Uncanny Inhumans, Vol. 2: The Quiet Room

Uncanny Inhumans (Collected Editions)

by Charles Soule (Writer), Brandon Peterson (Illustrator), Java Tartaglia (Illustrator)

THE QUIET ROOM: Black Bolt's new place, is a fascinating curiosity that could very well put all the Marvel Universe in a tight spot. The Uncanny Avengers come to the aid of S.H.I.E.L.D. during a manhunt and the team makes a shocking discovery about an ally. What does it all have to do with the mystery unfolding in Pleasant Hill?

COLLECTING: UNCANNY INHUMANS 5-10

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Marvel, Superheroes, Graphic Novels Comics, Comic Book, Fantasy

136 pages, Paperback

First published August 3, 2016

About the author

Charles Soule is a #1 New York Times-bestselling novelist, comics author, screenwriter, musician, and lapsed attorney. He has written some of the most prominent stories of the last decade for Marvel, DC and Lucasfilm in addition to his own work, such as his comics Curse Words, Letter 44 and Undiscovered Country, and his original novels Light of the Jedi, The Endless Vessel, The Oracle Year and Anyone. He lives in New York.

Reviews

[Terence · Rating 3 out of 5]

So what do former Kings do when deposed from their throne? Open a night club of course.

The Quiet Room is the place where Black Bolt gets to express his freedom, have a midlife crisis, and play bouncer.

The Quiet Room is a multi use club that features gambling, conference rooms, and seemingly much more. Ennilux, the Inhuman run company, just happens to be having a conference there to show off their newest invention which will shortly be ready for sale. Unfortunately it's stolen and Ennilux is holding Black Bolt, The Quiet Room, and New Attilan responsible if it isn't returned.

Black Bolt's associate Reader is tasked with getting it back.

The first volume of the Uncanny Inhumans, Time Crush, was excellent, but The Quiet Room is a mixed bag. It has some interesting moments such as the origins of Medusa and Johnny Storm's relationship,

a special prisoner keeping the Unspoken company in New Attilan's dungeons, and learning the back story of Reader.

A large portion of the story is devoted to The Quiet Room which was first introduced in the Secret Wars story Inhumans: Attilan Rising. The Quiet Room was fine as some throwaway story's location and the business of an altered Black Bolt, but it's not so interesting for the deposed King of the Inhumans in this volume. It's hard to know much about a guy who basically never gets to speak his mind without the risk of killing the person listening. Perhaps night club owner was Black Bolt's dream as he learned to hone his especially destructive power as a boy. If I never see The Quiet Room again, I'd be perfectly fine.

The characters also have mixed performances. Ahura, Reader, and Iso were quite interesting. Particularly Ahura and Reader. Their actions will undoubtedly lead to some more interesting stories in the future. Iso continues to display a keen mind and high IQ. Frank McGee and Inferno finally had some page time in Uncanny Inhumans, but neither were particularly memorable. That's unfortunate because I really enjoyed them both in the series Inhuman. Frank was Frank and perhaps he'll never be more than a former cop with glowing eyes. Inferno didn't really even do anything. If he was removed altogether and not replaced it wouldn't have effected the story whatsoever.

The Quiet Room was spectacular in moments and overall it was a solid entry. I do however hope the storyline gets back to the more exciting adventures in the first volume.

[Chad · Rating 3 out of 5]

The story starts to meander after a pretty good arc in the previous volume. Black Bolt has decided to open his club from Secret Wars. Sigh. Soule just doesn't know how to handle Black Bolt at all. How's a guy who can't talk going to run a night club? He should have just left him missing. Ahura is the most interesting character in the book, even though he doesn't get much to do for most of the story. Brandon Peterson provides some pretty great art.

The second half of the book is drawn by Kev Walker, whose art style seems to be morphing into John Romita Jr.'s. We get to see the back story of Johnny Storm and Medusa's relationship and they finally deal with Crystal. But they get zapped into some alien gladiator thing that's been done a thousand times before.

I'm still not sold on the Inhumans in the Marvel U. That Paul Jenkins / Jae Lee miniseries from years ago was the only time I was really interested in them.

[Sesana · Rating 2 out of 5]

I hate the idea of Black Bolt opening a night club (ffs) and I still don't find the Medusa/Johnny romance at all convincing. Unfortunately, those threads dominated a book that could have been decent otherwise.

[Paul · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm on record as not liking the Inhumans. Actually, that's not entirely accurate. It's not the Inhumans themselves I dislike, it's more Marvel's recent agenda of shoving them down our throats whether we like them or not. To be completely honest, it's not even that so much as the fact that the reason they're doing it isn't a creative one but one rooted in their disinclination to promote characters they don't own the movie rights to.

All this to one side, this volume of Uncanny Inhumans (and there's a title that encapsulates Marvel's 'no more mutants' policy in just two words) was a slight improvement over the ones that came before it. I didn't much care for the first story collected here; I don't like the idea of Black Bolt running a speakeasy like some idiot with a Bugsy Malone fetish - it should have been left behind in the dire Secret Wars crossover; but the second half of this collection I actually really enjoyed. It was off the wall and appealed to my old school sensibilities.

I'd give the first half of this collection two stars (mainly for the artwork) and the second half four stars.

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

Johnny Storm and Medusa's affair gets dramatic when it's revealed to those close to them including Johnny's ex and Medusa's sister, Crystal! Drawn by Kev Walker it's very easy to love! How can one not love a Kev Walker Marvel comic? It's impossible!

[Craig · Rating 1 out of 5]

Wow, was this ever bad. Just crap.

[Jesse A · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not up to the level of Volume 1 but still some decent parts.

[Dan · Rating 3 out of 5]

First half of this was boring.....last part made up for it.

[Chris Lemmerman · Rating 4 out of 5]

[Read as single issues]

Charles Soule's piloting of the Inhuman ship continues in this second volume of the series which builds off of both the Secret Wars series, Attilan Rising, as well as his previous volume of Inhuman.

The titular Quiet Room story in issues #5-7 reintroduces the Quiet Room from Attilan Rising, a nightclub where violence is expressly forbidden and so leads to different groups of heroes and villains meeting up under Black Bolt's watch. When Medusa sends her son Ahura to see his father, things inevitably spiral out of control, leading to some major problems for everyone involved, an unexpected conclusion, and the return of a familiar foe in some quick maneuvering for a short storyline that accomplishes a lot in a short space of time.

Issues #8-9 are a two part story called 'The Torch and The Queen' which fills in the eight month gap since Secret Wars for the Inhumans by giving us the backstory about how Medusa and Johnny Storm got together, as well as Crystal's reaction when her ex-boyfriend and her sister are revealed to be dating, and issue #10 is a spotlight on Reader as he attempts to rescue his guide dog, Forey, after the events of issue #7 - long story short, do NOT screw with Reader. Or his dog. Especially not his dog.

Brandon Petersen draws the Quiet Room storyline, and his hyper-digital art always seems a little unnatural. There's an Inhuman character named Flagman who always looks sinister despite never being revealed as a bad guy, which is quite off-putting, and his layouts aren't particularly dynamic, but they get the job done. Kev Walker draws the second three issues, and although it's not as polished as his more recent work, I think this is more of an inker/colourist mismatch than Walker's fault.

Some very personal stories for the Inhumans in this book, despite some dodgy visuals at times.

[Frédéric · Rating 4 out of 5]

3,5*

That's sure now, the Inhumans are faring better than the X-Men (sigh).

The 3 first issues take place in the Quiet Room, a barroom of a kind where everybody's supposed to come in peace and whose boss is a reconverted Black Bolt.
Of course, things won't go as supposed and an old enemy is reintroduced in the fray.

A 2-parter then reveals how Medusa and Johnny came to be an item and Crystal finally finding out. Still soapish on the side but I'm the first surprised to actually be entertained with it.

Last issue kind of concludes the old enemy storyline started before and tells us more about Reader. This one is pretty good. Reader's cruel story and powers are more than meets the eye and are cleverly used.

Artwise, Brandon Peterson is a little stiff without any real storytelling and doesn't impress me much when Kev Walker is more cartoony and fun. The guy seems to be under the influence of John Romita jr. Had it been inked by Klaus Janson I think the illusion would have been pretty startling.

For now Soule does the job and manages to deliver some decent stuff on these (once) B-rate characters. Wish I could say the same's happening on the mutant titles.

[Brandon · Rating 2 out of 5]

Remember that night club Black Bolt ran in the Secret Wars tie-in? Well now it's in Earth-616! And stuff is happening there, kind of, for one reason or another. And then we get to see Medusa and the Human Torch confront their feelings for each other and their increasingly complicated relationship with Crystal! And then we get an issue of Reader being cool. This is like a short mess of stories to buy time for Civil War II since I know that's the next arc. It's set-up for... something, I don't really know what, and I don't really care what, and also tying together stuff like Crystal and then the Ennilux/Capo stuff from Soule's previous Inhuman run.

[Roman Colombo · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was fun, but didn't progress the series much. And no Beast, which is a shame. The Human Torch/Medua story was pretty good. The Quiet Room was kind of okay, but odd. Black Bolt running a club is a little strange. And Medusa doesn't seem to be concerned with the whole "awesome cloud that gives people powers is killing mutants" problems.

[Willow · Rating 3 out of 5]

Weird mishmash of lots of short storylines, seemingly just tying up loose plot threads before Civil War II and IvX which is about all that's left for this series. It was... fine? Nothing particularly exciting, but nothing bad either.

[Kirsty · Rating 4 out of 5]

As i start to learn more about these characters the more I enjoy them.
Bonus points for a She Hulk cameo.

[Aarthika · Rating 2 out of 5]

Hmm..this was kind of all over the place. I felt like there were so many random characters introduced that Ive never even heard of, so I was super confused. Also Black Bolt opening the Quiet Room was a bit random and I feel like Ahura suddenly went from a teen in the last volume to a man in his 30s. Also the romance between Johnny and Medusa seems a bit forced, also how can you date your sisters ex boyfriend, its messed up.

[Adan · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Quiet Room is a fantastic addition to the regular Marvel U, and Reader is way more badass than previously thought.

[Judith (Judy The Dreamer) · Rating 1 out of 5]

*Read in single issues*

Let me preface this with the following statement: I LOVE the Inhumans. I think they're incredibly interesting characters with a lot of untapped potential, and every time they get snubbed by Marvel or their assigned writer I feel incredibly cheated.

That said, let's do it. Also, slight SPOILERS!

This entire volume was a mess. Story-wise, art-wise, direction-wise. (My sadness is through the roof here by now.) Which is a shame because it started out very strong.
Story-wise this volume crams in three different arcs into six issues. I know this was probably caused by the upcoming Civil War II and IvX events, which were meant to promote the Inhumans as a team in expectation of their film / television series, but it made three important storylines come out way too rushed.
This volume starts out with 'The Quiet Room' and a look into Black Bolt's life after abdication. It's interesting to see the playful side of this silent character for once. He's not a stern king anymore, but still an influential figure of authority who's created a quasi Mafioso club. Of course, nearly everything's goes wrong and this leads into two story threads. The first one (the election of a new Ennilux president) gets resolved in the third issue, but the consequences are never touched upon. Before we return to resolve the second story, another arc is inserted which has nothing to do it.
This second arc is where everything goes wrong. We break the tension of an action-packed story by inserting a two-parter about Medusa's love life (which I find a unnecessary character plot). I'm being kind when I compare it to a weak romance novel. The whole thing is so clichéd that it's painful, and it takes all the strength out of Medusa's character. This storyline was also not led-up to during the previous volumes, which makes me feel like it's been added last minute to try out every niche that could make the Inhumans popular. My second problem with this is the art: they called in a different artist for these two issues and it's frankly terrible. All detail and shading which brought the previous issues to life has disappeared and makes everything appear flat.
The third arc compromises the last issue and has been haphazardly tied together with resolving a part of the first arc. I agree that reader's powers had to be explained at some point and this arc was perhaps the right place to do it, but due to the tension-break I didn't feel like the victory was earned at all. I think this illustrates how awful the direction in this volume was. If they'd only cut out the Medusa arc and gave the Ennilux/The Capo arc some room to breathe this could have been great.
Frankly, this volume doesn't deserve even its one star, and I hope the pacing improves after Civil War II, because I'm reading post-IvX Royals and Black Bolt and those are everything Inhumans can be!

[Selenay · Rating 2 out of 5]

Genel olarak Inhumans odaklı hikâyeleri okurken neden sıkıldığımı hâlâ tam olarak çözebilmiş değilim. Karakterlere bir türlü ısınamamamdan mı, yoksa olay örgüsünün bana yeterince derin gelmemesinden mi kaynaklanıyor bilmiyorum; fakat Uncanny Inhumans Cilt 2: Sessiz Oda da bu hissi pek değiştirmedi.

Cilt, adını aldığı Sessiz Oda ile açılıyor. Black Bolt’un krallıktan ayrıldıktan sonra kendine kurduğu bu mekân, dışarıdan sıradan bir bar gibi görünse de aslında kritik kararların alındığı, düşmanların bile gözetim altında tutulabildiği özel bir alan. Medusa’nın oğlu Ahura’yı buraya getirmesiyle olaylar şekillenmeye başlıyor. Antigen prototipinin çalınması ve Ennilux’un eski CEO’su Capo’nun ölmediğinin ortaya çıkmasıyla küçük çaplı bir kaos yaşanıyor. Hatta Capo’nun Reader’ın köpeğinin içine girmesi ile ilk hikâye sonlanıyor.

İkinci bölümde Medusa ve Human Torch’un ilişki dinamiğine odaklanıyoruz. İkilinin uyumunu seviyorum; bu nedenle bu kısımlar, benim için cildin en akıcı ve keyifli sahnelerini oluşturdu. Medusa’nın bitmeyen “ayrılalım” tartışmalarına rağmen ayrılmamaları hoşuma gitti, sonunda durumun kardeşi tarafından da öğrenilmesi ile ilişkileri bir kırılma noktası yaşadı. Ancak bir anda nereye ışınlandıkları ve ne yaşadıkları kısmı oldukça kopuk aktarıldığı için yorum yapacak netlikte bulamadım.

Üçüncü hikâyede Reader’ın kaybolan köpeği üzerinden ilerliyoruz. Bu kısa kesitte, Reader’ın gözlerini kaybetme hikâyesi beni gerçekten etkiledi. Zaten karakter, en çok merak uyandıranlardan biri. Üstelik güçlerini kimseye tam olarak anlatmadığını ve yeteneklerinin göründüğünden farklı yönleri olduğunu söylemesi de gelecekteki potansiyelini iyice ilgi çekici kılıyor. Umarım ilerleyen ciltlerde onu daha çok görürüz.

Ancak eleştirmek istediğim önemli bir nokta var: İkinci bölümdeki çizimler gerçekten zayıftı. Medusa gibi estetik bir karakterin yüzü anlam verilemeyecek şekilde bozulmuş, duygusal sahnelerin etkisi de bu nedenle tamamen kaybolmuş. Böyle bir bölümün daha özenli bir çizimle desteklenmesi gerektiğini düşünüyorum.

Sonuç olarak Inhumans hikâyeleri hâlâ beni tam olarak içine çekemiyor. Dünyalarını anlamak için okumaya devam ediyorum ama şu aşamada beni derinden etkilediklerini söyleyemem. Yine de cilt akıcıydı ve bazı karakter anları merak uyandırıcıydı.

[Alex E · Rating 3 out of 5]

So Black Bolt now runs a night club.

But its also much more than that. It's a "safe zone" where safety is guaranteed for all parties involved. Villains and heroes can go there to have fun or conduct business without worrying about consequences. Well, at least its supposed to be that kind of place. In this volume, all hell breaks loose, so I guess there goes the reputation of the club. An old villain seems to be behind it, and its up to the Inhuman team to get to the bottom of it. The second half of the book has to do with the relationship between Medusa and Human torch, and how it affects Medusa's sister and John's ex, Krystal. Since they didn't tell her and she finds out by catching them making out, it gets pretty awkward.

I think this book is interesting because it is truly an ensemble book. There are a lot of different characters and a lot of moving parts plot wise. And while not every character and their adventures is the best, you can usually find something good in any volume of Inhumans.

I think its a lot to balance, and sometimes Soule has some difficulty in pacing as far as plot, but for the most part, this is a entertaining and lively group of characters that go through some pretty interesting stuff. There is, however, a lot of stuff to cover so I would recommend this to someone who has at least read some of the recent Inhumans stuff.

[Tesutamento · Rating 3 out of 5]

Black Bolt kıçına tekmeyi yedikten sonra kendine gece kulübü açmaya karar vermiş. Pek anlam veremesem de bu kararına ilginç bir tercih. İyiler ve kötüler arasında tarafsız bir bölge olacakmış burası aynı zamanda. Tabii ki böyle bir yerde karışıklık çıkmaması kaçınılmaz. Çıkan arbede esnasında hırsızlık yaşanıyor ve görüyoruz ki “Inhuman” serisinde öldü sandığımız Capo geri dönmüş. Keşke azıcık farklı bir yöne gidilseymiş. En azından Reader karakterini tanımak için güzel bir fırsat oldu bu cilt. Başta kendisine soğuk olsam da zaman içinde ısındım. Tabii bu sayının katkısı yadsınamaz. Güçlerini de başta pek anlamamıştım ama burada epey detaylı görüyoruz.

Gece kulübü hikayesi dışında bir de Medusa ile Human Torch’un nasıl yakınlaştığını öğrendiğimiz bir hikaye mevcut. Medusa’yı görevlerinden ve yetkilerinden arınmış biçimde gören tek kişi Johnny Storm’muş meğer. Medusa’nın görevleri dışında bir kaygısı daha mevcutmuş meğer. Kardeşi Crystal uzun zaman önce Johnny ile uzun bir birliktelik yaşadığı için ona nasıl açıklayacağı konusunda endişeleri varmış. Bir takım saçma gelişmeler sonrasında çiftimiz öpüşürken Crystal bunları basıyor.

Bana biraz gereksiz yazılmış bir dram olarak geldi. Çünkü Crystal sonrasında Quicksilver ile evlendi çoluk çocuğa karıştı. “Bana bunu nasıl yaparsın?” şeklindeki yakarışlarına pek hak veremedim

[Scott Lee · Rating 4 out of 5]

A second strong volume. This one doesn't maintain the Medusa's team/Blackbolt's team split that the first volume of each Inhumans book did. I'm fine with that. I like the idea that both books deal with the Inhuman "nation"/"family" in general.

The Inhumans as a group are clearly central to the MU in a way I've never seen before. I'm loving both books. This book's first story--the one actually about "The Quiet Room" and the goings on there--is wonderful, and the second, a two issues Medusa/Johnny Storm close-up, is pretty good character work.

The last issue--a story focused nearly exclusively on Reader--is wonderful and gives a broader perspective to Reader's abilities that is both awesome and a little frightening. What a truly original and incredibly powerful power set. I loved it.

[Shannon Appelcline · Rating 4 out of 5]

A strong second volume from Soule, that's very much a continuation of Inhuman in a way that "Time Crush" before it wasn't, with three stories:

The longest story, about the Quiet Room, gives us a nice chance to see what's going on with Black Bolt and to really view him in a different light. However the lotsa-problems-coincide plot really doesn't go anywhere.

The second story focuses on Johnny and Medusa's relationship and how it affects Crystal. Despite some purposeful silliness, this is a great character piece.

The last story is a great look at who Reader really is, and despite its single issue count also brings a long-running plot to an end.

This volume may rate as high as 4.5 stars. It'd be a must-read if anyone cared about the Inhumans.

[Sean · Rating 4 out of 5]

Charles Soule's Inhumans run continues and I really enjoyed this. We get story progression and some finality, back story with Reader that was great, the hows of Medusa/Johnny, and more. The Quiet Room is interesting and should lead to some more political intrigue. There were a couple of small plot holes/dropped threads but they weren't enough to take away from the story. I like the fact that the book isn't just Medusa or Black Bolt but we need more of the newer characters to get spotlighted like Reader was here. The art was uneven as Brandon Peterson's was great but Kev Walker's was spotty. Overall, an enjoyable read that shows promise.

[Adam Fisher · Rating 3 out of 5]

The stories here are very hit or miss.
Black Bolt's Inhuman peaceful nightclub called The Quiet Room? Other than Flagman, kind of dull.
Origin story of Human Torch and Medusa's relationship? Very good story.
Reader hunting down the artifact stolen from Ennilux in the first part of the story? I got a bit confused with my lack of knowledge of Inhumans, despite his powers being cool.
This Volume wasn't as good as Volume 1, and I'm a little concerned about the vision for this series. Hopefully, it will be really good when we get to IvX.
Recommend, kind of...

[Silas · Rating 4 out of 5]

Since I primarily read Uncanny Inhumans to see what's up with the Beast, this was kind of a letdown, since he isn't in it apart from a mention. I still don't love most of the newer Inhuman characters, but some of the stories were interesting, even if some of the elements were a little strange upon first glance. I found they made sense after a fashion, though, and the story won me over, and I find myself caring about a couple of the characters more than I have in the past, even if they are not yet favorites. This was a solid volume.

[Mitchell Friedman · Rating 3 out of 5]

A graphic novel is a bag of reprinted stories. Sometimes the story selection makes a lot of sense and is in order and tells a larger story. In this book, the title story The Quiet Room was kind of fantastic. It basically made me care about the Inhumans. It reintroduced characters in a way that was compelling and interesting. And then the rest of the book was basically broken - out of order, confused. And by the time the plot continued I no longer cared. But it could have been better all the way through.

[Timothy Pitkin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ok the idea of Black Bolt, a guy's whos voice is loud enough to destroy a planet owns a club called the Quiet Place is just funny and I hope other stories use this idea because their are a lot of funny things that can happen and do happen in this story. As you get the Leader and the Thinker threatening each other with nukes over a poker match and seeing what MMA fighting would look like in a world filled with mutants, superhumans, inhuman, aliens and etc. This part of story was funny and I hope to see it again, the rest was just ok.

[Villain E · Rating 3 out of 5]

Grumble, grumble. The previous volume tricked me into thinking this might be good.

First Black Bolt opens a nightclub for superpowered folk called The Quiet Room where no violence or crime is allowed. Viloence and crime immediately ensue. Then Crystal finds out about the relationship between Medusa and the Hunan Torch.

How about establishing things and exploring them before they fall apart?

[fawkes · Rating 3 out of 5]

Aslında kötü değildi ama bir şeyler eksikti de. Sessiz oda fikrini beğendim Balck Bolt için tam 🤌 maalesef işleyişi biraz zayıf geldi. Onun dışında Medusa ve Johnny? Yakışıyorlar galiba hala kararsızım. Olan Crystal’a oldu. Ayrıca ikili dövüş ustası herifin aniden böcek yutup ölmesi wtf moment’tı ve saçmaydı ngl.
Overall, fena değildi.

[Ziyad Baksh · Rating 2 out of 5]

episodic romp

contrary to the last volume's central focus on the royal family, this volume expands to the new characters and has a more episodic approach.

its a good read.

ps. id read a spinoff on reader and forey.