By Marc Strom
The Inhumans and the Kree don't make the happiest of families.
Unfortunately, the royal family has no choice but to seek the Kree's help in SECRET INVASION: INHUMANS #3, on sale October 8, if they hope to save Black Bolt in time.
The race of technologically-evolved, reclusive Inhumans started out like the rest of us: Swinging massive clubs around and trying every which way to start a fire. But when the alien Kree, at war with the Skrulls, noticed the potential in homo sapiens to become something so much more, they began experimenting with a select few early humans.
The result, of course, left the group incredibly advanced over their fellow cavemen. After the Kree picked up and left Earth—and the Inhumans—for reasons still shrouded in mystery, the new race retreated to the secluded Attilan, a technologically-advanced city millennia ahead of its time.
Since then the Inhumans' relationship with the Kree has been less-than-stellar. In recent years, Ronan the Accuser invaded Attilan, enslaving the entire city. While Black Bolt and the royal family eventually fought back the intruders, they haven't had much contact with their "creators" since…but now the Skrulls' invasion has changed everything.
"Medusa is desperate," series writer Joe Pokaski notes. "And she knows two things: The first is that Black Bolt is somewhere in deep space. The second is that the Kree—who know space better than she does—hate the Skrulls. She rolls the dice in hoping she can reconcile these two facts and find a way to find a needle in a haystack."
However, a shared hatred of the Skrulls won't prove enough to put all the tension between the Inhumans and the Kree to rest.
"I suppose 'strained' would be an understatement," Pokaski says, evaluating the two races' relationship. "There were movements in the previous generation to make amends with the Kree, but those got fouled up by Maximus."
"Then, of course, Ronan came and enslaved the Inhumans—forcing them into their originally intended trade as spies and operatives. That ended badly—and I don't think the two have had any interaction since Black Bolt defeated Ronan for his family's freedom. I tried to think of the relationship in terms of going back to an estranged—even abusive—father because you need his help more than you want to stay clear of him."
The story running through SECRET INVASION: INHUMANS, entitled "Family," highlights the importance of familial bonds among the Inhumans, particularly insofar as their adherence to the tenets of kinship makes them unique from any other race. But how exactly does that principle extend to their relationship with the Kree?
"Well, therein lies the cool conflict of the third book, right?" Pokaski notes. "If the Inhumans do hold family up as sacred, and technically the Kree are family—how do they reestablish that bond? And how do they really mean it? Medusa has a way to show her commitment to the alliance—but she risks losing her sister in doing it. But this alliance will obviously take hold and mean a lot as we head into 'War of Kings,' helping to define the Inhumans in a whole new way."
Recent events—namely an invasion from the Negative Zone, followed shortly by the Phalanx taking over their empire—have left the Kree in a battered state, but according to Pokaski, fans shouldn't count them out quite yet.
"Ronan has been rebuilding the Kree Empire slowly but surely since the Annihilation, specifically in terms of military strength," the writer explains. "But the Kree serve the Inhumans' particular needs in this aspect by flexing a strength they have always had in spades: Their intelligence, and their technology. That capacity plus Karnak's ability to harness it could mean the answers they are looking for."
To witness the tumultuous family reunion between the Kree and Inhumans, pick up SECRET INVASION: INHUMANS #3, due out on October 8. You can also learn more about the Inhumans' recent exploits on Marvel Digital Comics Unlimited with SON OF M and SILENT WAR!
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 "SECRET INVASION: INHUMANS #3 cover by Stjepan Sejic")
