The Inhumans #7
Published and © by Marvel, October 1976
Title: “A Trip to the Doom!”
Synopsis: The Inhumans take to the stars in search of a new home, but instead find danger on a dust-covered world.
Writer: Doug Moench
Penciler: Gil Kane
Inker: Don Perlin
Review: With Attilan in ruin, the Inhumans finally break free from the perpetual “Maximus is mad and has seized control!” plot that had plagued them since their debut in The Fantastic Four. Though the “search for a new world” storyline isn’t exactly fresh, the sci-fi approach is a promising new direction for The Inhumans. Doug Moench does a nice job establishing the premise with this standalone issue, which also features a tale about class divisions on a perpetually mobile city. Gil Kane turns in his weakest issue, though the blame might actually lie with the book’s latest B-list inker, Don Perlin.
Grade: B
Second opinion: “This series fell apart to a certain extent after the destruction of Attilan, however, with the result that nothing was built upon the foundation that had been laid in the first few issues.” – Ed Via, The Comics Journal #63, May 1981
Cool factor: The bug-like, mobile city concept is loaded with potential, and the story’s ending makes fine use of that fact.
Collector’s note: According to the Grand Comics Database, there is a 10p British variant of this issue.
Character quotable: “Medusa, if you don’t keep that cursed hair off me, I swear I’ll rip it right out of your –” – Gorgon, making himself popular once again
A word from the writer: “Gil viewed the Inhumans as extremely fertile ground and considered our ‘mobile city’ concept worthy of the very best science fiction.” – Doug Moench, from the introduction in “Marvel Masterworks: The Inhumans Vol. 2,” 2010
Editor’s note: An earlier version of this review was published in Comics Buyer’s Guide #1653, May 2009.
