Black Bolt had a son. A precocious princeling by the name of Ahura. I was first exposed to the dude in the pages of Mike Allred’s work with the Fantastic Four. Great costume. A lightly urban take on his father’s classic look. And that king really set a high bar for Inhuman fashion in his day.

But then the mostly mute monarch abandoned his heir to Kang the Conqueror in hopes of saving his son from an impending apocalypse. It was one of those days.

But the kid didn’t take it well, and his feelings of loss and loneliness were sculpted into resentment, loathing, and revenge by his new caretaker, who impressed himself upon the lad as a firm new father figure. Now Ahura’s striking back at his parents across time by erasing their entire race from reality. But the crime that really struck me was one of fashion.

Where he once wore the royal raiment of his true parent, he now adorns himself in attire that attests to the tastes of his villainous surrogate. That’s a steep step in the downward direction. That’s a stairway and a half.

But this stylistic sin and the comparatively minor misdemeanour of temporal genocide share a common cause. The dude’s just too dependent on the presence of a strong male role model, and he doesn’t discriminate. Good? Evil? Chic? Grotesque? He seems to lack the wherewithal to make such distinctions.

This is how monsters are made.

Bonus Question!

Best Black Bolt homage by a costume outside of comics?

Gene Simmons.

He’s honest about his inspiration.

Admittedly, he’s also appeared like that in comics, and in that format, I think that Ahura still comes out on top. I haven’t heard Ahura sing yet, though. If he inherited any of his father’s vast vocal power, he could probably stand up against the Demon there too.

Hot Apollo

Loud Voices, Loud Outfits