Annihilators #4 - Immortus agrees to stop trying to kill the Annihilators because Quasar has some important role to play in the future. The team brings Wraithworld back out of Limbo, which is exactly what the Skrulls want. They plan to turn the remaining Wraiths into Skrulls to help rebuild their empire. O-kaaay, sure. The plan fails, our heroes stop the two suns from going supernova by combining them so that one side is a yellow sun, and the other a black sun (for the Wraiths). Then the planets are set on opposite sides and now they have to learn to get along. Celebration at Knowhere is cut short by detection of sentient black hole attacking a galaxy.In the other story, Groot rescues Rocket from a cell designed to keep him pacified. We get some backstory for this Star-Thief person, and with what they learn Rocket is able to distract him long enough for Star-Thief's psyche to be subdued. With the day having been saved, Rocket and Groot opt to take up duties guarding the galaxy again, whether it wants to be guarded or not.
I felt vaguely dissatisfied with both endings, but I'm not entirely sure why. I appreciate the comic-style insanity of the Annihilators' solution, though it seems like there'll be trouble as the planets revolve around their strange fused suns, and I like how uncomfortable Rocket is with dressing up as a dog to save the day. But somehow the victories don't seem earned. I didn't feel Tan Eng Huat's art really conveyed a sense the Annihilators' battles were any sort of struggle, and considering the power of the characters involved, maybe they weren't supposed to be, but I felt like they were meant to be difficult battles but didn't come off that way. With the Rocket/Groot story, I still love Tim Green's art, but the need for someone, either Rocket or that piece of equipment to translate everything Groot said into expository form was starting to get old. Too much telling, not enough showing. Why did Abnett and Lanning go that route? Giffen wrote Groot as being able to converse with everyone just fine in the Annihilation - Conquest: Star-Lord mini-series.
A mixed bag overall, some good, some bad. Will I be buying the Annihilators: Earthfall mini-series in a few months? Absolutely. Hope springs eternal that it will all come together.
Avengers Academy #15 - I've never understood the deal with the lightning on Striker's outfit. The amount of it changes, and it shifts location from panel-to-panel. I assume it's actually his power, routed through the suit, as opposed to a design, but it's distracting.Oh goody, a Fear Itself tie-in. I am so excited. Yawn. I'm more bugged I'll ahve to put up with these for 3 months in Heroes for Hire, though. Super-criminals have been freed from the Raft (a super-prison). What, again? Every five minutes it's a mass super-crook jailbreak around here. The teachers are called in to help catch the escapees, except Tigra, who stays behind to lead the students if they're needed. Which they are so off to D.C. they go to try and protect civilians from Nazi mechs. Mettle kills a guy, and is suitably depressed about it, Striker overcomes his fear from his death against Korvac, and Tigra really hates having to send these kids into battle. Once the crooks in N.Y.C. are captured, Pym's all set to go help the cadets, but he's sent to Dubai to stop the Absorbing Man, who is wielding one of those stupid Fear-Hammers. Methinks Hank's about to lose some brain cells.
It's not a bad issue, though it's a little awkward that last issue ended with Pym stating that the cadets' training would have to be upped so they were ready to save the world, and here they are being thrown in the deep end already. We haven't even seen this more intensive preparation. it's hard for me to believe they weren't capable of dealing with the Sinister Six last month, but they're ready for this now. I did like how much more serious Pym got when he heard the kids were in the field. Not that he was a barrel of laughs before, but the panel where he gets that scared look when he hears the news, then the next panel he flattens to flying crooks against a building because he does not have time for this. Admittedly, Grim and Serious Pym could go to a bad place, but that's a risk that you take.
Raney's art looked rushed in places, less detailed in the faces than usual, but that may have been the presence of two inkers. My hunch is Hennessy's inks work with Raney's art differently from Hanna's. Can't say for certain; it isn't broken down which inker did which pages, but I think Hennessy may have taken over about the time the kids are sent in, and then it switches back and forth.
Avengers Academy Giant-Size #1 - That is a pointless cover. Rogers, Spidey, and Iron Man have nothing to do with this. No idea why I expect Marvel covers to actually relate to the content inside anymore, but I still think it'd be a nice idea. This suggests it'll be a story about how these younger heroes are inspired by those older ones or something. Would have been nice to get the gatefold cover that actually had Arcade and other people present in the story, but I'm glad to have a copy, so I'll move on.Some of the cadets are enjoying a day away from the school. They get separated, then captured. Elsewhere, Spider-Girl (I really still want to call her "Arana", but I'll get used to it, like I did calling Stephanie Brown "Batgirl") and Firestar respond to a text from their teammates Toro that gets both of them captured. Reptil and Spider-Girl wake up early and find out their teammates are prisoners of Arcade, out to improve his rep by successfully killing some super-heroes. This time he's opted to go after less-experienced heroes, since they'll be easier. I tend to disagree with lumping Firestar in there, she was on an Avengers team with Captain America and Thor, but sure, compared to Spidey or the X-Men she's less experienced. Arcade makes our heroes jump through some hoops but they eventually turn the tables on him, their teammates escape their prisons and things go badly for Arcade, who lets his love of amusement get the better of him.
I especially like the Whack-A-Mole death trap. It strikes me as the sort of old-school thing Arcade would favor. Griping about the cover aside, I'd have preferred this as a mini-series (and Marvel would have gotten more of my money that way!) but that's because anticipation would have heightened my enjoyment. The story flows well as a whole, though. Tobin writes a good Arcade and I think he handles the other characters well too. I was as surprised as Striker when Finesse apologized, but if she realized he was right, she'd probably recognize an apology as the proper response. David Baldeon draws Arcade more creepy than I'm accustomed to, with a more angular face and sunken eyes, but it's a good look. Recognizably Arcade, just more psychotic. He also draws excellent robots and dinosaurs, which is always handy for a comic book artist.
Tomorrow, comics set in England, in the 1930s, and starring monkeys with magic coats! No, not all in one book.
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