Annihilators by Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning

[SouLeSS]

I'm glad more people have joined the Cosmic side of things. Seems like a few years ago it was just Corp, Dread and I.

 

[Dread]

That's the thing about comics. They're always out there, either in back issues or collected editions or even, gasp, downloadable editions waiting to be discovered, or re-discovered.

 

[Franklin Richards]

This team needs more Kl'rt.

 

[Dread]

This team needs more Kl'rt.

I don't think he has popped up anywhere since SECRET INVASION wrapped. That single storyline likely caused line-wide Skrull burn out in writers, editors, and fans. I can honestly say if I never see a Skrull character again after all that, I won't miss them.

But I could have said the same thing about the Shi'ar by the end of the 90's, and they won't go away. But we haven't had a saga where EVERY SINGLE THING EVERYONE EVER FOUGHT FOR LIKE TWO YEARS was a Shi'ar like we had for Skrulls.

 

[sandwraith]

I don't think he has popped up anywhere since SECRET INVASION wrapped. That single storyline likely caused line-wide Skrull burn out in writers, editors, and fans. I can honestly say if I never see a Skrull character again after all that, I won't miss them.

But I could have said the same thing about the Shi'ar by the end of the 90's, and they won't go away. But we haven't had a saga where EVERY SINGLE THING EVERYONE EVER FOUGHT FOR LIKE TWO YEARS was a Shi'ar like we had for Skrulls.

ARMADA!!!! Damn it! I know Marx has that script lying around somewhere! Come on Souless? What am I? Pedestrian?

 

[JewishHobbit]

I'm glad more people have joined the Cosmic side of things. Seems like a few years ago it was just Corp, Dread and I.

Hey! I've been gung ho Cosmic right along with you people! Notice me!

 

[bored]

I've just been skulking over the end of "GotG". That was the most pure fun Marvel offered.

 

[Dread]

Hey! I've been gung ho Cosmic right along with you people! Notice me!

AVENGE ME!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vqNnHQBoHe4

 

[runawayboulder]

AVENGE ME!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vqNnHQBoHe4

I'll call your Willem Dafoe and raise you a Harry Dean Stanton: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ooy0GFMYafY

 

[Scourge2099]

This team needs more Kl'rt.

I miss the hell out of Kl'rt. He is a Skrull outcast so DnA could do something with that. Maybe have a mini series featuring Kl'rt and have him run into some warlord who's enslaving some Skrulls. Then just show Kl'rt having conflicting feeling about whether or not he should even set them free.

 

[JewishHobbit]

He was such a major influence during Annihilation and was decent enough even during Annihilation Conquest. He was a minor deal during Secret Invasion, which was disappointing being that it was such a good place to play him up, in Nova's title maybe, but he barely got much of a story. Then he's just vanished. I was excited with the notion that War of Kings or Thanos Quest would be big stories so that he might show up again but nadda.

He'd be a great fit with this team and be good for some noble conflict. Oh well.

 

[fifthfiend]

Threats to the cosmos aren't usually arrested or contained. They're usually annihilated. You can't lock Annihilus or Thanos in prison. At least not seriously.

Conversely, "annihilating" them has a proven record of success.

EDIT: Remember that time Drax the Destroyer punched out Thanos's heart, and then Thanos stayed dead and was totally never heard from again?

Good times.

 

[Dread]

Conversely, "annihilating" them has a proven record of success.

EDIT: Remember that time Drax the Destroyer punched out Thanos's heart, and then Thanos stayed dead and was totally never heard from again?

Good times.

It got rid of him for a few years. Same with Annihilus. How's prison been faring for the Hood. It's been, what, about 6 months since we've seen him now?

 

[sandwraith]

Annihilators: Evil should know when they are ****ed.

 

[Colossal Spoons]

Quite excited!

 

[Tron Bonne]

Given how AVENGERS ACADEMY might very well be canceled by or before issue #12, I doubt it would have succeeded.

Yeah, you're probably right, but I still could have wished they'd try, because it would have meant more, if even a little

Then again, I don't think HEROES FOR HIRE is going to last much longer either, but what? You think the old dinosaurs at Marvel who created this market mess for themselves have any clue on how to fix it?

If there cosmic crew carries over they can maybe make it last a year, or two

 

[PaleRider]

um yeah this is a dream book for me.

 

[NightBeetle]

MARVEL T&A: Brevoort's March Madness

So we're at that phase where the March solicitations are coming soon, and it feels like you guys have a lot of new product you're announcing in anticipation of that. And honestly, I feel like for a while we've been talking here, and you guys have been saying, "Wait until March!" Two things that jump immediately to mind are he incoming "Annihilators" series which answers the long-standing question of what's next for the cosmic books, and wave of $2.99 price point books that are officially on the schedule now. To a certain extent, does this all come now because the natural workflow, or is there a reason to have so many new initiatives hitting now?

Brevoort: Obviously, it takes a certain amount of time for us to get any project up and running. If I decided today, in December, that I wanted to do a particular project - I have an idea for an Avengers special or something; It's the Avengers having a pie fight in "Avengers Pie Fight Special" #1 because the time is right for pie - the soonest I could reasonably get such a thing onto the schedule would be April. It's more realistically a May book, and much more realistically June or July. If I really, really wanted to push, I could get it into March and back-solicit it. But there's a natural process these things go through, and when we say, "Let's figure out what's going to be next for the cosmic universe. Let's do 'Annihilators,'" there's a certain amount of lead time needed to put that project together - even today with the technology we have to zap files anywhere in the world. So this just happens to be when all this stuff is happening.

Traditionally, I think March tends to be the first real ramp-up month in the calendar. Typically speaking, for all the companies January and February tend to be a bit on the light side, partially because it's right after the holidays and everybody is tired. [Laughter] But also you're just starting your fiscal cycle, and the pressure isn't yet there to have to make up for a bad month in terms of performance or get ahead on a good month. And I think even on a retail level, if I'm remembering correctly, January and particularly February tend to be fairly weak months in terms of customers coming in. So really, around March and heading into the spring and summer months tends to be where the biggest emphasis is. That's the cycle comics have followed for years.

On the creative side of things of "Annihilators," people, for a long time, have been wondering what would happen after losing two ongoing books and whether there would be another event or what have you. Now it feels like you're putting all of the cosmic line into one place...is part of the idea here to do one-stop shopping for people interested in that corner of the Marvel U?

Brevoort: It's definitely trying to bring it down to something manageable - not that there were a ton of cosmic books before this. But the fact is - and I don't think I'm revealing anything significant here - that the "Annihilators" book is half Annihilators and half Rocket Raccoon and Groot. The Rocket and Groot story started life as a separate limited series. But the market is just soft enough now that it made more sense to us to fold those together and do it as a bigger book at a slightly higher price point than to try and release them as separate projects. It's a tough world out there, and our fans have to decide where they spend their dollars. This works for us and hopefully will work better for them as well.

And for all those people that were barraging us with questions about what was coming next in the cosmic world and what was next for Dan and Andy on that front, hopefully they'll dig "Annihilators" and come out to support it and keep us thinking about further projects to do in that arena.

 

[Tron Bonne]

Hmm, wonder what the 'slightly high price' will be...$3.99 or $4.99. I'm hoping the former, but if it is basically two books in one, $4.99 won't be so bad

 

[Dread]

Yeah, it looks like they are merging ANNIHILATORS with ROCKET & GROOT and will charge $4.99. Which, if it is indeed 44 pages of material isn't too bad a value.

 

[JewishHobbit]

Despite my normal high price whining, I can't complain about that. I'd have bought both minis individually at $4 apiece and been frustrated, so both of them in one book for $5 or even $6 is a better buy.

 

[Franklin Richards]

Is that Obnoxio?

 

[NDX]

DnA talk about Annihilators: http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=30022

"It's a wonderful value to have both comics there in a double-sized issue. So we've got the heavy duty action of 'Annihilators' and sort of the rag-tag, strange end of the spectrum with 'Rocket and Groot,'" Abnett remarked. "Between them, there will be other continuity strands from our previous cosmic books like 'Nova' and 'Guardians of the Galaxy.' We haven't forgotten about all those characters."

Perhaps we will get to see what happened with Supernova...

 

[JewishHobbit]

The sad thing about that interview is we get a very real notion that there are absolutely no plans in the works for Cosmic Marvel beyond Annihilators. The writers are even stating that if sales are well they'll have more oppertunity to write more cosmic books, that means IF sales are well. So if Annihilators doesn't sell quite as well as Marvel hopes this could very much be the ending of the modern day Cosmic Marvel as we know it

 

[Franklin Richards]

Or the next team on the FF. Where the Cosmic Line will always survive. Right where it started.