War of Kings Kindle & comiXology

Totally agree with the first contributor. Abnett & Lanning have made galactic stories their own and never cease to amaze. The sheer scope and size of this edition makes it worth every penny. Even though there are a couple of filler stories at the end, written by Christos Gage amongst others, the main storyline, including the Darkhawk segment is, to my mind one of the best examples of Marvel's cross-title epics.Whilst it is helpful to have read some of the back story, such as Inhumans, Secret Invasion it's not necessary. If you, like me, have grown through many years with the Inhumans being used sporadically and with selective success, it is really satisfying to see them really let loose. The characters are soundly built on previous storylines, but what DnA have done is taken each character within the Inhumans royal family and stretched their core characteristics in a realisitc way, given the situatiions that they find themselves in. Using Crystal as their narrator is a stroke of genius.All in all, a great read and at 500 pages well worth the investment if you like space opera at its best.

bought as present

Really good book. Beautifully drawn and written by a great author.

Having been following the story from the X-Men perspective for years, I had huge hopes for this (even though I've never been a big fan of the Inhumans).And what a disappointment. The core story is ok I guess, but this is padded out with lots of side stories, of which the worst is Darkhawk. Please! Not on the same plane of existence as the whole Vulcan/ Imperial Guard / Starjammers theme.And the death at the end.... I am assuming this isn't forever (in classic Marvel style, who stays dead? Even D'Ken came back from the past, albeit briefly, though Christopher Summers still seems dead).There is a follow up story to this and I'm intrigued to see what's done with Vulcan (and Blackbolt) now (if anything) but I'm not going to be rushing out to buy it.

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.

No problems, and delivered on time.

War of Kings was a damn good cosmic event from Marvel that took place around the same time as Dark Reign/Seige. Starring the Inhumans, the Guardians of the Galaxy, and Vulcan, this event throws pretty much all of the major cosmic players into one big pot together. Black Bolt leads the Inhumans on a quest to claim their spot at the head of the Kree, but in so doing they pique the interest of intergalatic madman Vulcan. With the Starjammers and the Guardians of the Galaxy attempting to stop a massive war before it consumes the galaxy, it seems as if only one king will be left standing. This is a frankly terrific title and a great collection that includes the main event run of War of Kings as well as the prologue and epilogue tie ins.

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.

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.

I'd been away from the Marvel Universe for a while, but seeing the Guardians of the Galaxy movie inspired me to have a look at Abnett and Lanning's run with the characters, and that in turn made me curious about what the Inhumans had been up to when they were offscreen in that series. (It can be devious how Marvel ropes you in with its crossovers sometimes) I ended up having a good time with this series, which for all of its epic scope manages to stay grounded in its characters. Ronan the Accuser had a surprisingly deep and sympathetic arc in this, though the action centers mostly around Crystal and Gladiator. Most of all, War of Kings made me want to go deeper down the rabbit hole of these characters' histories, and the bios for some of them at the back of this book confirm that that's a deep dive indeed...

War of Kings is worthy of kings! I really enjoyed reading this book. (Spoiler alert) I thought that the conflict between Crystal and her new husband, Ronan the Accuser, and between Medusa and Black Bolt actually reflected a concern of where exactly priorities need to be placed in times of war, albeit in a sci-fi setting. I recommend this book to anyone who's read any stuff about the Inhumans. Five stars.

War of Kings is a massive Marvel crossover event and sadly, it's a bit of a mess... Some things go down and the galaxy winds up in an Inhumans vs. Vulcan (an X-Men Villain), Kree vs. Shi'ar war. This is the culmination of a lot of prior Inhumans and Xmen comics and the stakes are pretty high. While that sounds fine and dandy, the event ultimately fails to deliver. It serves as an unsatisfying conclusion to the X-Men Vulcan Saga, none of its characters are likable or relatable, and to cap it all off, it's just not that entertaining to read.The biggest problem with this event boils right down to the very premise itself. This is the climax of the X-Men Vulcan Saga and by letting the Inhumans have the final battle with Vulcan, this story robs the X-men (especially Havok) of their resolution with Vulcan. The X-Men are pushed into the background of this event and their presence here is pointless. Imagine if instead of making Star Wars 6, George Lucas had done a "Star Wars meets Star Trek" crossover, where Captain Kirk got to have the final battle with Darth Vader and The Emperor. That's basically what's happening here. It's particularly insulting because there were a whopping 4 X-men arcs with a total of 27 issues leading up to this! I know this is the name of the game with Comic Crossovers but I legitimately want all of the time back I spent reading those arcs... If you do read War of Kings, skip all of that. Marvel has a one shot called "War of Kings: Saga" that can fill you in on all the backstory you need. I would recommend just reading that or at most, only read "Rise and Fall of the Shi'ar Empire." The other 3 arcs have 1 or 2 minor advancements and end largely how they start.The next biggest issue with this crossover is that neither side has any personal investment in the war. The war is started by the Inhumans and Vulcan both arrogantly stomping on each other's toes. They both think of themselves as unstoppable and escalate things unnecessarily. It's a cosmic slap-fight between two bullies that think they're the strongest kid on the playground. Seriously, who am I supposed to be rooting for here? I found myself hating the Inhumans even more than Vulcan and he's pure evil! The writers try to position Crystal (an Inhuman) as the voice of reason but her lack of impact on the story makes her largely irrelevant. Even worse, you're forced to go along with Crystal as her sister Medusa ignores Crystal and repeatedly justifies her questionable actions with, "because I said so." These parts are frustrating to read and they'll make you hate the Inhumans. This was also the case with the Inhumans' prelude to War of Kings: "Secret Invasion: Inhumans." Skip that one too!Lastly, this event simply isn't very entertaining to read. For one, there's almost a hilarious lack of action here. The Inhumans and Vulcan don't even meet face-to-face until the final issue and one of the better fights from this event is actually in Guardians of the Galaxy and not here! The story tends to focus on 3 characters: Crystal, Vulcan, and Gladiator of the Shi'ar Guard. The Vulcan and Gladiator parts are reasonably entertaining but the Crystal parts are a total chore to read. Most of her parts are comprised of her sitting and talking with Ronan about politics, or the aforementioned "because I said so" conversations with Medusa.This book includes an interview with DnA (the authors of this and caretakers of Cosmic Marvel from 2006-2011), where they explain that with War of Kings, they were trying to make something almost Shakespearean, putting a heavier emphasis on politics, human-drama, and royalty. While I can see what they were going for, it just doesn't work. Speaking of George Lucas, I think DnA should have observed what happened when Lucas started to incorporate more politics/human-drama/royalty into his space epic...On its own, this book is probably more of a 4/5 than a 3/5. The final battle is actually pretty epic, there are some pretty good twists, the art by Guardians-Artist Paul Pelletier is fantastic, and it has some drastic consequences that shake up the status-quo for Cosmic Marvel. That said, as with many comics, you often have to consider multiple books when evaluating a story. And as the conclusion of the Vulcan Saga, War of Kings just doesn't deliver, not to mention the load of other problems it has.

This book is pretty epic and a must buy for anyone in love with the marvel cosmic universe. I love the Shia'r empire and especially the imperial guard plus we finally get to see what the Inhumans are really capabale of. The story is really good and the artwork fantastic.

A favorite of mine. Gladiator at his best!

A good marvel story with only a few minor flaws. Worth the read if you want to get outside of the usual marvel stuff.

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.

Got this for my boyfriend and he loved it.

An extremely fun read!

Reading this on my kindle fire HD, there were a few instances of zoomed-in panels remaining nearly illegible, and one panel was skipped entirely, forcing me to squint my way through a conversation.The content is good. My only complaint being the digital formatting.

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