Saturday Splash Page #225

"Cruise Liner Security," in Quasar #7, by Mark Gruenwald (writer), Mike Manley (penciler), Danny Bulanadi (inker), Paul Becton (colorist), Janice Chang (letterer)

Wendell Vaughn got hold of some alien bracelets that at one point belonged to Golden Age hero (and future Agent of Atlas) Marvel Boy. (Sort of. It's complicated.) At some point, he got tagged by an alien named Eon (that looks like a floating root wad with a face) to be the new "Protector of the Universe." And Quasar did protect the universe over the course of his 60-issue ongoing series, although he also died in the process. Maybe more than once.

(Dying fighting some big threat and then being resurrected later has kind of become Quasar's thing.)

I know the book has some folks who vouch for it. That writer Mark Gruenwald delved into a lot of strange corners of the Marvel Universe for locations and threats for Quasar to confront. The Stranger has an entire planet for the menagerie of unique beings he's collected. Maelstrom ends up being some great threat. There's a cosmic race with most of Earth's speedsters, that ends up being won by an amnesiac guy in ragged red clothes who appears in a lightning bolt and is supposed to Barry Allen after his big heroic death in Crisis on the Infinite Earths. I think Wendell ends up pregnant at one point?

That said, the only issues I own are the Acts of Vengeance tie-ins. They do act as a pretty decent intro to the set-up Gruenwald's established. Wendell Vaughn has his own security consulting firm, which needs clients, but the hero thing keeps interrupting. Eon's got him investigating sources of alien energy on Earth, because of some portent about an alien menace. (This actually leads him to Spider-Man, unknowingly rocking the Enigma Force, in issue 7.)

Wendell's a polite guy, as he spends much of his fight with the Absorbing Man trying to convince him these fights are a waste of time and getting the man nothing. (This does not work.) When he chases the Living Laser to the Moon, he knocks on Uatu's door (with a giant glowing hand) before entering. When the Laser jumps through a portal to escape and possibly kills that timeline's Thunderbird in the process, Quasar apologizes to Uatu for intruding. Uatu teleports him out without saying a word. Dick.

Overall, it paints a picture of Wendell as curious, conscientious and clever. He takes his time to try and figure out ways to quickly handle his opponents, rather than overwhelm them with sheer power. Which might work well on your standard Earth super-villain type, but maybe wasn't a great approach for the sorts of cosmic menaces a Protector of the Universe has to confront?

Sunday Splash Page #34

"Telepathic Space Dragon? Telepathic Space Dragon!" in Annihilation: Conquest - Quasar #2, by Christos Gage (writer), Mike Lilly (penciler), Bob Almond and Scott Hanna (inkers), Stephanie Peru (colorist), and Joe Caramagna (letterer)

As is typical for Marvel the last 15 years, they can't let any status quo sit long enough the creative talent can do anything with it. Annihilation ended in January of 2007, and by June of that year, we were into Annihilation: Conquest, with the Phalanx catching the Kree with their defenses down and then cutting the entire galaxy off from the rest of space. Which left the resistance down to whatever heroes happened to be inside that bubble at the time.

Marvel took the same approach they had with the previous event, with a Prologue one-shot to start, and then three 4-issue mini-series, each focused on a different character. A 4-issue arc of Nova's ongoing functioned as the fourth mini-series.

Quasar focused on Phyla-Vell, not only the daughter of Captain Mar-Vell, but now the holder of the Quantum Bands. Phyla and her girlfriend Moondragon are trying to find a mysterious "Savior" before the Phalanx can. Phyla's trying to master using the Bands to fend off a Phalanx-controlled Super Adaptoid, before the Bands run out of power. Moondragon, well, she has her own problems to contend with.

I was not happy with who the target of their search wound up being, as I can't stand that character, but otherwise enjoyed this mini-series. Phyla's struggling to have confidence in herself in a trying situation, having been raised to believe if she isn't the best immediately, then she's a failure and isn't trying hard enough. her father is held up as some ideal she must surpass (I have never understood the hoopla about Mar-Vell). This makes Moondragon an interesting partner, since she spent a long time being the height of arrogance, refusing to ever admit mistakes or treat others as equals. She's had to confront her failures and weaknesses, and continue forward, that's valuable experience. Plus, they're a cute couple, very supportive of each other.

Lilly draws excellent monsters and dragons, which gives the book a fantasy feel. The questing heroes, seeking the powerful slumbering mage. The story even concludes in a castle. His Super-Adaptoid's the Silver Age version, the green one that's a hodgepodge of different Avengers. (Oddly, Annihilus had the other Super-Adaptoid in his army, the blank-faced white one that showed up later). The generic Phalanx soldiers don't look so great, but that may just be a function of the general design, or they may just not play to his strengths.

A Somewhat Lackluster Betrayal

So Phyla did end up being the traitor Mantis spoke of back when Guardians of the Galaxy started. Unless Mantis was speaking of Adam Warlock becoming Adam Magus, but I'm not sure what Magus will do can be considered traitorous. Maybe I'm biased because I feel bad for her, but I felt like Phyla wasn't trying very hard to carry out her mission.

It seemed as though she was constantly starting fights, being more aggressive than necessary. She starts throwing down with Shi'ar at Starlin's in Knowhere. When Star-Lord is trying to convince the Inhumans to stop fighting, and Crystal is actually speaking in support of him, Phyla goes and holds her at swordpoint, then abducts her. Neither of those actions helped the Guardians case, and both of them lead to the team wasting time fighting the Inhuman Elite. Then once the Fault's appeared, and the team's once again confronted the Inhumans, Phyla was certainly cold upon learning Black Bolt is dead.

On the one hand, these could be her way of trying to waylay the Guardians. She's working for Lord Oblivion, he was once served by Maelstrom, who was always trying to destroy existence, so let's figure that's at least one thing Oblivion is after. This war could bring that about, and the Guardians of the Galaxy would try and stop it. So keep them busy fighting battles that won't accomplish anything. That way they make no headway on stopping the war, and maybe some of them get killed, which only hampers their efforts to make a difference even more.

On the other hand, she's so ham-handed about it as to make it too obvious she's up to something. Plus, when these brawls kick off, she's always right on the front line, so I wonder if she wasn't trying to get herself killed before she had to fulfill her promise. It would at least sort of look like she was trying to further Oblivion's plans, except whoops, she overreached a bit and now she's dead. Darn, guess she won't be able to kill the Avatar of Life after all.

Which brings me to another question: Why did she strike Warlock down when she did? Why not before he cast the spell that halted the Fault? The Fault would destroy everything, which I'm presuming is what Oblivion was shooting for, so shouldn't she have stopped that from happening? Or maybe Oblivion knew what striking Warlock down would lead to, and having Magus in charge of the Universal Church of Truth is actually a better path.

Could Oblivion simply have been working to restore balance? Maelstrom said that when Drax killed Death's Champion (Thanos) it tipped the balance too far in favor of life, and that too much life can lead to an end just as easily as too much death. Was Oblivion manipulating events to correct that, by turning a champion of life (Adam Warlock), into a champion of Death (Magus)? Would that be a goal of the Magus? I've never actually read any comics he was in, so I'm not clear on what his goals have been historically. He's not really Warlock's evil opposite, he's just Warlock's evil in a separate form, because warlock cast all good and evil out of his soul.

Call Tech Support! Or An Exorcist!

My comic store won't be open until Friday, so I've got to muddle through for another two days. What? Take a break? Horsefeathers! It's a perfectly fine day for blogging! So, in that spirit, I'll chat about Nova and the Worldmind a bit.

So the Xandarian Worldmind is on a bit of a recruitment kick, signing people up from Project Pegasus for the Nova Corps left and right. This is a tad curious, since the first new recruits were from various species scattered across the universe, so it would seem clear Worldmind could cast the net a little wider. It's even more curious given what Abnett and Lanning posited as the recruiting standard for the Nova Corps in the Nova Annual #1*. At that point, we learned that the Nova Corps selects average representatives of a species, for various reasons, related to lack of ego, trustworthiness, and several other positive character traits. Well, I'm sure the folks at the Project are just swell, but I can't imagine they're all average, you know?

So what to conclude from this? Worldmind was nearly lost, and is attacking with self-preservation first in mind, rather than assembling an effective interstellar police force. Second idea: these Novas on a trial basis, and if they don't pan out, Worldmind takes the power back, no harm, no foul. Three: Something is actually wrong with the Worldmind. I don't mean Worldmind is actually an evil world-conqueror, more than its programming was damaged when it was nearly destroyed in Richard's unorthodox escape from Obrucen. Or that it's been infected by something.

And that's where I think that flask of Quantum energy comes in. It had Wendell Vaughn's mind (or soul?) in it, and Worldmind was somehow able to awaken it, to the point Wendell could bring himself together. But the last time we saw Wendell prior to that he was helping Phyla fight Annihilus, whose essence had corrupted the Quantum bands. At the end, Wendell drags Annihilus off with him. . . somewhere. Now Wendell shows up as Quantum energy that was collected in the Negative Zone. Can we be sure he managed to dump the Evil Bug King before then? Could Annihilus have infiltrated Worldmind when it rebooted it's systems, and was interacting with the Quantum energy?

* Looking back through the Annual, I see that in the hallucination that took place well in the future, Wendell is present, in the same form he appeared in during the Secret Invasion arc. Interesting.

Just How Many Things Don't Die?

In Starlord #4, Mantis gets all philosophical after Team StarLord (as dubbed by Jason) survives a run-in with some Phalanx-controlled Kree. She says that "Starlord" is an ideal, and that ideals are hard to kill, if not impossible.

This reminds me of the Chief Subjugator's comments to Ronan in Wraith #3, when we learn that 'gods can not die, they can only sacrifice themselves'. I'm still not sure what that means, but it seems like the two comments might be connected somehow. In fact, it seems like things not staying dead is a major theme in Conquest.

No matter how much damage you do to him, Wraith won't stay dead. He was being guided by a ghost(memory?) of his father, conducted through the previously thought-dead Supreme Intelligence. That same Supreme Intelligence was guiding Phyla towards Adam Warlock (though he was damn vague about it). And Quasar got a brief, but important assist, from her predecessor, Wendell Vaughn.

No matter how hard Peter Quill wants to throw the StarLord behind him, he can't get rid of it, and it keeps helping him out. The Kree soldiers wouldn't kill him because of it; at least some of his team follows him because of it, he's given about as much respect by the Kree as you could expect a Terran to get, at least in part because of something he wishes would go away. And Richard Rider got saved in part by the Worldmind using its records of all the Novas who've died to help fight off the Phalanx infection.

I still don't know what any of it means, but there it is.

What Is It About Me And Annihilation:Conquest Art?

Here's the particular page that caught my attention this week, courtesy of Annihilation: Conquest - Quasar #4. You'll have to click on it, Blogger was giving me some crap trying to upload a larger version. Sorry.

First off, given the location of the Supreme Intelligence's head, and that cocoon, doesn't it look a little like Supremor just barfed up an Adam Warlock?

But nevermind that now. Look in the lower right corner. See the little box, says "Mike Lilly 2007"? Why is that there? This issue didn't have a credits page anywhere like the previous issues, so maybe Lilly wanted to make sure he was credited somewhere in the interior?

Has he been told the page is going to be made into a poster, and so they told him to make sure his name was on it somewhere?

I saw something similar in this week's Namor issue, a full-page spread of Namor bursting out the sea. But in that case the name in the corner was "John Byrne", making reference to the cover of the first issue of Byrne's series, that it was homaging. I can't find another name on the Quasar page, except perhaps for that "A" next to Lilly's name. Wikipedia fails to provide any mention of an artist with a last name beginning with "A" being associated with any of Adam Warlock's major stuff, and Angel Medina is the only artist mentioned with a first name beginning with "A".

Bob Almond is one of two inkers working on Quasar, if the credits page of #3 is still accurate for #4, so I guess he could have put the "A" to signify he was the inker? Oh, I'm so confused.

It sure is a pretty page, though.

The Phalanx Haven't Captured Our Imagination - Yet

Quick one, about how nicely things can tie together sometimes. If you still haven't read this week's Quasar then SPOILERS!, I guess.

In the Annihilation: Conquest - Prologue, Phyla complained to Moondragon that she didn't think she had the imagination to use the Quantum bands properly. And it's true, her attacks were pretty basic: swords, shields, occasionally a whip or a giant fist (no boxing glove though). It seemed to be a part of her larger issues of self-doubt, and concern over her ability to be Quasar

So it's rather appropriate that in this week's issue, where Phyla's embraced the legacy of Quasar, she finally unleashes her imagination, and that provides the advantage that wins the day. She moved past her doubts, and now she's really a force to be reckoned with. I like that.

Besides that, it really shows all the various creative teams have been collaborating, because the original "imagination" comment was written by Abnett and Lanning, but Christos Gage has been handling the Quasar mini-series, so you get the feeling everybody's on the same page here, which makes me feel really good about this as a whole.

Also, quick note to Carol Danvers: You've been trying to become an A-list hero, the "Best in the World"? Phyla's showing you how. You stop trying to be the best, and you just do the best you can. All the time. Don't worry about whether it will be enough, because if you maintain resolve, it likely will be. Yeah, it's kind of hokey, but that doesn't mean it's wrong.

Themes of Conquest, Part 2

And we're back. Like I said, today I want to focus on Quasar and Starlord, my thoughts on Wraith and Nova are in yesterday's post if you missed it.

Quasar: Quasar occupies sort of a middle ground. It's not as much of an adventure story as Nova, but not as dark as Wraith. Honestly, the plot reminds me of what I know about the Eddie Murphy movie, The Golden Child (minus the goofy laughing). You've got a person who's inherited a mantle they doubt they're ready for, trying to protect a very important being with the help of someone a bit more used to this sort of thing. Yeah, I think that sort of works.

Quasar's portrayal of the Phalanx is also somewhat of an amalgamation of Wraith and Nova. The assimilation of people doesn't seem to take long, or require much in the way of bulky machinery, similar to Nova, but it does seem to be painful, judging by the scream from the converted Kree Governor in #2, which is more similar to Wraith.

The focus of this mini-series seems to be "belief", namely believing in yourself, or your cause. Phyla still doubts herself in battle, doubts her ability to use the Quantum Bands, to be Quasar, to live up to her father and brother's legacies. With the help of a loved one, she's gaining confidence in herself, as well as a determination to see her quest through to the end. Opposing is her the Super-Adaptoid, a Select of the Phalanx. The S-A believes completely in what the Phalanx are doing; it approves of their attempts to impose order upon irrational, emotion-controlled living beings. This certainty keeps it hounding Quasar and Moondragon, to either bring them into the Phalanx, or destroy them. Interestingly, the S-A is a mirror of Phyla in that they are both combinations. The Super-Adaptoid is a composite of every single being whose abilities it can duplicate, while Phyla has brought the Mar-Vell and Quasar lineages together in one person. For Quasar, the two legacies seem like a burden, for the Super-Adapotid it's a non-issue, because all the powers it's taken are simply a means to an end.

Starlord: Starlord is a take on The Dirty Dozen, or whatever other movie about a rag-tag bunch taking on an establishment you want to use. It's also, oddly the most light-hearted. Odd because of the deaths seen thus far (or in the case of Groot, hinted at thus far). But in between those are moments of humor, such as Peter Quill meeting his team, or his getting reacquainted with weapons that have recoil, or Mantis' casual attitude in battle. The art is somewhat quirky, the colors seem to be a lot of pastels, not really aggressive colors. It gives the comic a bit of a relaxed feeling, that things will be OK, even as it clearly seems things won't be OK. It's as if Keith Giffen, Timothy Green the 3rd, Victor Olazaba, and Nathan Fairbairn are actively trying to send conflicting messages. Consider the characters. Groot, a sentient tree, ruler of the Planet X, befriends scruffy little Rocket Raccoon, who seems to be a bit of a drifter. Gabirel Vargas, who was a soldier, is the one most broken up by his moment of friendly fire accident, though you would expect he might be familiar with such things. It's also interesting that the person doing the most in the fights (Gabe Vargas), winds up being the one making the worst mistake.

Starlord himself is a perfect example as well. He gave up the Starlord mantle, and let himself be imprisoned, because he chose to sacrifice the lives of a mining colony to save a planet. He feels guilt over this, yet has no difficulty doing so once again, sacrificing the lives of those in his squad to accomplish his mission. Typically in a story, when a character does something that troubles them deeply, they do their damndest to avoid repeating that action, but Starlord is doing the same thing, without even blinking. It seems, counter-intuitive somehow.

And that oddness persists in the portrayal of the Phalanx. Thus far, they've shown no interest in assimilating the protagonists, or the forces of the Annihilation Wave that showed up in #2, unlike in every other title, where they assimilate as many as they can. Instead, the response to these incursions into Phalanx-held territory has been to exterminate the offenders. It's unusual in that it hints that the Phalanx are through trying to convert people, perhaps because there isn't anyone there they think is worth the trouble (though I'd think the Uni-Power would be of interest to them, if the Nova Force and the Quantum bands are). Or perhaps the Phalanx are into the next stage of the plan, the "seeding" the Kree sent Starlord to stop, and assimilation isn't something they're doing anymore.

Starlord also varies in that there isn't a Select to act as a counterpart to the main character. Wraith has Ronan (and Super-Skrull as an additional counterpoint). Nova has Gamora. Quasar had the Super-Adaptoid. Starlord? Nothing (thus far). What's interesting is each Select represents a different stage in their acceptance into the Phalanx. Super-Skrull isn't doing as they command yet, but he apparently can't fight against them either, and is resigned to that. Ronan has to do what they say, but he can still try and argue with them, and hate himself for not being able to resist. Gamora seems to have become a full Select, but she still retains yearnings for her time before. She remembers her time with Nova fondly, which is why she's so determined to bring him to the Phalanx. She'll kill him if she's got to, but as good as she is, and as banged up as Rich is, she won't (and didn't) have to. The Super-Adaptoid is all the way in the fold. He's a leader of troops, and completely on board with the Phalanx plan. He isn't fighting Phyla out of some desire for a "grudge match" with the daughter of Mar-Vell, he's fighting her because she resists the Phalanx, and because she's trying to reach this "savior". When the Adaptoid can simulate her Quantum Bands (and locate the savior himself), he immediately leaves, because the savior is the more important target.

But in Starlord, there's been no Select making an appearance (watch, now Groot will show up assimilated in #3). Could these represent five stages? Gamora is clearly Bargaining, the Super-Adaptoid Acceptance. Ronan is Anger, and I think Super-Skrull could be Grief, given he seemed so defeated by the circumstance. I like that because it leaves Starlord as Denial. There's been no confrontation with a Select, no one in the group has had to try and resist that yet, so it's easy to believe it won't happen. I know Marvel just did this with the "Death of Captain America" thing. It's just a thought.

OK, trying to pull things together here. It seems as though each book represents something different. Wraith seems to be about fear, despair, pain, and how you need to fight through those things. Quasar seems to be about the danger of self-doubt. Nova about rising to meet a challenge you didn't ask for (?). Starlord about having to make tough decisions.

Um, well, I'm done now. Chime in with opinions, disagreements, whatever you've got really.

Communication Is Key To A Healthy Relationship

So I've been thinking about Quasar and Moondragon's relationship as it's been portrayed thus far, and I've really liked what Cristos Gage and the rest of the creative team have done so far. I think what makes the relationship work is that they share things with each other so readily, and that they care enough to ask when one sees something troubling the other. I've long felt those were important parts of a relationship, that you not only care enough to support your significant other when they're feeling low, but that you care enough to notice something is wrong and ask them about it. Without communication, things can fester under the surface, and that's never good.

It's probably a little easier for Moondragon, because a) she's a telepath, and b) Phyla isn't one to hold back on what she's feeling. But by itself, the second one says a lot. It tells us that Phyla feels comfortable enough around Heather that she doesn't think twice about admitting that she feels overwhelmed trying to learn how to use the Quantum bands, or that she doesn't think she can honor her father's legacy. Because she shares with Heather, Moondragon can lend her emotional support. Plus, it gives Heather insight into what goes on in Quasar's mind, so she can tell, even if she wasn't telepathic, when Quasar is trying too hard to prove herself, by charging into a fight she shouldn't be or whatever, and then Heather can rein her in, because she doesn't want Phyla to get hurt.

It's a little more difficult for Phyla, because Heather doesn't seem like a very forthcoming person with her innermost thoughts and fears. But Phyla helps when she can, keeping an eye on Heather, trying to see if those headaches she's getting from picking up everyone's psychic screams of pain are flaring up again. And in response to that concern, Heather's opening up a little more. She believes Phyla cares deeply enough about her that she can mention that she tried to sire a child with Wendell Vaughn before she met Phyla. Or she can talk about how in her earlier years she was very cocky, and that lead to her downfall and eventual demise (which I imagine could explain her closed off attitude. It was arrogance and pride, emotions, that got her into trouble in the first place, so she may be trying to prevent a repeat). Even though she says she was worried she'd be seen as weak for that mistake, the fact she shared that with Phyla demonstrates that she trusts Phyla. Moondragon knows (perhaps on a subconscious level) that Quasar won't think less of her for that, or she cares enough about Phyla to feel that it's important to share this.

After all, Phyla is struggling, not only with the Phalanx and her own doubts, but with the lingering presence of Annihilus in the bands, which is she isn't careful, can take control of her. To Phyla, Heather seems to be always in control, very calm, collected in battle. Heather telling Phyla about the time she feel under an outside influence, and how she eventually managed to overcome it (even if it did require her to die), might give them a deeper bond, which could, in turn, make Heather more effective in keeping control, knowing she has someone who went through something similar.

Those Voices In My Head

I think the voice that keeps telling Quasar to find this "savior" is probably her predecessor, Wendell Vaughn.

We've already seen that Annihilus has left some sort of a psychic imprint on the bands, and he only had them for a few months, and there's no sign he developed any kind of a strong bond with them, seeing as Phyla was able to convince them to abandon Annihilus and work with her instead. Wendell, on the other hand, had the bands for years. He's been through death and back several times with those things. Plus, I don't remember seeing his body anywhere at the time Annihilus took the bands, so he may have gotten absorbed into them as Annihilus was taking their energy. Granted, the voice seems dispassionate, but that could just be Wendell adjusting to his current state. Bit of a change from being corporeal and all that.

If I'm right (big if there, given my poor track record of predicting things), that could make for an interesting time for Phyla. She's already dealing with her own feelings of inadequacy; the idea that she's not good enough to carry on the Quasar name. This is despite the fact that she seems to be pretty good at thinking on her feet, for example her suckering the Super-Adaptoid into running smack into an asteroid. Really, when she stops thinking about whether she's letting down Wendell and her father, she does pretty well. What would having her predecessor residing within the bands do to her?

You could see her become more cautious, always looking to him for advice on how to proceed, or conversely, becoming more bold, determined to show she can live up to the responsibility that comes with the bands. How would Wendell handle being in an advisory role? He used to have Eon, the being that annoited him "Protector of the Universe", to look to for guidance. Then he had to safeguard Eon's offspring, Epoch, until it reached maturity. But here, he'd be in a teacher role, rather than that of protector. Would he be hands-off, to encourage Phyla to trust herself, or would he be more actively involved, trying to help her avoid pitfalls he didn't? Personally, Wendell never struck me as very authoritative, so I'd figure he'd stay laid back, and offer advice if asked.

For the record, I'm not sure whether this wild theorizing of mine would be good for Phyla's character development. I mainly suggest it because it looks like she needs approval, something she didn't get from a pushy mother, or a dead father, and given her frequent concerns that she isn't living up to the standards Wendell set, it seemed like it might be a way to go. Hopefully though, Phyla will believe in herself by the time Conquest is complete. I don't know if the quantum bands run on willpower like power rings, but self-doubt certainly can't help things any. {Edit, Jan. 19, 2008: I was wrong again. The voice belonged to the Supreme Intelligence. We did get a Wendell Vaughn cameo though.}

He Was Sooo Faking

I think this week is going to be kind of up-down. Happy post, sad post, and so on. Fortunately, today's a happy post, because I'm talking Annihilation #3. Tomorrow, I'm going to try to sort out how I feel about Ms. Marvel #8, and I'm sure that won't be cheerful. Oh well.

The primary thing I wanted to discuss was Ronan's fight with Ravenous, which I would have to say Ronan lost. That kind of surprised me, because power-wise, I've seen him do better. There was a Silver Surfer comic, I from the series that ran through the '90s, issues 12-13. In #12, he finds the Surfer and accuses him of attacking Kree worlds, which the Surfer denies. They fight anyway, and Shiny-Boy eventually wins - with the old "you're focused on me, so I'll have my surfboard fly up and smack you from behind" trick" - and immobilizes the Supreme Accuser. Afterwards, Ronan gets a power boost designed to counter the power and abilities demonstrated by the Surfer. Meanwhile, the Surfer finds a fake Surfer, who actually defeats him.

It turns out the phony is a Skrull, masquerading as Surfer, and he's stuck in this form after a bomb detonated that robbed Skrulls of their shape-changing abilities. Like Super Skrull, he was getting power from various Skrull stations, which made him strong enough to beat the former Herald, and using that power to attack Kree settlements. Ronan catches up, and with his enhancements, kills that Skrull-Surfer, and then proceeds on his way.

As far as I can tell, Ravenous is roughly equal to that version of the Silver Surfer. Certainly, he couldn't defeat the Kirby version, which is what the former Norrin Rand has been restored to. Yet, Ronan could do little more than slow Ravenous down. I suppose one can argue that Ronan's tech is out of date, since he's fallen out of favor with the Kree Empire, or that he was more concerned with protecting his allies, since the blast that ultimately immobilized him hit when he was shielding the Rigellian doctor (that was a Rigellian, I think).

Suffice to say, I'd like to see Ronan get a rematch. Next time, clock him over the head with that hammer, instead of shooting green energy out of it. Thor will tell you (or would, if he were around), few problems can't be solved by repeatedly smashing things with a hammer.

Other thoughts:

- I'm waiting for Thanos' betrayal of Annihilus. As Len pointed out, he wouldn't be Thanos if he didn't double-cross Annihilus, and the line about telling Annihilus "all you need to know" about the Power Cosmic certainly left me inferring that he's withholding critical info. What that may be, I don't know.

- For Quasar's inevitable return, I'm going to predict that when Nova goes after the Big Bug, he breaks that Cosmic Control Rod, and since that seems to be where Annihilus stores energy, all the energy he took when he killed Quasar escapes, and Wendell reforms on the spot. And then everybody will be happy!

- I love how Giffen didn't really bother to explain how Super Skrull came back. Some vague stuff about Ravenous and Firelord's energies washing over him and reviving him, and away we go. I think Giffen's saying "I could give you some long-winded explanation, but we're in a full withdrawal, and the reason would be pure b.s. anyway, so let's just enjoy his return, ok?"

To which I say "Yes sir, Mr. Giffen, sir. I'll believe anything you say. If I had a sister, I'd try to convince her to bear your children. And then she'd beat me up, but anyway..."

- Given Thanos' revelation that the Power Cosmic is something that replaces souls, does that mean Super Skrull might now have cosmic powers, given they probably played some role in his return?

- And what are the odds Marvel will completely ignore that explanation of Power Cosmic the first time that Bendis or Millar (or JMS, I'm stunned he hasn't said that Power Cosmic resides in people because of the Cosmic Totem) wants to screw around with Heralds and such? (My guess? 100%)

- Do you think Peter was flirting with Phyla when he said 'Have we met?' She thought so, I didn't, but I'm usually dense about these things (I had no clue Ultimate Colossus was interested in Ultimate Wolverine until Wizard mentioned it).

There's Good Realism And Bad Realism

How weird is it to see a comic cover that tries to make Quasar look intimidating, or at least really pissed off? With him, I'd shoot for a cover that depicts speed and grace, or maybe power, but not anger. Doesn't fit with what I remember of the character, which I grant you ain't much. Anyhoo.

In the March 2006 Scientific American, there's an article that discussed how the greatest threat to manned space flights to Mars and beyond isn't things like asteroids, but cosmic rays. This is due to the fact that out there, the people wouldn't have the nice barriers provided by Earth's atmosphere and magnetic field, only whatever protection their ship could provide, which as spaceflight tech stands now, really isn't that much. And of course, prolonged exposure to cosmic rays can lead to all sorts of mutations and genetic abnormalities. Just ask the Fantastic Four. Or the U-Foes. Or look at what even UV rays can do to you over years of exposure: breaking your DNA apart, which means it may not reconnect properly. Why the heck am I bringing this up?

Because Nova and Quasar appear to be suffering the effects of running around in space without proper shielding for too long. You should look at their faces, they have that kind of Robert Redford "tanned and worn leather" look going. Yipes. That was a lot of yakking for a pretty meager joke, if one can even call it that. Credit to Walker though; Annihilus looks pretty cool and menacing, and that panel of Nova tearing up through the atmosphere to get to the battle was very nice. I really liked that.

Quasar did come off as a bit of a smartass in this issue, which is fine. I liked that 'Should I signal the Avengers? The Imperial Guard?' line. Drax has been pushing Nova around pretty easily, given Nova's uncertainty over his power, but Quasar don't play that, no way Drax. And he seems very cool under fire, especially for a guy named "Wendell". Makes me wonder just what the hell he's been dealing with out there in space, that he can be pretty calmly handling a mass evacuation and fighting off the intial ships of the Annihilation Wave. I do remember he died fighting a guy who wanted to suck the universe into a black hole (Maelstrom?), only to return and triumph. I suppose that could have a maturing effect.

Is it sad that when Drax said 'I had a conversation with his hat.' I didn't laugh because I was thinking "It's a helmet."?