2007 Comics In Review, Part 4

And so, we have come to the end. I think I've drug this out long enough, so as of this moment, I don't intend to try and do some ranking of best story arcs, ongoing titles, mini-series, etc. Of course, I could change my mind by tomorrow. I'm wacky that way, especially since that Titans Lost Annual came out. I didn't even buy it, but the bits of it I saw on Scans Daily have apparently warped my fragile little mind. So we'll see. Anyway, 2007 was the year Annihilation wrapped up, and Annihilation: Conquest began. Conquest hasn't equaled its predecessor in my eyes, but I haven't regretted spending money on it, which is more than the people who bought Amazons Attack can say, I'm sure. *rimshot* I also put Nova in here because the titles came out of Annihilation, and it's been mixed up in Conquest to a certain extent the last seven issues.

Annihilation: Conquest - Prologue - The thing I've enjoyed about both of the prologues the Annihilation events have had, is that they clue you in on what the score is before everything starts going wrong. You find out what at least some of the important characters are up to, and so it gives someone unfamiliar with them at least somewhat of a starting point, without having to resort to Wikipedia. Always a good idea, from my perspective anyway. I do have to say, looking back over it, there's something off about Mike Perkins art for me here. It seems like either the inking or the coloring aren't really complementing his style. Facial features seem to get lost at time, or faces seem too plastic.

Annihilation: Conquest - Quasar (1-4) - The search for the "Savior" by a novice Quasar and her girlfriend, Moondragon, complicated by a Phalanx-Select Super-Adaptoid that's hunting them, plus a host of other problems.

High Point: I was generally very impressed with how Christos Gage handled Phyla and Heather's relationship, and there was Wendell Vaughn's brief, but nice cameo in the last issue. But you know me, I'm big on fights, so I'm going to choose the series of battles between Phyla and the Super-Adaptoid. What's interesting is that in a battle between a person with the Quantum Bands, and a machine capable of imitating all the powers of the Avengers, it wasn't really a case of one overpowering the other. They kept outsmarting each other, and using abilities not taken from other sources (the Adaptoid using it's ability to adapt to simulate Quantum Bands in #2, and Phyla using her speed to cause S-A to wipe out in #1).

Low Point: This is just me, but I was kind of disappointed that the "Savior" is Adam Warlock. I guess I saw too much of him during the '90s. Not the character's fault, and I don't have a better suggestion (other than Rom the SpaceKnight, naturally), but I had a "Him again?" moment when I saw Warlock emerge from the cocoon in #4.

Annihilation: Conquest - Starlord (1-4) - For my money, the most enjoyable of the lead-ins to the actual Conquest mini-series. And it just so happened to be written by the fellow who brought me Annihilation in 2006, how nice. I liked Timothy Green II's art more at some times than others. It matched the generally light tone of this Dirty Dozenesque story, but there were times his depiction of movement seemed incorrect, or didn't convey the movement well. Minor quibble, on the whole.

High Point: Gabe and the Uni-Force's strategy to uncover the defense against the Phalanx's big weapon was clever, and it was good to see Gabe show some toughness, given that he'd been somewhat flaky in the early going. But I'm going to go with #1. I know, that doesn't seem like a good thing, saying the first issue was the high point, but for an issue that was essentially just exposition on the characters and the situation, with no actual action or progress, it was very entertaining. Starlord's realizing he needs to adjust to weapons with recoil was, for example, pretty funny.

Low Point: Um, nothing jumps to mind, actually.

Annihilation: Conquest - Wraith (1-4) -Everyone was so sure this guy was Rom, but no dice. New character. Seems a tad overpowered, what with his ability to strike fear into the Phalanx, and I wonder how it is his weapon can't be infected by the Phalanx. It seems high-tech enough, but maybe the virus can't be that close to Wraith either? I don't know. I was very pleased with Kyle Hotz' art, and Gina Going-Raney's coloring, because they really sold the dark, creepy atmosphere that seems to hang around Wraith. Very horror-vibe, which is appropriate for a story about a fellow who can't die and body-controlling viruses, don't you think?

High Point: I'm fond of the point in #2 when Ronan is trying to interrogate Wraith, and having gotten nothing from Wraith, and having been told by the Phalanx that his complete submission to them is inevitable, and completely loses his shit. The former Supreme Accuser seemed like one of those types that usually maintains his cool, but he just lost it trying to kill Wraith. Plus, it was pretty cool watching Wraith casually pull himself off the spire he was impaled on, and ask Ronan if that was the best he could do. It's cliche, but it works well after what had just been inflicted on him.

Low Point: The idea that the Supreme Intelligence wasn't actually dead. He got a good sendoff from Ronan in Annihilation #5, and it seemed kind of a waste to bring him back now. Plus, the idea that he could be used to transmit psychic message to submit to the Phalanx didn't quite fly with me. I'm not sure why that was the thing I got hung up on in this mini-series about dead characters bonded to soulless parasites, but there you go. It was good to see the Phalanx had multiple strategies working.

Annihilation: Conquest (1-2) - Only two issues released in 2007, but they certainly upped the ante against the white hats, what with Ultron being restored to a properly menacing form as the leader of the Phalanx show.

Annihilation: Heralds of Galactus (1-2) - Each issue had two stories, and each story dealt with a different Herald. I think I enjoyed the Stardust story the most, but maybe that was just for the idea of a sentient group of beings made out of energy that is constantly changing form, where nothing lasts for more than a second. That seemed extraordinarily cool to me, if somewhat hard to grasp, conceptually. The Silver Surfer vs. Tenebrous and Aegis story was a lot of fun, in the more basic sense of having kickass fight scenes. Really, none of the stories were bad.

Nova (1-9) - This comic is quite a lot of fun for me. We've seen Rich go home, tell of Iron Man, make the Thunderbolts look like chumps, and recoil in horror at Dark Speedball. Then he dallied around in Kree space for his Conquest tie-in, and then things got awesome.

High Point: As cool as his verbal smackdowns of Tony Stark were, there can be no other choice that issues 8 and 9, where Rich helps defend a sort of scientific/religious commune - set inside a Celestial's severed head - from NotZombies with the aid of a telepathic Russian dog. That sentence is a reason why comics are awesome. Also worth noting is Ko-Rel (Nova 01) and the Wolrdmind's battle against a Phalanx Select Richard Rider in #6. At least, up until the end of the issue.

Low Point: I think it's Ko-Rel dying in #6. I suppose I understand the reasoning, but I think it would have been nice to have a Nova involved with Conquest, since Rich seems like he's going to spend all his time trying to get to the Phalanx homeworld, and Ko-Rel was right there, already powered up and ready to go. I really wonder why, if the Nova Force can revive a Richard Rider that looked like a dessicated corpse from slamming into the barrier around Kree Space, it couldn't have fixed one little stab wound to Ko-Rel. I know she didn't have as much Nova Force, but the injury wasn't as severe either. And Rich has got to start putting the Nova Corps back together at some point, right? Just seems a waste.

What If? Annihilation - Let's just call this a purchasing mistake on my part. Sure, it was nice to see Iron Man and Captain America put aside their differences to deal with a true threat, but it wasn't really worth the money.

So, I'm either done at this point, or I've got one more of these in me, but either way, I'm going back to posting other stuff for at least a week. That way I have time to decide if Starlord #1 was better than Brave and the Bold #7, if I wind up doing that.