Customer Reviews

Annihilation Book 1 (Bk. 1)

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

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!

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.

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".

If you grew up reading comics in the late 80's to mid 90's, chances are you read the annual Marvel Crossover events that all started with Infinity something-something. While The Infinity Gauntlet in memory was great it can not compare to the intricate and amazingly well planned Annihilation event of this decade. If you love characters like NOVA, THANOS, SILVER SURER,and all things in the Marvel cosmic universe this is a must read. While this crossover event was eclipised by the CIVIL WAR saga, the ramifications of what happens to the Marvel Universe after Annihilation are far greater than what happens on Earth in Civil War. Do yourself a favor and check this out!

Being a person who did most of my comic reading in the early to mid ninties, I found the revamped personas of Drax, and Nova really refreshing here. I just received my paperback edition of this collection last week, and after a couple reads i can say that i really enjoyed this. I love all things Thanos and Silver Surfer related, so i've got a pretty good grasp on Drax and his past. But here under some pretty extraordinary circumstances his new persona is a little edgier and hes someone you can actually root for. (unlike giant super powered retard of yesteryear). I'm not really sure why they feel the need to stick him with an emo version of Jubilee, but shes not too annoying. I never really liked Nova or Quasar much, but in this collection you see a different side of them. I've only known them as throw away characters from the 10 years ago, but here they are developed characters you can appreciate. The art is top notch for the most part. The Super Skrull and Thanos make appearances and you really get the feeling something big is coming. I can't wait to read volume two of this series and highly recommend it to anyone who loves seeing these old rejects rejuvinated and realized to their full potential.

Yeah so I just finished this off in one sitting, all three volumes of the Annihilation saga. I'd started it on a friend's recommendation. Before this I had never even heard of these characters or their back-stories - no matter; I was sucked in straight from page one. The storyline is nothing short of epic. To say anything less is to damn it with faint praise. Where has this been all my life?!

Annihilation is THE Major Comic Book Event that Marvel should have pushed back in 2006 but didn't. More's the pity as it's about 10,000 times better than the pathetic "Civil War." The characters are fascinating - especially Nova, driven to seek vengeance for the destruction of the Nova Corps in volume one. His foil Annihilus, while almost one dimensional with his whole KILL KILL KILL ANNIHILUS IS BLAH BLAH schtick still manages to make for an intriguing and terrifying baddie. More interesting still is Drax the Destroyer, programmed to seek out and kill Thanos, an ultra-powerful villain allied with Annihilus who ironically turns out to be the only one who can possibly end the latter's threat for good. And that's just the tip of the iceberg. In fact, my only real complaint here is that the ginormous cast of characters makes it a bit difficult to keep track of everyone, though this doesn't really detract much from the story. Over all, the writing is great.

I won't go into any detail about the plot - you should just walk in cold like I did. Prepare to be AMAZED. A star-spanning epic, gorgeous art, some hitherto sadly underused cosmic characters who are finally given the chance to shine...Annihilation simply has everything one could ask for, barring a movie version. But I don't begrudge Marvel for shying away from so huge an undertaking as that. To be done correctly, Annihilation: the Movie would require last year's Pentagon budget.

But one can dream...

Back in the Bronze Age, Marvel gave us epic space opera the likes of which no one had seen before in comic books. Guys like Jim Starlin gave us interstellar battles that had the Avengers and Captain Mar-vell in the thick of the Kree/Skrull War. We saw the Avengers, Warlock and Captain Mar-Vell battle endlessly against the mad titan Thanos. But it was a long while before we would get anything as epic as those classic confrontations. Then came Keith Giffen, Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning with "Annihilation" and once again, Marvel proved that no one does Space Opera with as much wit, fun and pure frenetic energy.

Annihilation Volume 1 sets up the story. Bursting out of the Negative Zone with a vengeance and a massive armada is Annihilus, intent on wiping out all life in the known universe. One of the byproducts of his attack causes several powerful beings to be released from an ancient interstellar prison called The Kyln. One is Drax the Destroyer who ends up on earth with several dangerous inmates including several skrulls. Two other inmates were imprisoned by Galactus himself. Annihilus next salvo takes out the entire Nova Corps, save for one...Richard Rider, the last Nova Centurion. Over the course of the story Nova will unite with Drax the Destroyer, Quasar and a young earth girl named Cammi.

The story is a lot of fun. It's entertaining and well paced. The majority of Book One focuses on the rebirth of Drax The Destroyer, the destruction of the Nova Corps and Nova Centurion Richard Rider and Quasar's efforts to survive a confrontation with Annihilus.

This is just the beginning of an epic story. Highly recommended.

the drax collection is a little blah, serves to introduce new drax and cammi.
the annihilation prologue is pretty good, and starts off annihilation proper.
the nova collection also wasn't that interesting to me, because i don't really care for nova and the green lantern rip-off (which are lensman rip-offs) nova corps.
this review might sound negative, and it's not meant to be because annihilation is the best comic series that's been released in quite some time. it was out the same time as civil war (which isn't very good) and was overlooked but annihilation is where it's at.

Review by Brian Grindrod

Purchasing and organizing the Annihilation saga in the standard comic book format had to be a royal pain in the [...] with a 48 page one-shot, four issue limited series that tied into one another with the event concluding in a six issue mini-series. Oh.... I was about to forget to mention the various spin-offs and sequels! Lucky for me, Marvel Comics realizes the sales potential in repackaging their best and popular material in the over-sized hardcover format that has the same asking price as their original counterparts. No need to sweat or stress myself out about missing an issue with these babies plus I get the variant covers as well as other bonus material.

In the midst of all the Civil War pandemonium, Annihilation was relegated to the driver's seat to be ignored or forgotten by fans. If you are one of them, I regret to inform you that you lifted your nose on one of the best science-fiction yarns within the confines of the super-hero genre. I am the first to agree that the cast is comprised of `b-characters' and a bunch of yahoos that only a bonafide geek like myself would recognize. Aside from The Silver Surfer who is distinguishable with the release of the Fantastic Four film, it will not be the likes of Ronan The Accuser, Super-Skrull, Drax The Destroyer or one of my personal favourites, Nova The Human Rocket, that can flock fans to the local comic book shop. However, this is where the writers use these less prominent characters to their advantage since they are not flogged down by any corporate limitations or the outcry of fanboys who feel that their hero is not written in continuity. Should you be upset that Drax The Destroyer is not scribed with the persona of a retard anymore, I suggest that you walk over to the nearest gun shop to purchase a firearm in order to insert the barrel within your mouth and pull the trigger. The human race will do quite well without you. Trust me.

It is not unusual to have visual inconsistency when several artists are working a project of such magnitude but I can say that this is not the case with pencillers Renato Artem, Kev Walker, Jorge Lucas and Andrea DiVito's contribution. While each artists' pencil work is distinctive, the change in styling is not abrasive when you finish one volume and continue onto another. Perhaps Greg Titus' anime styling of the Super-Skrull chapters will stand out as a sore thumb as opposed to a realistic portrayal from the aforementioned artists but considering that the focus is on two shape-shifters, it works hand-in-hand with the script.

I recommend all the volumes of the Annihilation series where second-rate heroes battle second-rate villains in a story about a cosmic inter-dimensional war but a limited knowledge of the Marvel Universe could be a hindrance. However, if you remember the first time you held a comic book of your now favorite super-hero where you were experiencing excitement unfolding within the borders of your imagination, Annihilation will rekindle those feelings.

Title: Annihilation Conquest: Book 1 (HC)
Publisher: Marvel
Writers: Dan Abnett, Andy Lanning, Keith Giffen, Christos Gage, Michael Hoskin
Artists: Mike Perkins, Timothy Green II, Mike Lilly (pencils), Mike Perkins, Victor Olazaba, Bob almond, Scott Hanna, Mark McKenna, Roland Paris (inks), Guru eFX, Nathan Fairbairn, Stephane Peru (colors), Aleksi Briclot, Nic Klein, Matt Wilson, Andrea DiVito (covers)
Collects: Annihilation Conquest: Prologue, Annihilation Conquest - Quasar #1-4, Annihilation Conquest - Starlord #1-4, Annihilation Saga
Price: $29.99

Picking up where the last Annihilation event left off, this book keeps the focus on Marvel's stable of galactic heroes and villains. For sci-fi fans, it's likely to be the best you're going to get from Marvel. Luckily, it's pretty good. Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning continue to steer Marvel's galactic characters to places they've never gone before, and it turns out to be a pretty good ride. Back from the first Annihilation event are Nova, Ronan, Ravenous, Kl'rt the Super Skrull, the Supreme Intelligence, Drax and Moondragon. New central players include Starlord, Rocket Raccoon, Groot, Bug, the new Quasar - Phyla-Vell, Mantis, the Phalanx empire, and Wraith - a brand new character who's very interesting and very powerful in his own right.

Book 1 focuses on Quasar and Starlord and the conquest of the Kree Empire by the techno-organic race, the Phalanx. Marvel's cosmic scene has really changed a lot in the past few years. Annihilus' invasion pretty much killed or chased off most of the Skrulls, the Shi'ar were invaded and conquered by Vulcan, now the Kree are invaded and conquered, and the Skrulls are invading Earth. There's been so much going on and so many major characters getting major upgrades or name changes or new costumes or new titles and motivations that it's hard to keep track of it all. There's even the up-coming War of Kings going on and more stuff with the Inhumans taking place. Largely, the changes are all good and have paved the way for new, fun series such as Guardians of the Galaxy and Nova.

Although the Quasar story left me with only a luke-warm reaction, I really enjoyed the Starlord story. I knew nothing of the character prior to my reading of this book and it was interesting to learn the history of the character and how he is involved as a central player in this new series. His new look is very striking, and I have to give props to whoever did the re-design. It works well and goes a long way towards engendering the character to new readers.

Being a typical "event" book, there is a large cast of artists and writers on the book, so you get a mixed bag. The artwork on the Starlord story (done principally by Timothy Green II) was my favorite art team. Tim did an excellent job of illustrating a large cast of characters involved in a variety of action-filled or nearly action-less scenes. The Quasar story was a bit boring. I never much cared for this character back when Wendell Vaughn was the guy wearing the quantum bands. The new female version (Phyla-Vell - sister to Captain Marvel) just didn't do much for me. Though the costume design is nice, I still don't care for the character as a concept (too much a copy of Green Lantern) and making her a lesbian poured more water on the fire for me. I'm really not liking the trend of more and more homosexual character in Marvel and DC comics. It seems, as a group, they are far over-represented in comics these days and over-exposure is tiresome. Having Moondragon become and actual "Dragon of the Moon" - a large black dragon - was unexpected but not bad. I wonder how long this will last. Probably as long as this series lasts.

At 272 pages, this book is large, but the price still seems high to me. If I were purchasing the book, I'd wait for the soft cover edition. The price breaks down to around $0.11/page, and I really try to buy my books for less than this.

This was a decent book, and in many ways superior to the original Annihilation series. I look forward to reading the next book in the series.

Writing: 7/10
Artwork: 7/10
Cool Factor: 8/10
Value: 7/10

Overall: 7.25/10