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A review of 'Annihilation Book 1' |
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Kev Walker
Ariel Olivetti
Scott Kolins
Andy Lanning
Dan Abnett
Keith Giffen
Mitch Breitweiser
This is book 1 of the Annhilation Series
Marvel Comics, Graphic Novels
Overall: 9 out of 10
Reviewer: Aidan
Book Synopsis
The Annihilation Wave has come! Annihilus, lord of the Negative Zone, has declared war! Hordes of loyal soldiers swarm from the centre 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.
Book Review
I have a confession to make I have never really got into Marvels cosmic heroes I am not sure why but it all seemed to be a bit confusing and just did not have the appeal of Spider-man, Iron Man or hell even Ant-man. So picking this up I only had a vague knowledge of the characters I seem to remember Nova from some issue of Spider-man I picked up. Marvels cosmic events always seemed to involve a guy called Thanos and destroying the universe thankfully Jim Starlin is not writing this and I don’t have to be concerned with Gauntlets of infinite power. Well let me say right off this has changed my mind Nova, Drax and even Quasar rock in this incredible and well thought out book. It starts with the Drax the Destroyer books by Keith Griffen with Art by Mitch Breitweiser and it’s a magnificent start. Drax crash lands on earth with some other space convicts when there is some trouble aboard their space prison. On earth we get to meet a young girl Cammi a kid from a dysfunctional family in a backwater town which is next to the landfall of the galactic criminals the Blood brothers, Paibok, Lunatik and of course Drax. Its good to see how Cammi deals with everything she sees and experiences when all the Aliens start throwing down, it makes you think what would it be like for a kid growing up in a world where you turn on the TV to see the fantastic four and the avengers or some such thing. When Paibox asks her if this is her first encounter she glibly replies “Cant turn on the TV without seeing some freakshow or other on the news. Kind of densities you.” whilst her friend Dex runs in terror. She adds a great normalising touch to cosmic proceeding whilst adding some great Buffy like piffy comments such as “so what’s with all the cattle mutilations?”. it works as a great update to the character of Drax who ends up bonded to the young Cammi making in their own way a great comic book twosome. What is great in the comics is the use of Annihilus as the main bad guy in this epic a often badly used Villain is completely regenerated here as a major cosmic threat ready to destroy and conquer the marvel universe as we know it. This is typical of the way Annihilation works the regenerating and updating of all the Marvel cosmic status quo and it really works. We then see Nova trying to recover from the destruction of rest of the Nova centurions and the shock of such a devastating act whilst being turned into a real cosmic big guy as the power of the other centurions and the Xander world mind is uploaded into him. With the help of Drax and Quasar he has to become a major leader of the forces of universe to lead the rally against Annihilus and his Annihilation wave. As I said before marvels cosmic characters have often left me cold but this grabbed me from the get go, great writing humour means we can all look to the stars in the marvel universe again.
Best Moment
Wow this is really a difficult one so much happens in this book. Could it be when Nova, Drax and Cammi are about to have their spaceship crash into a planet when all on sudden its saved by Quasar and Cammi says to Nova “Wow I didn’t think it was possible…but he’s even cornier looking than you. I’m just saying”A brilliant statement for these 70’s designed super heroes. Or is it when Quasar and Nova burst into the Mothership to go toe to toe with Annihilus in a Giant throw down that not everyone makes it out of in one piece, for me it’s the great action which is just one example of a many fantastic action pieces in this book.
Written: 2009-01-14 11:25:07
Last Updated: 2009-01-14 11:18:31 |
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Swords and Starships
