The main story in Inhuman is about a young woman who is really smart, kind of deformed, evil and homicidal, and -- because she was turned down for the big Baxter Building think tank and Reed Richards wasn't -- hell-bent for vengeance against the Fantastic Four.

Yadda yadda yadda. I mean, it's cool and all that the girl could cut a chunk out of someone else's brain and install it in her own head to increase her mental capacity. But c'mon, the real meat of this book is the afterthought, the UFF annual featuring the Ultimate Inhumans.

Unlike their mainstream Marvel counterparts, who live on the moon, the Ultimate Inhumans live in a secret city in the Himalayas. Their existence comes to light when a royal princess, Crystal, declines an arranged marriage and flees to New York, where she meets the club-hopping Johnny "Torch" Storm. Various conflicts, as you might expect, ensue.

The Inhumans are more, well, inhuman looking than their previous incarnations. Medusa, for instance, was revamped from a busty red-head whose lengthy locks could entwine a man and inflict great damage; her Ultimate self is more like the Medusa of lore, with actual snakes for hair. It's an entertaining reinvention of a tired concept, and I hope to see more of the Inhumans in the future.

Artistically, the book falters a bit. Jae Lee's work is certainly darker and less refined than his predecessor, Adam Kubert, who set such a high standard on the first and third books in the series. It's also short, containing only two issues of the regular series and one annual.

This is definitely the weakest book in the series so far, but I'd still recommend it for those who are planning to follow the UFF through coming adventures. (Besides, I peeked and the next book is better.)

by Tom Knapp
Rambles.NET
13 January 2007