By various (Marvel)
ISBN: 978-0-8751-2782-6
Annihilation was another of those company-wide publishing events that “Changed The Marvel Universe Forever†(and don’t they all?) which ran for most of 2006, and involved most of the House of Ideas’ outer space outposts and cosmic characters. Among the stalwarts in play were Silver Surfer, Galactus, Firelord (and a host of previous heralds of the world-eater), Moondragon, Quasar, Star-Lord, Thanos, Super-Skrull, Tana Nile, Gamora, Ronan the Accuser, Nova, Drax the Destroyer, a Watcher and a host of alien civilisations such as the Kree, Skrulls, Xandarians, Shi’ar et al., all falling before a invasion of rapacious negative zone bugs and beasties unleashed by the insectoid horror Annihilus.
If you’re new to the Marvel universe and that bewildering list of daunting data didn’t leave you screaming in frustration, then please read on…
As is usual in these public thinnings of the herd, a number of good guys and bad died and had their trademark assumed by a new and glitzier model whilst some moribund careers got a successful and overdue shot in the arm…
The event spawned a number of specials, miniseries and new titles, (subsequently collected as three volumes plus a Classics compilation that reprinted key appearances of a number of the saga’s major players) and inevitably led to a follow-up event: Annihilation: Conquest.
The first volume of this surprisingly engaging sequel series collects Annihilation: Conquest Prologue, Annihilation: Conquest Quasar #1-4, Annihilation: Conquest Star-Lord #1-4 and Annihilation Saga, opening on a scarred and war-torn realm of known space, decimated and still reeling from the chaos of the Annihilation Wave and its aftermath.
The Kree and Skrull empires are splintered, the Nova Corps of Xandar reduced to a single agent, ancient gods are loose and a sizable portion of the Negative Zone invaders have tenuously established themselves in territories stolen from the billions of dead sentients that once populated the cosmos. The Supreme Intelligence is gone and arch-villain Ronan has become a surprisingly effective ruler of the Kree remnants. Cosmic Protector Quasar is dead and Phyla-Vel, daughter of the first Captain Marvel has inherited both his powers and name…
In ‘Prologue’ (written by Dan Abnett & Any Lanning, illustrated by Mike Perkins and coloured by Guru eFX) Phyla-Vel and psychic demi-goddess Moondragon are working with the pacifist Priests of Pama to relieve the suffering of starving survivors, whilst Peter Quill, one time cosmic champion Starlord, is working with Ronan and the remnants of the warlike Kree on the planet Hala to shore up the battered interstellar defences of the myriad races in the sector.
Quill has brokered an alliance with the Spaceknights of Galador (an old noble cyborg species most famously represented by 1980s hero Rom) that should enhance the all-pervasive etheric war-net, but once uploaded the date instantly causes disastrous problems throughout the system. In seconds all technology in the region is compromised: overruled by a murderous, electronic sentient parasitic species known as the Phalanx, whose cybernetic credo is “peace and order through assimilationâ€. Once more organic life is facing total extinction…
On planet Pama, Phyla and Moondragon are targeted by enslaved Kree automatons as the Phalanx attempt to destroy any credible resistance before spectacularly cutting off the entire quadrant from the rest of the universe. If life is to survive this threat it must be saved by the champions trapped inside…
The miniseries ‘Starlord’ (written by Keith Giffen, with art from Timothy Green II, Victor Olazaba & Nathan Fairbairn), finds the one-time Cosmic Avenger stripped of his powers and technological enhancements – all now liabilities when facing a predator species that infests electronic devices – and seconded to a Kree resistance division. Here he is tasked with turning Kree prisoners into a Penal Strike Force (a highly engaging intergalactic Dirty Half-Dozen) and taking out the Phalanx base where the invaders are perfecting a more efficient way to assimilate organics into their mechanistic hive-mind.
Once a major bad-guy race in the Marvel mainstream, whoever the Kree consider criminals look surprising like failed heroes to me. Firstly there’s Galactic Warrior Bug (originally from the 1970’s phenomenon Micronauts), the current Captain Universe (ditto), the Shi’ar berserker Deathcry, failed Celestial Madonna Mantis, anamorphic adventure Rocket Raccoon and the gloriously whacky “Kirby Kritter†Groot, a Walking Tree and one-time “Monarch of Planet X.â€
With this reluctant team in tow and using natural abilities and decidedly primitive weapons the squad invades Hala, now the central beachhead of the Phalanx, to discover and destroy the augmented assimilation project, but they have drastically underestimated the remorseless ingenuity and creative callousness of the electronic invaders…
Sharp, witty and ingenious, this is a magnificent romp full of thrills and worthy sacrifice that no comic fan could possibly resist, and is promptly followed by the epic tragedy of Phyl-Vel, the new Quasar as she and her lover Moondragon endure a terrible quest to the heart of the imprisoned Quadrant, following a mysterious voice that urges them to save the one being who could possibly turn back the seemingly irresistible tide of Phalanx assimilation.
‘Quasar: Destiny’ (written by Christos N. Gage, illustrated by Mike Lilly, Bob Almond, Scott Hanna, Mark McKenna, Roland Paris & Stephane Peru) sees the couple journey to a hidden world of hope, dogged by the deadly Earth automaton Super-Adaptoid, now a fully-integrated Phalanx super-warrior possessing the powers of the Avengers and Phyla’s father the first Captain Marvel. Moreover, even plagued by overwhelming berserker rages and cut off from her power source, the untried Quasar must succeed before her abilities fade forever…
Little does she realise that Moondragon, her bedrock in these times of overwhelming trouble, is slowly undergoing an inevitable contamination potentially more hideous than Phalanx assimilation…
This epic race across the universe ends in a tragic surprise and one final glimmer of hope for the desperate champions of organic life – which will have to wait until the second volume to flourish or die.
This tome doesn’t end here, though. Rounding out the book is a selection of design sketches from Timothy Green II & Nathan Fairbairn and the invaluable and incisive Annihilation Saga, written by Michael Hoskin – a 34 page text précis using a huge selection of illustrations from the various Annihilation storylines to fill in and bring up to speed any readers (such as myself at the time so I can verify its usefulness and efficacy) who missed the original event.
Artists and writers sampled here include Aleksi Briclot, Nic Klein, Matt Wilson, Andrea DiVito, Laura Villari, Mitch Breitweiser, Scott Kolins, Ariel Olivetti, Kev Walker, Rick Magyar, Renato Arlem, Gregory Titus, Jorge Lucas, Giuseppe Camuncoli, Mike McKone & Sean Chen.
I admit to having a deep-seated antipathy to and suspicion of these vast inter-connected, braided mega series; always worrying that readers are subjected to unnecessary pressure to include titles and tales they normally wouldn’t care to try (and usually subsequently discovering that they needn’t have once the super-sagas are concluded) but every so often the publishing stunt is elevated by sheer quality of material and those rare instances result in pure comics gold. Annihilation: Conquest, with its blend of bombastic derring-do, metaphorical war allegories, dashing adventure, dry humour and Armageddon politics is one such example and I wholeheartedly commend it to your house…
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