Annihilation Book 1 (Bk. 1) [Paperback]

Keith Giffen (Author), Dan Abnett (Author), Andy Lanning (Author), Mitch Breitweiser (Illustrator), Scott Kolins (Illustrator), Ariel Olivetti (Illustrator), Kev Walker (Illustrator)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 26, 2007

The Annihilation Wave has come! Annihilus, lord of the Negative Zone, has declared war! Hordes of loyal soldiers swarm from the center of the universe, and only a handful of heroes can resist destruction! As the Xandarian Nova Corps meet its doom, only Richard Rider - the man called Nova - survives. Now the sole custodian of the Worldmind, the Zandarian's database of knowledge and experience, can he rediscover himself in time to lead the war effort against the Annihilation Wave? Drax the Destroyer returns from exile on Earth to mentor Nova - but wait until you see his dangerous new persona! Guest-starring Quasar, Ronan the Accuser, the Super-Skrull and Thanos! Collecting Drax the Destroyer #1-4, Annihilation Prologue and Annihilation: Nova #1-4.

Product Details

• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: Marvel (September 26, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0785129014
• ISBN-13: 978-0785129011
• Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 0.4 x 10.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.1 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (21 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #214,946 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Nova: The baddest man in the universe!, April 4, 2007

By 

Elvis Zombie "Dustin" (Angola, Indiana USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Annihilation, Book 1 (Marvel Comics) (Bk. 1) (Hardcover)

Forget the hype of the Marvel Civil War; Annihilation is war on a cosmic scale! Who the heck is Nova? I knew little about Richard Rider, the man called Nova, before picking this book up, but Nova is quite possibly the baddest man in the universe.
While Iron Man and Captain America fight over petty issues, Nova is fighting a battle to save the Universe from Annihilius of the Negative Zone. Yeah! The same Negative Zone that Mr. Fantastic and Iron Man built a maximum security prison in. Hey Iron Man, way to go chrome dome! Turns out Annihilus is so powerful he was banished to the Negative Zone to keep the universe safe. Building a prison in the Negative Zone seems to have disrupted things, and Annihilus appears on the edge of the Skrull Empire with an armada of ships dubbed the "Annihilation Wave."
In the ensuing chaos star systems are destroyed and Xandar, home of Nova Corps, is wiped out. The sole survivor is Richard Rider, who is given the full power of the Nova Force to combat Annihilius. The confrontation at the end of this book is awesome and leaves you craving more; It's like Star Wars without lightsabers.
Heroes and villians alike must come together or face Annihilation! Drax the Destroyer, the Super-Skrull, Silver Surfer, Ronan the Accuser, and Thanos all make appearances in this title; It's everything you could ask for in a major comic event. Cosmic stories may be an acquired taste, but this story reads like Flash Gordon on crack!

16 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Really a prologue to the main event, May 10, 2007

By 

N. Durham "Big Evil" (Philadelphia, PA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Annihilation, Book 1 (Marvel Comics) (Bk. 1) (Hardcover)

In the midst of Marvel's much hyped Civil War event, the company's other less heard of event, Annihilation, gets lost in translation. Thankfully though, Marvel is collecting the entire saga in three hardcover collections, and while this first collection details the events leading up to the main saga of Annihilation, there isn't really anything super pivotal here. The main focus of this hardcover collection is the Nova mini-series which finds Richard Rider, AKA Nova, a lone survivor in space and on a bit of a revenge trip. Besides this story, there really isn't anything here that is essential to the main events. This hardcover collection also collects the Drax the Destroyer: Earth Fall mini-series from Keith Giffen, and while it's a great story on it's own, it's already been available in a much cheaper paperback edition. All in all, if you are a completist then by all means pick up this first hardcover collection of Annihilation for the Nova story alone, but for everyone else, this title isn't all that essential to the future events of the saga.

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A fantastic comic event that deserves a closer look, June 8, 2007

By 

Nicolas D. Jones "Garlador" (Nowhere, Silent Hill) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Annihilation, Book 1 (Marvel Comics) (Bk. 1) (Hardcover)

Yes, everybody and their dog knows about Marvel's "Civil War" event. But at the same time, this event was going on, and for those, like myself, absolutely sick of all the crossovers, tie-ins, and blatant marketing stunts, Marvel's "Annihilation" is an absolute godsent. While it was completely overshadowed by "Civil War", it is much larger in scale, the key difference being that it centers around characters that, like the series itself, are overlooked and underappreciated. After all, everyone knows Captain America and Spider-man, but there are far less people who know who Drax the Destroyer is, or Ronan the Accuser, or even Nova. But it's because we don't really know who these people are that they surprise us with who they are, what they can do, and what they're up against. This first volume flounders a bit at the beginning (mainly due to some very hard-to-read fonts), but eventually sets the stage for the cosmic scale battle to come. Nova, in particular, really launches himself off as a power player in the scheme of things, and he's a far cry from the dopey "Kid Nova: The Human Rocket" member of New Warriors. The art is generally well done across the collection, with Nova's series perhaps being a tad underwhelming, but it all gets the job done. In the end, this is an excellent event from Marvel that really shook up some power players and proved to be a great alternative to the convoluted mess that was "Civil War".