Customer Reviews

War of Kings

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Reading just this War of Kings book, your getting the short edited version.

Read all the crossovers to really appreciate this fantastic story. It would be difficult to list a reading order of everything leading up to War of Kings since this story has been building for years, but you want the main story you should get the books with the War of Kings banner, "Road to War of Kings", "War of Kings", "War of Kings Warriors", "Nova Vol5 War of Kings", "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2&3 War of Kings".

For the best experience, read the individual issues in this order:

War of Kings Darkhawk #1 & #2

X-Men Divided We Stand #2

X-Men Kingbreaker #1

War of Kings Warriors #1 (Gladiator/Blastaar)

Guardians of the Galaxy #7 - #10

Secret Invasion: War of Kings

War of Kings Warriors #2 (Crystal)

X-Men Kingbreaker #2 - #4

War of Kings Warriors #2 (Lilandra)

Guardians of the Galaxy #11 - #12

War of Kings #1

Nova #23 - #24

War of Kings #2

War of Kings Savage World of Sakaar (doesn't fit in seamlessly)

War of Kings Ascension #1

Guardians of the Galaxy #13

War of Kings #3

War of kings Ascension #2

Nova #25

Guardians of the Galaxy #14

Nova #26

War of Kings #4

War of Kings Ascension #3

Guardians of the Galaxy #15

War of Kings #5

War of Kings Ascension #4

Nova #27

Guardians of the Galaxy #16

War of Kings #6

Guardians of the Galaxy #17

Nova #28

War of Kings Who Will Rule

Guardians of the Galaxy #18 - #19

Like with all crossovers there is some overlapping, but to avoid spoilers this is the best way to read this epic story.

The War of Kings hardcover is a nice, if uneven, collection of cosmic tragedy in the Greek tradition. The first third of the book reprints the main War of Kings story. It is spectacular. I read it barely knowing any background on Vulcan (emperor of the Shiar Empire), or the recent details regarding the Inhumans (the new royal family of the Kree). The writers do a fine job of presenting everything you need to know so newcomers need not worry very much about being lost. Abnett and Lanning allow the characters to speak through their actions and deftly prod several sub-plots and themes throughout the series. War Of Kings discusses the dilemma of loyalty and fidelity to family, race & culture, as well as the violence of evolution (note: both the Inhumans and Vulcan are evolutionary upstarts). The artist Paul Pelletier turns in a bravura work of storytelling, masterfully grounding all of the drama and action into a plausible reality.

My only criticism of the main story is that story threads and characters from other Marvel Comics occasionally appear without context or resolution. The character Blastarr appears on the cover, is mentioned a few times in the War of Kings story, but you need to read Guardians of the Galaxy and Nova to see how it turns out. At the end of War of Kings, the Magus, a villain from 1970s and 1990s Marvel comics, appears and interrupts the flow of the narrative. I understand how Marvel wants to demonstrate how the finale of War of Kings impacts other books but, objectively speaking, it ruins the flow of the main story. Still, the main story is excellent fun (5 stars).

The second third of the collection showcases the side story of Darkhawk. Again, I barely knew the character and have no idea if Abnett and Lanning's story contradicts the history of Darkhawk. But they do a fine job of building a hero forged out of tragedy. I won't spoil the story because the details are part of its charm but Abnett and Lanning tell a tale wherein Darkhawk becomes sweep up in the War against his better judgement. The secret history of Darkhawk's armor is an intriguing development and it is interesting how his story weaves in and out of the main War of Kings. You could almost read them mesh together but that path would muddle the impact of either series. It was nice of Marvel to put them back to back. Despite this praise, the story had some weaknesses. Darkhawk makes a point that he is an anomaly and the repetition of the idea becomes boring. But most important, the fate of a character at the end of Darkhawk possibly contradicts the end of War of Kings, or maybe that's vice versa. Either way, it seemed like a sloppy mistake that marred an otherwise good story. (4 stars)

The last third reprints non-essential stories that involve or expound on ideas from War of Kings. They are at best adequate and at worst bland. The stories featuring Gladiator and Lilandra are nicely done and I felt like the stories really added something to the main series. I could take or leave the Blastarr story since he wasn't important to the main series. The Skaar story is a rehash of the story of two enemies who gain respect for each other, memorably done much better in the movie ENEMY MINE. Lastly the Crystal story was bland. I almost wish Marvel had dropped these books and instead included relevant issues from the Guardians of the Galaxy or Nova series'. (2 stars at best)

Despite the lackluster third, most of the collection is pretty good and best of all approachable for new readers.

The Inhumans get better and better. 40 + years after appearing in the FF, they've finally come into their own. They are no longer "heroes" so to speak in this chapter - and no-one is. More importantly, they've become more decisive and less cryptic.

WAR OF THE KINGS has a nice epic storyline that brings together (in my mind) lesser characters from the 70s and early 80s Marvel Pantheon - Starjammers (still hate that name); the Shi'ar Imperial Guard; cameos by the Guardians of the Galaxy - and brings them to life. And of course, we have the Kree.

The Inhumans have clearly carved out a universe of their own, and this epic really sits outside of the regular Marvel books. In fact this scenario would've been hampered with any regular Marvel heroes. Without them, writers Abnett and Lanning have more room to explore and take the characters to a different level. Looking forward to more.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It contains the majority of what you need to know. There are moments in the book when Nova & the Guardians appear that seem odd without having read their respective books but that does not take away from the overall story.

The first third of the book contains the main series along with the Secret Invasion prelude. The art & writing throughout the series is brilliant. The art particularly comes into it's own in the final confrontations. The story is mainly seen through the point of view of Gladiator & Crystal. There are some big surprises particularly the death of a cosmic mainstay. The ending also leads in to the next possible series.

The second third deals with Darkhawk and I must admit I didn't know much about this character going in but now I'm very interested in seeing where his character goes next. Once again the art is brilliant and the reinvention of the character & creating a new history for him is very intriguing. The main gripe I have is the ending with this contradicts the ending of the main series (or it could be the other way round).

The final third is a collection of stories. The issue about Skaar is obviously trying to connect that world to the main Marvel cosmos. The Gladiator & Lilandra issues are the most enjoyable of the Warriors four short stories and maybe it's fitting that the lost scene of the hardcover should belong to Lilandra.

Almost 20 years ago Marvel published Operation: Galactic Storm in the Avengers titles of the day. In the story the Kree find themselves at War for the first time with the Shi'ar Empire. The war is instigated by the Skrulls but by the time this is revealed it is too late and the Shi'ar are victorious over their adversaries.

Fast forward to the present. The Kree are now ruled by the Inhuman Royal Family. Determined to no longer be pushed around, the Inhumans are asserting themselves in the Galaxy. The Shi'ar are now ruled by the Terran Vulcan. The omega level mutant has held his own against a team of season X-Men and the Shi'ar Imperial Guard. Now ruling the empire with Deathbird as his empress, Vulcan is expanding the Shi'ar empire at an alarming rate.

It was only natural that these two empires would come into conflict once again.

While Earth currently has no stake in these events, their presence is felt by various humans that operate throughout the cosmos.

War of Kings is an epic story with an outcome that must be seen to be believed.

Abnett and Lanning have done it again, telling a compelling story with Marvel's cosmic characters that rewards long-time fans while going in new directions. Like their previous work, this story isn't meant for brand-new readers, but anyone can enjoy the action and intrigue even without the sense of history. War of Kings follows from the Annihilation stories, Vulcan's rise to power, and Secret Invasion: Inhumans, and the more familiar a reader is with those tales, the richer this reading experience will be, but I entered with minimal exposure to Vulcan (I don't like the character) and still enjoyed the ride.

The basic story is that the Inhumans, as new leaders of the Kree, have made a diplomatic error in their mission to eradicate the Skrulls, so Vulcan brings the resources of the Shi'ar against them. Most of the characters are more nuanced than simple labels of "good guys" and "bad guys," but the Kree side is generally more sympathetic. Abnett and Lanning have a knack for presenting characters' good and bad sides, writing moving dialogue, and letting real events happen, like assassinations and betrayals and deaths that don't feel arbitrary. Also, the story does feel epic, with a one-issue prelude, six main issues, an epilogue issue, six issues of various related Darkhawk stories (where the art disappoints, but the storyline intrigues), a Skaar one-shot (which mostly ignores the uninteresting title character to draw out the complexities of two minor players from the main storyline), a two-issue collection of short stories, and a text-heavy issue of Marvel Spotlight.

I feel a little regret that I can't really share this book with friends who haven't already read the dozens of relevant issues that precede it, but I was thrilled to read this next chapter for Marvel's cosmic characters and eagerly anticipate the stories that will flow from it.

War of Kings is the next epic saga from Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning, the creative team that has given us some of the most entertaining "space opera" since Jim Starlin, including Annihilation Conquest, Guardians of the Galaxy and Nova.

In the wake of "Secret Invasion" the Inhumans end their self imposed exile on Earths moon and decide to take their rightful role as the rulers of the Kree Empire. Easier said than done as they must first defeat an armada of Skrulls, fresh from the defeat of their "Secret Invasion" of Earth. Also helping to consolidate the Inhumans powerbase is an arranged marriage between the Inhumans "Crystal" and temporary leader of the Kree, "Ronan the Accuser".

Meanwhile, X-Men foe Vulcan has taken over as ruler of the greatest military power in the universe, the Shi'ar Empire. Having removed X-Men ally Lilandra, the former leader of the Shi'ar, the power mad Vulcan is determined to take over the entire galaxy. But the Inhumans have other ideas. Caught in the middle are the Guardians of the Galaxy who are trying to put Lilandra back on the Shi'ar throne, fighting off the Imperial Guard as well as trying to keep Black Bolt and Vulcan from ripping the universe apart.

While not reaching the same heights as previous efforts by Abnett and Lanning, War of Kings is still a very enjoyable read and worth having. The attractive art compliments the grand, cosmic, larger than life story being told and there is no shortage of entertaining characters. It's also worth reading just to see Black Bolt cut loose in an epic battle against Vulcan. We get a nice selection of some of Marvels great cosmic characters, including one at the end that surprised even me. I've been reading comics for over 30 years now and it's fun seeing the return of some classic bronze age characters that I enjoyed in my youth.

The "War of Kings" paperback compiles the "Secret Invasion: War of Kings" one shot, War of Kings 1-6, the "War of Kings: Who Will Rule" one shot and an issue of Marvel Spotlight on the War of Kings saga which includes interviews with Abnett and Lanning as well as histories on some of the characters such as the Inhumans and the Darkhawks. There are also reprints of "variant" covers from the series. I enjoyed reading this exciting story and would definately recommend War of Kings.

Great graphics,nice story, I would give 10 stars, but there is no more room.Two tumbs up.You should also get the other collection of Annihilation and Annihilation Conquest.

I am a long standing Marvel Fan and a rather consistent fan of the Inhumans. What attracts me to the Inhumans is how colorful and strange they are, and how interesting their stories are (most of the time). As a Marvel Comic and as an Inhumans story I felt that this one did rather well. The story was clearly well developed and thought out, and it went from one topic to the next without any hiccups or blatant contrivances. It was flowing and entertaining.

Having the Inhumans take on a more proactive role was a good development, as previously they have almost always been victims in the Marvel universe. It was also an interesting, unpredicted yet not illogical development, for them to take over the Kree. The character of Vulcan also made a great villain for them, probably because he was based off of the Emperor Caligula. At any rate, by comparison Vulcan actually makes Maximus look sane. The writers said that they wished to write a complete story, with a definite beginning, middle, and end, which would leave permanent changes and not result in a return to the status quo. They succeeded in that regard. However, that authors of the third Inhumans series ended it with the Royal Family being separated from the Inhuman city/civilization with the city actually going off into space to conquer. Changes which were completely disregarded by the 4th Inhumans series (Young Inhumans) which returned things to the Status Quo. What I see with the Inhumans is that when an author writes a series he tries to leave a permanent mark on them, and when the next guy comes he undoes it. I hope that is not the case this time around. I was rather surprised at the apparent death of Blackbolt, I don't know whether or not that aspect will be permanent or if so how it will affect the marketability, but it was certainly dramatic and in any case I intend to follow the next Inhumans series.

As to the other stories, I thought the Darkhawk story was interesting, although I only had a vague memory of him from a comic I read in the 90's so it took a while for me to recognize him. There is a lot of potential for some good adventure stories given his new mission. The other stories were entertaining but not superb. I enjoyed reading them but they were not as well done as the actual War of Kings arc. While it was entertaining I thought the story of Gorgon and the Shiar was a bit forced and unnecessary. I did like the story of Crystal and the terrorists, which I think will be important to future Inhumans stories but not immediately to the War of Kings. I say this because it shows how they are approaching some of the more common or basic problems with the Kree. It establishes a MO.