Creative Team
Writers: Dan Abnett & Andy Lanning
Artist: Paul Pelletier
Inker: Rick Magyar
Colorist: Wil Quintana
Story – The Head that Wears the Crown
Review
Whether it is through War of Kings or one of the three series that tie into this event DnA are giving us the perfect model of how big events should be done. War of Kings #3 is a great example of this as DnA are able to mix drama with big action scenes without having one part bogging down the issue. Up until this issue we have gotten two quick seek attacks from both sides of the war but it is in this issue were things really start picking up. Also I love the video game character look of the cover for this issue.
Their are only two things that may be seen as negatives against this issue. The first is that it seems like a cop-out having Vulcan being stopped from killing Lilandra. But even though it feels like a cop-out it is hard to go against the reasoning that was given to why Vulcan was stopped especially with what happened at the end of the issue.
The other negative for this issue is that unless you read Guardians of the Galaxy #13 than you will be wondering how the Guardians just seem to pop out of nowhere to help out the Inhumans and the Starjammers out with getting Lilandra back. But this, like the other negative, is only a minor complaint that is DnA make up for by making the Guardians inclusion gave the series a comedic punch that was missing from the previous two issues.
There are a lot of great things in this issue I got to say that Rocket Raccoon completely stole the show in this issue. The Rocket vs Gladiator fight was something I wasn’t expecting to see but completly awesome. Even though the plan the Starjammers and Guardians came up with failed Rocket’s dialogue was hilarious. And this issue made me really miss Pelletier’s artwork on Guardians of the Galaxy as he draws a great Rocket Raccoon. While I would love to see Pelletier return to drawing Guardians of the Galaxy his artwork in this series is sure to make Marvel give him one of their high profile books.
One of the great things that DnA have been doing is giving the Inhuman’s rise to power in the Kree a realistic feel. Most of the time when we get a change in the status quo of certain characters the changes are quickly accepted (Norman’s rise to power) or forgotten and only slightly mentioned (Final Crisis aftermath). But DnA have done great job showing that Black Bolt and the Inhumans are not only having to deal with the war with Vulcan and the Shi’ar but also are having to win over the Kree people into accepting them as their new rulers.
If nothing else this series has really helped to make Crystal into a much more interesting character with her rise as the people’s princess for the Kree people. Crystal’s new role presents an interesting dynamic with her sister Medusa as they have different approaches with how they should deal with their current situation. And while Medusa may not say it she does seem to be jealous of her sister having more pull with the Kree than her. And even though I am excited to see a fight between Black Bolt and Vulcan I am starting to become much more interested in seeing if we will see a future physical conflict with Black Bolt and Medusa going against Ronan and Crystal.
While the ending was not a surprising development the choice that Gladiator made at the end of this issue should make things very interesting as I expect Vulcan to cut loose with how angry he will be once he finds out what happened. And with all the characters involved War of Kings only looks to become bigger and better with each future issue.
Issue Rating
Story: 9.7/10 – DnA are doing a great job with how balanced they are making this series even with the massive amount of characters they are juggling.
Art: 9.4/10 – Pelletier was given chance to cut loose in this issue with how much action their was and he does a great job illustrating everything going on in this war between the Inhumans and Shi’ar.
Overall: 9.55/10 – War of Kings #3 was a spectacular read and Marvel’s cosmic universe is one of the best things going on in comics right now. If you haven’t gotten on board with War of Kings or any of the other Marvel cosmic titles than I highly recommend getting War of Kings and everything related to War of Kings when it comes out in trade paperback form.