Sunday Splash Page #36

"You Know It's a War Crime When Super-Skrull's Impressed," in Annihilation: Conquest - Wraith #4, by Javier Grillo-Marxuach (writer), Kyle Hotz (artist), Gina Going (colorist), Cory Petit (letterer)

Wraith is a combination of a Western revenge story, and a bit of horror, the horror aspect being something Kyle Hotz' art is well-suited for. Deep shadows for looming threats to emerge from. Lots of characters with wide-eyed surprise or terror. People being killed or maimed in brutal fashions. The Phalanx plot here, rather than some sort of microscopic control bots, or finding and assimilating a "Savior", is to strike at the very souls of the Kree, and bring them under control that way.

Where Quasar and Star-Lord had most of their cast on the run but still free, the heroes (such as they are) spend a lot of time captured by the Phalanx. Ronan is already one of the Phalanx Select, working as an interrogator, justifying it as a way to save his people. Wraith, Super-Skrull, and Praxagora (who first appeared in the Super-Skrull mini-series Grillo-Marxuach wrote as part of Annihilation) spend an issue as prisoners.

Wraith was created for this mini-series, and has not shown up anywhere since Annihilation: Conquest ended, as far as I know. He's not concerned with the Phalanx invasion at all, strictly interested in finding the people who killed his father, and killing them. He allies with other characters, but only because he thinks they give him a better chance of achieving his goal. They're repeatedly stunned by how brutal he can be.

Of the three mini-series, it's probably my least favorite. Artistically, I prefer Lilly or Green's styles, and Wraith is a bit too much of a cipher. You can get away with that in movies if there's enough style, but what's here just doesn't connect enough with me.

Sunday Splash Page #35

"After the Raccoon You Think He'd Be Less Surprised," in Annihilation: Conquest - Star-Lord #1, by Keith Giffen (writer), Timothy Green II (penciler), Victor Olazaba (inker), Nathan Fairbairn (colorist), Rus Wooton (letterer)

Whereas Quasar was the epic mystical Heroes' Quest story, Star-Lord is the Dirty Dozen. The Kree press-gang a bunch of what they consider criminals and lower life forms into running a dangerous mission of the Kree Homeworld, to stop some new weapon the Phalanx are developing. Peter Quill is forced to assume his abandoned Star-Lord identity, because it's an effective symbol. He remains a cycnical, sarcastic grump, though.

Giffen pulled in a bunch of characters I'm guessing hadn't been seen in at least 10 years (ignoring Peter David turning Rocket into a rug in his Captain Marvel series. Not cool, PAD.) So potentially any of them could die, and two of them did, although one of those wasn't until the main Annihilation: Conquest mini-series. This is where Rocket and Groot form their friendship, of course, and the core of the Abnett/Lanning Guardians of the Galaxy series takes shape.

Tim Green's art is a bit stiffer than it would be in later works, bit more delicate on the linework. Maybe that's Olazaba's inks. I'm not sure but I think Green inked himself more often later. This isn't the best for extended action sequences, but it works in brief stints, and things look fairly pretty. I prefer the designs for the Phalanx technicians with their elongated limbs and floating bodies, to the soldiers in Quasar.

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.

When They Have Nowhere To Run

Looking back, the thing I like best about the Fear Itself tie-in for Avengers Academy was the horror movie vibe of it. A bunch of teens, trying to relax, maybe connect a little, and then, uh-oh, unstoppable killing machines arrive to, well, kill them unstoppably. And the teens have no place to go. They're in a mansion floating in a seemingly empty dimension. Hiding is useless, since the monsters can simply destroy the place one section at a time, and there are only so many places to run. Plus, they'll get tired before the monsters do. They can try and fight, or try and be tricky, but it's all delaying tactics when you get down to it.

Thinking about that made me wish Annihilation: Conquest had played more with the same idea. It was there for the taking. The Phalanx created a barrier that was theoretically impenetrable. Nova did manage to get out, but only with some luck and a nearby neutron star. For most people, his escape route wouldn't have been an option. So the heroes are trapped with an enemy that could pursue them, and what's more, can turn any of them they capture against them. You do see that incorporated into the story a bit. When Blastaar is captured, Star-Lord and his crew have to get their plan underway quickly because sooner or later, Blastaar will become a Phalanx Select, and then they'll now the plan, too.

For the most part, though, the heroes aren't trying to escape. Star-Lord and his bunch went right into the heart of the Phalanx compound. The Wraith (wonder if we'll ever see him again?) didn't bother to run. Nova did, but the nature of how Abnett and Lanning went about it meant there wasn't much chance to play with the sense of being trapped. Rich tried to escape, slammed into the barrier, nearly died, became a Select, got Ko-Rel killed, the Worldmind got the infection under control, and Rich escaped using information the Worldmind had learned from Rich's time as part of the Phalanx.

It might have been interesting to see Nova not hit the barrier, then he and the Worldmind struggle to evade the pursuing enemies, remain uninfected by the transmode virus, and find some way to get out, or turn the tide with the resources available within the confines of Kree space. Alternatively, Abnett and Lanning could have chosen not to kill off Ko-Rel, have her help facilitate Nova Prime's escape, but she finds herself still stuck in Kree space, trying to survive/find her son/slow down the Phalanx. Hmm, almost five years on, I still think killing off Ko-Rel was the biggest mistake DnA made on that book.

The writer who came the closest to using that particular feel was Avengers Academy's own Christos Gage, who wrote the Quasar mini-series. He had Phyla and Moondragon searching for a savior (they wound up with Adam Warlock, guess you can't get everything you want). While being relentlessly pursued by an infected Super-Adaptoid. Escape is hampered because Phyla and Moondragon are focused on finding the savior, which limits their options, much like the U-Boat captain in The Enemy Below. Plus, Heather is having some problems (she's about to turn into an actual dragon), and having a sick person in the party slows them down. So there's that sense of looming dread, from the Super-Adaptoid following them, to Heather's problems, to Phyla's doubts about herself, and the fact her Quantum Bands are gradually running out of power. It can all give a sense of inevitability that someone is doomed, whether it'll be Phyla, Heather, the savior, some other poor schmoe. It didn't turn out that way, not during that mini-series anyway (Heather died in the main Conquest mini-series, thanks Ultron, ya jerk), but the feeling was there for a time.

Two Different Approaches To Changing Life, And Neither Worked

It's been over a month, but I wanted to get back to writing about the Cosmic Marvel events of recent years. When I started, I was talking about how Annihilation and Thanos Imperative mirrored each other, but couldn't decide how Annihilation: Conquest and War of Kings fit in to the "life vs. death" struggle.

I still haven't resolved that, but I had a thought on how the two middle events compare to each other. In each case, the story involves a major player trying to make a major change to life in the universe. Black Bolt planned to spread Terrigen Mists across the universe, the idea being everyone would become an Inhuman. Ultron was looking to combine what he considers the superiority of artificial intelligence, with a perfect organic body (Adam Warlock), thus overcoming the limitations of organic and artificial life.

Their goals are different, with Black Bolt hoping that if everyone is Inhuman, they'll all stop fighting and destroying entire planets. Ultron's goal is to have an entire troop of Phalanx in perfect bodies at his command, so he can go back to Earth and a) kill lots of people and b) prove decisively that he's surpassed the beings that created him. Black Bolt's willing to carry out this plan even though it'll kill him, while Ultron's plan demands he be in charge (he even requires everyone to refer to him as "Great Ultron").

There's also a vastly different amount of thought behind the two goals. Black Bolt's plan seems to have been conceived of desperation, without much thought to the practicality or logistics of it. Why will making everyone Inhuman stop the fighting? The Shi'ar have fought amongst themselves over who will rule. Pink and blue-skinned Kree have demonstrated hostilites towards each other. The Inhumans had a front row seat for years of mutant-on-mutant violence between Xavier's groups and Magneto/Apocalypse/Sinister/etc. Plus, he already knows the Mists have no effect on the Kree, so who is to say it'll work on the Shi'ar, the Badoon, or anyone else? Then there's the question of how for the Mists to spread throughout the universe, and what other species are going to do when they find out Black Bolt's made this decision about all their existences without consulting them, there's just no chance it was going to work the way he wanted.

Ultron's plan, while less noble, is better thought out, probably because he's worked towards it for years, though it involves some fortuitous happenstance. Ultron's taking a scientific approach, trying out different approaches and seeing how they do. As one fails, he tries another. Hank Pym created him, but Ultron moved beyond the programming, looked upon purely organic life, and found it unsatisfactory. He tried purely artificial (depending on whether you consider using organic beings' memory engrams as a mental blueprint artificial) a few times, and it's never produced a satisfactory result. So scratch it off, try combining his intelligence with an organic form hospitable to him (Tony Stark with his Extremis virus). There's potential, but Stark is still too flawed. Then Ultron's programming, transmitted into space, meets the Phalanx, themselves a combination of artificial and organic life, since they're organic beings infected with the Transmode virus. In a sense, a mass scale version of what he did to Stark. Again, there's potential, but it isn't enough. The Phalanx have no drive, no purpose other than to absorb, and eventually be destroyed by the Technarchs that inadvertently create them. So Ultron takes control through force of will, and sets it up so certain useful individuals brought into the Phalanx will retain the characteristics that make them useful. Now you have Phalanx that still tryo to assimilate everyone, but don't erase what's unique and useful about those they take. Even so, there are still flaws in the forms those Phalanx Select inhabit, and that brings Ultron to the High Evolutionary, and the plan to transfer the consciousness of the most important Phalanx into the artificially-created perfect organic bodies the H.E. designed.

So one plan hinges around a single great event, a catastrophe depending on one's perspective. The other was the result of years of trial-and-error in trying to demonstrate the flaws in trusting natural processes to guide the development of life to the best result. There are a couple of ideas in evolutionary biology about the development of new species. Phyletic gradualism says that species are always adapting and evolving in response to their environment, and given sufficient time, they'll become new species. Punctuated equilibrium suggests that a species remains largely the same for long periods of time, until some event causes the species to split into two in a relatively brief (geologically speaking) period of time. It's not perfect, but Ultron's gradual shift in approach could be compared to phyletic gradualism, while Black Bolt's abrupt decision to change everything would hew more closely to punctuated equilibrium. I don't think it's a perfect comparison (I also considered comparing them to the geologic theories of uniformitarianism and catastrophism, but it seemed better to stick to biology).

That neither plan actually worked as hoped, well, that's interesting. I'd say it suggests one can't force change on that scale, but humans have been shaping the development of different species for a long time (going back to at least selective breeding of domesticated livestock). There are false starts in biology, though. Most genetic mutations, if they change anything about the organism at all, don't convey a competitive advantage. They're more likely to cause an important organ or cellular process to fail. I had a professor who told us once that dinosaurs didn't die out while small mammals survived necessarily because the mammals were superior competitors. If that had been the case, he argued, the mammals would have taken over ecological niches without needing dinosaurs to suffer mass extinction. His answer was the mammals were lucky. They couldn't out-compete dinosaurs the ways things were, but conditions changed, and the changes favored the mammals.

Better to be lucky than good, and maybe that was Ultron's problem (I don't think Black Bolt's plan failed because he was unlucky, so much as it was just a bad plan). Richard Rider made it into Kree space before the bubble went up, and was able to escape thanks to Gamora killing Ko-Rel (which surely seemed like a good thing for the Phalanx, eliminating someone who could remove a valuable weapon of theirs like Nova Prime) and thus returning her bit of the Nova Force to Rich, which enabled him to get out from under the virus' control and escape to get help. Just little things in terms of timing or decisions that cost him, more than any massively huge flaw in his plan.

My Fair Lady (1964)

I still find musicals strange. Certainly there are people who will spontaneously sing in the course of their everyday lives, but I haven't seen anyone who does so at the volume people in musicals do. Fine, maybe I just live in places that where people are dead inside. Mostly, it's how other people join in, perfectly in harmony with the first singer. It's a hive mind, where one personality has become dominant and overwritten everyone else, so they must all sing and dance. Like Ultron and the Phalanx in Annihilation: Conquest, only resulting in less dead Kree. Except for that Skrull musical, The Importance of Being Deceptive, but most folks don't like to talk about that.

Anyway, Turner Classic was showing My Fair Lady last night, which I hadn't seen, and unlike Gone with the Wind, I actually watched most of this. I missed a little of the beginning, and there were two times during the film I had to change the channel because a particular musical number was dragging on to the point of madness. Eliza's bit about how she could have danced all night had me switching to the Military Channel for a few minutes of a piece on Japan in the run-up to WWII. Her father's song as he faces his looming wedding sent me scrambling to a Burn Notice rerun. I can only tolerate people singing 'Get me to the church on time' so often before I'm ready to leap into the movie and drag him there myself, just to shut him up.

Those issues aside, the movie was more engaging than I expected. I'm not quite sure how, though. It wasn't just that there wasn't much else on; I was actually interested in what was going to happen. Which is strange, because it wasn't an action movie, nor did I find it all that funny (the language expert at the Embassy Ball being an exception), and there was singing, but I wanted to keep watching. Strange. I'd guess I was curious as to what would happen with Eliza. I understood the basics of the story going in, passing her off as a highborn lady (which let's face it, if you're starting with Audrey Hepburn, your work is 75% done before you start), but I didn't know whether it worked, or what happened after.

I don't know what time period it's set in exactly, early 20th Century I suppose (1920s?), but the fashions, ye gods. Especially at the horse race. I'm pretty sure Britain conquered lands smaller than some of the hats those women were wearing.

Also, 'Draggle-tailed guttersnipe' is a pretty great insult.

Whatever Happened To Zam?

It's an older lingering question I have about Abnett and Lanning's work on Nova. During the Annihilation: Conquest tie-in issues, the Worldmind briefly empowered a Kree officer by the name of Ko-Rel. She was de facto commander of a downed Kree ship, stranded on a distant world. She was needed to protect Richard Rider, who was badly damaged by slamming into the barrier the Phalanx erected around Kree space at faster-than-light speed. Ultimately, Ko-Rel died trying to fight a Phalanx controlled Nova and Gamora*, and the return of her protion of the Nova Force gave Richard and the Worldmind just enough juice to break free of Phalanx control. Apparently, Ko-Rel's memory patterns were stored in the Worldmind, and she's the basis for its current interface, after the last one was corrupted by Ego, the Living Planet.

Anyway, one of the things we learned about Ko-Rel was she had a son back in the hub of the Kree Empire named Zam. What she really wanted was to get back to him. Obviously, that didn't happen, what with her dying. Since then, nothing about Zam, and I'm left wondering. Did he survive the Phalanx occupation? Was he on one of the worlds Vulcan destroyed? What's he doing these days? We never learned anything about who he was staying with, a dad, a grandparent, some sort of government established set-up for the children of Kree soldiers. Let's assume Zam's staying with his dad, and they both survived. Aren't they curious about where she is? She'd been missing for over a year even before she became a Nova. Seems to me Richard owes it to her to seek out her family, if they've survived, and give them closure.

Granted, he'd need a spare minute to do that, but they could fit that in. Actually, I'm a little surprised the Ko-Rel Worldmind hasn't been using its abilities to access Kree databases and seek out information on Zam. You could always use something like that to stir a little conflict between the Nova Corps and the Inhumans. The Corps ought to be concerned about the Inhumans. They made a weapon that blew a hole in the universe, which clearly marks them as a threat to peace.

* I still contend killing Ko-Rel was a mistake. She'd make a nice contrast to Richard, and nothing says she would have to remain a Nova permanently. She could have retired after the recent recruiting drive. Mostly, I think she'd have been an interesting presence during Conquest, since Nova was across the universe for most of it.

I Do Hope He's Not Going To Backslide

I've been thinking about Peter Quill, Star-Lord, in light of his killing Adam Warlock last month. The Annihilation: Conquest - Star-Lord mini-series told us that some time ago Star-Lord killed an entire mining colony to use their life energy to stop a crazed Herald of Galactus*. Prior to that, he'd been a cocky, self-assured super-hero, who figured there was no villain he couldn't stop. And if his battle with the Fallen One was any indication, he was right. Still, he turned himself in to the Nova Corps, and was sent to the Kyln, formerly the prison for life sentence convicts only. He basically gave up on life, and trying to do good. Well, tried to, at any rate.

Inevitably, he seems to be drawn back in more and more. Serving as part of Nova's High Command in Annihilation, trying to help the Kree rebuild, leading his little crew against the Phalanx, and eventually setting up the Guardians of the Galaxy. I think originally joining up with Nova might have been a death-wish, since Nova noted that Peter joined right after the good guys were dealt a crushing defeat. Even as he seemed to become more comfortable with being a useful force in the universe, he still wanted nothing to do with the name Star-Lord. He didn't want to be called that, didn't want to be reminded of it. He made mistakes, and wanted badly to put them behind him. Somewhere along the line, he seems to have grown comfortable with his teammates calling him "Star-Lord". Maybe he saw the title really does mean something to them, regardless of past errors, or maybe he accepted they were going to call him that whether he wanted them to or not. He goofed with the whole idea of using Mantis to convince people to join his team, but the group seems to have been quite forgiving**, to the extent they rescued him from the Negative Zone, which had to encourage him.

The concern is how he'll deal when he has to make tough choices. There's little doubt he'll make those tough choices, but the aftermath could be ugly. I already mentioned what he did after he sacrificed that mining colony to stop a guy that was running around destroying entire worlds. He was largely indifferent about his survival after he accidentally let the Phalanx take control of the Kree Empire. When the truth about how he put the Guardians together came out, he went off on his own to stop what he feared was a Skrull infiltration of the Kree Empire. Then he tried to fight Ronan one-on-one, which went as well as you'd expect. So he tends towards self-destructive behavior when he's had to make hard decisions, mostly out of guilt. Now he's saved the entire multiverse from being conquered by Adam Magus, and all it cost him was half his team, including one team member Peter had to kill. Star-Lord's quiet 'Look what you made me do, Adam. Look what you made me do.' does not bode well.

The rest of the team might want to keep a close eye on him for awhile.

* You know, Galactus really needs to do a better job tending to his former Heralds. Some of them help save the universe, but they sure do seem to wreak havoc a lot.

** They really did seem to cut him a lot of slack on that. Except for Adam, he clearly still held a grudge when he rejoined the team, but the others didn't seem to give him much crap about it. Maybe the the actions he took by himself convinced them how seriously he was taking this protecting the universe stuff?

Someone's Inside There

So Adam Warlock did become the Magus. This is not likely to be a good thing for the Marvel Universe. Still, there's the matter of the cocoon. This Adam Warlock emerged from a cocoon during Annihilation: Conquest, but the Universal Church of Truth has another cocoon just like it, which they've been trying to open ever since they encountered this Adam Warlock. Where the UTC came across this other cocoon is unknown. Who is inside it is unknown. When it first showed up, I figured it was the Magus, but since he's known made the scene through a different avenue, I have no idea.

It could be another Adam Warlock, but that wouldn't explain why the voice of whomever is inside was so angry when the UTCers tried to forcibly open it. Granted, Adam Warlock was disoriented through the early chapters of Conquest precisely because he was forced to hatch before he was ready, so maybe this Adam Warlock is more proactive in making sure that doesn't happen? Or maybe I was right, and it's another Magus. Perhaps his cocoon drifted into the 616 universe through a little tear the Guardians either didn't notice or didn't reach soon enough. Two Maguses (Magi?), it's doubtful they'd get along.

The main thing I had to go off of when I originally guessed Magus was the cocoon, the anger, and the use of the color, since that's Magus' skin color. Hmm, who else is purple? Well, Star-Lord's supposed to run into Kang soon, could he have tried a cocoon as an unorthodox method of traveling backwards in time? Yeah, you're right, that's silly.

Maybe it's Thanos. He's purple, and dead, the last time we saw him. Maelstrom said that Drax killing Dearth's Champion caused an instability in the universe, so could Thanos have come back to serve Death again, and try to even things out? Sure, he wouldn't want to leave Death, but he would if he thought she needed him to. Thanos has interacted with the Magus before (Infinity War), but it might be interesting to see how things went this time, since I imagine both of them have changed since then.

Trying To Make Sense Of Comic Book Science

In Guardians of the Galaxy #8 we learned that Ronan had the scientists of the Kree Empire rebuild the Babel Spire the Phalanx initially constructed in Annihilation: Conquest Prologue #1*. Ronan recognized the Kree weren't exactly at their best right now, and the barrier the spire creates would hopefully provide some protection. Plus, it needs an energy source, and that means he had a use for all those damn Skrulls trying to secretly invade his empire**.

Of course, the barrier created by the Spire wound up being more of a Maginot Line*** than a {insert manmade defensive structure with greater direct success rate}, considering that Star-Lord made it to the Kree homeworld**** and the Inhumans went around it so easily, it might as well have not even been there.

That seems a bit curious. Consider that in Nova #4, Rich opened a stargate and hauled butt for the border of the Kree Empire once he learned the Phalanx had taken over. He hit the barrier and got crisped. OK, so teleportation involves hopping into some other dimension, then popping back into the one you started in at a different point. The barrier may have cut Kree space off from the rest of the universe, but that doesn't extend to those other dimensions. Except that leaves me wondering what the hell a stargate is supposed to be then? It's obviously some form of faster than light travel, if Rich can cross the distance between star systems in less than an hour. I was under the impression that it was equivalent to a hyperspace jump, like the ones they have in Star Wars. In both cases, one has to adjust for the gravitational influences of stars, planets, various other sources of significant matter*****.

Perhaps it's a matter of the "distance" removed from the universe in question. I haven't seen teleportation depicted as being affected by gravitational forces. Teleporters travel through a dimension far enough removed from their home universe that the forces present in said universe don't interfere with their travel. Stargates (or hyperspace) is just outside the home universe, so it can be interfered with by those forces.

The Phalanx barrier cut Kree space off from the rest of the universe, such that nothing could get in or out (except Rich opening a stargate as he was flying into a star, and that lacked accuracy and control). There was no communication between those inside and outside, the Quantum Bands couldn't draw from wherever their energy normally comes from. So I guess the answer is that the barrier forms a sort of gulf between what's inside and what's out, and stargates normally can't cross it. Stargates are an RV when the bridge is out, and teleporters are a helicopter.

Well, I feel better. Not really.

* It's funny, Babel Spires are normally formed from the Phalanx themselves, and signal their Technarch "parents", but here it was formed from corrupted Sentry robots, and created a barrier. Guess we chalk that up to Ultron being in charge.

** I like how Ronan was insulted - without really showing it - by Star-Lord thinking they'd need his assistance to deal with Skrulls. The Kree haven't been fighting the Skrulls to a stalemate for thousands of years by luck.

*** I know, that isn't really fair to the Line, since it did force the Germans to attack Belgium first, as planned, and it was ultimately beaten by aerial bombing, which it wasn't prepared for. Still, for the amount of time, effort, money, and hopes they had in that thing, it really didn't meet expectations.

**** I assume the barrier was up when Quill dropped by. The spire was already rebuilt, and certainly appeared to be up and running.

***** Wonder if that includes dark matter?

Don't Give Up Now!

When I reached the end of last week's Secret Invasion: War of Kings, I was a bit disappointed in Ronan. He lets Medusa just take his hammer, and then kneels before Black Bolt*. It seemed too easy for the Inhumans, given Ronan's extreme sense of duty to the Kree Empire. Take a look at his recent resume:

- Willingly surrenders himself to Kree authorities on trumped up charges, even when told by the arresting officer that they would totally understand if he blew them off.

- Despite having been found guilty of trumped up charges and stripped of his title, still fights with his fellow Kree against the Annihilation Wave. When he decides the House Fiyero are running a poor campaign, kills their representatives on the front lines**.

- Then journeys back to the Kree homeworld to convince the rest of House Fiyero to see the light. Learns they've signed a backroom deal with Annihilus' chief lieutenant, Ravenous. Smashes Ravenous' face like hamburger, kills remainder of House Fiyero. Assumes control of Kree Empire, as they lack other options, and the people will follow him.

- When the Phalanx conquered the Kree, Ronan decided the best option was to unleash an army of Sentry robots. He was willing to kill his people, rather than let the Phalanx control them.

Yet here, the Inhumans barge in, kick butt, and Ronan doesn't even try and stop Medusa from taking his weapon? Doesn't even try one attack on Black Bolt? I get that Black Bolt is a true king, and Ronan always saw himself as simply a regent, just keeping the seat warm, but still, these are the Kree we're talking about. They jailed Bug because he got his mack on with some of their women, thus contaminating their genetic purity. Like Rocket Raccoon said, to the Kree, everyone else is a lower lifeform. But they'll accept some Earthlings, whose ancestors they genetically altered, as their rulers? Especially after they had half their empire taken by the Annihilation Wave, and then were conquered by the Phalanx, this can't do their pride any good. I could see there being a 50% chance of the people accepting this if Ronan pitches it to them, and a 50% chance they'd turn on him, declare him a traitor for allowing weapons the Kree created*** to now rule their creators.

Really, I'm just stunned he gave up so easily. Seems unlike Ronan.

* Doesn't have quite the same ring to it as "Kneel before Zod", does it?

** Not during a battle mind you, during a planning session.

*** And subsequently abandoned/forgot about/left alone until they decided they needed them, but I doubt the Kree would see any significance to that. We created you, we own you forever, 'cause we're the Kree.

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.

So Many Choices

So, if you've been reading Annihilation: Conquest (or talking to someone who has), you know that Moondragon tried to protect Quasar from Ultron and got punched in the heart for her trouble (see issue #2). Then partway through #3, Moondragon's body dissolved into mist as she said her tearful farewells to Phyla. Even as jaded as I am towards death in the superhero comic world, I found it at least a bit touching. 

Still, this is at least the second death for Heather, and so I imagine she'll bounce back at some point, leading to a happy reunion with her beloved. The question, as those of you accustomed to the trains of thought I purchase tickets for around here, is in what form? 

Though I imagine it's possible for her astral form to escape the portion of space the Phalanx have walled off, I think she would try to stay there, so if she could find a suitable replacement, she would be better able to help Phyla. First possibility: One of the High Evolutionary's "Nu-Kree". I'm not sure how many are left since he had the star near his floating lab explode, but the H.E. is a fairly intelligent individual; it's reasonable to expect he has more of them stashed somewhere, or has other facilities that could be used to make more. They don't seem to have much in the way of minds; they mostly stand around unless the H.E. is nearby, then they crowd around him and do as he commands. She could take one of those bodies fairly easily. 

Or, H.E. also said the Nu-Kree were his early attempts, and that he had finished the work he was there to do, so maybe Heather can snag one of those perfect expressions of Kree genetics he made. Second possibility: Heather projects her mind into an empty Phalanx husk. Ultron had the Phalanx create a new body for him, and then downloaded himself back into it. If she could find a similar form that had no mind yet, maybe she could hop in and take over.

More Thoughts On The Phalanx

I've been considering what Ultron is after in the Kree Galaxy. Ultron has the Phalanx systematically going through the minds of all the Kree, looking for something. The obvious question is, what is Ultron after?

We know that Ultron has no love for humans (except for Ultron-13, who was nice, and actually loved Hank Pym.) Ultron wants to wipe humans out, and replace them with artificial lifeforms. To that end, Ultron started recording the brain patterns of various Avengers to use as templates for that new race of artificial beings. The last we saw of those, Alkhema, his estranged wife, had picked them up after Ultron got beat down by Pym. And just recently (and finally finished!), Ultron hacked into Tony Stark, took the appearance of the Wasp, and started initiating all sorts of catastrophes before being defeated, assuming that was Ultron. Given the resemblance to the Wasp, I wonder if the chip with her memory patterns might have been involved, which would suggest Alkhema, not Ultron.

Something that seemed to be important about the havoc Ultron was that they attacks were things that the Avengers had faced before. They weren't new schemes, just a bunch of old plans unleashed all at once. That suggests a lack of creativity, which is a little odd since Ultron's rarely lacked for innovation in his plans (Given the recent Mighty Avengers story, I probably shouldn't use a male pronoun for Ultron, should I?) No Ultron's in outer space, controlling the hive mind of a vast techno-organic species. It gives Ultron all the advantages that a greater, linked consciousness has, but also allows those within the group a certain level of independence, so their individual skills aren't wasted.

Maybe Ultron's decided that replacing organic life with artificial life is a poor plan, because too many valuable qualities are lost, ones that can't as yet be duplicated by his own creations. Of course, that doesn't answer the question of what's being sought after, though I thought it would when I started typing. So, moving on.

Maybe Ultron thinks the key to defeating the Technarcy lies somewhere within the Kree. The Technarcy will have to be dealt with eventually, since they'll appear to destroy the Phalanx* (*see Thursday's post for more details!); the barrier won't last forever. What that key would be, beyond "Overwhelming force", I don't know.

The one thing I can't shake is a feeling that the High Evolutionary has something to do with what Ultron's after (besides Adam Warlock, who Ultron appears to consider just an obstacle to be removed). And the thing I keep coming back to is a place I know from Thor comics called the "Black Galaxy". It's not actually a galaxy (I think); it's just a portion of space where everything is alive, including planets and stars and such. It's where Ego, The Living Planet is from, though he's the only inhabitant to achieve sentience. The High Evolutionary was very interested in that place at one time, and I can't shake the feeling that a portion of space where normally lifeless things are composed of organic molecules, and react as living things would (meaning they can defend themselves), would be of interest to an artificial being in control of a techno-organic lifeform.

Think about it. Instead of the Phalanx just being a collection of living beings, it could grow to include the very worlds they lived on, as they would be made of living matter, and so should be vulnerable to the transmode virus. There would be no way to enter Phalanx territory without the knowing it, and they could respond instantly. It'd be like Krakoa, The Living Island that the X-Men tangled with long ago, where everything is your enemy.

Survival Instinct Will Alter Their Programming

So next month, we're going to see Nova on the world of Kvch, the original homeworld of the Phalanx, as Richard is hoping he'll find something to help him fight said Phalanx. Initially, I was going to talk about how I was hoping we'd find out how the Phalanx began, what was the origin of their hivemind, techno-organic structure, and things like that. Then I did a little poking around on Wkipedia, and felt like going a different direction.

I didn't know the Phalanx are sort of an offshoot of beings like Warlock (the one from the old New Mutants series, not Adam Warlock), called the Technarcy. I vaguely remembered Douglock being around when the Phalanx first really established themselves as a threat, but that was in '90s X-Men comics, so I think I can be forgiven for not trying too hard to follow what was happening. The Wiki entry also told me the Phalanx are considered abominations by the Technarcy, who pride themselves on their individuality, while the Phalanx tend to lack that quality. That's kind of interesting. It doesn't explain how a techno-organic race originated, but it did raise some other questions for me.

See, the entries say that when the Phalanx in a region reach a certain number, they construct a Babel Spire, which sends a signal to the Magus, ruler of the Technarcy, who shows up and destroys all Phalanx. It's clearly not something they should want to do, but it's hardwired into what passes for the genetic code of the transmode virus. And in Conquest, they have built a Spire, but they've also created a barrier, which means the Magus can't get in. Apparently, Ultron wasn't able to eliminate the instinctive drive to build the Spire, but he was able to instill in them a need/desire/urge to build a device that would protect them from the doom the Spire brings.

Of course, that still raises the question of how they learned to build a device that, as Phyla put it, did something not even Galactus is capable of, by shifting the Kree Galaxy out of "normal" space. Where would they have found that technology? Off hand, I'd suggest either the Rigellians, who created the Recorders and were big on collecting knowledge and could have either created such a device, or found records of it somewhere in their explorations, or the Celestials. Where are they getting the power to maintain it? It seems pretty likely that now the energy is being supplied by the Kree that are being "processed", but where did they get the energy for the initial creation of it? They hadn't been invading that long, could they already have captured and processed enough Kree to construct the barrier, or did they sacrifice some of themselves for the energy? That seems like a very "hivemind" thing to do.

Just Waiting For The Right Moment?

Quick thought on Annihilation: Conquest tonight.

After Gabriel Vargas and the rest of the Starlord team stopped the Phalanx's insidious scheme to integrate the entire Kree Empire with their airborne nanotech, the Uni-Force parted ways with Gabe, since he had apparently completed the task the Uni-Force had chosen him for. What I'm wondering is, will the Uni-Force reappear later in Conquest, to turn the tide at a critical juncture?

We don't know where it went after it left Gabe, whether there was another crisis that required its attention, or even if it can get past the barrier the Phalanx have erected around their current occupation zone. Remember, part of Quasar's problem is that the barrier is cutting the Quantum Bands off from their source of power, which is why she has to try and use them sparingly, because she only has what's currently stored within them. So the barrier can definitely repel energy, which might leave the Uni-Force trapped with the rest of them.

I don't think we will see it again during the current mini-series, but it would be interesting to get a panel or two noting that the Phalanx are trying to hunt it down. It's a source of great power, which would interest them, plus we've already seen how it can combine with a member of the Phalanx and cause that being to become independent of the hive brain. That would be the sort of thing they should be concerned about, that they might want to look into capturing and isolating the Uni-Force, so that couldn't happen at a key moment. Because those sorts of things do seem to happen at the worst possible times. Or at the best possible times, depending on your perspective.

All That's Changed Is The Odds Are Worse

Several months ago, I laid odds on which member of Starlord's team was going to bite the dust during the Starlord mini-series. As is typical for me, I backed the wrong horse, as Gabriel Vargas escaped mostly unscathed, minus the need for prosthetic legs, of course, and Deathcry ended up getting wild (as I predicted) and getting fried by her own teammate (which I did not predict). Anyway, we've had our first Starlord appearance of Annihilation: Conquest this week, so I think it's time to update the Odds O'Painful Termination Board. Please keep in mind that everyone's chances are likely to increase a little, because Deathcry's 20% has to go somewhere.

Starlord: Previous odds of death = 1%. Current odds of death = 4%. Well, the fact he's not the title character of this like he was the earlier mini-series hurts his odds, but he still doesn't strike me as the type to do anything insanely noble, so I'm not boosting his odds that much.

Rocket Raccoon: Previous odds of death = 3%. Current odds of death = 6%. He's got that high level of intuition that ought to protect, but nothing is perfect.

Groot: Previous odds of death = 11%. Current odds of death = 14%. Even though I was right, and Groot was the biggest target, and did draw the most fire, that doesn't appear to be that big of hinderance to him, since he only needs a little part of him to remain whole to survive. However, I imagine the Phalanx have files from the first go-round, and when they see him again they'll recgonize that fact and probably adjust accordingly. Then again, he has those spores, and can probably use those to propagate himself as necessary, so this seems about right.

Gabriel Vargas: Previous odds of death = 31%. Current odds of death = 40%. Well, Gabe has the least history, the fewest fans, the least amount of power (now that the Uni-Force has moved on), and the least amount of experience with this kind of stuff. Plus he still seems very enthusiastic to help, and he's got the mentality that makes him willing to be the sacrifice, as opposed to Starlord who has the mentality that there have to be sacrifices.

Mantis: Previous odds of death = 15%. Current odds of death = 24%. I'm upping Mantis' odds because she seems so damn calm about everything. Being calm in battle isn't a bad thing mind you, 'If you can keep your head when all around you are losing yours, then you can have lots of hats' and all that, but she strikes me as someone who's very comfortable with the idea she's going to die. In fact, given her apparent precog abilities, I wouldn't be surprised if she's already seen her death in this conflict, understands why it happens, and has just accepted the inevitability of it.

Bug: Previous odds of death = 19%. Current odds = 13%. I still can't really get a feel for Bug. he seems like a competent fighter, but kind of a goofball, a little like Spider-Man. I don't think he'll bail on the team or anything, but I just have a feeling he's going to know when to keep his head down and make it through OK. Just a hunch, one I may have to revise depending on upcoming issues.

So there you go, nice and updated. And now I'm taking off for the day. Talk to ya tomorrow.

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.