Fuzzy Birds said:
Urk.
On the one hand, while Jae Lee's art may be hard to follow occasionally, I loved his stylistic changes for the Inhumans, with Gorgon and Medusa looking particularly creepy, and Attilan, from what we see, being all misty and mysterious.
On the other hand, and this seems to be a recurring problem with Millars FF stuff, I don't like the way the Inhumans were so casually introduced. It was like 'Hi, we're the Inhumans, we've managed to isolate ourselves from humanity for the last 10,000 years, yet we still crack wise and talk English on the level of Johnny Storm all the time'. The Inhumans must have a fairly large cult following, and to introduce them so offhandedly was in my opinion a bit disrespectful.
Not to mention that the plot was stuffed with deus ex machinas at every turn: Crystal just happening to run over Johnnys car, and having technology that somehow miraculously heals his broken legs and ribs; Lockjaw being left behind for the FF to use; and most insultingly, an Inhuman gaining enhanced senses at just the moment when the FF were attempting to stay hidden. Are we supposed to swallow this? Because I'm sorry Mr Millar, I really do think you're an exceptional writer, but that is just lazy.
I would have much preffered it if the Inhumans were introduced as some kind of myth that was discovered to be true by the FF, and instead of misunderstood fight blah blah, having the issue being some kind of exploration of this other culture. But hey, I'm just one guy.
Dissapointing.
I agree.
Here's what I think they could've done - One of the kids from the think tank, Jack Terrigen, has asked Reed for some help. He was always insterested in energy - it's various forms, its altering states of existence, and so forth. He's managed to get an expedition together to go to Antarctica to look for a new energy signiature he discovered in the think tank. Reed was curious about it, and Jack has invited him to come with him. Reed, considering the N-Zone and the Crossover arcs, is quite happy to go on a 'normal' mission, hoping it will get him back into Storm's good books. Reed and Terrigen go on the expedition with other troops and they begin searching. But they have to keep going and surviving against the elements of the snow deserts and ice glaciers, risking life and limb to go further and further, and every step they take drives a wedge in the group. Terrigen is believed to be a quack, on a desperate attempt for a non-existant trophy. Reed's body reacts horrifically to cold and he starts to seize up. Some of the troops break rank and it's revealed that Terrigen has made a lot of unethical decisions to get this expedition going, such as lying to Reed as it has backing only because he lied and convinced people that this energy source could be used as a limitless source of energy for weapons, and that he used the experiments of crazy dictators and torture scientists from centuries beyond. It gets worse as the further they go, the more dead bodies and skeletons they find of previous expeditions. Reed and Terrigen remain, and Reed refuses to go any further, hoping to draw out Terrigen's compassion and help him back to civilisation. Instead, Terrigen makes a lackluster camp for Reed and goes off in search of his energy waves, leaving Reed with a communicator. Long later, the communicator activates, and Terrigen tells Reed what he sees. A swarming mist of beauty. It's pure energy, capable of powering entire countries for centuries. He can't see the end of it, but he's sure that one collection, no bigger than commercial airliner could replace all the oil Europe for 200 years. And he's looking at miles of the stuff. Then, he yelps in pain. Reed asks if he's alright, and Terrigen he explains he's just got a stictch or frostbite. Terrigen gasps, and goes, "Holy God". Reed gets no reply on the machine, and braves the weather to help Terrigen, who, not long after Reed leaves camp, returns. Terrigen, who is holding a sample of the mists in a special container, is brandishing something, a bizarre tuning fork. It's obviously not natural but manmade - which is impossible since no one has ever been here before. Content with what he has, Terrigen helps take Reed home. Reed notices that Terrigen is moving slower and slower, his breather more rasp and painful, it gets worse and Terrigen becomes more and more irritable. The blizzard gets too strong, and in a cave they use for shelter, Terrigen can't keep his mask on and takes it off - and his face is cracked, markings adorn his face, and his eyes are blood red. Reed reacts with horror, Terrigen, sees his reflection and screams and vomits. His skin is necrotic and he thinks he's got some frostbite or something and goes into shock. Reed tries to calm him down, but Terrigen gets worse and worse, and his skin starts to boil and he goes into a seizure. Despite his body's current consistency, Reed entangles Terrigen so he can't hurt himself or swallow his tongue. The seizure passes and Terrigen is in a coma. Reed, on his own, manages to get all the way back to civilisation with Terrigen, the tuning fork, and the mist sample. Reed has a long process of healing in front of him. Sue starts examining Terrigen and says he may never come out of the coma, and that his body is completely inhuman. Reed examines the tuning fork and doesn't understand - it makes no sound. Which defies... well, science. As for the mists, he passes it on to General Ross, and warns him it may be poisonous to humans, estimating that Terrigen's transformation is due to his exposure to the mists, though it's unsure as to what doses would be safe. When Ross asks what the mists are called, Reed names them, "The Terrigen Mists".
That's the annual.
In the series, this is a big mystery that is slowly unraveled. I can imagine Reed going back there for more answers and encountering a long dead civilisation, only a few runes and artifacts remain, and he discovers little of the society. He also discovers a small refugee camp of Inhumans, who are nomadic, and unsure of their true origins. There's maybe a dozen of them. Terrigen begins to grow madder and madder, his body starts to change. The Fantastic Four, slowly begin to unravel this mystery piece by piece until they discover an ancient city and the stories of Black Bolt, Gorgon, and Karnak and the rest of the Inhuman society, but they never meet them in the flesh. But we see the marvellous stories in flashback. The last story is of the Inhuman Exodus where they went into hiding and tell of tombs and catacombs that held their people. The F4 work out that the mists have leaked from their containment and begin searching, and this archaeological mystery eventually takes them to the moon where they discover the last remnants of Inhuman society and a legacy left untold - the Inhumans exist as parts of our genetic code. A dormant zip file that get awakened by the mists. Which is why Terrigen returns to the mists and starts spreading them like a plague. Each new infected person's DNA is overwritten with a dormant dna sequencing from someone from Atillan. Every human has the entire genetic history of Atillan in their bodies. Terrigen starts recreating Inhuman society by exposing people to the mists - Black Bolt, Gorgon, Maximus and the others begin to return one by one. Can The Fantastic Four stop them before they overwrite humanity? And just what made the Inhumans hide in our DNA in the first place?
