Annihilators by Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning

[Dread]

I would find it interesting to see this all come full circle with a new Annihilation wave starting at Earth instead of ending near there. While it would feel off not having Nova or Star-Lord there (as far as we know), I think it could be a good story. I wouldn't mind it at all.

It could work considering that the recent relaunch of FF has been a success in terms of sales, so they might seek to try to capitalize to boost sales on the cosmic books. Those sell poor enough that Marvel may not give Abnett & Lanning another ongoing with them, but they sell consistently enough that they allow the two to continue their saga in mini-series forms; at least until a mini sells well enough that warrants another ongoing. Thus, INCREDIBLE HERCULES ended, which was followed up in the mini's HERCULES: FALL OF AN AVENGER and PRINCE OF POWER before CHAOS WAR did well enough that HERC was relaunched.

Plus, since the FF, whether as the Fantastic Four or Future Foundation, always deal with cosmic threats, it would make sense to link things sometimes. Especially since Annihilus has been reborn and was involved in the seeming, bodiless death of Johnny Storm.

I could argue the Hood gathering several of the Infinity Gems should have sparked notice, but the fewer DnA characters Bendis writes (poorly), the better.

 

[Dread]

Cover for ANNIHILATORS: EARTHFALL as well as details about the story and creative team:

http://marvel.com/news/story/16076/annihilators_earthfall

http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=32728

It debuts in September and features the exact same creative team and format. "DnA" naturally continue onward, with Tan Eng Huat on the core ANNIHILATORS story and Timothy Green II on another ROCKET & GROOT back up strip. How many issues is unknown; it could be four again.

Basically, the Annihilators come to earth and apparently what may be good for the galaxy may not be for earth, or vice versa. So they may fight the Avengers. Which is a little odd since Quasar WAS an Avenger until ANNIHILATION. As hinted at, though, not all of the Annihilators are friends of earth, such as Ronan the Accuser.

I'm iffy on this. I kind of just want Nova and GOTG back, really.

Still, even when DnA are not at their best, they still usually produce an above average story, IMO.

 

[NDX]

Rocket/Groot backup seals the deal for me here. Can't wait to add this trade to my collection (sometime mid 2012).

 

[Dread]

I wanna find out what happened to the rest of the GOTG. Okay, Robbie Ride and Namorita are at Project PEGASUS with Dr. Necker and Darkhawk (presumably). Drax is dead, and Phyla was killed before him. But what about Moondragon? Jack Flag? Major Victory? Gamora? There's still more to be done with some of them despite Cosmo having convinced the Annihilators to assemble.

 

[NDX]

I'm hoping that the next installment of Rocket/Groot will start to answer those questions. I'm hopeing Jack Flag shows up somewhere. I had no idea who the hell he was outside of that issue in Thunderbolts where Bullseye crippled him (it was Thunderbolts, right?) and made a fan with his everything cosmic hatred and overall attitude. But then again, I thought GotG could do no wrong, even with Phyla on the team.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

Cover for ANNIHILATORS: EARTHFALL as well as details about the story and creative team:

http://marvel.com/news/story/16076/annihilators_earthfall

http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=32728

It debuts in September and features the exact same creative team and format. "DnA" naturally continue onward, with Tan Eng Huat on the core ANNIHILATORS story and Timothy Green II on another ROCKET & GROOT back up strip. How many issues is unknown; it could be four again.

Basically, the Annihilators come to earth and apparently what may be good for the galaxy may not be for earth, or vice versa. So they may fight the Avengers. Which is a little odd since Quasar WAS an Avenger until ANNIHILATION. As hinted at, though, not all of the Annihilators are friends of earth, such as Ronan the Accuser.

I'm iffy on this. I kind of just want Nova and GOTG back, really.

Still, even when DnA are not at their best, they still usually produce an above average story, IMO.

The manufactured fight with the Avengers has me suddenly dreading Earthfall a bit. Aside from Quasar, Beta Ray Bill has also fought to protect Earth dozens of times, works for Earth's SWORD agency, and, above all else, knows damn well that his oath-brother Thor holds Earth's safety as his primary concern.

 

[Dread]

The manufactured fight with the Avengers has me suddenly dreading Earthfall a bit. Aside from Quasar, Beta Ray Bill has also fought to protect Earth dozens of times, works for Earth's SWORD agency, and, above all else, knows damn well that his oath-brother Thor holds Earth's safety as his primary concern.

To a degree it reminds me of the opening arc to NOVA when DnA launched it as an ongoing series. The first thing Nova did was return to earth and get into a fight with the Thunderbolts. Granted, this was during the SHRA era and he and Iron Man later talked it out, but it could be seen as similar.

I do agree that I am not thrilled with an obligatory fight with the Avengers. That sort of thing won't attract any readers and just seem...obligatory.

Out of all the Annihilators, the only two who the Avengers should even begin to mistrust would be Ronan and Gladiator, who have been potent adversaries in the past (Ronan especially). Quasar, Surfer, and Bill are all known allies, though. Most hero vs. hero brawls are stupid because they demand that adult characters can't reason anything out or discuss anything. Hence, why CW was annoying.

It could just be promotional fluff, of course. Many times what a comic says it is in solicits isn't what it is. According to the hype for FEAR ITSELF #3, it was all about Thing becoming a Worthy on Yancy Street. That sequence was literally 4 pages (and 2 were a double page splash).

 

[TheCorpulent1]

There are some key differences between this and the early Nova arc. First, Iron Man and Ellis' Thunderbolts were all total d-bags at the time and Nova, having just fought a war of literally universal importance, had moral righteousness on his side. Now, Steve Rogers is leading everything and the heroes of Earth have their eyes on what's important again instead of petty interpersonal politics. Second, Nova was an ongoing series, so even if the fight came off as manufactured and pointless, it was okay because the series had the time to get that out of the way and move onto better things. Earthfall is a mini-series, yet we're still going to apparently waste time on characters fighting each other when they should be on the same side. Irritating.

 

[Dread]

There are some key differences between this and the early Nova arc. First, Iron Man and Ellis' Thunderbolts were all total d-bags at the time and Nova, having just fought a war of literally universal importance, had moral righteousness on his side. Now, Steve Rogers is leading everything and the heroes of Earth have their eyes on what's important again instead of petty interpersonal politics. Second, Nova was an ongoing series, so even if the fight came off as manufactured and pointless, it was okay because the series had the time to get that out of the way and move onto better things. Earthfall is a mini-series, yet we're still going to apparently waste time on characters fighting each other when they should be on the same side. Irritating.

True. I did say it reminded me of the bit in Nova "to a degree", as in not exactly. I can say when I saw the image with the Annihilators fighting the Avengers, a part of me did groan. It's the last thing I want to see nor do I feel it is the best thing the Annihilators need to be doing.

Look, Marvel. You have a loyal audience of 22-24k who read DnA space adventures. That is all you are going to get. You will not bring in Avengers readers with this. You can either be happy to have this loyal audience like you were with RUNAWAYS for about 4 years or you can lose them, like DC will lose a slew of their readers in their relaunch who only hung on for stuff like SECRET SIX or BATGIRL. The great thing about business, and by business I people high up, is they don't understand the concept of "something is better than nothing". It isn't enough to have a loyal audience of any size. They always have to risk double or nothing, and it always backfires and then they're worse off.

DnA could have sought to do this on their own, but they likely have editors. Anyway, I do hope any Avengers battle is brief if it has to exist so that the story can move to a more desired point. I've also never been a wild fan of Huat's work, ever since he started taking over on GHOST RIDER. He's not the worst artist ever, but I don't get psyched for him either. He's okay, but I think this series would be better served with jaw-dropping.

 

[NDX]

ANNIHILATORS: EARTHFALL #1 (of 4)
Written by DAN ABNETT & ANDY LANNING
Penciled by TAN ENG HUAT & TIMOTHY GREEN II
Cover by JOHN TYLER CHRISTOPHER
Variant Cover by TBA
MARVEL’S COSMIC HEAVY HITTERS COME TO EARTH—AND FIGHT THE AVENGERS! What has brought Gladiator, Quasar, Ronan, Ikon and Beta-Ray Bill to our planet…and why are they at odds with Earth’s Mightiest Heroes? All this, plus each issue will feature a five-page chapter of an all-new, all-hilarious Rocket Raccoon & Groot story!
40 PGS./Rated T+ …$3.99

Boooooo! Hsssss! Only 5 pages? Ripoff.

 

[Dread]

Boooooo! Hsssss! Only 5 pages? Ripoff.

At least that justifies selling it at $3.99 instead of $4.99. I just wonder if that'll mean 27 total story pages, or 25. Because if you hear Tom Brevoort tell it, selling a 25 page comic at a mere $3.99 is akin to a selfless, saintly feat by Mother Theresa.

 

[NDX]

They give us so much, don't they?