The upcoming Annihilation Omnibus is one of the most anticipated collections of 2014, and rightly so, especially since the three trades which made it up have been out of print for a while. It was a major revamp of Marvel's cosmic properties, many of which had stayed dormant for some time. Nova was redeveloped into the equivalent of the Ion incarnation of Kyle Rayner and the Silver Surfer regained relevance; villains such as the Super-Skrull and Ronan the Accuser were turned into anti-heroes. One of its best elements is the sheer size of the threat involved: a massive fleet of world-consuming insectoids led by Annihilus, an underused Fantastic Four villain who finally reached A-list villain status.
Moreover, the sequel crossover, "Annihilation: Conquest," led the way for the creation of the new Guardians of the Galaxy. I think we'll see a Conquest Omnibus announced before 2014 is over to tie in with the upcoming movie.
The only major problem with Annihilation is that it starts very, very slowly. The "Drax the Destroyer" mini-series is tedious, even though we do get to see Lunatik and Paibok the Power-Skrull among other classic cosmic villains. You can probably skim through it and not miss anything if it ends up in the book before the "Prologue" issue. Also, if you're a fan of guidebooks, you'll enjoy the "Nova Corps Files" one-shot, which explains who some of the more obscure characters are and occasionally irons out the timeline troubles that can pop up when numerous mini-series cross over.
$125 is a bit much when the original trades cost about $25-35. If you have the time and patience, you might be able to track down all three of the original trades at cons or comic book stores. But if you're interested in cosmic Marvel, and especially if you enjoyed Infinity Gauntlet, then Annihilation is a definite get in any form.
Unfortunately the first trade paperback is around 100 buck used and cost the double when it is new on amazone the last time I check. The two other can still be found for reasonable price around the internet.
ReplyDeleteIt still amazes me that Marvel let "Annihilation" go so far out of print. It would be like letting the same thing happen to "Civil War" or "Secret Invasion", and I don't see either of those trades commanding hundreds of dollars.
DeletePerhaps we'll see a new run of trades after the omnibus like what they did with the Walt Simonson "Mighty Thor" omnibus and what they've done with the X-Men crossovers, including "Mutant Massacre" and "Inferno".
To be fair, most current Marvel #now readers haven't even read Civil War. The event ended in 2007 which is ages ago. I wouldn't be surprised if Marvel at some point decides that it's no longer relevant to current readers and lets the book go out of print.
DeleteI think I'll pick this up.
ReplyDelete