Editor's Note: War of Kings #5 arrives in stores tomorrow, July 1.

Plot: Still reeling from the major death at the end of last issue, the Inhumans' leadership decide to execute a contingency plan with horrible ramifications.

Comments: For those readers who haven't had a chance to read War of Kings #4 there are sure to be SPOILERS after the break.


Both sides of the Inhumans/Shi'ar conflict are reeling after the death of the deposed Empress Lilandra. Much of this issue of WOK is spent checking in on the major players as they react to it: Emperor Vulcan incredulous that even with this victory he's on the brink of losing his empire; Gladiator, consumed by rage and looking to take revenge on the shadow cabinet which has dictated Shi'ar politics for centuries; and the Inhumans who view the assassination of the Empress as the extinction of the last best hope to bring a peaceful solution to the war.

So the Royal Family, specifically Blackbolt, Medusa, Karnak, and Maximus decide to do a bad thing to make things right. I won't discuss in detail what this bad thing is, but suffice it to say it's an organic outcome of how the Royal Family has framed their custodianship of the Kree and their portion of the galaxy. It's a common refrain often heard by despots about the greater good and sacrifice (often someone else's) that usually equates to a desire of expediency.

Medusa laments that the present may not look favorably on their actions but perhaps history will in retrospect view them more kindly. Again, they seem to be the words of tyrants and brutes that see cruelty as a necessary kindness. I appreciate the manner in which the writing team of DnA have constructed this set of actions. From the opening of this series the Inhumans have dubiously been positioned as the "good guys" in this conflict, only because the other side took the first shot. But as the series progressed it became clearer that their leadership (save Crystal and her Kree husband Ronan) were now thinking in apocalyptic terms: they viewed the Inhumans as a race on the precipice, too long the victims of scrutiny, violence, and most recently subterfuge with the revelation of their Skrullified monarch.

I appreciate how as the series has progressed it's focused more tightly on this side of the conflict. Of course we still see mad Emperor Vulcan and check in with the Starjammers, but at its heart this is a story about the Inhumans, continuing their arc over the last 3-4 years which has seen them progress from oddballs living in the Himalayas, to exiles on the moon, to rulers of a foreign empire far from Earth.

Final Word: If it's unclear, I unreservedly liked this issue and can't wait for next month's conclusion which will surely be the next turn in the overall arc of the Inhuman race.

If you liked this review, be sure to check out more of the author’s work at Monster In Your Veins

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