ShaunN
05-10-2009, 06:10 AM
Dear Friends,
Has anyone else been reading "War of Kings"?
I have not been collecting all of the crossovers, but I regularly read "Nova" and I've been getting the main WOK mini-series. So far, I think that it's really good. I don't know much about the Inhumans, so I've been pleasantly surprised by how compelling they are in this series. I generally avoided the various "X-Men"-related Vulcan titles, so I'm playing catch-up there. I have considerable difficulty with the idea that Vulcan can simply kill the Emperor and take his place and that the rest of the Shi'ar would just accept this - isn't murder, especially of the Emperor, murder? (I assume the fact that Vulcan married into the royal family means that he gained some kind of exemption - but, if so, the old Emperor, D'Ken, was amazingly stupid in allowing Vulcan to marry in).
I've always liked Gladiator as a character, though I feel he has been really misused by Marvel over the years (with a few notable exceptions, such as in his first solo appearance in FF #249). He is one of the central characters in the WOK series and I hope that his popularity increases after this whole thing is through. Yes, he is a Superman clone, but he has a lot of interesting qualities that could make for a pretty interesting mini-series.
All of this being said, I have noticed one interesting inconsistency in the storyline: in the "Secret Invasion: War of Kings" one-shot that started the storyline before the actual WOK mini-series begins, the Inhumans cross over into Shi'ar space and destroy three Shi'ar battleships during the course of their pursuit of a Skrull starship. This act of violence against the Shi'ar is what gives Vulcan his excuse to attack the Kree, and it is a clear and unjustifiable act of aggression by the Inhumans. Indeed, there is little doubt that their actions can be seen as causing the war. However, in the actual WOK series, no mention is made of this action at all. We are left to think that Vulcan attacks the Inhumans/Kree entirely because of his expansionist agenda. Of course, that is probably true, but he does have a very defensible excuse - one that no one mentions. Indeed, earlier, the Inhumans are reluctant to give sanctuary to Lilandra because they don't want to anger or provoke the Shi'ar - but no one mentions that the Inhumans have already done a great deal to provoke the Shi'ar by destroying their battleships!
I think this is interesting because I have the sense that Abnett and Lanning are trying to pull back from this earlier act of aggression by the Inhumans and make the situation more black and white than when they started. I think this is a mistake -for one thing, the evidence is there for all to see, so simply ignoring an earlier, crucial element of the story seems bizarre. But it also has the potential to make for a much more interesting story - the Inhumans are not pure or solely victims -they have also done despicable things and are not entirely blameless in creating the circumstances in which they find themselves.
Anyway, I'm interested in hearing from anyone else who may have comments on the series.
Thanks,
Shaun
Has anyone else been reading "War of Kings"?
I have not been collecting all of the crossovers, but I regularly read "Nova" and I've been getting the main WOK mini-series. So far, I think that it's really good. I don't know much about the Inhumans, so I've been pleasantly surprised by how compelling they are in this series. I generally avoided the various "X-Men"-related Vulcan titles, so I'm playing catch-up there. I have considerable difficulty with the idea that Vulcan can simply kill the Emperor and take his place and that the rest of the Shi'ar would just accept this - isn't murder, especially of the Emperor, murder? (I assume the fact that Vulcan married into the royal family means that he gained some kind of exemption - but, if so, the old Emperor, D'Ken, was amazingly stupid in allowing Vulcan to marry in).
I've always liked Gladiator as a character, though I feel he has been really misused by Marvel over the years (with a few notable exceptions, such as in his first solo appearance in FF #249). He is one of the central characters in the WOK series and I hope that his popularity increases after this whole thing is through. Yes, he is a Superman clone, but he has a lot of interesting qualities that could make for a pretty interesting mini-series.
All of this being said, I have noticed one interesting inconsistency in the storyline: in the "Secret Invasion: War of Kings" one-shot that started the storyline before the actual WOK mini-series begins, the Inhumans cross over into Shi'ar space and destroy three Shi'ar battleships during the course of their pursuit of a Skrull starship. This act of violence against the Shi'ar is what gives Vulcan his excuse to attack the Kree, and it is a clear and unjustifiable act of aggression by the Inhumans. Indeed, there is little doubt that their actions can be seen as causing the war. However, in the actual WOK series, no mention is made of this action at all. We are left to think that Vulcan attacks the Inhumans/Kree entirely because of his expansionist agenda. Of course, that is probably true, but he does have a very defensible excuse - one that no one mentions. Indeed, earlier, the Inhumans are reluctant to give sanctuary to Lilandra because they don't want to anger or provoke the Shi'ar - but no one mentions that the Inhumans have already done a great deal to provoke the Shi'ar by destroying their battleships!
I think this is interesting because I have the sense that Abnett and Lanning are trying to pull back from this earlier act of aggression by the Inhumans and make the situation more black and white than when they started. I think this is a mistake -for one thing, the evidence is there for all to see, so simply ignoring an earlier, crucial element of the story seems bizarre. But it also has the potential to make for a much more interesting story - the Inhumans are not pure or solely victims -they have also done despicable things and are not entirely blameless in creating the circumstances in which they find themselves.
Anyway, I'm interested in hearing from anyone else who may have comments on the series.
Thanks,
Shaun