During his reign as king of the Inhumans, Black Bolt made a number of choices that impacted the Marvel Universe in a profound way. From serving on a secret Illuminati of heroes to detonating a Terrigen Bomb that transformed thousands of people around the globe into super-powered Inhumans, Blackagar Boltagon's legacy looms large. He is no longer a king, though, nor is he the same man who made those impactful decisions. In the inaugural arc of the new Black Bolt ongoing series, writer Saladin Ahmed and artist Christian Ward trapped the character in a nightmarish cosmic prison, an experience that changed his personality -- and his superhuman abilities.

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His adventure has also bestowed upon him new responsibilities, like an alien ward and the responsibility of bringing the news of the death and heroic sacrifice of his fellow inmate the Absorbing Man to the supervillain's wife, Titania. In Black Bolt #8 Ahmed and Ward kick off a new arc that finds their title character returning to Earth to fulfill those obligations while also coming face to face with the choices he made as king and the tragedies that befell his people while he was imprisoned.

CBR: Black Bolt has finally escaped prison and made it to Earth, but he's come home a changed man, both in terms of powers and personality. In issue #7, he still felt like a man of action who believes in authority, but one who also believes in mercy and is very dedicated to protecting his new ward, Blinky.

Saladin Ahmed: That's fair -- they had this space adventure on a ship going home in issue #7, and they had that for several reasons. Part of the reason was because Black Bolt had been weakened physically, and he's also in a post-traumatic mental state. Both he and Blinky are given what they've been through.

His experiences in prison softened him, and we'll really explore that once he gets home and we see the contrast to the way he was. When he left Earth, he was technically no longer a king, but he was very much this kind of imperious royal figure, and he's come home pretty different. So we're going to see this contrast and see him react to the people, places, and things that he had a very different relationship to before he left.

In a way, Blinky and Lockjaw have been sort of the heart of this book. They helped temper some of the darker and horrific scenes of the first arc and also provided some poignant and very sweet moments that admittedly caused me to tear up on several occasions. What inspired the creation of Blinky, and what inspired you to use Lockjaw in this way?

I always end up writing darker than I think I write. I don't like unrelenting darkness. I like humor, and I like love.

I had to think a lot about the somewhat cheesy choice to end the first arc on the word love. It's important to me -- I'm a dad myself -- to look at the world in a way that allows for seeing generosity, loyalty and connection, and not just seeing the dark things.

With Lockjaw specifically, when I was writing that issue several months ago, I was kind of going through some stuff. [Laughs] My cousin's dog, who I was spending a lot of time with, provided me with this kind of solace. So while I was spending some time with this pooch, I started thinking about therapy dogs, human-animal connections, and that kind of stuff. Black Bolt's bond with Lockjaw has always been there, but it hasn't really been explored the way it could be. So I kind of wanted to dig into that.

In issue #5 you fleshed out Lockjaw's origin a little more and added some new elements to it.

I did. There's been some ambiguity as to where Lockjaw came from. I still left it in pretty broad strokes. Things will be explored in more detail in an upcoming Lockjaw miniseries that Daniel Kibblesmith is writing.

I did introduce an origin that showed how Lockjaw was a crucial part of Black Bolt's childhood. They spent that childhood together. We'll get into that more in the next few issues, but Black Bolt's childhood has been one of the things that's really compelling to me about the character. He was essentially stuck in total isolation. So, to my mind, he had an abusive childhood, and Lockjaw is sort of this beacon for him as a kid -- even as a man. It was really fun to pull on those heartstrings, and people responded wonderfully to it.

Going back to what you said earlier, it feels like with the first arc you looked at who he was as a person, and with this second arc of him coming home, you're looking at who he was as a king versus who he is now.

Part of it is just scratching a kind of world building and plot itch. He spent several months away from Inhumanity and the rest of the Marvel Universe, and that worked for that period of time. Now it's time for him to come back and resume and reexamine relationships and dynamics. Prison was a very closed world. Now he's come back to this broader world, and it's hard for him to do.

We're going to see him deal with his actual child. He's coming home with an adopted kid, but he's got a son, Ahura, who he's not had the best relationship with. So we're going to see that get picked up. We're going to see him deal with the fall out from his imperial decisions with Terrigen and all that happened after he released the bomb; the consequences of which he never fully had to wrangle with.

So all of his past is going to catch up with him. It's been revolving in the back of his mind for the past several months, but now he's going to have to come back as this changed person and reckon with these people and situations. And of course a lot has happened since he's been gone too.

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One of the big incidents, and from the solicits it looks like you address that right away, was what happened to the Inhumans during Secret Empire.

Yes. They feel abandoned and they let Black Bolt know that in pretty forceful terms.

The cover to Black Bolt #9 shows that the restored Captain America, Steve Rogers, will be part of that story. What's it like writing Steve and bouncing him off of someone like Black Bolt?

It was an absolute dream. I'm not a very flag wavy guy -- I'm more of a left wing anarchist in my politics. [Laughs] I've always had a soft spot, though, for Steve Rogers.

It's not an issue-long fight between Black Bolt and Steve. It's a brief scene, but I got to write a monologue for Steve Rogers. That felt pretty great. [Laughs] Steve is sort of dealing with his own reckoning given everything that's been done in his name. So he and Black Bolt have come together as these two shell shocked commanding heroes who are a little less sure of themselves than maybe they were a little while ago

It just occurred to me that Black Bolt doesn't have his voice because of what happened at the prison. What can you tell us about how he'll communicate and interact with the other heroes and characters in this story?

Blinky is using her psychic powers to do a lot of the heavy lifting when he first gets back to Earth, but she's not always around and certainly this will come up as an issue.

As far as a narrative approach, there are places where my reliance on the captions creeps back in. I've established what I think is a pretty decent narrative voice. People have responded well to it. I try not lean too heavily on it, but there's certainly going to be plenty to look at in Black Bolt's head when he can't speak.

I was a huge fan of the way you wrote the Absorbing Man in the first arc, so I'm wondering if this story will also have Black Bolt meeting with Titania to explain what happened to her husband.

Yes, in issue #8 Black Bolt has all these big-level responsibilities to deal with, but in his mind and his little protege's, their mission is to deliver the news and the literal ball and chain back to Titania. She's actually going to stick around for a bit, so you'll get more than a brief scene with Titania.

That will also be about mourning and consequences. Superheroes get captured and characters die all the time in comics, and so often that's the end of the story. A lot of this book though is about aftermath. Titania is going to play a role in that.

This new arc will be illustrated by your regular artist Christian Ward, correct?

Yes! Christian is back. He took one issue off because he became a dad. [Laughs] Understandably, he needed a brief break. He's back with issue #8, and he's on board for the rest of the arc.

What he's doing is really amazing. Because a lot of the second arc involves a lot of wham-pow moments with other Marvel characters, but this is an arc that takes place on Earth and has a lot of quiet, human emotion in it as well as some of the slugfest stuff. And Christian is really shining at everything from facial expressions to the way he can make a sunset on a Bronx street look as amazing as a nebula in space. His work is just gorgeous. It's really going to be a delightful arc.

Finally, in January the other members of the former Inhuman Royal family return to Earth in Al Ewing and Mike del Mundo's Judgement Day one-shot. I know from talking with Al you guys discussed Black Bolt's role in that book. In a way is Judgment Day a chapter in the story you're telling as well?

Absolutely. You can read Royals, Judgement Day and Black Bolt and enjoy them on their own, but there is going to be some really nice moments of continuity between Judgement Day and Black Bolt #10. Judgement Day kind of takes place simultaneously with issue #10 although it comes out right before. Al and I got to sit down at New York Comic Con and put our heads together about these stories to give them a richer back and forth.

The former Royal Family has been through a lot. It's been heartbreaking watching it all happen. So there's some powerful stuff coming up... and possibly a reunion of some sort.