Heart And Heartbreak In Death Of The Inhumans #4
by Josh Davison
[**Mild Spoilers Ahead]
The Inhuman Royal Family recruits Beta Ray Bill to their cause. Bill wants vengeance for the death of Lockjaw, and he intends to rip it out of the Kree and Vox. The Royals and Beta Ray begin their trip to the Kree base. Meanwhile, Black Bolt continues his escape from the Kree compound, but Vox finds him before the king can make his getaway.
Death of the Inhumans #4 continues the series’ engaging yet depressing voyage through what may very well be the final days of the Inhumans. Beta Ray Bill makes for a powerful ally, but they discover something about this Inhuman genocide that changes the context of the fight.
The issue breezes by surprisingly quickly, clocking in at a little over five minutes. It’s not a bad or half-hearted read; the book just has a very quick pace. Beta Ray is recruited, the Inhumans and Beta Ray go for the Kree, and we find Black Bolt making his escape. There is a lot of action, and it conveys its ideas quickly—that latter one is something Big Two comics struggle to accomplish.
The deaths seem to keep coming in this issue as well, though they are a bit more ambiguous this time around for a few reasons.
Ariel Olivetti continues to be a great choice for the art of this issue. His style is a detailed and somewhat grounded aesthetic balanced by hints of surrealism and interesting texture work. It looks great and really shines with the book’s depiction of Beta Ray Bill and Vox especially. Jordie Bellaire continues to show why she is one of the greatest colorists in the industry, playing the book’s palette off the unique aesthetic of Olivetti expertly.
Death of the Inhumans has come a long way since the underwhelming and almost callous-feeling first issue. There is a lot of heart and heartbreak in this comic, and it has me quite engaged by this point. Death of the Inhumans #4 earns a recommendation, and I suggest checking it out.
This comic comes to us from writer Donny Cates, artist Ariel Olivetti, color artist Jordie Bellaire, letterer VC’s Clayton Cowles, cover artist Kaare Andrews, and variant cover artists Pepe Larraz with Marte Gracia (based upon the work of John Romita Sr.).
