Issue(s): Amazing Adventures #5, Amazing Adventures #6, Amazing Adventures #7, Amazing Adventures #8 (Inhumans stories only)
Cover Date: Mar-Sep 71
Title: "His brother's keeper" / "Hell on Earth" / "An evening's wait for Death" / "An hour for thunder"
Credits:
Roy Thomas / Gerry Conway - Writer
Neal Adams - Penciler
Tom Palmer / John Verpoorten - Inker

Review/plot:
Gerry Conway writes issue #7 only.

These four issues pretty much boil down to "Black Bolt has Maximus locked up, but Gorgon and Karnak stupidly let him out, and when they do, Maximus fires a mental bolt that gives Black Bolt amnesia while he's in San Francisco, and he also takes over the Great Refuge. The rest of the Royal Family go looking for Black Bolt, but they fail to find him because he's wandering around with a homeless boy named Joey."

Here are the Inhumans in disguise.

The issues are padded a bit with the Inhumans fighting everyone from Communists...

...to muscle beach guys...

...to a dude with a cybernetic hand...

...to Thor.

The issue ends with the homeless boy's ne'er-do-well uncle dressed up in Black Bolt's costume (put in it by the cybernetic hand guy, who is trying to start a riot to tear down a ghetto before he dies of cancer) and, well... he explodes. I'm not sure why.

In this arc's favor, there is the Gong of Sovereignty.

Probably not Neal Adams' greatest art. I blame the lack of Tom Palmer on all but the first issue, where it is good.

As for the story, we're really in repeat territory with yet another Maximus attack (the second in this series alone) and the Inhumans wondering around homeless in the US, very similar to their first appearance. It really seems Marvel didn't know what to do with these characters.

Quality Rating: D+

Historical Significance Rating: 1

Chronological Placement Considerations: The Marvel Index has the Avengers appearing during the Kree-Skrull War, between Avengers #91-92, which is certainly possible. Since i've got that whole War in one trade, i've pushed this back a little further, between Avengers #88-89, which seems to work just as well. Takes place after Sub-Mariner #36.

References:

• Triton has recently returned from the "world of men -- where he delivered a message of peace and justice for the regal Sub-Mariner" in Sub-Mariner #36.

Crossover: N/A

Continuity Insert? N

My Reprint: Marvel Masterworks: The Inhumans vol. 1

I think the idea is supposed to be that the costume was designed to be used by Black Bolt and if anyone else tries to use it, they get killed.

I get that but... there's no explanation, there's no set-up, and it doesn't even make any sense for Uncle Roscoe to be in the suit; the robot hand guy (Dibbs) would have been better served if he'd just left Black Bolt in it.

It looks to me like Uncle Roscoe was killed by lightning attracted by the tuning fork on Black Bolt's costume headpiece(presumably Black Bolt, being tough enough to fight the Thing, wouldn't be harmed), but the text didn't make it clear.

I think Mark's right. One of Black Bolt's powers is manipulating electrons, so the text about absorbing lightning to recharge has some background plausibility. Thomas's attempt to be Tom Wolfe, or whatever, doesn't add to the scene's clarity, that's for sure.

Yes, Roscoe was killed by the lightning strike. The intent had been to continue the story into the next arc, which was going to be basically "What does it mean to be an 'Avenger', and is Thor justified in taking a life? Can he be brought to justice under our system of laws? Or as a God of Thunder, is he responsible for the death? Should he be punished? COULD he be punished? Would Odin stand for it? Would the Avengers allow it? How could they not? All these issues and topics were to have been dealt with,except, instead, we get the storyline folded into the Kree-Skrull war over in the Avengers and it's basically forgotten.

Why do the inhumans have to wear disguises? I mean, they all wear masks to conceal their identities. Nobody would recognise Medusa or Gorgon without their masks.

In the opening splash of #8 Wanda asks Cap who Black Bolt is. I guess she wasn't paying attention during the Lady Liberators meeting in Avengers #83 when Valkyrie (Enchantress) accused Medusa of "hanging on [her precious Black Bolt's] every non-syllable." ;)

I thought these issues were OK. Not great, but Neal Adams' art helps a lot. Not his best work, but I still thought it was good. Yes, the Tom Palmer inked issue is the best one, though.

I, too, didn't understand why Roscoe got struck by lightning at the end of #8, so I'm glad I wasn't the only one.