The last panel of the last issue of ‘War of Kings’ proper was one of the best endings I’ve ever read for a comic book ‘event.’  Maybe *the* best — Crystal of the Inhumans saying ‘We won” with tears in her eyes.  Then I flipped to the next page and saw the ad for this one-shot “War of Kings: Who Will Rule?” and I thought, “Is this ever going to END?”

This one-shot makes it clear that the event doesn’t really end, but it turns out that I’m okay with that.  This issue highlights the kind of never-endingness that comes about not because someone wants to sell more comic books (though of course they do) but because galactic scale conflicts are bound to have consequences.  The ripple effect of the War of Kings is still reverberating, and it encompasses a lot of characters.  Mostly, it comes down to Gladiator, a Shi’ar Warrior, and Crystal, an Inhuman princess, either of whom might be asked to lead the Shi’ar Empire, neither of whom really wants to do it.  If you’d asked me at the end of War of Kings, I would have said the outcome was a foregone conclusion and there was no reason for this book to exist.  But reading it, I realize I was wrong.  Abnett and Lanning write the conflict, and the characters, in a way that lets you clearly understand the stakes, and why they matter.  This issue is a real clinic in how to write comics that feel both big and intimate.

Also, it’s got Polaris teasing Crystal about her sex life, and Maximus being a smartass.  Both things that are awesome.