Marvel has announced (via their website) that Matt Fraction and artist Joe Madureira will release a new ongoing series called Inhuman, focusing on the Inhumans. The series will spin out of the Infinity event, commencing in August, and mark the return of the Marvel cosmic universe’s foremost royal family.
Writer Fraction comments that the events of Jonathan Hickman’s Infinity will “jumpstart a long-dormant genetic inhuman strain. It leads into a global crisis overnight in the middle of, and coming out from Infinity.”
Speaking with EW, Fraction went into more detail about the effects of the Terrigan Mists being released throughout the globe, activitating long-dormant Inhuman genes in humans.
“Our focus characters are drawn into the palace intrigue of this shattered Inhumans Royal family. It becomes a superhero story and a mythical story, all revolving around turning the world into a world full of superheroes. It’s giving us a chance to get back to a classic Marvel metaphor of alienation. We’re telling science-fiction stories, but really it’s about race, gender, sexual equality. It’s a very relevant, pertinent metaphor.”
EW adds that the series will be released in December, where Marvel Editor-in-Chief Axel Alonso compares the series to Game of Thrones, as it is said to explore the Inhumans’ “long, torturous history.” Yet it is that sense of more immediate and torturous history that may spring to mind for Marvel fans, who have just witnessed mutants spring to life all over the globe following the fallout of Avengers vs. X-men.Indeed, between AvX, Marvel NOW!, Age of Ultron and soon Infinity, Marvel has been in event mode since the beginning of last year. Longer if we spin Fear Itself into that mix. Perhaps the Inhuman strain is triggered by event fatigue, as a fine Terrigen mist wafts before our eyes.
Either way, the return of the Inhumans are cause for excitement, being an integral part of the Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning Guardians of the Galaxy run. We are yet to see any of the art from Madureira, but a teaser image has been released by Steve McNiven.
