"Annihilation: Conquest Prologue"

 

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

            On Lamentis Outworld, Phyla-Vell/Quasar and Heather Douglas/Moondragon were staying with the Priests of Pama following the Annihilation War. On Hala, Ronan the Accuser, now leader of the Kree, had given Peter Quill (formerly Star-Lord) the position of Special Military Advisor to the Kree Leadership following the Annihilation War. Quill had arranged the usage of the Galadorian Spaceknights’ A-Ware technology for the Kree War-Net. Quasar heard a voice from the Quantum Bands warning of disaster for the Kree and a conquest, instructing her to find a savior, a task only Quasar could accomplish. Quill met with a delegation of Spaceknights to test the A-Ware technology. The Kree War-Net turned on the Kree and attacked the Kree. Quasar and Moondragon were attacked by a Kree Sentry. The two women defeated the Sentry. Hala had been attacked by the Phalanx, a race of techno-organic beings who assimilated with the races they invaded and now wished to assimilate the Kree. The Phalanx released a pulse that shifted Kree space out of the rest of the galaxy. Quasar vowed to find the savior of the Kree people. Quill tried to fight the Phalanx, who had begun to assimilate the Kree, but was injured.

            Kree Admiral Galen-Kor had all of Quill’s technological implants removed. Quill was tasked to lead a no-tech strike force against the Phalanx to destroy the Phalanx’s infiltration system before it could be brought online. The task force was comprised of prisoners of the Kree, including the Bug, Deathcry, Mantis, Gabriel Vargas/Captain Universe, Rocket Raccoon, and Groot. The team went into their mission, and tensions rose between Captain Universe and Deathcry after Captain Universe committed a perceived slight against Deathcry by defending her from a Phalanx sentry, an act considered offensive to the Shi’ar. The Phalanx detected the team’s presence and sent more sentries after them. As the team fought off the sentries, Captain Universe once again saved Deathcry. Deathcry turned feral on Captain Universe, and Deathcry was unalived when Captain Universe accidentally used the Uni-force to protect himself from her oncoming attack. The team managed to escape from the sentries. Quill took the uniform of a Kree maintenance worker and accessed a Kree data hub. Quill discovered the Phalanx were releasing an airborne nanovirus to infect the Kree. Quill returned to the team to inform them of this horrifying news. The team was attacked by Phalanx drones. Captain Universe stayed behind to give the team time to escape from the drones. As the team reached a crowded area, they were apprehended by Phalanx sentries and detained. Mantis was able to evade capture. Mantis reunited with Captain Universe. The team realized that they were already infected with the nanovirus. Captain Universe had to use the Uni-force against the Phalanx. Mantis freed the rest of the team. The team fought to escape and complete their mission.

            Quasar and Moondragon were attacked by the Super-Adaptoid, who had been assimilated by the Phalanx. During the fight, Quasar went into an uncontrollable rage, and one of the jewels in Quasar’s Quantum Bands went dark. Moondragon was plagued with headaches. Quasar’s rage was caused by Annihilus, the previous wearer of the Quantum Bands before Phyla-Vell. Quasar learned that if all the jewels in the Quantum Bands went dark, the Bands would be useless. The Phalanx assaulted the Priests of Pama’s sanctuary and obliterated it. Only Quasar and Moondragon survived. Quasar and Moondragon went to the Kree world Dlaw-Neurg. On the Kree planet Ollupac, the Super-Adaptoid heard tell of a wizard. Super-Adaptoid attacked Quasar and Moondragon on Dlaw-Neurg and copied her Quantum Bands in order to be able to follow the savior’s energy trail, then flew off. Moondragon abandoned her humanity to become the Dragon of the Moon to aid Quasar. Quasar and the Dragon of the Moon went to the planet Morag IV, where they were ambushed by the Super-Adaptoid. Quasar and the Dragon of the Moon were defeated. The two were nursed back to health by a native named Dejann. Quasar and the Dragon of the Moon found the Super-Adaptoid attempting to assimilate the savior, who was in a cocoon. An army of Phalanx arrived on Morag IV to take out the natives. Quasar and the Dragon of the Moo turned their attention away from the Super-Adaptoid to save the natives. In the fight, Quasar used up all the energy in the Quantum Bands, leaving them powerless. Quasar led the fight with just her natural inborn powers. Quasar fought the Super-Adaptoid and drained some quantum energy from the Super-Adaptoid, then used logic in a final Quantum Band duel. In the aftermath, the previous Quasar, Wendell Vaughn, arrived to banish Annihilus from the Quantum Bands. The source of the voice was revealed, and the savior emerged.

            Richard Rider/Nova was the last surviving member of the Nova Corps and had the Worldmind downloaded in his head, containing all the data of the Xandarian culture. Nova had been flying from planet to planet, answering distress calls. Nova stopped the Planetfall weapon from causing mass destruction on Turakis and took out leftovers from the Annihilation Wave on Halexa. Nova responded to a distress call from the Research Habitat Sorona Dae, but the call was on autorepeat and all life in the habitat had long since expired. Nova traveled through a stargate and arrived on Earth’s moon. Nova decided to visit his home planet while he was in the vicinity. Nova went to his parents’ house. While partaking in a dinner with them, the conversation between Nova and his father got heated over the New Warriors and the Superhuman Registration Act. Suddenly, S.H.I.E.L.D. Director Tony Stark/Iron Man and a group of agents arrived at Nova’s parents’ house, following the energy trail Nova left entering Earth’s atmosphere and mistakenly perceiving him as a threat. An angered Nova left with Stark aboard the S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier. While Stark did not know about the Annihilation War, Nova was aware of the superhuman Civil War that had just concluded. Stark asked Nova to register. Nova said he needed twenty-four hours to think it over. Nova spoke to Vance Astrovik/Justice, a registered superhero and former fellow New Warrior. Justice tried to convince Nova to stay and become part of the Initiative. While sleeping, Worldmind took control of Nova’s motor functions and frightened Nova’s father. Nova was attacked by the supervillain Diamondhead. Nova defeated the villain and found himself wanted by Norman Osborn’s Thunderbolts for unregistered vigilantism. Nova fought the Thunderbolts until Iron Man arrived to intervene and end the fight. After returning home, Nova was confronted by Robbie Baldwin/Penance, a member of the Thunderbolts and another former New Warrior. Their conversation convinced Nova that he no longer wanted to be on the planet Earth if the Superhuman Registration Act was part of the status quo and returned to space. Nova received a mass amount of distress calls from Hala. While attempting to reach Hala, Nova was attacked by a swarm of Kree Sentries sent by the Phalanx. Nova defeated the Sentries. The Phalanx had converted Gamora, Nova’s former lover, into a Phalanx Select. The Phalanx wished to either kill or Select Nova and chose Gamora to do the job. Nova flew through an energy barrier surrounding the Kree System and was badly burned. He crashed on the Kree outworld Drez-Lar. Kree Stellar Captain Ko-Rel had been leading a group of Kree survivors on Drez-Lar since the start of the Annihilation War. The Kree detected Nova’s crash landing and went to investigate. As Ko-Rel approached Nova’s burnt body, the Nova Force and Worldmind entered into Ko-Rel. Gamora and a group of Phalanx soldiers teleported down to Drez-Lar and attacked Ko-Rel’s people. Ko-Rel was tasked by Worldmind with protecting Nova Prime’s body while it healed, leading her away from her people while Gamora and her soldiers took out the Kree. Gamora found Nova’s body and Selected him into the Phalanx. Nova’s conversion also meant that Worldmind would become part of the Phalanx. Before it could be converted, Worldmind told Ko-Rel to take out both Nova Prime and Worldmind to prevent Worldmind from becoming an instrument of the Phalanx. Selects Nova and Gamora went to the Kree planetoid Nil-Rast to find Drax the Destroyer and Select him into the Phalanx as well. Ko-Rel came after Nova and tried to end him, but was unsuccessful, and Gamora took out Ko-Rel. Before she expired, Ko-Rel tried to reach Nova’s humanity. The man inside Nova then battled the Phalanx Selection in order to regain control of Nova’s body. Gamora and the now Selected Drax followed Nova as he made his escape, on the mission to end his life since he would not be converted.

            Okay, that wraps up our summary, let’s move on to my personal segments of this review. As I usually do, I’ll start off by sharing my own personal opinions of the book. First off, let’s talk about the stories. I found these stories to be enjoyable. I loved how this laid the groundwork for the modern Guardians of the Galaxy. “The Phalanx Covenant” from the 1990s is an old favorite storyline of mine, so I do enjoy the Phalanx as adversaries, and I felt like the writers in this book wrote them on the same level as back in the ’90s, and took it so many steps further, turning them from a mutant threat to a cosmic-level threat. I loved the Star-Lord storyline, in particular. The team was great and I enjoyed their adventure together, and the Guardians of the Galaxy feel of the story was excellent. I also enjoyed seeing the Earth-based segment in the Nova storyline, it was nice to see some Terran action mixed in with all the cosmic goings-on. The Quasar storyline was also entertaining, the relationship between Quasar and Moondragon was beautiful, especially Moondragon giving up her humanity for the person she loved. I enjoyed reading this prologue, and I hope the next volume comes out sooner rather than later as I would love to see where the Conquest goes from here. As far as the art goes, I liked most of it except for the work of Timothy Green II in Annihilation: Conquest – Starlord. Otherwise, I thought the art was fantastic. Next up, we’re going to discuss the title. “Conquest Prologue” really wasn’t the most inspired title the editors could have given it, but it does fit the content of the book, so I honestly can’t complain too much about it. As for the cover, it shows Quasar standing with her Quantum Sword stabbed in a Phalanx sentry in the foreground, with the faces of Ronan, Star-Lord, Nova, Warlock, Moondragon and Super-Skrull in the background, with some ships flying around in a few spots. I felt like this was the perfect cover for this book as it features all the main characters from the book on it. Overall, I thought this book was pretty well done, with the exception of the artwork of Green II.

            Next up on our list of topics to discuss, we’re going to touch on accessibility. Now, I know I’ve gone over this over seven dozen times already, and I know that there are those of you who have been with me before and know what I’m about to explain, so if you do, please be patient with me while I explain to the newbs what I mean when I used the word “accessibility” when applied to this graphic novel. So, I’m posing the question of, is this book accessible? What I mean by that is, can a person who knows absolutely nothing about Marvel Comics somehow come in possession of this book, read it, and understand it as written, based solely on what is contained within the pages of this book alone with no outside context? While this book is marketed as Vol. 3, this series of Modern Era Epic Collections follows separate events, and this volume features the start of a new event after the one contained in Vols. 1 and 2, so I honestly don’t feel that you need to have read the first two volumes prior to this one. Plus, this book contains Annihilation Saga which recaps the entire first Annihilation event, so it’s already in this book anyway. While the Nova storyline does touch on Civil War and The Initiative, I don’t feel like knowing about them is essential to following this book. I think that the characters are established in the here-and-now well enough that knowing their backgrounds is not essential to understanding the characters. I feel like if you’re looking to get into reading Marvel Comics and don’t know where to start, this wouldn’t be my first pick for you, but it would not be a bad pick at all.

            Next up, we’re going to discuss my numeric score. My scoring system is extremely simple. I score on a scale of whole numbers ranging from one through ten. One is the lowest score I can give, and if I do give a book that score, you’d be better off lining a birdcage with its pages rather than reading them. If, however, I score a book at a ten, that means this book is perfection and is something that if you are my friend and you read comic books, I will not leave you alone until you read it and have a five hour discussion with me about it. So, when I score a graphic novel, what I’m looking at is how much I liked the story and the art and if I feel the title and cover are appropriate for the content inside the book. So, taking this book and laying it all out on the table, the score we’re looking at is… an eight! I thought this book was well done and I really enjoyed reading it, and I mostly enjoyed the art, and I thought the title and cover were adequate to represent the content of this collection.

            Moving on, the next segment is my recommendation segment. In this segment, I answer two questions, independent of each other. The first question is, do I, Tim Cubbin, personally recommend this book to you, my reader? The second question, regardless of if I would personally recommend the book, whom do I think would be the perfect audience for this book, aside from fans of Marvel Comics, the characters, and the creative team? To answer the first question, if you’re reading this review and are deciding if you want to read this book based solely on what you’ve spent the past few minutes reading on my blog, I would tell you go to your favorite online retailer, bookstore, comic shop, library, or person in your life who obsessively collects Marvel Comics and try to find this book there as soon as you can, as I found this to be an enjoyable read and I highly recommend it. To answer the second question, the best audience for this book are fans of space stories and aliens, and I would also suggest that this book would appeal to the LGBTQ+ community based on Quasar and Moondragon.

            Well, I’d say we’re just about ready to wrap things up. There are a few last-minute things I would like to say first. Starting with, I’ve been doing this blog for almost six years now, and I’ve done over 190 posts, so keep checking out timcubbin.blogspot.com for more content. I’ve done over seven dozen reviews of Epic Collections just like this one, including “Annihilation: Annihilation Day” and “Annihilation: Desperate Measures” which you should check out after reading this post if you have some free time to spare. I’ve also written reviews of prose novels, manga, and comic book events, as well as short stories, poetry, essays, articles, and editorials, so there is a huge variety of content on this blog if you’re into other kinds of written media. I collect every Marvel Modern Era Epic Collection and Ultimate Epic Collection as soon as I can after they are released and put reviews of them up as soon as I can after reading them, so you can imagine I post quite often. Those reviews are my main focus of content on this blog. My next review is going to be “New X-Men: Planet X” so keep an eye out for that, that review will be up within the next two months after this post, but it’s likely going to be a lot sooner than that. Keep checking back regularly for more content, I’m going to keep doing this blog for as long as I can, so you can expect that that is going to be for a good long while. So, I say to you all until next time, Tim Cubbin… out!

"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!

"Annihilation: Annihilation Day"

 

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

                The Prison Transport Vessel Dredge 01 was carrying galactic criminals, including the Blood Brothers, Lunatik, Paibok, and Drax the Destroyer en route to the Kyln prison station at the Universal Crunch when it crash landed onto the planet Earth in Coot’s Bluff, Alaska. The Blood Brothers, Lunatik and Paibok formed an alliance and planned to find a way off of Earth and enjoy their newfound freedom, but Drax remained separate, and fought the Blood Brothers. Drax, who had been known to be mentally dull, seemed to get smarter and more coherent with every hit he took from the Blood Brothers. Elementary school students Cammi and Dex saw the crash on television and went to the woods to investigate the crash and found the aliens. Drax, whose daughter Heather had been killed by the Mad Titan Thanos, mistook Cammi for his daughter, and came to protect her, a mistake Cammi took advantage of. Paibok and Lunatik went into Coot’s Bluff and forced the inhabitants to go to the crash site to aid them in building a way off the planet. As Cammi and Dex returned to town, Drax fought Lunatik and Paibok, and Paibok shape-shifted into Thanos to throw Drax off his game, then killed Drax. Cammi asked Paibok for ownership of Drax’s body, to which Paibok agreed. As Cammi watched Drax’s body, Drax hatched a new, smaller body out of the deceased body. Drax merged minds with Cammi and learned she was not actually Heather, and Drax explained his history to Cammi, and Cammi chose to accompany Drax. Lunatik and the Blood Brothers learned that the transport they were on was damaged beyond repair and that they were unable to leave Earth. Drax returned to fight Lunatik and the Blood Brothers, ending Lunatik and allowing only one Blood Brother to survive, feeling that was the worst form of revenge he could dish out. Paibok summoned a prison transport, and Cammi and Drax were taken into space about the Prison Transport Vessel Dredge 02.

                Annihilus, Lord of the Negative Zone, unleashed his monstrous Annihilation Wave upon the universe. The Dredge 02 arrived at the Xandar Spaceport near the Xandar Cluster, Xandar being the home planet to the Nova Corps. Drax was released upon a technicality. Because he was reborn, his current genetic matrix readings didn’t match those the Nova Corps had on file and thus they could not prove this was the same Drax the Destroyer who destroyed two hundred thousand beings and were left with no choice but to let him go. As the Annihilation Wave hit Xandar, the Nova Corps were having a meeting. All the Nova Corps was wiped out, save for Richard Rider, a Nova Corpsman from the planet Earth. Drax and Cammi were able to evade the Annihilation Wave from the Xandar Spaceport in an escape pod. Ronan, the Kree Accuser, was arrested for crimes of sedition against the Kree Empire. Norrin Radd/Silver Surfer felt the Annihilation Wave. Kl’Rt/Super-Skrull learned of a super-weapon called the Harvester of Sorrows that was taking down entire Skrull planets. Annihilus planned to infest the entire universe.

                Richard Rider was awakened on the ruins of Xandar by Worldmind, the Artificial Intelligence collection of all Xandarian culture and possessor of the Nova Force. As Richard was the last surviving Nova Corpsman, there was no one except for him left to carry on Xandarian culture as all life on Xandar had been eliminated by the Annihilation Wave. Worldmind downloaded itself and the entirety of the Nova Force into Richard. Richard attacked a ship of the Annihilation Wave and destroyed it, but the power of the Nova Force overwhelmed him and began to corrupt him. Annihilus became aware of Richard’s power. Drax and Cammi came across Richard and suggested joining together to find a ship and a way off the decimated Xandar, but Richard was afraid he was a liability due to his powers making him mentally unstable. Worldmind instructed Richard to find a way off of Xandar, but Richard was resistant to team up with Drax, due to his criminal reputation, a history Drax denied. Richard was afraid to use the Nova Force, afraid he would lose control when he, Drax and Cammi were attacked by Annihilus’ forces. Drax eliminated them. Drax communed with Worldmind. Worldmind instructed Drax to help Richard keep control of himself while Richard used the Nova Force. Richard, Drax and Cammi boarded a ship, and Richard used the Nova Force to create a stargate to escape Xandar. The trio arrived at Nycos Aristedes, where they were rescued by Wendell Vaughn/Quasar, a human from Earth who gained powers from the Quantum Bands. Quasar was attempting to aid the Aakonian fleet in helping 18.6 million Aakonian Colonists escape from the Annihilation Wave. Richard, Cammi, and Drax agreed to help Quasar in the mission. Richard opened a stargate, then Richard and Quasar teamed up and took the fight to Annihilus, while trying to give the Aakonian fleet time to help the colonists flee to safety. Annihilus used his Cosmic Control Rod to drain Quasar’s powers and take control of the Quantum Bands. Richard was left by himself to fight Annihilus and buy the Aakonian fleet, Cammi, and Drax time to allow the colonists to escape and hold back the Annihilation Wave.

                Silver Surfer came upon Gabriel Air Walker, an android from Xandar and former Herald of Galactus, who was being attacked by Seekers, servants of Annihilus. Silver Surfer himself was once a Herald of Galactus, who had been discharged by the Devourer of Worlds. The Seekers were attempting to abduct those with the Power Cosmic imbued by Galactus upon his Heralds in order to give Annihilus their Power Cosmic. Being a machine, Annihilus would not be able to take the Power Cosmic from Gabriel Air Walker but had successfully rooted out Silver Surfer. Silver Surfer was able to help Gabriel Air Walker escape the Seekers, by Gabriel was too damaged and Silver Surfer had no choice but to destroy him and swore vengeance upon Annihilus. Thanos sent out his current servant and former Herald of Galactus, the Fallen One, to find the Beyonder. Thanos and Annihilus met, and the two found common ground. Silver Surfer was attacked by Seekers and was aided by Firelord and Red Shift, both former Heralds of Galactus. The Seekers were able to abduct Terrax, another former Herald of Galactus. The Fallen One found the Beyonder dead, and became indentured to Tenebrous and Aegis, two mythological beings. Firelord suggested an alliance with Silver Surfer against the Annihilation Wave, and current Herald of Galactus Stardust asked to join. Stardust informed Silver Surfer that Galactus wished to have an audience with Silver Surfer. Galactus reinstated Silver Surfer as a Herald of Galactus. The Seekers attempted to abduct Galactus for Annihilus, but Silver Surfer fought them off. Silver Surfer was then forced back into service of helping Galactus find worlds to consume. Thanos met with Tenebrous and Aegis and discovered all three sought out Galactus.

                Super-Skrull learned the Harvester of Sorrows was aimed at the planet Zaragz’na, the planet his son lived on. He asked Skrull Baroness S’Bak for a small force of Skrull warriors to seek out and destroy the super-weapon, but due to his history of failure as a warrior, he was denied his request. In his anger, he attacked the Baroness and was forced to flee her squadron. He was rescued by a Skrull mechanic named R’Kin, who grew up idolizing Super-Skrull. R’Kin’s father fought with Super-Skrull in the Battle of Harkoon and Super-Skrull was a hero to R’Kin. Super-Skrull was branded an enemy of the Skrull Empire and was wanted captured alive. R’Kin agreed to help Super-Skrull destroy the Harvester of Sorrows. The two traveled to Earth to the Baxter Building, home of the Fantastic Four, to ask Reed Richards/Mister Fantastic to open a portal to the Negative Zone for them so Super-Skrull could recruit an army to destroy the super-weapon. Super-Skrull learned from one of Annihilus’ soldiers that the scientist who built the Harvester of Sorrows was Hawal, who had a laboratory on a prison planet in the Nexus of Igoa, then Super-Skrull killed the soldier in front of R’Kin, whose faith in his hero was shaken. R’Kin revealed to Super-Skrull that R’Kin’s father died fighting in the Battle of Harkoon. The two traveled to the UX-73 Prison Planetoid and found Hawal, who informed Super-Skrull the Harvester of Sorrows was a living being and could only be killed with a virus, and under torture agreed to make a virus for Super-Skrull. The prisoners escaped and sought revenge on their jailer, but Super-Skrull defeated the prisoners, and the prisoners agreed to serve Super-Skrull. R’Kin asked Super-Skrull to be the one to pilot the missile ship into the Harvester of Sorrows and be worthy of being called a Skrull. Former prisoner Praxagora fell in love with her new master, but Super-Skrull refused the return her affections. As the army went to fight the Harvester of Sorrows, Super-Skrull was betrayed by a member of his army, and Super-Skrull’s plans to destroy the super-weapon went wrong.

                Okay, I feel that this summarizes the graphic novel well enough, so let’s move on to my personal part of the review. Now, if you’ve ever read enough of my reviews of Epic Collections to see me complain about how Epic Collections never contain the actual events, they share the title with, you’ll come to understand just how significant this Modern Era Epic Collection is to me. For example, last year, I reviewed “New Avengers: Civil War” and mentioned how not a single issue of “Civil War” was actually contained in it, or you can look further back to other reviews, such as “Silver Surfer: The Infinity Gauntlet.” Epic Collections may share titles with events, but they don’t actually contain any issues of the main event itself. So here we have “Annihilation: Annihilation Day.” According to the back of this book, “Annihilation” was an event originally released in 2005-2006. This Modern Era Epic Collection actually is an Epic Collection of an event. I received this book two days ago and saw that the six issue limited series “Annihilation” is not actually contained in this volume, and I figured “oh, great, we have a Modern Era Epic Collection about an event that doesn’t actually contain the main series,” but upon further research, I found “Annihilation” #1-6 will be republished in the second volume of “Annihilation” which will be released later this year, so my fears of not understanding what I would be reading were alleviated, as I have never actually read “Annihilation” before and was afraid that reading the issues around it would mean that this book would make no sense. So, what we have here is the first volume of something unique among Epic Collections, this has never actually been done before, so for me, this is a pretty big deal. And I have to say, I loved it. This experience was very enjoyable. Like I said, I never read “Annihilation,” so this is new content for me, and it was fun to read. I feel like the editors of this book assembled it well. The chronology of the issues made sense, it was very coherent, and it was easy to follow the timeline. This book mainly focused on four characters: Drax the Destroyer, Richard Rider/Nova, Norrin Radd/Silver Surfer, and Kl’Rt/Super-Skrull, and I found myself invested in what the characters were going through. They were written so well I cared about their character arcs. Drax’s death and rebirth and partnership with Cammi was touching. I felt for Richard Rider as he found himself to be the last surviving member of the Nova Corps. Silver Surfer’s alliance with the Herald’s and his deal with Galactus was engaging. Super-Skrull’s betrayal was certainly unexpected. I felt that all-in-all, the authors did an excellent job writing these stories. As far as the artwork goes, I generally found it to be enjoyable. When a graphic novel has six artists, I often find myself expecting to find some source of disappointment. But I have to say, I pretty much can’t complain. Overall, I found the art to be visually appealing. Even the grittiness of the “Annihilation: Silver Surfer” series wasn’t a turnoff, which is a little odd because usually I find that to be a source of dissent, but in this case, I found it to be acceptable. Was it perfection? No. I’ve seen art that has been a lot more appealing, but in this case, the art was adequate. In total, this book was a pleasurable consumption. It wasn’t my favorite, but I found it to be entertaining.

                Next up, we’re going to talk about accessibility. I know some of you have been through this with me before, I’ve done it about five dozen times now, but I have to go over it again. When I use the word “accessibility,” my meaning is if it’s possible to know nothing about Marvel Comics and still be able to pick up this book from a store or library, read it, and understand all the content in the book. I will say that this book is easily accessible. I feel like this book is very well self-contained and self-explanatory. I feel like not knowing anything about Marvel isn’t a hindrance in this case. In my view, knowing the history of the characters isn’t mandatory to understanding this Modern Era Epic Collection. You can never have picked up a Marvel Comic book before and still be able to follow the story just fine. Does knowing about these characters help? Yes. But if you’ve never read a Marvel Comic book before and are looking into picking a starting point, this isn’t necessarily a perfect jump-on, but it is fine for a first foray into the Marvel Universe anyway. This can be the first Marvel graphic novel you’ve ever read, but it won’t necessarily prepare you for further ventures into other series because this book is a complete event of limited series that didn’t cross over into ongoing series, so there’s no direct continuation from this graphic novel into other graphic novels, but if you want to read something Marvel and you’ve never touched a comic book before, feel free to read this.

                Next up, we’re coming to the most important part of my review: my numeric score. I’ve done this over six dozen times at this point, but I have to explain it again to you newbs who have never read one of my reviews before. I score on a very simple scale: exact integers between one through ten. One is the worst score I can give and means that this book is trash and should stop being published and every existing copy should be burned. Ten is the best possible score I can give and means that this book is sheer perfection and every copy on the shelves should be bought and then reprints should be done frequently to replace the out-of-stock books. So, I have to say that it is extremely hard for me to give something a ten. Finding a book to be perfection is something that is extremely hard for me to accept, the story has to be completely engaging, and the artwork has to be consistently visually appealing, and that is a rarity. But at the same time, I don’t give ones very often either, that means that the story has to be boring, confusing, pointless, stupid, predictable, or unengaging, and the art has to be visually displeasing and not something I want to look at. I can usually find something to like in every graphic novel I read and can give it some points above a one, I’ve only given ones at a rate you can count on one hand at this point in time. Now this book is definitely nowhere near being a one, the story was engaging, the characters were well-written, the plot was well thought out, and the artwork was, for the most part, acceptable. But, at the same time, this book is a bit far off from being a ten. It wasn’t total perfection, and it just isn’t my favorite read. Now, my score is going to come as a surprise, considering I gave it such high praise, but it’s just not going to be a high score. The score I give when I take every factor in this book, the story and the art, combine all of it, throw it into my metaphorical blender, then turn it on and blend it to the point where it’s completely liquid, then pour it out and put in in a cup is… seven. I honestly don’t quite know why I can’t give this book a higher score, but there’s just something inhibiting me from doing it. It just doesn’t feel right to give it a score any higher than seven, but at the same time, it’s not possible for me to consider me going any lower with a score.

                Next up, we’re going to talk about recommendation. In this segment, I discuss if I, myself, personally recommend this book to anyone who has any prospective interest in reading this book, and then regardless of this fact, to whom do I feel should be reading this book. So, when it comes to my personal recommendation, I will say that yes, I will genuinely say that I feel like anyone interested in reading this book should definitely do so, and if you’re not already interested in reading it, I feel like you should be if you have any kind of interest in Marvel Comics. As to whom I feel should be reading this book, I feel like this is for anyone who enjoys cosmic adventures. This book should be appealing to people who are fans of space series such as “Star Wars” or “Star Trek” or other similar space action/adventure series. And if you enjoy Marvel Comics such as “Guardians of the Galaxy” or “Fantastic Four,” this book will hold interest for you. At the moment “The Fantastic Four: First Steps” is not yet in theaters, and I have not seen it, so I can’t tell you if you see the movie and enjoy it that you’re the target audience, but if you enjoyed the “Guardians of the Galaxy” trilogy, I feel like you’d find enjoyment in this graphic novel, especially if you like Drax, his story was entertaining to me. I’ve been reading Marvel Comics for twenty-five years now and I feel like if you have any kind of investment in Marvel space odysseys, this is the perfect book for you.

                Okay, the end is now in sight. I’ve been rambling on for quite a while now and I’m ready to move on with my life and I think you’re probably ready to do something else. Maybe that something else is to continue exploring timcubbin.blogspot.com? I’ve got over 160 posts at the moment, there’s plenty more to read. I’ve written over five dozen other book reviews like this, and I’ve also written short stories, poetry, articles, essays, and editorials, so there’s tons of other content to peruse if this post was to your liking. I will tell you that I purchase every new Marvel Modern Era Epic Collection and Ultimate Epic Collection released as early as I can after its release and try to post a review after I read it if possible. I do have a few Modern Era Epic Collections I haven’t reviewed because at the time I purchased and read them, I didn’t have a device to compose a review on, and I do have one I didn’t review because I couldn’t get to my laptop soon enough after reading it to write an accurate review, but maybe someday, those might be remedied, but it is not likely for me to purchase one and not review it. Marvel always puts out at least one Modern Era Epic Collection every month, and I get them as soon as I possibly can, so the possibility of more content coming up is highly likely to be frequent. I just have to find a day where I’m home all day to be there when the book arrives as I live in a house with three units and the delivery people sometimes have a hard time finding my correct door, and also the weather has to be good because I order from Amazon and those envelopes are not waterproof and I have had damaged books before and these books are very expensive and I pay for one day shipping, so I’d like to avoid having my sizeable investment ruined by water, so sometimes it takes a little while after release for me to obtain the book, but I get it at my earliest possible convenience. Anyway, that is probably too much information that you honestly don’t care about, but I threw it out there anyway, so hopefully you took it and accepted it. As it is, there is a book coming out this following week, so you can probably expect to see a new review upcoming sometime in the next four weeks, this is based entirely on if I’m off from work, don’t have therapy, doctor’s appointment, or other engagement, and if the weather is good, I’m not sure when these events will align, but they should happen soon. So, check back for it soon, and keep browsing what’s already here, there’s plenty of existing content to like at the moment. Anyway, I’m going to let you go now, all I have left to say at present is Tim Cubbin… out!