Bred by an alien race to be a warrior caste and possessing alien DNA, the Inhumans exist as humans possessed of incredible and otherworldly powers when exposed to the substance known as Terrigen. Living secretly, for the most part, among their fellow man, the Inhumans forge their own destiny as a separate society. Dig into the history of the Inhumans with these Marvel Unlimited comics in preparation for “Marvel’s Inhumans” heading to IMAX and ABC this fall!

The Inhumans continued to make their presence felt almost immediately after first debuting FANTASTIC FOUR #45–48. Black Bolt, Medusa, Karnak, Gorgon, Crystal and Triton appeared in that book on a semi-regular basis as well as in THOR back-ups running from #146-152. However, they scored their first starring role in the pages of AMAZING ADVENTURES which also featured Black Widow solo stories.  

Jack Kirby wrote and drew the first three issues of the series which took place at a time when Crystal had left Attilan in favor of hanging out with Johnny Storm and the Fantastic Four. Black Bolt had also exiled Maximus which lead to the main thrust of this story as Maximus tried to frame the Fantastic Four for attempting to blow the Great Refuge up with a missile.

While most of the Royal Family tussled with the FF, Triton swam off to Maximus’ island and stopped the bad guy. He then signaled his compatriots to stop their attack on the World’s Greatest Heroes. After a Kirby-created battle with Mandarin in #3 and 4, Roy Thomas and Neal Adams took over until #10 which proved the last Inhumans entry in AMAZING ADVENTURES.

Thomas and Adams dove right into a melodramatic story that saw Gorgon and Karnak assuming that Black Bolt intended to kill Maximus because of a powerful cylindrical prison he placed his brother in. Worried that the king took the punishment too far, they freed him which once again lead into the mad one’s evil plans.

Meanwhile, Black Bolt had been flying around New York City when his cousins freed Maximus. The psychic backlash left the king with no memory of his past or the incredible power of his voice.

As Maximus took over Attilan, Black Bolt found himself in the middle of the Civil Rights Movement. His presence roused the attention of the Avengers who planned on intervening until Thor said that he would go alone. The battle brought the thunder and lightning and dispersed the crowd.

The Inhumans remained in the city for a time in AMAZING ADVENTURES #9 and 10 which took up the entire issue and also featured the creative talents of Gerry Conway and Mike Sekowsky. This time, the down-on-their-luck tangled with Magneto. This final Inhumans tale fully reunited Black Bolt with the rest of his family, setting them up to take over Atillan once more.  

That story took place in AVENGERS #95 by Roy Thomas and Neal Adams right in the middle of the Kree-Skrull War story. Triton literally came out of the water and bumbled his way into a fight between the World’s Greatest Heroes and a group of Mandroids. He explained the Inhumans’ recent problems and a faction of the team traveled with him to Attilan where they helped dethrone Maximus!  

THE INHUMAN CONDITION

Five years after their star turn in AMAZING ADVENTURES, the Royal Family took center stage in the first ever volume of INHUMANS. The series, not currently on Marvel Unlimited, featured the talents of Doug Moench, George Perez, Gil Kane, and Keith Pollard. The book continued to build on the mythology originally established by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby while also pitting the family against the likes of Blastaar, Maximus and even the Hulk! Quicksilver also appeared as he and Crystal married in the pages of 1974’s FANTASTIC FOUR #150.

Next time we jump ahead several years to see the Inhumans star in the Marvel Knights 12 issue series by Paul Jenkins and Jae Lee.