but there is a lot more to his visit to Queen Medusa.

Charles Soule brings us a great story of the Inhumans, perfect for new and old readers alike.  The characters are exactly as I remember them, and it’s nice to see the focus turned back to the Inhuman Royal Family, and not the NuHumans brought in after the terrigen bomb attack.  My only issue with this story was the long, drawn out explanations and descriptions of all the characters and what they can do.  It really slowed down the pace of the book, even though I see the value of it for new readers.  Steve Mcniven’s art is great; the action is faced paced and every panel conveys the situations very well, and all the details shown really help the story and show the reader why these characters are the Royal Family of the Inhumans.

Overall, I really enjoyed this book.  When I first started reading comics, the only glimpses of the Inhumans I remember seeing were when they guest starred in issues of The Fantastic Four.  But now that Marvel has invested in this group of characters, it’s easy to see why they belong front and center along with the Avengers and other main stream characters.  They have a long history, but now with the terrigen mists and NuHumans appearing every day, a new history is being written for the Inhumans, and I will definitely be following along to see where it goes.

Story: Charles Soule Art: Steve McNiven
Story: 8 Art: 8 Overall: 8 Recommendation: Buy