It’s on like Donkey Kong folks! The Inhumans and the X-Men are going to duke it out once and for all. “Inhumans vs. X-Men” is the second big heroes versus heroes event Marvel has launched this year and like “Civil War II,” we (Jess and Ken) are here to break it all down for you. In each installment of this column, we’re looking at the main book but along the way we’re sure that we’ll mention the tie-ins as well. When this is all said and done, two new columns will launch with all the new titles. Ken will be looking at the Inhuman side of things and Jess will look at the Mutant side of things. In this edition, we’re looking at “Inhumans vs. X-Men” #2 and it’s the throwdown that some of you have probably been waiting for.
Written by Charles Soule and Jeff Lemire
Illustrated by Leinil Francis Yu, Gerry Alanguilan and David Curiel
The Inhumans have failed to find a way to stop the deadly effect the Terrigen Cloud has on Mutantkind, so the X-Men have taken matters into their own hands. New Attilan is under attack! The Inhumans aren’t surrendering their home without a fight, but is there something larger a stake?
Ken: Hey Jess! We come back at last to the conflict I’m sure somebody asked for. As we mentioned in our previous installment, this column will be full of spoilers.
So, Jess, we last left off with the X-Men preparing their attack on New Attilan in order to make sure the Inhumans don’t stop them from destroying the terrigen cloud. And that’s where we left off. So, Jess, what did you think?
Jess: So, really, this was one big fight and that’s kind of par the course with an “event” like this. They follow a very specific formula so for “Inhumans vs. X-Men” #2, we get lots of fighting. Which, is fine, I guess. It is exactly what I expected. The X-Men get the upper hand here thanks in large part to this being a surprise attack but this won’t last long because we have 4 issues left.
Ken: It does make this a difficult issue to analyze. It is just a long fight scene of the X-Men taking control and some of the big hitter Inhumans being trapped in Limbo, with a few escapee’s (in this particular case, Iso and Inferno). I mean… there is one thing in this issue that I want to talk about… but it ties into some of the bigger motivations and actions that both the X-Men and Inhumans have done over the last few years. Sooooo…
Jess: Exactly. There simply isn’t a lot here and that’s part of why I’ve backed off these big events. I think visually this issue really nailed it in regards to the fighting. Yu is much better when he gets to work with a lot of motion. But I’m eager to hear your opinion on this one thing you brought up so go for it.
Ken: Right. So, you know how, in terms of motivations you and I are more on the side of the X-Men in this, in that the immediate danger to Mutantkind supersedes the potential long-term danger to Inhumanity? And that it’s irresponsible for the Inhuman Royal Family to put that above the lives of others?
Jess: Yup. I think that’s a reasonable stance on this conflict.
Ken: So, two things popped out to me. The first, more minor one, is that I don’t think even Medusa knows that the cloud will reach Complete Global Saturation. Like, I know it’s that conceit that “We need them to not actually talk so we can have an event”, but it still bugs me.
The second -and bigger- thing is this: So, the general conscientious is that the Inhumans are being irresponsible and are putting countless lives in danger with their lack of action to just destroy the cloud, right? Fair enough…but I then remembered a plot point that has been in the X-Men books for several years now. I think you may be able to guess what that plot point is.
Continued belowJess: Well, when it comes to the X-Men you could be talking about a lot of instances. In this one, are you talking about “Avengers vs. X – Men”?
Ken: Oh yeah. Okay. The X-Men are angry that the Inhumans have put their species in danger with the mists… but then I remember that the X-Men have allowed five walking, talking, reality-breaking time paradoxes free reign to do whatever they want here in the present. And I’m putting aside that I find the All-New X-Men to be a creative lazy idea from Marvel, but it is established (in “Battle of the Atom”) that if any of these five were to die, all the things they would have done would retroactively be erased and this universe, this timeline would cease to exist and subsequently everyone who lives in it.
And three of those five (Young Cyclops, Young Angel,Young Beast) are on the frontline of this conflict. Take one example in here: Medusa attacks Young Beast in the lab of Old Beast. Now, just imagine for a sec that Medusa accidentally snapped his neck. There’d be a lot more than just dead mutants.
And here’s the thing: I still agree more with the X-Men in regards to this conflict and I don’t mind that the X-Men have and are strangling the space-time continuum because Marvel didn’t have the spine to either properly develop a next generation of mutants seriously or just straight up reboot. What I would want is for someone in one of these to acknowledge this in universe that they are putting a lot of people in danger right now!
Jess: I have so many problem with those five still being around. I can suspend a lot of belief but this has lasted far more than it should have. Even The Doctor would have something to say about how much they’ve messed with time. So, yes, I agree with you. It would be nice to acknowledge how messed up all this is.
I know it isn’t easy to write dialogue in the midst of a huge fight but some of this dialogue was just cringe worthy. In particular there’s a line where Magik says something along the lines of “going to teleport me some Inhumans.” It reads weird coming from her since she’s typically not someone you lump in with younger sounding X-Men due to the changes made to her character once she gained the hellish powers she has. I’m also super not into the Medusa/Johnny Storm pairing but that’s because Medusa/Black Bolt forever.
Ken: Yeah…I said that Soule introduced some real good ideas into the Inhumans books… but that Medusa/Johnny subplot just…wasn’t. It didn’t work. He tried, I’ll give him that. And if we’re going to talk about weird dialogue choices, I really did not like how Laura Kinney was written here. They’re very minute scenes, but her dialogue felt completely out of character, especially if you’re keeping up with her solo book.
But we’ve kind of railed against this issue a lot, so Jess, what did you like about this issue?
Jess: Honestly my favorite thing about this issue was the art. Last time we talked, we mentioned that Yu’s work can be a little cold. I think he did some great work here. Medusa came off very regal but deadly. I think he did a great job spotlighting the different abilities of all these characters. What’s really great about his work here is that he loses no detailing. Costumes look great and there are actual backgrounds. My biggest nit pick with his work is that some of the fight sequences look a little too posed but I think he does much better work here than in the first issue.
What about you?
Ken: Yeah, he’s definitely into the full swing here (you know, just in time for Javier Garron to come on so he can go do his “Monsters Unleashed” issue. FFS, Marvel) and we do get a nice cavalcade of different fighting styles on display. There’s even some nice little details too, like the tip of Medusa’s hair getting singed by Johnny’s flame, perhaps a metaphor for the ending of their relationship after this event, hopefully, but more likely a metaphor for the occupation of New Attilan. On the writing side, I did like the callback to the end of Soule’s first series, “Inhuman”, with Iso and Inferno finding Eldrac again. That was nice.
Continued belowJess: Yeah that was very well done. Callbacks like that make me a little more optimistic about what this as a whole will do compared to something like “Civil War II”. This actually has a sense of what these characters are like aside from my already mentioned nitpick. I do wish the coloring was a little bolder though. It’s very dark and a bit murky. It is going for the right tone but it kind of takes something away for me.
Ken: So, at the end of it, it’s a competently crafted fight issue but that’s all that it is. I wish there was more to say, but it feels like there isn’t.
Jess: Yup, which ultimately ends up making this a just adequate issue but not more than that. Any other final thoughts?
Ken: It’s still better than Civil War II. Poor James.
Jess: That genuinely made me laugh. James is braver than all of us.
Jess’ Final Verdict: 6.0
Ken’s Final Verdict: 5.8
