Annihilators: Earthfall

The reinvention of Marvel’s cosmic characters and their places in the universe that began way back in “Annihilation” effectively wraps up here.  Granted, it was never announced that this was going to be the “last” of these cosmic stories but now that Marvel is cutting back on the titles it publishes, and the fact that this has been the lowest-selling of the “series of miniseries” that the characters have occupied since “The Thanos Imperative”… Well, the writing is clearly on the wall here.  Adding insult to injury is the fact that “Earthfall” is easily one of the weakest stories to come from this run and its writers.

After thwarting the Skrull plot to take control of the Dire Wraiths, the Annihilators — Quasar, Beta Ray Bill, Ronan, Gladiator, and Ikon the Spaceknight — find themselves embroiled in the latest scheme by the Church of Universal Truth.  This time it takes them to Earth where they come face-to-face with the Church’s agents and the Avengers.  Much kicking and punching to the face ensues.  It’s the oldest and most unoriginal result when two teams meet and writers Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning don’t find a way to put any kind of interesting spin on it.  The story is predictable, straightforward and boring for the first two issues before the threat is revealed and then it gets… marginally more interesting.

You see, the main antagonist here is the latest reincarnation of a key cosmic figure, but he’s also a character I have no real affinity for in this form.  It doesn’t help the fact that I’d have no idea how this guy even exists if my friend who got me into these stories hadn’t explained him to me.  As such, it’s really hard to get invested in this conflict when the bad guy has no real personality and is just there to provide a reason for the two teams to join up.  However, I will say that he does come up with a clever way of insulating himself from the heroes’ wrath which eventually spirals out into a statewide conflagration in Colorado.  Artist Tan Eng Huat does what he can to liven things up, but he can only do so much.  He also seems to have acquired this annoying quirk where a lot of the characters look like they have an open-mouthed grimace in most scenes that looks like the worst of Greg Land’s traits in a non-photo-referenced situation.

The “Groot & Rocket Raccoon” back-up stories are better simply by virtue of being willfully insane.  They’re tossed from one outlandish situation to the next and as each installment is five pages long, they don’t overstay their welcome.  It has no depth whatsoever, but it’s enjoyable for what it is.  If this is the last we see of them for the forseeable future, then they’re at least left in a good place.

However, it’s regrettable that the main story feels like everyone was just going through the motions as I think there’s a good Annihilators/Avengers story to be told from the two teams meeting and butting heads.  Only it wouldn’t take place on Earth, it’d involve the Avengers heading out into space to realize that as big as they are on Earth, they’re the small fish in the galactic pond.  Abnett, Lanning and co. have done a lot to re-energize and re-define the cosmic aspect of the Marvel Universe, but it has remained pretty segregated from the mainstream on Earth.  That’s probably been for the best with these stories, but it also means that it’s not really “important” to the overall narrative of the Marvel Universe.  As any comics blogger can tell you, that’s the kiss of sales death for just about any Marvel title these days.  I’d like to think that by bringing the Avengers into the realm of the cosmic characters it would’ve given Abnett and Lanning a chance to show off what they and everyone else have accomplished with them.  It could still happen, but it likely won’t be on their terms.

So things end with a whimper, and with the future of these characters in limbo.  As these things go this will probably be the last we see of them for a few years before they try another “Annihilation”-style relaunch or uses them as cannon fodder to show how bad the threat of the next crossover event is.  They deserve better than that, so here’s to several years of good stories and a few more in mothballs until the cycle (hopefully) begins again.