In an utterly unprofound statement, space is big. There is so much to it, many people have stared up into the heavens and wondered not only what it was all for, but what could possibly be behind the endless black. Incredible tales came forth in the wake of the space age, testing our science and imaginations as to the drama and intrigue that existed among the stars. If space is infinite, so are the possibilities; space is part of the backbone of science-fiction, being able to travel to distant planets, meet aliens and picture a galaxy in peril is a convenient canvas drawn upon by many heralded authors.
It’s a great way to mix your metaphors, take a look at humanity through the eyes of an alien culture and really chew scenery, so to speak, by blowing stuff up without hitting too close to home. This past year, comics have brought back the space opera in full force with incredible epics of alien faces, space ships and galaxies in peril. Let’s face it, not only is space big, but it is awesome.
How awesome? Could the ray gun replace Captain America’s new more public sidearm? It’s all in the quality of the story.
I’ve made no qualms about praising Marvel’s Annihilation saga and I’m happy to call it my favorite ‘event’ of last year. The storytelling was top notch and well plotted and had a lot of the heroism missing from other ‘event’ books, like Civil War. These were heroes fighting against impossible odds in starkly astounding circumstances and when they win, there’s a beautiful senses of victory to it all, a sense of completion that was sort of lacking from Captain America’s stand-down order at the end of Civil War or even Banner getting ‘nuked from space’ (it’s the only way to be sure!) at the end of World War Hulk. Annihilation also brought characters into the spotlight that my mutant-lovin’ brain had never even heard of at the time, but now follow with glee. There’s very little question as to how much One More Day kicked fans’ collective rears with a contrived and out-of-character storyline and that had Spider-Man in it! Why do I care more about what’s going to happen to Groot than Peter frikkin’ Parker? It’s almost because of the fact these weren’t major franchise characters was what rather endeared them to me. Every act has weighed on the rest of the galaxy, no small part left behind in the great epic we’re treated to; take for example Ronin, who could be called last year’s ‘weak link’ in the first Annihilation arc has come around to be a rather unique and meaningful character. The quiet panels where Ronin is shown what has become of the Supreme Intelligence under the Phalanx is heartbreaking; Ronin made a hard decision for any Kree at the end of his mini last year to see quite literally his god resurrected as a weapon against his own people? Couple this with the decision he makes that creates yet another facet to facing off against an enemy he’s willingly accepted… it makes you wonder how this is quietly drifting along the more mainstream Marvel without some sort of fanfare. The fact that they’ve not only continued this space drama into the new year, but managed to come awfully close to topping their last utter destruction of the universe is incredible.
Not just incredible, but I think somewhat of a revolution.
More mainstream Marvel has a lot to hold up right now; from being the face of Marvel Comics to touting movie deals to trying to keep ahead of popular culture to remain recognizable and marketable icons, it’s hard work for a superhero to do all that and still fight crime. The more popular a character, the more they have to live up to on and off panel, so the fact that the cosmic level stories and characters are having some widescreen unpredictable action-packed adventure makes a little sense. After all, the only people these off-beat characters have to live up to is the reader and the men behind the book. I doubt there’s a exec checking Starlord scripts to ready the Rocket Racoon movie. There’s probably not a big editorial meeting to make sure that Deathcry stayed alive to keep major continuity intact. In fact, Ultron escaped the Mighty Avengers to go on to have some serious motivation (and a bitchin’ new look if you ask me!) out in space. What makes more sense: Ultron invading Tony Stark’s genetics to make him a cosmetic clone of Janet Van Dyne that could destroy the Earth or Ultron subverting the Phalanx to corrupt all sentient organic beings? One one hand, you have Ultron by way of Woman to allow Frank Cho another heavenly body to draw against the Avengers and on the other hand, you have character motivation laid down since Ultron became self-aware. You can’t fault whoever gave the rubber stamp ‘OK’ to Cho to draw Ultron the way he did, but you can certainly applaud Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning for picking a villain that’s right for their story.
Being so far away from more ‘public’ property, there’s a certain freedom to the destruction, destroying entire planets and letting that destruction influence the rest of the story without having to worry about returning it back to normal. In World War Hulk, Mr. Hulk himself smashed up New York but good though, outside of the new Damage Control, you’d never know it because hey, the rest of the Marvel Universe wants to get on with their lives. In Annihilation, the Skrull homeworld was destroyed and I’m betting dollars to donuts that’s going to have a huge impact on everything from Conquest to Secret Invasion. Any destruction felt in Annihilation can be dealt with and kept true to what came before because there are no other authors waiting to use the property. Annihilation is its own little universe and can be brought to the brink and saved from death with some weight behind its threats. Hulk’s New York rampage makes for some beautiful artwork, but I don’t think anyone’s going to even need to mention that enormous coliseum he built as it’s quietly swept under the rug to make way for the next event.
Events are falling into place in cosmic space they way they can’t in the mainstream; despite different writers on the lead-in minis, the main book and Nova, you can see within the story that they all are pretty much working from the same general outline. To force even all of the writers of the individual Avengers characters to fit to the view of Bendis’ team books wouldn’t be fair to that many other storytellers nor would it do credit to the characters. Being in its own little plot of land in the heavens allows for a tighter cohesion amongst the comics within the Annihilation saga than if this was set anywhere near Earth.
All in all, I don’t need to tell you that space is big or awesome, it’s plainly apparent in the quality of the books. Annihilation: Conquest is a fantastic read for anyone looking for the drama inherent in the stars and even the Distinguish Competition knows that what you can’t do on Earth, the vastness of the stars makes anything possible. This is a cosmic revolution.
February 6th, 2008 at 1:03 pm
Ronin? You mean Wraith, right?
February 6th, 2008 at 1:58 pm
Great essay, but for what it’s worth, it’s Ronan (the Accuser), not Ronin.
February 6th, 2008 at 1:58 pm
Great essay, but for what it’s worth, it’s Ronan, not Ronin.
February 7th, 2008 at 1:09 pm
We seem to have different views of what a “cosmic” storyline is. I see a cosmic storyline as one involving a threat to the entire universe, or a large portion of it, extremely advanced technology, and beings who can manipulate energy in wondrous ways, or are made of energy themselves. The first “Annihilation” storyline had a few of those elements, but the follow-up, for all the excitement you see in it, is a fairly routine superheroes/super villains match-up, with elements of military fiction. Ultron isn’t a cosmic character, nor are the Phalanx, really. Even if the heroes lost in the storyline, Earth wouldn’t immediately suffer from the loss. That would require another storyline.
You’re apparently unaware that Mantis, as depicted in the ANNIHILATION: STARLORD miniseries and ANNIHILATION: CONQUEST, is nothing like Mantis as depicted in AVENGERS: CELESTIAL QUEST. Even her powers are different. Giffen’s version was an aberration.
Ultron, in the MIGHTY AVENGERS arc, was never threatened at any point; in fact, the robot never made an appearance, except on video screens and monitors. The failure of the heroes to realize that, and to realize that they’d accomplished nothing at all from the fighting, except Stark’s freedom, were just two of the MA storyline’s crippling problems (the biggest being that there was no basis for the computer virus having any effect on Ultron).
BTW, one interesting thing about attempts to remake or alter the Marvel Universe is that it’s possible to rationalize everything that goes on, including the non-aging of the characters and the existence of various powers and entities, by having the deities Strange invokes manage the universe, in the same way that the demon X(A/N)th is the basis for the existence of Xanth. Were Marvel Editorial to do that, there would be no need for suspension of disbelief regarding various genre conventions; the heroes and villains would just go about their business, and occasionally be caught up in the deities’ contests, a la the residents of Xanth.
SRS