Polite Dissent

One of the most thought-provoking recent comic storylines was in the overlooked Marvel Knights 4 #19 and #20.

In this story, Gorgon’s daughter Alecto and her Alpha Primitive boyfriend Reyno flee from the sanctuary city of Attilan and arrive at the doorstep of the Baxter Building seeking asylum. The teens claim that they are being persecuted by her father and the rest of the Inhumans who will not allow the couple to stay together. Reed and rest of the guys are studying ocean life at the bottom of the sea, so Sue, Franklin and H.E.R.B.I.E. are the only ones home. Sue immediately takes the refugees in and swears she’ll protect them. Meanwhile, Gorgon has tracked his errant daughter to New York and the obligatory fight scene results.

The rest of the FF return just in time to rescue Franklin and Sue. After briefly looking over the situation — and without discussing his decision with Sue — Reed calls the rest of the royal Inhumans and hands the children back over to them. In the end, Sue reassures Franklin that the teens will find a happy ending, though she knows that won’t be the case.

At first, I was stunned by Reed’s actions. Handing back abused children to the abusers? What was he thinking?

But were Alecto and Reyno actually abused? Not liking your daughter’s boyfriend and trying to keep her away from him is a story as old as time and it’s not generally considered “abuse”. Sure, there’s a hint of racism — does Gorgon not like Reyno because he’s not royal, or because he’s an Alpha Primitive — but the reader can empathize that Gorgon is just doing what he thinks is best for his daughter.

I think Reed probably made the right decision, but he could have gone about it better. He should have made absolutely certain that there was no abuse before returning them to Attilan. Even more important (and I’m speaking as a married man here) he should have paid more attention to Sue’s opinions and decisions (I think he’s going to be sleeping alone for the next few months).

Marvel Knights 4 is by Robert Aguirre-Sacasa and Valentine DeLandro.

Final Thoughts:
Has Gorgon’s daughter ever been mentioned before? How about being sent through the Terrigan Mists more than once — has that ever been mentioned before?