Inhumans #2
Inhumans Vol. 4 #2 (2003) is part of the first sustained attempt to shift the Inhumans franchise away from Royal Family-centric storytelling and toward a new generation of younger Inhuman characters — a structural experiment that anticipated the 'NuHuman' wave Marvel would fully commit to a decade later. As the second chapter of the opening 'Lunar' arc, it delivers the first appearances of Jolen and Mitchell Abrams, two characters who help populate writer Sean McKeever's youth-oriented cast. The series as a whole proved, in hindsight, to be deceptively relevant to later Inhumans continuity, even though its approach — centering student-age Inhumans navigating Terrigenesis and contact with Earth — felt like a bold genre departure from the Paul Jenkins/Jae Lee political-allegory run that preceded it. Medusa's supporting role here, alongside Black Bolt, Gorgon, and Karnak, kept the Royal Family tethered to the new cast while ensuring long-standing readers had familiar anchors.
In "Lunar Part 2," the Inhumans face a pivotal moment as Tonaja, Sen, Nahrees, Jolen, and Alaris are selected for a year-long cultural exchange with Earth, marking a significant step beyond their moon-bound isolation. Though Tonaja struggles with the emotional weight of leaving her lover Dewoz behind, she ultimately joins the mission, setting the stage for a transformative journey. Written by Sean McKeever and illustrated by Matthew Clark, with inks by Nelson, colors by Dave Kemp, and letters by Dave Sharpe, the issue captures the quiet tension of departure and the promise of what lies beyond. The cover, a striking piece by J. H. Williams III, reflects the gravity of this moment with its evocative, otherworldly design.
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We Buy Collections ▸History
The 2003 Inhumans series emerged in the wake of the Eisner Award-winning Paul Jenkins and Jae Lee 12-issue maxi-series (1998–1999), which had reestablished the Inhumans as a viable franchise and set a high creative bar. Editor Tom Brevoort, with Marc Sumerak assisting, brought in Sean McKeever — a writer known for character-driven, emotionally grounded work aimed at younger readers — and penciler Matthew Clark to take a deliberately different angle: a young-adult story about Inhuman exchange students discovering Earth, published under the watch of Editor-in-Chief Joe Quesada. The series carries an internal volume numbering dispute (some sources catalog it as Vol. 4, while the print issues themselves label it Vol. 6), reflecting Marvel's inconsistent trade-dress practices of the era.
Trivia · 8 facts
- Issue title: 'Lunar, Part 2' — second chapter of the opening three-part arc of the 12-issue series.
- Release date: June 25, 2003; cover-dated August 2003.
- Written by Sean McKeever; penciled by Matthew Clark; inked by Nelson DeCastro; lettered by Dave Sharpe; cover by J.H. Williams III.
- First appearances of Jolen and Mitchell Abrams in this issue (per Marvel Database).
- Medusa (Medusalith Amaquelin Boltagon) appears in a supporting role alongside Black Bolt, Gorgon, and Karnak — the Royal Family serves as backdrop to the younger protagonist cast of Tonaja, Nahrees, San, and Alaris.
- The series deliberately concentrated on new, younger Inhuman characters rather than the Royal Family, a structural choice that prefigured later NuHuman storytelling strategies.
- The full 12-issue run was later collected in the trade paperback titled Young Inhumans, published by Marvel Comics (2008).
- The first six issues of the series (including the 'Lunar' and 'Culture Shock' arcs) were also collected in a separate digest, Inhumans: Culture Shock.
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Reprinted in Inhumans: Culture Shock #[nn] (2005), Young Inhumans #[nn] (2008)
Key issues in Inhumans
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