Inhumans: Once and Future Kings #1
☆ Be the first to review + Add to your collection — Join freeInhumans: Once and Future Kings #1 is the opening chapter of the first dedicated origin miniseries for the Inhuman Royal Family, dramatizing the formative years of Black Bolt, Maximus, and Medusa before any of them have claimed the roles that define them in the main Marvel continuity. The issue introduces Elisha — an unusually self-aware Alpha Primitive who serves as the story's conscience and a vehicle for Priest's pointed meditation on caste, oppression, and systemic discrimination — making him one of the most politically charged new additions to Inhuman lore in decades. It also marks the first time the Unspoken's reign is explored in sustained narrative depth, repositioning a character previously known only as a deposed villain into a more morally ambiguous figure. For readers, the issue functions as the Inhuman equivalent of an 'X-Men: First Class' story: the Royal Family rendered raw, young, and fallible rather than regal and remote.
In Inhumans: Once and Future Kings #1, the fate of the royal brothers Black Bolt and Maximus hangs in the balance after a failed Alpha Primitive uprising leaves their leader dead. With the help of the intelligent Alpha Primitive Elisha, who warns them of a conspiracy to eliminate them, the trio—along with Medusa—must flee to New York via Lockjaw. Written by Christopher Priest and illustrated with striking precision by Phil Noto, this bold new chapter in the Inhuman saga unfolds with quiet tension and a sense of looming danger. The cover by Nick Bradshaw captures the weight of this pivotal moment.
In the wake of a failed Alpha Primitive uprising, a desperate warning from Elisha sends Black Bolt, Maximus, and Medusa on a high-stakes journey across the Inhuman realm, guided by the enigmatic Lockjaw toward a hidden destination in New York. As the brothers face the growing threat of betrayal, they must navigate a conspiracy that could tear their dynasty apart.
In "Don't Stop Retrievin'," Lockjaw convinces the Thing to play fetch, leading to a hilariously chaotic attempt that sees Ben hurl a tree from Mount Everest—only for it to loop around the globe and smack him in the head. The absurdity unfolds with perfectly timed slapstick energy, blending the Inhumans' quirky charm with classic superhero antics.
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We Buy Collections ▸History
The series was announced at C2E2 in April 2017 and represented Christopher Priest's return to Marvel Comics after an absence of roughly fifteen years; Priest himself noted he had never written the Inhumans before and was genuinely surprised when Marvel offered him the project. Priest consciously framed the miniseries in a 'Rogue One' mode — a self-contained story that illuminates established mythology rather than overwriting it — with editor Wil Moss overseeing the book and Tom Brevoort serving as executive editor. The series landed in August 2017 in direct proximity to the ABC television adaptation of Inhumans, providing a comics counterpart timed to heightened mainstream awareness of the characters, though the book stands entirely on its own creative terms.
Trivia · 8 facts
- Published August 9, 2017 (cover-dated October 2017) by Marvel Comics; written by Christopher Priest with art by Phil Noto; cover art by Nick Bradshaw; lettered by Joe Sabino; edited by Wil Moss.
- First appearance of Elisha, an Alpha Primitive who retains exceptional intelligence and literacy — a new character created to foreground the moral problem of Attilan's slave caste system.
- First appearance of Dkamas, an Alpha Primitive revolt leader who dies in the same issue, framing the political conspiracy that drives the full miniseries.
- Kadlec the Seeker, a pre-existing Inhuman character dating to Fantastic Four #46 (1966), appears here in his earliest in-story chronological role, attending the king after the Alpha Primitive attack.
- The issue is set during 'The Forgotten Reign' — the era when the Inhuman known as the Unspoken ruled as king-regent — presenting Black Bolt, Maximus, and Medusa as teenagers not yet in command of their full identities or powers.
- A two-page Lockjaw backup story by writer Ryan North and artist Gustavo Duarte runs in every issue of the miniseries; the debut installment features Lockjaw and Ben Grimm (the Thing) in a comedic fetch-gone-wrong scenario.
- The miniseries was collected in a trade paperback (ISBN 978-1-302-90940-6) reprinting all five issues; the Marvel Database records at least two TPB editions and multiple reprinted single issues.
- Issue #1 shipped with multiple variant covers, including 1:10 and 1:25 Phil Noto ratio variants, a Gustavo Duarte variant, a Stan Lee Box Joe Jusko variant, and a TV tie-in variant.
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Reprinted in Inhumans: Once and Future Kings #[nn] (2018), Lockjaw: Who's a Good Boy? #[nn] (2018)
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