That's the topic for today. With the release of Ultimate Spider-Man Annual #2, I want to know how you like your annuals (if you even care about such things).
Do you want your annuals to be a part of the larger goings-on in the character's life, a continuation of what they're dealing with in the monthly title?
Do you prefer them to be an opportunity for the writer to put things in motion for later development, which is how Bendis seems to be using them. Heaven knows he couldn't speed up some of his arcs so that he could use an actual issue of Ultimate Spider-Man to set up the idea of Daredevil trying to organize the street vigilantes against the Kingpin. And maybe you prefer that he does it this way. I'm not against it. I liked this annual, and the one last year that established the Spidey/Shadowcat relationship. But it does feel like a bit of an excuse to rush that plot point in, without as much set-up.
Or do you prefer your annuals to just be completely wacky, random crap that won't be in continuity or have any lasting repercussions? Kind of like those Avengers annuals where everyone dies, but at the end they all get better.
I suppose for me it depends on a couple of factors. If the Annual costs more than a standard monthly issue, I wouldn't want it to be relevant to the monthly storyline, because I might not be able to afford it, and so I'd miss out. But the Ultimate line seems to be making annuals the same price as monthly issues, so that's not a factor.
To me, Annuals are probably best served to let a writer get some crazy out of his system, a story that wouldn't really fit in the normal tone of the book. For example, that two part story in Ultimate Spidey where Spider-Man and Wolverine got switched into each others' bodies? Yeah, that should have been an annual.
And off topic, just how much of an expletive deleted is Jean Grey for doing that? "Oh Wolverine had an erotic thought about me! I'll switch his brain with someone he'd hate to be, to teach him a lesson!" That's great Jean, but what about the person who gets stuck in Logan's body? In case you've forgotten, people regularly try to kill that hairy, drunken letch. Cripes, Jean must be taking lessons from Silver Age Superman or something. OK, off-topicness over.
Actually, I think that's all I got. So how do you prefer your annuals?
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4 comments:
Growing up in the 70s, annuals (and Giant-Sized issues) used to be the one, crazy epic you'd never see in the regular comic. Spidey fights Dracula! The Avengers fight their evil counterparts in a dystopic future! The FF takes on the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse!!
Good times, good times ...
What I don't like are the Armageddon 2000/Atlantis Attacks epics, where each annual ties into some lame epic.
That's what monthly titles are for these days. :)
Nowadays, it seems Annuals should be there to take a break from the arc-style storytelling to allow for a one-shot story to be told.
In the past though, I remember I used to love the X-Men Annuals. I think X-Men Annual #6 had Storm becoming a vampire and pitted the X-Men against Dracula. Way cool. Then Annual #9 was all Arthur Adams and Asgard and featured Storm as the Goddess of Thunder (and was part of a twofer with the like-minded New Mutants Special Edition). Then there was Annual #10 with more Arthur Adams, but this time featured Mojo and the X-Babies (before they sucked - if only just before). Annual #11 featured Alan Davis art and some cool Wolverine scenes. After that, I dont' remember reading single other Annual that I really liked. They were all either cross-overs (as the mentioned Atlantis Attacks and the equally lame High Evolutionary one), or just... not fun.
Therefore, I think the Annuals should, primarily, make the comics fun.
But what about the Von Strucker Gambit? Or The Herokillers? Not the line wide annual cross over, but the 4 part ones that had Spidey teaming up with X-force to fight the ressurected Proteus? Them was hot.
Ideally, I like an annual to be a longer, self-contained, in-continuity story. The Dane nails it with X-Men Annual #6, which, while super wordy, is also excellent.
With rare exceptions, back-up features or eight-page stories or pin-ups are crap. Sometimes the exceptions are great, but they're so rare as to be non-existent. Although I can think of like four right now. Huh.
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