Royals #1

By Al Ewing, Jonboy Meyers, Ryan Kinnaird, and Clayton Cowles

Royals #1 picks up the story right where Inhumans Prime #1 left off.  Medusa abdicated the throne and the Terrigen mist was destroyed.  This puts the future of the Inhumans and the royal family in a weird place.  Without the Terrigen mist, it means there is no more Inhumans because Terrigen was what allowed the Inhuman abilities to manifest.  With the future of the Inhuman race in question, the royal family feels obligated to leave the throne in order to search out a way for the Inhumans continue without Terrigen.  This issue begins with a time hop forward five thousand years with a mysterious Inhuman; the last Inhuman.  The issue then fast forwards to the present with Marvel Boy finally coming face to face with Medusa, Iso, and the rest of the Inhumans.  Marvel Boy presents them with a proposition to find a way to continue the Inhuman race by going to the Kree home world, Hala.  So yeah, this series is called Royals, but a better tittle would have been, Inhumans in Space.

The book shows a really diverse art style from Meyers and Kinnaird with the same character in different designs and art style throughout the book.  The book does shift between the future five thousand years from now and the present, and the art style does reflect that time shift. The art feels cool and edgy with new character designs for old favorites like Medusa and Gorgon.  Everything feels sleek, sharp, and futuristic, with cool panels with tons of action and bright, vibrant colors.

It feels appropriate that the story from Ewing would take our heroes to space; the origins of the Inhumans are derived from the Kree with little explanation.  This feels like then next natural progression for the Inhumans.  Space can open the Inhumans to many more adventures and character appearances; not to mention, we get to see some cool cosmic art from Meyers along the way. Ewing teases some discord within Medusa throughout by showing her eagerness to enter into a seemingly suicidal quest with Marvel Boy. This is heightened by also showing her attempting to open up to Black Bolt, only to be rebuked. All of this builds up to an intense last couple pages with the Inhumans launching into space for Hala.  The tease ending of the first issue leaves a huge question dangling in the air for a fan favorite Inhuman, and we hope to have more answers next week.

Royals #1 is a fresh new take on a classic group of characters, The Inhumans.  Their story is evolving and changing, which after all the storylines they have been through since they premiered with the Fantastic Four in the 1960s, is hard to do.  With their future threatened, they are willing to risk everything to go to space for answers.  The future of this series is certainly bright with plenty in store for the Inhumans and the royal family specifically.  Not to mention a few cliffhangers that we need resolved, like who is the last Inhuman left standing in five thousand years?  Readers are sure to be eager to pick up the next issue.