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.

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.