Annihilation: A Look Back

Since I'm done with my school and currently hunting down some of the big stories from the 90s and 80s, I decided to take the task of looking back at the big events of the last decade. The first one up is Annihilation by Keith Giffen and Andrea Di Vito. I decided to cover the Prologue and the Annihilation miniseries. Feel free to add in comments about the story as I go along.

First up the Prologue...

I have to say I remember when this came out I thought it was awesome to take another look at the cosmic area of the Marvel U. It's something that hasn't had a real spotlight in many years. To start it off with this book I thought was very ambitious. I mean you do have a definite great writer in Giffen and some stellar art by Scot Kolins ( I wish Marvel would get him back). Still the idea of starting it all off with what is very similar to Pearl Harbor was a huge gambit. The scenes of the Kyln kinda make take you off your guard. I mean you know something is coming but you just aren't sure what. If you had not read Thanos last mini-series you would still be okay because Giffen does a great job of laying the foundation of what everything is. The scene of the Annihilation Wave breaking through was just so epic. Man, things went from 0 to 60,000.

The use of Nova and Drax/Cammi (and a lesser extent Silver Surfer, Ronan, and Super-Skrull) as the starting points of the main narrative was nice. Nova was always a B-lister but to see him face this threat and be the last one of his kind...man that was deep. I loved the new version of Drax and him keeping Cammi around was just so awesome. I liked the small glimpses at Silver Surfer, Ronan, and Super-Skrull. This introduced them as places where the story will flow into. Giffen doesn't introduce anything that isn't of any importance. No panel is wasted by him.

The level of destruction is so scary in a way. We haven't seen anything on this scale in a very long time. It makes what Morrison did in NEw X-Men seem like nothing. The art is just as important as Giffen's words here. We really get this feel that "maybe this isn't our typical story". And the reveal at the end of Annihilus. The use of a villain who has mostly been kinda a joke was brilliant and he felt like "damn this guy might be bad-ass". A great start to the story.

The prologue leaves us with Drax/Cammi escaping the destruction of Xandar, Nova the last Corps member alive, Super Skrull sneaking aboard a Kree battlecruiser, Silver Surfer feeling something is off with the universe, and Ronan being arrested for something. Ohh yeah and this enormous invasion force taking on our universe. They've started from the fringe and have already devastated a whole system and on their way towards the Skrulls, Kree, and then Earth...Great start. We have characters, suspense, and a HUGE threat.

Art: A
Writing: A
Overall: A

PERSONALLY, I think the Annihilation event starts with the 4 issue Drax the Destroyer mini. Admittedly, it doesn't play into the overall event's plot line any, but if (as a reader) you're unfamiliar with both Drax and Cammi (as I was) then it's a great lead in.

As for the Prolouge -

I was actually on the farthest end from the Cosmic U as I could be when this went down. I was vaguely familiar with the players involved, but I didn't particularly LIKE any of them. In fact, the biggest draws to me where the Super-Skrull (my favorite FF villain) and Ronan mini series (I love Ronan's design), so I ended up checking it out.

And if anyone here is familiar with my posts in the various Cosmic-themed threads on here, then you know I converted. QUICK.

The threat - as evidenced by the destruction Xandar - was BIG. It was REAL. Reading the X-Books at the time, they were (still) reacting to House of M and the greater Marvel U was embroiled in a Civil War. Neither one of those threats felt credible to me - you knew that no one was going to kill or absolutely betray anyone in Civil War, and for the X-Men it was pretty much business as usual. But in space, whole CRAP. A whole PLANET just got destroyed. In MINUTES. Damn.

I'll admit, I wasn't blown away by Kolins' art. It looks like it was drawn with a Sharpie marker and is messy and hurried looking to me. Admittedly, it works really well for the destruction scene. But I'm just not a fan of Kolins. The opening, the short Thanos story with Andrea DiVito, it much more to my liking. However, it works for the story, and ultimately, that's what the art in comics should do.

Now the rest...

So we get the four miniseries: Silver Surfer (which covers the story of Annihilus sending Ravenous and his Herald-Hunters to collect the heralds of Galactus, it ends with Silver Surfer now the herald of Galactus again, and Morg/Air-Walker dead); Ronan (this has him trying to clear his name and he runs into Gloriana, Gamora, Korath, Nebula, Stellaris, and others, it ends with the Wave attacking and killing the person who can clear Ronan's name); Super-Skrull (has the normally villainous Super Skrull head to the Negative Zone to stop the Wave at it's root; it ends with him teaming with Praxagora and destroying a Harvester of Sorrows); and Nova (Nova finds he is the last Corpsmen left and has all of the Nova Force and the Worldmind in him, he teams with Quasar and tries to take down Annihilus but ends in Quasar's death and Annihilus getting the Quantum Bands, Drax and Nova leave with him teaching Nova how to be a destroyer).

When Annihilation the main miniseries starts the war has been going on for 6 months. On Earth, M-Day has happened and the heroes are embroiled in the Civil War. The Annihilation Wave has decimated the Skrulls and on their way to take down the Kree as they head for Earth. Annihilus is working with Thanos and has captured Silver Surfer and Galactus (thanks to some old beings named Tenebrous and Aegis). Thanos has gave him a weapon that essentially utilizes Galactus unique power to drain planets to give him an unlimited supply of cosmic power, that will be bonded to Annihilus. Annihilus true plan is to kill all life in the Negative Zone and positive universe.

Meanwhile Nova has joined with several other species and created a United Front. In his ranks are Drax, Ronan, Gamora, Star-Lord, the Kree, Spartoi, Rigellians, and others (the Shi'Ar are waiting to see what to do). The United Front starts to fall apart when Drax departs to kill Thanos (which he does in a great scene). And in the end, after losing many lives Phyla-Vel, Nova, and Star-Lord face off with Annihilus. In a very brutal battle, Nova takes down Annihilus. The Annihilation Wave falls apart, Ravenous is made their leader and they rule over some terrority in Skrull and Kree space. Nova is the lone space-cop. The universe is in tatters, Silver Surfer works for a much more hungry Galactus...

So what do I think? Excellent story. Just fantastic. Great story telling and pacing by Giffen. Its a vast vast story but you feel the real personal stuff with Nova, Drax, and even to a degree Thanos. I felt like this was the perfect way to end his life. Thanos was the greatest villain in the MU for so long and to have him die in a such a brutal scene was just fantastic. It was appropriate for it to be Drax to end it. This allowed Drax's character to move on and set him up for some great potential stories. This story grew Nova soooo much. I mean man he was pretty much a second (third tier really) character and now he's this big bad cosmic character with all this power. It's crazy to look back at it and remember that Nova used to just be the dude who reminded me of Cannonball on New Warriors LOL...It was nice to see so many space characters pop up along the way. I really like the start of Ronan's journey here, how now he's running the Kree and his last act of mercy for the Supreme Intelligence was a huge moment.

The art for this was just WOW for me. It felt the very nihilistic and dark feeling of this book. I mean you think about it, up until that last issue I wasn't sure how Nova was going to pull it off. But when he did...MAN! There are just so many great splash pages in this: Death of Thanos, Galactus Angry, Nova killing Annihilus, etc.

Impact: Well shoot it revitalized the cosmic corner of the MU...made Nova a star, and reinvigorated so many characters. I would say it was a success on this end.

Art: A
Story: A
Overall: A

I just love Annihilationfor what it achieved: It took Nova from a bit player in the Marvel Universe to a big player; it brought Marvel comic back into our lives, spawning several cosmic series and subsequest events. It gave spotlight to characters you wouldn't suspect (Who would ever expect a Ronan or Super Skrull mini?).  

Originally posted by chrissstopher I didn't read Annihilation... still haven't (it was during my hiatus from comics). I came aboard with Annihilation: Conquest by DnA. But I did so because I was interested in all the attention Annihilation was getting in the blogs and boards when I was coming back onboard. I still intend to go back and read it but just haven't gotten to it yet. I love Cosmic Marvel... it's really a shame it kind of died again but man, it had a good and epicly awesome run! BC will you be covering the DnA age?

Yup plan on doing Conquest, War of Kings, and Thanos Imperative...

I know that nobody's posted on this topic since May, but I need an outlet for my joy for Annihilation and subsequent stories.

I used to read some of the cosmic titles when I was a teenager, but I took a brief break from comics in the late 90's (and a deserved one at that, what a dark time for Marvel...).  When I started back up in the early 00's, it was mostly X-Men and Avengers.  The cosmic titles fell to the wayside for me.  I'd heard of goings-on in the cosmic corner of Marvel on message boards and stuff for quite some time, but never picked any of them up.

Until a couple months ago.  I decided to give them a shot again, and to catch up with some of my favorite characters.  And WOOOW was I ever shocked!  After searching out many resources, I found a good but lengthy reading order of many of the events and titles, including:
Drax The Destroyer, Thanos, Annihilation, Annihilation: Conquest, Silent War, Secret Invasion: Inhumans, Nova, Guardians Of The Galaxy, X-Men - Kingbreaker, War Of Kings, Realm Of Kings, Thanos Imperative, etc.

It's taken me a couple months, but just yesterday I read the most recent issue of Annihilators: Earthfall.  And as soon as I finished, I got a little sad.  I had absolutely no idea how great the cosmic events and titles have been these past several years, and catching up on them has been so wonderful.  Now, I'm a die-hard X-Men fan, and the Avengers hold a very special place in my heart, but this cosmic stuff has been just so darn amazing, and I daresay a great many of these are better than a lot of the titles that take place on 616 Earth.  I feel pretty sad that I don't have any more cosmic sagas to read!  Part of me doesn't even want to go back to reading these earthly titles, haha.

So thanks for writing this post to begin with, Blackcyclops.  I revere all of these cosmic stories, from Drax The Destroyer #1 to Annihilators: Earthfall #3 (until #4 comes out!).  This is the quality of writing that I wish was happening in many X-Titles and Avengers books.  The next time someone makes fun of me for being a Marvel fan, I'll just show them Annihilation, step back, and watch the jaws drop.  :)

Yup, that's the order.  Prologue --> four solo minis (any order you like; each solo mini at a time, or reading all the #1's, #2's, #3's, and #4's) --> main event mini.  You'll love it!!

In terms of Nova, you have no idea.  :)  You're going to love this, hold on and enjoy the ride!

Lunatik was a parody of a parody, in this case DC's Lobo from the 90's. He had a quick limited and a few appearances in Marvel Comics Presents as an absolutely ridiculous over-the-top cosmic bounty hunter. The guy from Drax had very little in common with his previous appearances.

I don't believe so...remember all humans have the potential for psychic abilities. Its the x-gene that makes one a mutant.