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INHUMANS EXCHANGE!
by Jennifer M. Contino (ThePulse)
Marvel
Comics recently announced Inhumans as part of its
second wave. The new ongoing series, making its debut this
May, features a group of younger Inhumans leaving their veiled
secrecy in Attilan, a city on the moon, and heading to Earth
to attend school at an American University to learn a little
about our culture, life, and diversity. The series is being
written by Sean (Sentinel) McKeever with
art by Matthew (Felon) Clark. Nelson DeCastro
is the inker, and Dave Kemp of Avalon Studios
is the colorist. J. H. Williams III is on duty for the covers
with Tom Brevoort and Marc Sumerak editing
the ongoing series.
If this is your first exposure to the Inhumans,
McKeever offers the 411 on the group. "They're a genetically-enhanced
offshoot of humanity, essentially. An alien race (the Kree)
was tampering with some of our ancestors tens of thousands
of years ago, and the Inhumans is what came out of that. They
evolved at a faster rate than the rest of humanity and eventually
wound up building a technologically-advanced city off the
coast of Portugal, called Attilan, where they existed in relative
isolation. Attilan is now on the moon, where their desire
for isolation from humanity is virtually guaranteed."
That premise might make it seem strange that their leader
Black Bolt has chosen to send some of the younger members
of the race to Earth to study. He picked five, Tonaja, Nahrees,
Alaris, San and Jolen, to be representatives of Attilan. "The
answer to that question is going to unfold over time in the
series," said McKeever of the "whys." "It's
certainly something the students are going to continue to
wrestle with, because we never give them a truly solid reason
they're doing this. On a certain level, they shouldn't need
a reason, because that's in their genetic nature.
"Once they undergo Terrigenesis, the technological rite
of passage that transforms them, they instinctually just know
what their purpose is within their society, and where they
fit in. And they're all pretty much fine with that. However,
for the most part, this journey to Earth just feels WRONG
to them. So they wind up doing some soul searching, not only
about why this is being done at all, but about why they were
specifically chosen to go."
McKeever continued, "They crux of the series is this:
five younger Inhumans are being sent by their king, Black
Bolt, to Earth to live with the humans and study at an American
University. 'Their motivation will initially be just to cope
with this strange and foreign world, and to stay safe from
bigotry and hatred.
"I know that sounds a lot like the X-Men, but you need
to understand that mutants are a demographic. I think Grant
touched on that pretty well with the whole 'mutant clothing
line' and 'U Men' storylines. I wouldn't be surprised if there
was mutant-targeted music or gum or prime-time programming
in the Marvel Universe. Meanwhile, the Inhumans
are an entirely separate race and culture. They're quite alien
to us."
"There are a few familiar faces in this series, both
from the days of yore as well as more recent INHUMANS tales,"
added Sumerak. "Don't worry. You'll be seeing Black Bolt,
Medusa, Gorgon and your other favorites ... but they're not
necessarily the focus of the series. The real focus here are
the younger Inhumans. Tonaja and Nahrees you may already know
(from the Jenkins/Lee series), and you'll be meeting more
of the Children of Attilan soon, including San, Alaris and
Jolen. It's really their story we're telling here ... and
you'll soon see why ..."
McKeever originally had a different idea in mind for this
series when he was asked to pitch it to editor Tom Brevoort.
He thought when Attilan went to space, that the five might
be left behind, but Brevoort had other ideas. " I'd originally
pitched a story where some Inhumans were left behind on Earth
when Attilan went off into space, but then Tom came to me
with the 'foreign exchange students' idea, which actually
worked quite well for me," said McKeever. "It's
a premise with a very solid focus, where we can do the thing
that makes the Inhumans most interesting
to read about, which is comparing and contrasting them with
humanity. I think a lot about when people from Eastern cultures
come to America, whether as exchange students or whatever,
and not only how strange it must be for them to try to acclimate,
but how they're treated with mistrust or spite or out-and-out
hate."
Matthew Clark was familiar with the characters from Fantastic
Four and Daredevil appearances of
the characters, he also knew of the Paul Jenkins and Jae Lee
twelve-part maxi-series featuring the characters from several
years ago. The artist was more than a little excited to get
the chance to work on this series . "I liked the Idea
of working with Tom," he began. "I've heard nothing
but good things about him and his staff, Marc and Andy. So
when I got the call I'll admit the fanboy geeked for a few
minutes. Inhumans was the project he offered,
I thought kewl, I'm not really known for Superheroes, or drawing
male characters, but what the hell, that why I got into comics.
The challenge is when you're drawing Inhuman
characters living on the moon with a teleporting dog and a
royal family which is really dysfunctional, you pretty much
have to like drawing a lot of different things. Plus, come
on, they know pretty much every superhero in the Marvel U."
Clark is also enjoying the creative process and exchanges
with McKeever. "Talking with Sean and seeing how jazzed
he is to be doing this project is great. Getting a phone call
and talking over the script or the layouts I faxed him the
night before to make sure he's liking the direction. Any time
an artist can work and talk with the writer things just move
smoothly. Visually Sean's writing is fantastic, mixing up
panel count really trying to keep the layout fresh. Labeling
page followed by panels on the page, which doesn't seem like
a big thing but It really helps me a lot ... but I'm weird
that way. He's not pulling punches either, I told him when
I first got the job, I won't tie your hands with a list of
things I won't draw. You write it I'll draw it, something
I tell all the writers I've worked with. That being said,
it really allows the writer to, well write, and not have to
worry if it can be done. It's my job to figure a way to do
it."
"Oh, man. I cannot WAIT for people to see Matthew's
work on this book," enthused McKeever when asked for
his thoughts on the pages he's seen so far. "He's really
turning in some gorgeous stuff. There's that sort of gothic
sensibility that Jae Lee employed, but at the same time it's
also quite lush. We've gotten along really well, too. We've
chatted on the phone a bit and get along pretty well, so that's
always a bonus, as well."
Sumerak told THE PULSE what the editors
job was within the creative team. "We're here to keep
things on track, both from a creative standpoint and a scheduling
one. So far, Sean, Matt and Nelson have been making it an
easy job for us. To put it into Inhuman terms,
Tom is essentially Black Bolt. As long as the talented crew
of creators does their thing and does it well, he gets to
remain blissfully silent. But if he has to open his mouth
- watch out! I guess that makes me Medusa ... Hey! Why do
I always have to be the girl?!"
"Sean has worked with us on many occasions, so we knew
what to expect working with him," commented Sumerak of
the new creative team. " As for Matt, he's been an absolute
pleasure so far--and the pages really show how much heart
he's pouring into this project! He's just about wrapped up
with issue #1 and each new batch of pages has gotten better
and better! And then there's the infamous Mr. DeCastro. He
may be scary looking ... but a better match for Matt I don't
think you could find! His attention to detail and texture
is astounding!
"Matt has a really clean, crisp artistic style and unique
design sense that really compliments the bizarre, yet beautiful,
characters in the Inhumans' world. And you
should see the amount of detail that this guy packs onto a
page! We had had samples of Matt's work lying around the office
for some time--issues of FELON and some other work--and we'd
been itching to find a project to work with him on. We couldn't
be more thrilled that this turned out to be the one!"
This is one of the first monthlies for Clark to work on and
he's considering the schedule to be something of a challenge.
"Working on a monthly deadline is a big challenge for
me," commented Clark. "Sometimes I have to pull
late nights and all-nighters to make FedEx. My sleep schedule
is completely out of whack. Another is designing Inhumans
like Nallo from the first issue, He's a living instrument,
now make him serious looking and not for comic relief. I think
Nallo's a sharp design, very cricket like. San was challenging
in a different way, I had to talk with Sean and design him
in a day and of all the characters so far the one I like drawing
the most is San. If anyone else were to draw him they would
kill me if the saw me he's just so complicated."
"Designing a world for the Inhumans
to interact in is the greatest reward," commented Clark.
"Creating these new characters and seeing some big named
artist draw characters I designed, talk about a thrill. I'm
not kidding. Our first issue cover has Tonaja in her new outfit,
taking nothing away from Jae's design I felt that some time
had passed from there series to ours and a way to show said
change, she's no longer a raw recruit hence the new gear.
Now take Tonaja's new outfit and get J.H. Williams to draw
the cover. See I'm geeking again. I can't wait to see J.H.'S
take on San or Jolen or Alaris, good luck and please don't
hurt me."
McKeever is planning for longer arcs in the series with most
being six or so parts and having perhaps a few smaller one
or two-parters inbetween. Like Sentinel and the other titles
in the Tsunami line, this one takes places
on sort of the "fringes" of the Marvel Universe,
so, although it's still in the Marvel U,
don't expect to see the Fantastic Four, X-Men, or Spider-Man
showing up too often in the series. Although McKeever teased,
"You never know ... anything's possible," when asked
about guest stars. "Inhumans will be
a good ensemble drama. As you'd expect when you throw five
disparate personalities under one roof and add in the tension
of a community that doesn't know what to make of them, you
just know that's fertile ground for compelling drama. And
the art's simply yummy."
"The Inhumans have long been some of the most interesting
- and unusual - characters in the Marvel Universe," commented
Sumerak. "That hasn't changed in the slightest. But the
world around the Inhumans HAS changed...and it's how the Inhumans
adapt to those changes in their world and ours that really
set this book apart. This series is a chance for readers new
and old to come in at square one and discover a whole new
world filled with people vastly different than you and I -
and a chance to discover how much alike we all really are!"
When THE PULSE asked Clark for his thoughts
on why people should check out Inhumans,
the artist replied, "BECAUSE THE INHUMANS WILL KICK EVERYONES
ASS!! If people want a book with a great story, excellent
artwork, and cool characters then they should buy two copies
of Inhumans one for reading and another to
give to friends. Mind you I'm totally biased since I drew
the book."
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