Grimlock ♥ Ultra Magnus

So first of all, I don't have this cover - the Hip Hop one?   I have this cover which I like much more.   Secondly, Karnak isn't exactly changed.  Or the parts of him that are make sense: he's been dead, and come back, and he was never the huggable one of the group. The starkness, though, is a little new.   It's new, and given that he's no longer an advisor to the throne of New Attilan, but rather a teacher, a high priest of sorts, and a philosopher, a lot of that existential angst that he speaks so often in this makes perfect sense. 

But here's the thing you have to understand about Karnak: he's never been through Terrigenesis, so he doesn't have an Inhuman superpower.   After his brother, Triton went through Terrigensis, apparently his parents asked him not to go through it.   I guess the fact that Triton had green scaled freaked them out, which doesn't make sense: if they're part of the Inhuman royal family, then wouldn't they be used to what others might consider shocking changes in their brood?   He does, however, see the weakness in all things, be they objects or organisms.   It is, as far as I can find from my research, an extrasensory perception gained through meditation and practice.  (He was raised as a scholar, and even in a religious setting, and also is a master of marital arts.)

He can break what seems unbreakable, because he sees the fault line in it, he sees where it needs to be hit to shatter it, and he has the strength of mind and body to follow through with his strikes.  Karnak has exploited this for his family and people many times; his ability is very manipulative in many ways.   And I'm guessing this series may go more into the psychological weaknesses that Karnak can also see, given that Ellis is at the helm, although so far the first issue focuses on physical weaknesses.  And Ellis is in rare form, using these weaknesses ruthlessly to get what he wants. 

It's actually a bit chilling.  I've respected Karnak for a while, but almost didn't subscribe to this series.   I've never been that into Karnak.   Surely, though, if someone was going to change my mind it would be Ellis.   And it is.   That ruthlessness, that chilling quality, makes me see Karnak in a new light, and I actually quite like this.   It gives him an edge he didn't have before.  

And I can now see that never before has Karnak used his abilities to their fullest potential.   Maybe the whole Inhumanity event and the fallout from that, his death, his coming back, has made him more cynical, more willing to use everything he has no matter what damage he does to others who are of no interest to him.  I don't know what set him off, although I suspect it all boils down to the fact that he hasn't had a writer worthy of him yet. 

I'm really loving Karnak.   I'm loving what Ellis is doing with him, and I'm loving how characters like Coulson are fitting into this series, and I'm loving the positions that Karnak is being put into right now.  

I can't tell you how much I love this series.   Another month for issue two?  Well, this series is one of them that makes me despise the month long wait.   One month suddenly seems like a massive amount of time.