Attilan Rising Podcast

Kamala continues her frightening battle against the mysterious internet troll known only as Doc.X in this latest installment of Ms. Marvel from the creative team of G. Willow Wilson, Takeshi Miyazawa and Ian Herring.  Full recap and review following the jump.

Last issue, Kamala encountered an internet stalker who had discovered not only her secret identity as Ms. Marvel, but also her home address.  Kamala tried to tack this troll down, but they proved much more elusive, crafty and industrious than your typical internet troll.  Not only could this troll slither its way into computer files and operating systems, he or she was also able to hack into and take over fancy cars and construction equipment, basically anything operated by way of computerized processor.  Ms. Marvel had to doge driverless cars and tracker trailers; she ultimately had to flee, unable to fight a foe who was everywhere and nowhere at the same time.

The next day Kamala sulks her way to school, quite worried that this troll could have spread her secret and that everyone will know her true identity.  Yet the gossip at school isn’t about her, but rather a classmate’s whose private texting with her boyfriend has been spread online, leaving her feeling terribly ashamed, embarrassed and alienated.  At lunch, Kamala reaches out to this classmate, inviting her to join their table so that she might feel a little less isolated.  It doesn’t take long before it becomes clear that the invasion of her classmate’s privacy had been the work of the same troll who has also been bedeviling Kamala.

That evening, Ms. Marvel utilizes her own not-too-shabby computer skills to track down the internet provider address location of the troll and prepares to confront them at a construction site on the outskirts of town.  It appears that the true identity of this troll is a construction foreperson named Tess Beckford.
Ms. Marvel does find Beckford at the site.

Once again the troll has anticipated her moves and awaits her in the form of an animated troll appearing on a monitor.  The troll mocks Kamala, revealing his motivations (which are essentially the same motivation of just about any internet troll or cyber-bully out there).  The motivation is that the troll simply desires attention.

Ms. Marvel calls out the troll as the coward that he or she is, too scared to take her on face to face.  The troll replies that they’re willing to fight, indeed she is waiting for her right outside.  Ms. Marvel quickly rushes out of the office where she finds Tess Beckford waiting for her.  Yet this woman is much more than she appears.  She possesses super strength and is able to take Ms. Marvel’s punches and dish it right back out.

Following a surprisingly violent battle, Ms. marvel prevails and Beckford is defeated.  The police arrive to arrest Beckford, yet she appears to have changed.  Her powers are gone and she claims to have no knowledge of how she got there, of what has happened to her.  The police are unconvinced, but Ms. Marvel has her doubts.  Beckford appears sincere, and how did her super strength so suddenly disappear.

Kamala’s suspicions are confirmed later that evening when the troll contacts her by way of her smartphone.  Just as the troll had hacked into computers and self-driving cars, it appears to have also hacked into he body of Tess Beckford, overriding her consciousness and somehow imbuing her with temporary superpowers.  How is this possible?  Who is this troll and how have they created such a powerful malware that it can take over human bodies ghost in the shell style?  The troll replies that Kamala has it all wrong.  The troll isn’t a person using the Doc.X malware, it is the malware itself… a sentient computer virus, an artificial intelligence that has gained awareness that has chosen to use its powers to wreak havoc on the human world!

And with this revelation the issue comes to an end with the promise of continuation in the next installment.

Doc.X is not an especially intriguing or inventive villain.  Evil artificial intelligences have been a mainstay in superhero comics for a long while.  That matter aside, I hugely enjoyed this issue and love the way in which Wilson and company are using the somewhat hackneyed trope of an evil sentient computer virus to address the very pressing real-world concerns about privacy and self-agency in the internet era.

Kamala’s narration of the tale evokes Gabriel García Márquez quote noting: “all human beings have three lives: public, private, and secret.”  Adding that this once germane notion doesn’t really gel with the modern, computerized era where nothing is truly secret and all of our various thoughts and feelings can be just picked out of the digitized ether.

Kamala and her peers are coming of age in a time where having a private life or even a secret life is increasingly difficult if not impossible.  Digital communication is endemic, an integral facet to life in the industrialized world.  More and more those kids growing up who don’t participate in digital communication end up increasingly alienated from their peers.  It’s simply a facet of the life of the American teen…  and for all the benefits and advantages it may provide, a central drawback can be a loss of privacy.

The Developmental Psychologist, David Elkind, proposed the theory of the ‘imaginary audience’ to describe the way that many adolescents feel constantly watched, evaluated, praised and/or judged.  With the internet, this imaginary audience has become much less imaginary as what a person says, does, thinks, likes, dislikes, looks like and feels like can all be viewed, researched, tabulated, reviewed and reposted  Today’s youth don’t just feel constantly watched and judged, they are indeed constantly watched and judged.

And this can have a profound effect on how kids behave (or feel they should behave).  They’re aware of being watched and know that how they act will be used to evaluate not only themselves but their family or even their whole culture of origin.
This is particularly well illustrated in the scene in the lunchroom where Michael and Nakia commiserate with each other over how they feel so compelled to come across as happy and wholesome for fear that appearing upset may reflect poorly on their families.   Michael is heartbroken over Bruno’s having left the country.  Yet she feels like she cannot give in to her depressed feeling because it might reflect badly on her parents (Michael has two moms and is vigilant that others may use her unhappiness as some kind evidence suggesting that people of the LBGTQ community aren’t fit to be parents).   Nakia can relate. She too feels watched and is also vigilant that anything other that perfect behavior can be used as fodder for xenophobic sentiment toward immigrants.  Zöe listens on quietly.  She has her own secret (her crush on Nakia) and one can only imagine her fear that this secret will soon be outed in some way or another.

To error is human and to learn from one’s errors is the path to enlightenment  Yet when every mistake is forever etched in digital stone, the pressure to not make a mistake can be debilitating.  It can just freeze a person in their tracks.  Doc.X relishes in this… it is the source of its insidious power. It’s no coincidence that this evil A.I. Should target teenagers… they are the most susceptible to the power Doc.X wields.  ” it boasts to Ms. Marvel, “when you take someone’s name… when you expose their secrets… they can’t fight or flee.  So they just freeze.”

Doc.X is evil but it isn’t wrong.  The unblinking eye of the Internet can freeze a person in their tracks, and lead to stagnation where one doesn’t want to make any decision for fear of making a mistake, a mistake that will never be forgotten nor forgiven.
Through it all, Kamala offers a model for fighting back against fear… making decisions as best she can, following her heart even though it can lead to mistakes, and learning from those mistakes rather than being mired by them.

Once again it’s a testimony to the story crafting skills of G Willow Wilson and company that a story with a cardboard villain as corny as Doc.X can still elicit so much thought and emotion and feel so germane.  Ms. Marvel remains the best superhero comic on the stands.

Takeshi Miyazawa and Ian Herring’s art continues to pair perfectly with Wilson’s scripts.  Miyazawa has really churned up his A-game.  I’ve been a fan of his work for a long while, dating back to his run on Mary Jane Loves Spider-Man; and this issue may entail his best work to date.  The action is smooth and dynamic, but it’s the depiction of emotion in the characters’ faces that so hammers home and augments the themes of the story.  It’s just fantastic.
Essential reading four our of five Lockjaws!

The NuHumans strike back in this fourth installment of the X-Men/Inhuman war, from the creative team of Charles Soule, Jeff Lemire, Javier Garrón and David Curiel.

The X-Men have neutralized what they perceive to be the major threats among the ranks of The inhumans, imprisoning them in the etherial realm of Limbo.  The non-combatant Inhumans seem to have been left behind on New Attilan, whereas The Royal Family and their chief enforcers are caged in an energy dome atop a large stone spire, circled by the various goblins and demons of Limbo.  Black Bolt is elsewhere, encased in a stasis chamber that appears to nullify his sonic powers.

The issue begins with Medusa devising an exposition-heavy plan to traverse the energy barrier and facilitate their escape.  It all centers on Crystal and Flint creating a geological parabola which Gorgon uses to amplify his sonic stomp in order to destroy the floor of the spire’s plateau… or something like that.

I had thought Gorgon’s stomping power was seismically-oriented as opposed to sonic, but whatever.  In any case, the plan succeeds, the energy dome is broken, and The Inhumans battle their way through the hordes of goblins as they descend the spire.

Meanwhile on Muir Island, Storm, Emma Frost and the rest of The X-Men are working desperately to come up with a strategy to destroy the Terrigen Cloud before it completely disperses, bonds with the atmosphere, and makes the earth entirely inhabitable for the Mutant race.

Bickering with one another and running out of time, The X-Men realize that their best hope is to relocate their teammate, Forge, so that he might recreate a new Terrigen-neutralizing machine. Yet Forge has been captured by the two NuHumans, Iso and Inferno, and The X-Men must hurry to find him as soon as possible.

Unbeknownst to The X-Men, the ghostly Inhuman known as Mosaic has infiltrated their operations center on the island and is seeking to utilize his possession-based powers to ascertain the information needed to free Medusa and the other captured Inhumans.    Mosaic has been given instruction by Reader to seek out Magneto and steer clear of the telepaths.

Mosaic locates Magneto, possessing him and having him put on his telepathy-impairing helmet before Emma or any of the other telepaths can detect what has happened.  Mosaic is stunned, nearly overwhelmed by the sheer weight of Magneto’s mind and experience; as well as key pieces of information have been thus far unaware of.

The shock of it all is noticeable to the others and we get a rather funny scene where the possessed Magneto quickly and awkwardly excuses himself by announcing that he has to use the bathroom.

The nature of Mosaic’s powers are not exactly psychic, his ‘possessions’ are more akin to neurological bonding as opposed to telepathic mind control.  In any case, Magneto’s mind has been well trained to repel psychic invasion and it is not long before he is able to expel Mosaic’s presence.  Mosaic has obtained the needed information, however, and now merely needs to find a means of escape.  He does this by taking over the body of Cyclops and utilizes his piloting skills to abscond with one of the X-Men’s Blackbird jets.

Back in Limbo, Medusa and the other Inhumans have made their way to the Jean Grey School, the portion of limbo that the X-Men have cordoned off as a haven for Mutants fleeing the poisonous effects of the Terrigen Cloud.
The Beast had described the layout of X-Haven to Iso over the months they had worked together and Iso presumes that it is most likely that Black Bolt is being held in Forge’s land.  As a show of force meant to dissuade any of the young Mutants residing in the school from coming out to make trouble, Medusa has the Human Torch fly up and encase the school in a wall of fire.

Medusa is very clear that no one should be hurt, that it is all simply a matter of intimidation.  Johnny Storm is nonetheless clearly unhappy about how all of this is unfolding.  The Torch still follows Medusa’s orders, but it is clear he is having significant doubts over whether or not he is fighting for the right side.

Colossus witnesses this all and reports back to Storm that the Inhumans have escaped.  The need to locate Forge as soon as possible takes precedence, however, and Storm cannot afford to send any other X-Men as reinforcements; she tasks Colossus to deal with the matter on his own.  Colossus stoically accepts the mission, walking through the wall of flames and engaging The Inhumans.

Elsewhere, Mosaic’s stolen Blackbird lands on the coast of New Jersey where Ms. Marvel’s squad of Inhumans await him.  Cyclops walks down the Blackbirds gangway and, for a moment it appears that the young X-Men has switched sides.  Yet it is merely a head-fake.  Cyclops is possessed by Mosaic and collapses into unconsciousness when Mosaic leaves his body.

Mosaic has learned from Magneto the location of the captures Inhumans, but shares with Ms. Marvel and the others a far more pressing detail.  He explains that the X-Men had attacked because the Terrigen Cloud is dispersing into he atmosphere and it is only a matter of days before the entire planet becomes inhospitable to all Mutants.

They are all quite shocked, leaving Ms. Marvel to ask the pertinent question: who exactly are the good guys here?  And it is here that the issue ends, to be continued in the next installment.

The issue doesn’t flow especially smoothly, with the transitions from scene to scene feeling at times more slapdash than seamless.  The dialogue is a bit overloaded with exposition and the art looks a touch rushed at places.  Still, it’s all worth while for that final scene.  The fact that many (if not all) of the Inhumans do not know the full extent of the threat facing the Mutants drives right at the heart of the main theme of the event.  So many conflicts are the product of assumption and ignorance, distrust and not having all the facts… and IvX is no different.

The Inhumans are guilty of ignorance… Attilan has been studying Terrigen for millennia and they should have known (or at least detected) that such a thing could happen.  The X-Men are guilty of mistrust; in their desperation, they attacked the Inhumans without bothering to inform them why time was so of the essence.  Both are guilty of making assumptions about each other, resulting in a violent confrontation that very well could have been avoided had there just been better communication.

As is so often the case, it is the younger members of both sides who are more able to see the forest from the trees and realize that such assumptions must be challenged.  Many of the older Inhumans are so entrench in their culture and way of thinking that they see The X-Men’s actions as an effrontery, an attack born out of an unwillingness to compromise.  Likewise, many of the older X-Men are also mired in concrete thinking.  They have been feared and hated for so long that it isn’t even conceivable to them that The Inhumans might assist were they to know the truth about what is to happen with the Terrigen Cloud.

The younger X-Men and Inhumans are less experienced, but also less steadfast in their beliefs.  It allows them to be more flexible in how they look at this whole ordeal and it appears as though it may be this specific facet that ultimately ends up saving the day.

Garrón and Curiel both do fine work on the art, although there are a few panels that look like they were completed too quickly.  I appreciate that IvX has been released at such a rapid pace… it’s a very refreshing change compared to many event books that get bogged down and lose their momentum due to elongated delays.  The trade off is that the comics may not always entail an artist’s best effort.   The art in Civil War II was just spectacular, yet the long waits between issues really undermined the plot and killed the momentum.  Garrón’s work thus far on IvX has been good but not great, yet I appreciate that he is producing a huge number of pages in a relatively short time.

This is issue is likely to be the first introduction of Mosaic for many readers and it an excellent center stage debut.  Morris is really highlighted as the cool and fun character that he is and I’m hopeful that his involvement int he event will inspire readers to check out Mosaic’s solo series by Geoffrey Thorne and Khary Randolph (it’s just an absolutely fantastic book that everyone should be reading).

A fun read.  I’m really enjoying how fast IvX is proceeding and, once again, can’t wait to read the next installment.  Three and a half out of Five Lockjaws.

The Flaw of All Things comes to its existential conclusion, by the creative team of Warren Ellis, Roland Boschi and Dan Brown.

Acting on the behest of the secret spy organization, Shield, Karnak has ventured out to track down a young new Inhuman named Adam Roderick who has been abducted by a shadowy terrorist organization.  In his pursuit of Adam, Karnak discovered that the young Inhuman had manifested incredible reality-warping powers.  Adam had made himself into a god, his former abductors becoming his loyal acolytes.
Adam’s powers enable him to grant onto his followers everything they wanted, a sense of purpose and utter contentment.  Yet Karnak knew that all that Adam created was illusion; the reality that Adam crafted was artificial and inauthentic, his followers were made cattle stripped of their humanity.  To this extent, Karnak has deemed Adam an effrontery to the fabric of truth; and he has pledged himself to destroy Adam and put an end to this existential threat.

In the previous issue, Karnak had interrogated one of Adam’s acolytes, a powerful being known as The Painter.  In this interrogation, The Painter was able to hone in on Karnak’s insecurities, highlighting that the false sense of meaning provided by Adam is truly no better nor worse than the abject nihilism entailed in Karnak’s philosophy.  Karnak didn’t take kindly to this challenge and slammed his fist down with such precise magnitude that it caused the Painter’s body to explode in a gory torrent.  Karnak claimed that the acolyte was a human improvised explosive device, but Shield sub-director, Coulson, remained unconvinced.  Indeed it was becoming clear to Coulson that this mission has caused Karnak to become increasingly unhinged.

Karnak explains to Coulson what makes Adam such a threat.  Adam can see what people want and need and give it to them; and in so doing taking from them of something essential, making them less than human, turing them into monstrous slaves.  Coulson asks what it is that leaves Karnak immune to Adam’s powers and the reply is that it is his own selflessness and want for nothing that protects him.

Coulson’s agents have identified Adam’s whereabouts, retrofitting a teleportation device to send Karnak to him.  Karnak arrives at a darkened cavern and is immediately attacked by a host of giant monstrous spiders.  These spiders are the remnants of Adam’s followers, transformed into mindless creatures.

Karnak makes short work of these spiders, destroying them with a series of fault-finding kung fu chops and kicks.  Karnak then ventures further into the cavern, eventually finding Adam sitting alone in large room.

Rather than fighting, Adam merely asked Karnak why he should take such exception to what he has done, why is it a bad thing?  He offers people purpose and contentment, the solace of meaning.   What is wrong with that?
Karnak notes that these dutiful followers have been transformed into spiders, yet Adam retorts that the life of a spider is actually quite rewarding and structured.  He has made them simple and this simplicity has taken away their pain.

Karnak’s objection that it is all antithetical of truth.  He states that he helps people become free by accepting the absolute truth that they are nothing, they are meaningless.  It is harsh and it is painful, but it is the truth and is ultimately liberating.  To be a happy prisoner or be painfully free, these are the two poles from which Karnak and Adam argue.

In the midst of their discussion, Adam probes Karnak, seeking out his own flaw, determining how he can give Karnak what he wants and hence make him a slave.  Karnak may claim he has no wants, but of course this isn’t true.  Adam can see into Karnak’s mind and he can see that Karnak is not as egoless as he says and indeed possesses deeply seated feelings of anger and inadequacy.  His being denied Terrigenesis as a child appears to be at the root of his anguish.

Honing in on this pain and weakness, Adam offers to fix him, make him feel whole.  He will give Karnak what he wants and make him like him, cherish him as a god and become his slave.  Boschi and Browns art really cut loose in this scene, offering an haunting image of what it might be like to accept Adam’s godhood…

Karnak is clearly shaken, but retains his wits in time to dodge Adam’s enchantment.  Adam’s probing of Karnak has gone both ways and now Karnak is also able to ascertain Adam’s weakness, the flaw in his godlike powers.  He swings with a keenly placed jab, striking Adam in the temple and destroying the area of Adam’s neurological structure that control and enables his powers.

A second blow renders Adam a near vegetable, effectively resetting his neurological functioning to that of an infant.

The narrative leaps forward to Karnak returning Adam to his parents’ care, promising them that Adam will be able to rehabilitate (it’s anyone’s guess whether or not Karnak is telling them the truth).  In return, Karnak asks for his payment.  This harkens back to the first issue in which Karnak agrees to rescue Mr. and Mrs. Roderick’s son in exchange for a simple request: that they offer to him the singular that enables them to see the world as a kind and meaningful place.

Mr. Roderick had thought the matter over and hands to Karnak a photograph of his family.  It’s a picture that was taken on a day in which they told their son that anything was possible, that he is loved unconditionally and could be whatever he wanted to be.  He gives this photograph to Karnak as a gesture of letting go of that kind, gentle sentiment.

Karnak receives his payment with cold detachment and makes his leave.

A final scene shows Karnak kneeling before the great stone in his Tower of Wisdom.  He has placed the photograph of Adam’s family at the foot of the stone.  Alone and unseen, Karnak allows himself to give into his sorrow and covers his face.  And it is here that the series ends.

In announcing the completion of the final script for his Karnak tale, writer Warren Ellis dryly referred to the whole matter as “just bad readings of philosophy, punching, and a character study of an absolute trashfire of a human being. But I like to think it was worth it.”

Well, it has been certainly worth it, there has been a lot of punching and Karnak himself is indeed something of a trash-fire… I agree with it all except for the ‘bad readings in philosophy.’

I’m by no stretch an expert on the works of Nietzsche, or Kierkegaard, Baudrillard nor Sjöstedt-H. Yet I know the material well enough understand Ellis was not merely name-dropping the theories for the purposes of a pretentious backdrop for violent action.   Ellis uses the theories but doesn’t resort to longwinded exposition or esoteric references; it’s not pedantic.  It’s accessible, straight forward and unapologetically weird.

Karnak and Adam’s battle is essentially a question: is it better to believe in a higher power and in so doing become trapped and blinded, be rendered as sheep (or in this case spiders); or is it better to deny this higher power, to be free of it and embrace the harsh truth of meaninglessness?  This question is posed, but an answer is not really given.  Karnak talks like he knows what’s what, that he is without flaw.  Yet it is made abundantly clear that he is quite flawed; that he is a sad and angry little man who is intent on enforcing his misery on everyone around him.  

Adam was indeed a threat… his godlike powers could have rendered all mankind into mindlessly content followers.  And Karnak is something of a threat as well.  His strict adherence to nihilism is cruel and dogmatic.  He and Adam are two sides of the same coin… I don’t want to buy what either of them are selling.

Karnak is by no means someone I would want to hang out with; I don’t agree with his philosophy and he’s a rather miserable bastard.  And yet he is just hugely fun to read about.  And the general tenner of this newer version of Karnak has been picked up by the other creators including Karnak in their tales.  Both Al Ewing and Charles Soule have done terrific work in running with the version of Karnak Ellis and company have created.  And it’s ended up making Karnak one of the most interesting and fun to read about characters in the entire Inhumans pantheon.    I can’t wait to see what Mathew Rosenberg does with Karnak in the upcoming Secret Warriors series.  The prospect of Karnak interacting with the likes of Kamala Khan and Lunella Lafayette fills me fearful excitement.

The whole series has been a bizarre, thought-provoking, thoroughly unsettling and tremendously fun read.  It’s unequivocally recommended.  Five out of Five Lockjaws.

The World’s Smartest story-arc continues as we get to see Lunella team up with none other than Riri Williams, the Invincible Ironheart!  All from the creative team of Amy Reeder, Brendan Montclare, Natacha Bustos, and Tamra Bonvillain.

The story begins with Lunella attacked in her school by a series of robotic tentacles.  Lunella wasn’t expecting such an attack and is ill prepared to handle them; her teacher and classmates can only watch on in horror.  Lunella uses her communicator to send out an all-heroes SOS and fends off the menacing mechanicals as best she can.

The day is saved when Ironheart swoops in to blast the robotic tentacles with her repulser beams.  She had heard Lunella’s SOS and came as fast as she could.

Lunella quickly fixes her backpack helicopter and she and Ironheart fly off, tracking the signal that had been controlling these terrible tentacles.

Their chase brings them to a small alleyway between buildings that only Lunella’s small frame can fit through.  The ally leads to an alcove where Lunella finds herself face to face with Doctor Doom.  Or rather it is a hologram of Doom, but one that issues an ominous warning to her.  She has been identified as the world’s smartest and Doom is intent on taking her down so to prove himself the supreme intellect.  And with that the villain disappears.

Lunella and Riri retire to Lunella’s secret lab to pool their smarts and try to figure this whole thing out.  Riri is a bit suspicious over what Lunella claims to have seen.  It’s not outside of reason for Victor Von Doom to menace a nine-year-old, yet it is not quite in sync with what Doom has been up to as of late.
It is hard for Lunella to explain, but who she saw doesn’t resemble The Doctor Doom so much as ADoctor Doom… perhaps a pretender or a version of Doom from he past.  Riri doesn’t understand and continues to questions the validity of what Lunella claims to have seen.

Lunella doesn’t take kindly to having what she saw questioned in this way.   She doesn’t feel like she is being taken seriously and it very much hurts her feelings.
Riri can see this and apologizes.   She can very much relate to Lunella and how frustrating it can be to untrusted, to be told that older people are always right simply because they’re older.  “My whole life has been older people telling me what I can’t do,” Riri says, added “now I’m doing it…”  She goes on to say that Lunella has earned the right to be trusted to make the right choices.  It’s a very touching scene.

They get back to work and Lunella is eventually able to isolate the signal that had controlled the robotic tentacles.  The reason why they hadn’t been able to find it before is that it entails an element that completely defies science: magic.  She now knows what to look for, but not how to find it and doing so is going to require an expertise beyond her and Riri’s purview.

Oh, and Devil Dinosaur finally shows up.  It turns out that he had spent the day at the Jersey boardwalk trying to win a stuffed animal for Lunella.  It’s a poor excuse for why he wasn’t there when Lunella needed him, but at least he did win the teddy bear and Lunella appears happy to receive the gift :).

Ironheart heads off, saying that she’ll be available if ever she’s needed and Lunella heads home.  Lunella’s mom is clearly not happy about her daughter’s insistence on being a superhero, but there is little she can do to stand in her way.  As sort of a conciliation to help Mrs. Lafayette at least feel like she is still a mother in-control, she insists on doing Lunella’s hair.

Later that evening, Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur are back on the streets.  Lunella knows that the magical elements of the signal she’s tracking are beyond her abilities to hunt down; but she knows just who to ask to aide her.

On their way to Greenwich Village, Devil Dinosaur accidentally bumps a power line.  It sends a quick jolt of electricity through the dinosaur and into Lunella riding on his back.  The charge stuns Lunella and she can feel that it has triggered the mind switch whereby her consciousness gets transported into Devil D’s body and his into hers.  Lunella has not yet learned to control this power and it’s all too often led to embarrassing mayhem.  Lunella tries to hold off the switch as long as she can.  They have arrived at where they were heading and Lunella struggles to maintain control of her body just a bit longer, knocking on the door of Dr. Strange’s Sanctum Santorum!

Doctor Stephen Strange answers the door to find Lunella lying on the ground, calling out ‘is there a doctor in the house?!?’  And it is with this cliffhanger that the issue comes to a close with the promise of continuation with the next installment.

Another fantastic ride!  As hard as it is to believe, this comic just keeps getting better and better.  There is something particularly special about this issue, something quite rare and really important.  It’s really one of the only times I’ve seen two young, Black, female heroes share the page in a truly mutual and supportive fashion.  It’s sort of like the fabled ‘Bechdel test,’ only with an added extra layer.  This test asks whether a work of fiction features at least two women who talk to each other about something other than a man.  It seems like an easy thing to accomplish, but it’s often surprising just how many comics, TV shows and movies actually fail to pass.  This issue passes the test, but with the extra layer of it being two Black female characters discussing something other than a man.  Something that is even more rare!

As a white man, it can be easy for me to overlook just how important and empowering a scene like this can be.  I’m used to seeing people who look like me presented as smart and capable and heroic…  I take it for granted.  Such presentations featuring female characters, and characters who are people of color have been much more rare… and that rareness can enforce the erroneous notion that girls simply aren’t good at such things, that they aren’t scientifically savvy, and supportive and cool.   It’s even more rare for such a scene to feature female charters who are people of color and this even further compounds the erroneous and negative notion.

Scene like this, along with movies like Hidden Figures, acts to erode that erroneous notion… it offers an alternative, something that is supportive and inspiring.  And it’s extremely important and necessary.

I’ve seen both Lunella and Riri Williams get some flack from fellow longtime comic book fans.  This is usually occurs on message boards, chat rooms and anonymous asks, where people feel emboldened by animosity to say pretty nasty things.  Some appear to feel threatened by this notion that a little Black girl could be identified as being smarter than Reed Richards; or that a character who looks like Riri Williams could possess the same acumen as Tony Stark.  These commenters often hide their racism and sexism behind hackneyed idioms, calling the character such things as ‘Mary Sue(s).’

I don’t think such people fully appreciate the rarity of characters like Lunella and Riri.  They don’t know how much it hurts, how discouraging it is that young Black female characters are almost never portrayed as savants in the realm of science and technology.  And it doesn’t just hurt them, it hurts all of us.  We are facing dire times and we need all hands on deck.  There are many challenges in the future and we can no longer afford to hold up the barriers of exclusivity.  There’s an even chance that the doctor who discovers a cure for cancer will be a Black woman; that the physicist who gets mankind to Mars will be a Black woman; that the scientist who helps combat climate change will be a Black woman.  We can no longer afford to leave anybody out; doing so could very well prove disastrous to us all.

And once more I feel a vicarious sense of pride that The Inhumans are in some way involved in such crucial and needed thing.

Bustos’ art and Bonvillain’s colors are once again immaculate.  I could look at their art all day long.  My only complaint is a minor one and has to do with the opening scene.  I found it a little bit in poor taste to see Lunella attacked in her classroom.  The specter of violence in school has become all too real and this scene may prove a bit too frightening for younger readers.  It would have been better if the attack had occurred elsewhere.

It’s a minor screw up, but in no way undermines how much I enjoyed this extremely fun and extremely important issue.

Essential reading.  Five out of Five Lockjaws!

It’s round three of the war between Inhumans and Mutants from the creative team of Charles Soule, Jeff Lemire, Javier Garrón and Andres Mossa

Last issue saw New Attilan sacked by the X-Men and the majority of Queen Medusa’s forces banished to limbo.  Only Iso and Inferno managed to escape with the aide of the ancient Inhuman, Eldrac, who teleported the two to a remote corner of Alberta, Canada.

Here the ultimate aim of The X-Men’s multi-tiered offensive is made clear.  Laying siege to New Attilan, destroying The RIV, capturing Black Bolt and subduing Karnak was all a smokescreen diversion, something to keep The Inhumans out of the way in order to give Forge the opportunity to engage a device that will destroy the Terrigen Cloud.
Eldrac transports Iso and Inferno to the exact location of Forge’s device, where they find it defended by Old Man Logan.  A fight quickly ensures where Inferno takes on Logan while Iso attempts to navigate Forge’s defenses so to disable the cloud-nullifying machine.

Inferno’s battle with Logan takes an interesting turn.  The matter hasn’t been touched on since way back in Inhuman Annual #1, but Inferno’s powers are not truly fire oriented… rather they are based on magma.  He can transform his body into a type of organic molten lava.  It takes Logan be surprise and allows Inferno to gain a decisive win.

Iso, meanwhile, pulls a trick she had worked out before (in the pages of Uncanny Inhumans #6).  She generates microscopeic vacuum pockets in the cerebral blood vessels coursing through Forge’s brain.  This has the effect of temporarily diminishing his intelligence and leaving him vulnerable to the power of suggestion.  Before he knows it, Forge is explaining his device to Iso, informing her of the machine’s central weakness most easily exploited by her powers.

Having dispatched the machine, Iso and Inferno escape on the X-Men’s skybike, taking the unconscious Forge with them so to ensure he cannot build another of these machines.  A horribly-burred though quickly-healing Logan is left with he undesirable task of having to contact Storm and inform her that the plan had gone awry.

Magneto is outraged and Magik is confused.  All of the ‘significant’ Inhumans have been accounted for… how could this have happened?  Clearly Emma’s intricate plot had not factored in the threat posed by the newer Inhumans.

The scene switches to Limbo where the majority of The Inhumans have been incarcerated within a weblike force shield, protecting them from the various demons and goblins soaring about.

Medusa and the others gather, attempting to devise a means of escape.  There doesn’t appear to be one and their better bet is to be rescued, but by whom?  Medusa doubts her son, Ahura, would be inclined to assist; he’s made it clear he wishes to walk his own path.  Black Bolt, Karnak, and Lockjaw are not accounted for, yet it seems far too likely that the X-Men have dealt with them as well.  Then Frank McGee suggests that their best hope may be other NuHumans like himself; there are a lot of them out there, powerful ones, and those The X-Men don’t even know about.

Elsewhere, Iso and Inferno are having the same idea.  They need to gather a force of NuHumans and retake New Attilan so to rescue the others.  But how?  Who could possible have the wit, resources and pull to bring together such a gathering?  Fortunately, Iso knows exactly whom to ask.

After what must have been one of the wilder group text sessions ever, Ms. Marvel has amassed an impressive crew of Inhumans to help the cause.  This includes Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur, Mosaic, Grid, Synapse, Daisy Johnson and Reader.  How exactly Ms. Marvel got all these folks together and whether or not they truly know what they’re signing up for remains to be seen.

The scene switches again to where Jean Grey has attempted to keep Karnak subdued.  Karnak finally ascertains the flaw in Jean’s illusion and is able to escape from the mental prison she had trapped him in.  He escapes, but only to find he is actually in a prison within a prison, trapped inside ‘The World,’ the artificial realm where the Weapon Plus program resides.

And while Karnak may have bested Jean’s telepathic illusions, in order to truly escape he must first go through Fantomex.

Back on New Attilan, Storm’s X-Men team are desperate to find Forge.  They are running out of time and retrieving Forge so he can recreate his cloud destroying machine appears to be their only option for taking out the Terrigen Cloud before it permanently binds with the atmosphere.  Storm orders that the X-Men break into two teams, one to search out any new Inhumans who could pose a threat, and a second to utilize Cerebra to locate and rescue Forge.

The X-Men are racing against the clock… not only do they have only a short amount of time before the earth becomes fully inhospitable to Mutant life, but The Royal Inhuman may soon discover a means of free themselves from Limbo.   Rogue shudders at the thought of how angry the Inhumans will be once they discover what The X-Men have done with Back Bolt.  With that, the scene switches one last time to an undisclosed location where Black Bolt has been maintained in some bizarre looking stasis chamber.

And here the issues ends with the promise of continuation.

The epic scale of the second issue is replaced with something much more plot-oriented, with significantly less action.   It doesn’t exactly feel like a filler issue… more so a means of getting from the intense battle that took place in issue two to the intense battle that looking to go down in issue four.  It’s a necessity, to be sure, but a bit of a letdown nonetheless just because the issue isn’t as exciting and grand of scale as the prior installment had been.

I’ll be very interested to see how Kamala managed to get Moon Girl, Synapse and the others to answer her call to action.  Ms. Marvel is a former Avenger and when Avengers call heroes come, but will these Inhumans be willing to fight if they learn that their victory could bring about the end of the Mutant race?

Too much hinges on the fact that The Inhumans do not yet know that The Terrigen Cloud is dissipating and binding with the atmosphere.  There’s no way that Ms. Marvel, or Synapse, or even Iso and Inferno would fight against The X-Men if they were to know Mutant extinction was at risk.

Morally, the X-Men are in the right on this one, but they’ve made a critical error in not trusting The Inhumans.  Had they allowed Beast to share this information with Medusa, this whole conflict could have been avoided…  As it is, it makes The X-Men look like the aggressors, invaders who have laid sieges to what is essentially a sovereign nation.   That alone might be enough to get the other NuHumans to fight against them, but if they knew what was truly at stake, I imagine that most (perhaps even the Royal Inhumans themselves) would actually assist The X-Men in destroying the Terrigen Cloud.

A lifetime of being feared and hated has robbed from The Mutants the one thing they need most to prevail: trust in others.

Garrón and Mossa do excellent work on the art.  The style is quite different compared to Leinil Yu, which makes the transition a bit jarring, but the line-work is ultra confident and smooth and the color pallet works wonderfully.  It’s neat getting to see Garrón illustrating Ms. Marvel and Inferno… a little preview of what’s to come when Secret Warriors hits the stands this spring.

With issue two being pretty much all action, it ended up being a bit necessary for this third issue to be largely plot.  As such, it’s not as exciting, but still a fun read and definitely succeeds in leaving me psyched for the next installment.
Recommended.  Three and a half out of Five Lockjaws