Black Bolt is one ticked off king. After being held prisoner and replaced by the shape shifting Skrulls, the Inhuman’s silent ruler is out for a little revenge. And he isn’t about to let anybody stand in his way to get it. Get ready for some high octane space action in this hot new one shot that kicks off Marvel’s next big galactic event, War of Kings!
Secret Invasion: War of Kings was a very cool start to this new event. Penned by Marvel’s go to space guys, Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning, this issue has me really fired up to see the rest of the story. It seems Abnet and Lanning are unbeatable when it comes to space tales, and this issue just helps prove that. There is no huge build up to the story, it just takes off from the first page and gets us right into the action. The pacing of the story was really well handled, with the writers giving us just the right amount of action mixed with scenes of dialog. I never felt as if the story hit any slow points or areas that lost my interest, as I often times tend to do with space tales. I thought the dialog was really well written, especially with the character of Maximus. This was the first time I’ve ever read anything with this character, but I could really get a sense of who he was just from his dialog.
The art from pencilers Paul Pelletier and Bong Dazo and inkers Rick Magyar and Joe Pimentel was truly top notch! The two artist seem to be a great match together as I never felt a sudden jolt in art change when the other artist took over a scene. The pages were beautifully rendered with great detail and I love Pelletier’s space ship and machine designs.
I only have one complaint about the issue and that is with the font used at the beginning to represent Skrull speech. At first I thought there was something wrong with the way the issue was printed, but quickly realized it was the font itself. It looks as if flakes of ink came of the letters leaving the pieces broken looking. There were several times it was hard to tell what the letters even were. I appreciate the effort to make the Skrull speak look more dramatic, but felt the effect came up short.
In all, this was a really great issue. From start to finish the book had me hooked, and kept my interest even through a second read through. I have no doubt that Abnett and Lanning are going to deliver another grade A space epic with this event! Definitely give this book a shot, and be sure to pick up the free copy of War of Kings Saga to go along with it. Not knowing much Inhuman history, I found it to be invaluable!
COVER BY: BRANDON PETERSON
WRITER: DAN ABNETT & ANDY LANNING
PENCILS: PAUL PELLETIER & BONG DAZO
INKS: RICK MAGYAR & JOE PIMENTEL
COLORED BY: WIL QUINTANA & MIKE KELLEHER
LETTERED BY: JOE CARAMAGNA
EDITOR: BILL ROSEMAN
One-Shot/Rated T+ …$3.99
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