"Annihilation: Desperate Measures"

 

                The following is a review of the graphic novel “Annihilation: Desperate Measures” as presented in Marvel Modern Era Epic Collection format.

                Annihilus, Lord of the Negative Zone, and his Annihilation wave pushed through the Crunch, and the universe was expanding into the Negative Zone. Annihilus was leading his Annihilation wave to take over all of existence. He destroyed the planet Xandar and killed all the Nova Corps, save for Richard Rider, who had the Xandarian Worldmind, and all of the Nova Force downloaded into his head.

Ronan was a former Kree Accuser, but due to a false testimony, he had been stripped of his rank and accused of treason and was on the run for his crimes. To restore his honor, he was searching for the “witness” who presented false evidence against him, Tana Nile. His search led him to Godthab Omega, where he reunited with his old friend Korath. While the two were catching up, they were attacked by Stellaris and Nebula, who were acting as graces for Gamora, the deadliest woman in the galaxy. Ronan forced the graces into retreat, where they returned to Gamora, who was harboring Tana Nile. Ronan found the warrior Devos in the town of Abyss, where Devos had just defeated the Skrull Talos, but Gamora attacks them both. The aspiring shaper of worlds Glorian used the energies from Devos, Talos, and the impact of Ronan and Gamora’s fight to recreate Godthab Omega. After Ronan and Gamora’s fight, Korath found Ronan, when Annhilus’ Annihilation Wave hit Godthab Omega. The Wave interrupted Glorian’s creation process. The Wave was led by Annihilus’ mat Eradica. Ronan discovered where Gamora and her graces were hiding Tana Nile, who was injured by the Annihilation Wave. She revealed the Fiyero House had been the ones who ordered her to give false testimony, before she succumbed to her wounds. Fiyero House wanted to replace the old order on Hala and claim it for themselves, going so far as to overthrow the Kree Supreme Intelligence. Ronan then defeated Eradica and her horde. His business of Godthab Omega concluded, Ronan swore he would find redemption.

                After six months, Richard Rider/Nova was leading the fight against the Annihilation Wave, with his second-in-command Peter Quill, formerly known as Starlord. Nova’s team included Drax the Destroyer and his companion Cammi, Gamora, Ronan, and the Heralds of Galactus, Firelord, Red Shift, and Stardust. They were holding off the wave, but they were not winning the War. Meanwhile, Annihilus had Thanos and the Proemial Gods Tenebrous and Aegis on his side. Firelord battled Annihilus’ mate Extirpia and captured her. Annihilus sent his hound Ravenous to extract revenge on Galactus’ former heralds. Firelord was returned gravely injured. Tenebrous and Aegis defeated Galactus and his current herald Norrin Radd/Silver Surfer and abducted Galactus and Silver Surfer. Phyla-Vell came to Drax to tell him his daughter Heather Douglas/Moondragon had been abducted by Thanos. Praxagora, a soldier from the Negative Zone who now fought against Annihilus, arrived with the body of Kl’rt/Super-Skrull. Ravenous, his Curs, and the Centurions, Annihilus’ elite army, arrived at the heroes’ base. Thanos created a device that would channel the energies Galactus consumed to power Annihilus’ forces. Firelord rejoined the fight, and the Super-Skrull was revived, but Annihilus’ forces were too much, and the heroes had to retreat off-world. Drax stayed behind in the fight to cover the retreat. Moondragon used her telepathic powers to show Thanos Annihilus’ plan. Thanos had keyed the shutdown on the Galactus machine to his power signature. But before Thanos could double-cross Annihilus, Drax fulfilled the purpose he was created for and destroyed Thanos. Moondragon surmised Silver Surfer, possessing the Power Cosmic, was on the same power level as Thanos, and instructed Drax to rescue him. Silver Surfer then freed Galactus. Ronan and Super-Skrull fought and defeated Ravenous. Ronan then struck down House Fiyero and was proclaimed ruler of the Kree. All forces then united in a final battle against Annihilus and his Annihilation Wave.

                Terrax the Tamer, a former herald of Galactus, along with the Skrull warrior Paibok and the Delinquent, arrived on a planet of Centaurians who were enslaved by Randau, the Space Parasite, who feasted upon energy. Terrax, having been defeated many times in the past, wanted to redeem himself and claim a victory. However, Randau’s defeat might not have been what the enslaved Centaurians wanted.

                Stardust, a former herald of Galactus, and an Ethereal, was confronted by the last remnants of his kind. After striking them down, he found Galactus, weakened from Annihilus’ machine and hungering more than ever. Having been replaced by the Silver Surfer, Stardust was desperate to return to Galactus’ service and offered Galactus a gift, hoping to win the world-eater’s favor.

                Firelord, a former herald of Galactus, arrived on Omina Prime, which was being overtaken by the warlord Smyt. The Centurians attempted to fight back but were not strong enough to defeat the warlord. Firelord offered his assistance, feeling a sense on sympathy for both having served another, but this was not an act of friendship, a fact he made known before departing Omina Prime.

                Silver Surfer, the current herald of Galactus, was tasked by his master with the mission of destroying the Proemial Gods Tenebrous and Aegis.

                Okay, I feel like that’s a good summary for this graphic novel. I tried to avoid spoiling the ending as much as possible, so you’ll actually have a reason to buy this book to find out how the heroes actually save the universes. So, we’ve covered Marvel’s part in this review, now let’s do my part of this review. We’re going to start with, as usual, my own reflections on the graphic novel. So, personally, I wasn’t all that impressed with the story. However, I will say what I am impressed with. Marvel has put out so many Epic Collections over the years, and none of them have ever actually contained the entirety of an event before. Epic Collections usually contain issues of specific characters from specific time periods, which at times occur around events, but will not actually include every single issue of the main event limited series. This is actually Vol. 2 of “Annihilation” and contained all six issues of the limited series “Annihilation” and if you combine the first two volumes together, they comprise the entire event. So, I will say I am actually happy about that. But was it an event I loved? No, it was not. This event actually occurred around the same time as “Civil War,” and I will say I much preferred the terrestrial war to the cosmic war. That said, I didn’t hate this event. I did find it mildly enjoyable. I mean, I read the entire graphic novel (comics sections only) in the span of about four hours, so if I couldn’t put it down, I guess on some level it was entertaining to me. Let’s talk about what I did like first. My favorite aspects about this graphic novel were the relationships between the characters. In Vol. 1, it was established how Drax met Cammi. I loved how their relationship continued in this volume. It was stated how Drax cared for Cammi, something that he didn’t actually really do for his own biological daughter Heather. I found that touching, especially when Drax stayed behind in the fight to allow the heroes to escape, and Cammi’s reaction, wanting to go back for Drax, despite their whole Cammi being a pain in Drax’s butt schtick. I liked Ronan’s quest for redemption against House Fiyero, the fact that they tried to take over and throw him out so they could have their way, and the turnaround of him taking them down and being given ascension over the Kree, I loved the poetic nature of that. I liked how Thanos had his own machinations the entire time, working for and against Annihilus at the same time, and at the end never getting his chance to double-cross his ally. Thanos has actually always been my favorite villain from space, as he actually does occasionally get to win, which not every villain gets to do, and he is a very nuanced villain as well. I knew from Vol. 1 that he didn’t truly want to serve Annihilus like Annihilus wanted because Thanos doesn’t actually serve anyone but himself and I was waiting to see the turnaround and see what Thanos would do, and I was slightly disappointed Drax stopped Thanos from taking an almost heroic action, but it still made for good entertainment. And I liked how Drax didn’t end Thanos to save Heather, despite Thanos having kidnapped her, he just ended Thanos because he believed that was his destiny because it showed his focus on not actually truly valuing family over purpose and exactly what a cold and ruthless character he is. I liked the two issue “Heralds of Galactus” limited series showcasing the four heralds, I thought those four short stories were all extremely interesting vignettes, and I usually like short stories focusing on one character at a time, I like how they give a new perspective on the character. Now let’s talk about what I didn’t like. I felt like at points there was too much action. There were times where there would be pages with panels full of explosions and blasts and no dialogue, and I felt like this detracted from it a little bit. Some issues took me less than ten minutes to read, and I found that slightly disappointing, I would have liked a little more exposition to go with the action, rather than just having a whole page full of reds, oranges, blacks, yellows, and sound effects. I remember back when comic books used to take forty-five minutes to read, and I really miss those days, and back then comics cost a heck of a lot less than they do now. I’m dropping a lot of money on these books, I want to actually be able to savor them, rather than just fly through them. I also didn’t like the time jumps. Between the first two volumes of “Annihilation,” there was a lot of time that wasn’t actually shown on panel, and these two volumes collected issues that spanned over a real-time period of three years in publication. I feel like the writers could have made a compelling story without the time jumps, which left gaps of several months left completely off the page. Yes, the dialogue was enough to explain what happened in the timespan between the jumps, but I didn’t feel like the six months left to the imagination were necessary, especially since comic book time isn’t supposed to mimic real time, and really, not a whole lot of years are supposed to have passed from back when Marvel first went big back in 1961 to now, so over 200 days passing in one event wastes a lot of time, in my opinion, and this event taking so long while the rest of the Marvel Universe is going on at a time period at a much slower pace doesn’t make sense, since “Civil War” didn’t take that long. Of course, we wouldn’t have a graphic novel review if I didn’t discuss the artwork. As my regular readers know, this is often a killer of scores for me. A graphic novel can have the most amazing story ever told, but the artwork can be an eyesore that ruins my enjoyment reading the book. That said, the story can be awful but still have mind-blowingly epic artwork that actually gets points just for pleasing my eyes. So, let’s do a rundown of what I thought of the art. For the art in “Annihilation: Ronan,” I felt it was a little wonky, but it wasn’t so bad that I hated it. The artwork in “Annihilation” was, in my opinion, fantastic. I found the art in “Parasites” to be enjoyable. I loved the artwork in “A Death of Hope.” The art in “Afterburn” was, in my opinion, very good. And I thought the art in “Brother’s Keeper” was excellent. So, in general, I found the artwork to mostly be acceptable, if not pleasurable, which it is actually relatively rare to happen when a graphic novel has so many artists. Usually, multiple artists means that someone runs a risk if inciting my ire, but none of these artists actually really struck a nerve. My final reflection is going to be on the title. Yes, “Desperate Measures” was the title of one issue in this book, but I just don’t really like it. This book basically had fourteen titles to choose from, if you want to get technical, and I don’t know exactly why the editors picked this one specifically, but it’s not my favorite. Can I tell you which one would have been the best? Honestly, no, but I still think there could have been a better title.

                Next up, we’re going to talk about accessibility. For any of the people who have read any of my other six dozen or so reviews, I’m sorry I have to explain this, but I always have those newbies who just got Facebook or X or Threads or found me through a hashtag for the first time and have never read a Tim Cubbin review before and have no idea what I mean when I throw out the word “accessibility” like this, so I’m obligated to explain it once again for whatever ridiculously high number of times I’ve had to explain this. So when I use the word “accessibility” in a review, what I mean is, can a person who has absolutely no prior knowledge at all of Marvel Comics find this book online, or at a bookstore, or comics shop, or a library, say “oh, I like this title!” or “oh, I like this cover, I want to read this!” and procure this book, read it, and fully understand everything they’ve just read? The answer is a resounding no. The biggest reason I say this is because this is marketed as Vol. 2, and I feel like it is imperative to read Vol. 1 “Annihilation Day” before reading this graphic novel as it sets up many of the threads in the main “Annihilation” event itself. The secondary reason I say this is because some of these characters are relatively obscure and have not had adequate histories established in other media to prepare readers for this book, even if you are a fan of the MCU, video games, television series, or cartoons. I will say if you are new to Marvel Comics, whether a fan of Marvel media or just a person who has never heard of Marvel and want to read this book, this is not a book to pick as your first foray into reading Marvel Comics.

                Okay, I’ve been blathering on for a very long time at this point, you’re probably starting to get bored of me and just want me to move on, so let’s get with one of the key points in my review. I used to say it was the reason we’re all here, but some people who read my reviews just want to hear what the book was about or what I thought about it, but this next part is one of the most crucial segments of any of my reviews, that being my numeric score. So, I work on an extremely simple system of scoring. My scores come in exact integers between one through ten. If I give the book a one, that means that it’s a piece of trash and every copy left in warehouses should be collected, placed in a pile, and ignited, then should never be reprinted again. I know that sounds a little extreme, but that’s how I am. Ten means this book is sheer perfection and if I get the chance, I will find any unsuspecting victims and talk to them about this graphic novel for ten hours straight until they buy the book and we will then have a ten hour discussion about the book. I know, that’s extreme, too. These polar scores really don’t exactly mean what I say they do in exposition. One just means this book was horrible, ten means this book was fantastic. So, let’s get to the actual score. So, I always say I have my metaphorical blender that somehow magically takes graphic novels in and makes a score. I know, in reality, that makes absolutely no sense, but like I said, it’s a metaphor. This blender takes every component of the graphic novel into account when I make a score in it, the story, the art, and the title. Let’s do a quick recap of the ingredients. I felt like the story was relatively mid-level, but I still found things to enjoy about it at the same time. I felt that, for the most part, the art was at least acceptable, if not excellent. I did not like the title. I’ll toss all of these ingredients into my blender, turn it on, mix it until I have a liquid, which, I know, makes no sense, but again this is a metaphor so just accept it, and pour the liquid score out into a metaphorical cup. Now, I don’t actually drink the score, I just look at it then pour it down my metaphorical sink. But I am looking at the score and it’s… a five. This book was average, but it wasn’t completely awful.

                I know, I’ve been going on for a really long time now, you’re probably really getting bored of me now, so let’s move on to the last major segment of my review: the recommendation. In the recommendation segment, I do two things. The first thing I do is tell you if I personally would recommend this book to you, my reader, who have been reading this review for the past several minutes, or to anyone unfortunate enough to be considered someone I’d talk to about this book. The second thing I do is, regardless of if I would recommend this book or not, tell you who I think the best audience would be to read this book, which is actually usually pretty obvious, but sometimes there are a few surprises. So to cover the first bulletin point, the answer is no, I would not personally recommend this book to you if you’re reading this review and are on the fence about if you want to read this book or not based solely on what you’ve been reading for the past several minutes, but that is entirely up to you, I can’t compel you not to read this book, this may actually sound interesting to you and you might want to read it, so if you want to read it, I can’t stop you, but the fact of the matter is I would tell you that I honestly don’t think you should read it if you’re not completely sure as this book is a costly investment and I wouldn’t want you to waste your money on something you won’t enjoy. As for the second point, I feel like the best audience is people who like space dramas. If you’re a fan of shows or movies like “Star Trek” or “Star Wars” and a comic book fan, this is probably your kind of comic book. If you’re a fan of Marvel characters such as Nova, Thanos, Silver Surfer, Galactus, or Drax, I would recommend this book to you as it very much highlights these characters. And if you like cosmic Marvel Comics or Negative Zone stories, this might be your cup of tea.

                Okay, I feel like it’s just about time we all moved on with our lives, I’ve been typing for the past four hours, it’s time to move on. Just a few short notices before we go, though. First off, I do have to talk a little bit about this blog. I’ve been working on this blog for five years now and have done over 170 posts. The majority of the work I do on this blog is book reviews. I’ve done some prose novels in the past, and some Marvel events collected on Marvel Unlimited, my current main focus is Marvel Modern Era Epic Collections and Ultimate Epic Collections. I am a diehard Marvel fan and purchase every Modern Era Epic Collection and Ultimate Epic Collection as soon as I can after release and if possible, put up a review on this blog. I usually do at least one post a month. I’ve done over six dozen reviews like this at this point. I’ve done a review of “Annihilation: Annihilation Day” if you want more “Annihilation” content to compare to this post. I have already obtained my next Modern Era Epic Collection “Captain America: The Burden of Dreams,” you can expect a review of that within the next eleven days. In addition to the dozens of reviews I’ve done, I’ve also written a few short stories, poems, essays, articles, and editorials, so there’s plenty of other content here, keep checking out timcubbin.blogspot.com for all my other posts. I’ll be doing this blog for as long as I can, so you can probably expect that to be for quite a while as I don’t foresee anything stopping me anytime soon. I’ll say that’s all for now, folks, but until next time, Tim Cubbin… out!