Writers: Dan Abnett & Andy Lanning
Artist: by Mike Perkins
Publisher: Marvel
Price: $3.99
Release Date: 20th June
Last year’s Annihilation was a surprisingly good event. I only started on it once the main series kicked off, but what I found was a fast-paced, well-told tale of action and adventure. It was a refreshing change from Marvel’s other, bigger event - Civil War. Having continued to follow the threads established through the Heralds of Galactus follow-up and the new Nova series, I’ve ended up becoming quite interested in this corner of the Marvel universe. So it’s with great interest I read this prologue for the sequel and have come away impressed.
This prologue issue does two things very well: It introduces the main characters and their situations and sets up the driving plot for the event proper. The galaxy is slowly rebuilding from the devastation caused by the Annihilation Wave. One of the stronger areas is the Kree. On the edge of Kree space, on a world called Lamentis we catch up with Moondragon and Phyla Vell, who is struggling with the identity of Quasar and the expectations it involves. The story moves to Hala, the Kree capital, where a new defence system is about to be tested, although not without reservations.
The stage is set for catastrophe though when one of the characters makes an off-hand remark about the Annihilation Wave being a one-in-a-million event. Oh really? It was? As soon as you read that bit you know trouble is going to occur. Indeed it does, to the nth degree!
Lanning and Abnett make for a good writing team, who are well paired with Mike Perkins who establishes the two worlds by emphasising stylistic differences: Lamentis is a less developed world, Hala a dense, almost city-planet. The issue quickly moves from A to B, criss-crossing between the two locations of Hala and Lamentis. The action is excellently done, with no shortage of surprises and intrigue. At the same time I’d stress the final pages lead up to a great revelation that is truly intended as surprise, rather than as a mystery revealed. Mysteries involve clues, but I couldn’t find any here, thus I’m seeing the development as a shock device that works very well. Of the four series that continue the story I’ll be looking at Starlord, Quasar and Nova – whilst this hasn’t made me interested in the Wraith one, it has certainly got me hooked, too bad I have to wait to see what happens next!
Ben Crofts is resident in Essex, works in London and has found comics and philosophy mix surprisingly well.