This Week In Comics (for August 9, 2006)

This week's review:

I'll start with Annihilation; I have more to say about it than anything else. This comic is an utter mess. I'll use spoiler tags to avoid revealing anything important.

Spoiler:

From the start, there's a problem. The recap at the beginning is highly unsatisfactory. The only information that can't be in the Prequel is the fact that the Skrull empire has apparently been destroyed. There's no information about what Ronan was up to or why Surfer is working with Galactus. On top of that, there's been a skip in time. The (for some reason current Marvel mandate) time of six months (according to what calendar) has passed. Stuff has apparently happened in these six months, including the Annihilation Wave returning from its retreat in Nova's LS (has it been a cycle?) and the counter-forces teaming up.

The thing with Firelord makes no sense, considering Novas was able to rip through the Wave and almost defeat Annihilus. Firelord, with his mighty Power Cosmic, has to make himself comatose to defeat part of the fleet and incapacitate (not even kill!) an Annihilus Queen.

Gamora is sleeping with Nova. This makes little sense given where we left her in Infinity Abyss. She was in what seemed like a truly loving relationship with Adam Warlock. Maybe this was resolved in Ronan. If it had been, the summary of events neglected to tell me.

The item with Surfer and Galactus made little sense. Galactus reunited with Silver Surfer in order defeat these two cosmic entities. Yet, neither one of them is able to do much, if anything, to Aegis and Tenebrous. This is especially bad considering it has been established that Galactus once defeated the two of them on his own. Galactus can't even noticably scrath, much less defeat, one of them?

A couple of positive notes:
The initial fight sequence is well done.
Marvel has finally put Starlord in mainstream continuity! Although, the reason he has a cybernetic eye is unclear. Maybe it has something to do with why he isn't Starlord anymore...

And now Superman. My main issue with it is that it seems like we've been there. We have a

Spoiler:

what I title "another Soviet Super-Soldier" without meaning the team in Marvel. Also, Subjekt 17 (what's with the "k"?) is new villain that appears to be bigger and badder than Superman! {gasp}

However, I do really like the cover, minus the word bubbles. It tells you the basic premise of the issue, even though I'm not sure it answers the question by the end of the comic...

Spoiler:

The whole thing with Arion confuses me. Him not having not natural magic anymore. Him being in seventeenth century France. Him calling Kazakhstan Camelot. It's all just confusing.

Ultimate X-Men is a decent issue, but it still neglects to explain the Gremlins with Jean. I still assume these are her "inner demons." It also doesn't adequately explain Magician, though we know a little more than we need last issue. The fight sequence in the issue is nice.

My pick this week is Elric: The Making of a Sorceror. It's wonderfully written. It's wonderfully drawn (it is Simonson). More the most part, the plot is fairly straightforward. The only problem is at the end where Moorcock doesn't really explain how one character dies. The twist towards the end is great, mainly because I didn't see it coming.

There, that's this week's review.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

Originally Posted by Mucknuggle

...him, Moonstar and maybe a few other street level heroes.

I assume you mean Moonknight. So, you want Ultimate Marvel Knights?

There's nowhere I can't reach.