The Annihilators

[sherkahn]

ComicBookResources has the announcement of the team that will replace the Guardians of the Galaxy.



From Marvel:

Marvel Unleashes The ANNIHILATORS!

The Silver Surfer! Beta-Ray Bill! Gladiator! Quasar! Ronan the Accuser!
The greatest heroes of the cosmos join forces this March in the oversized Annihilators #1 (of 4)! Marvel’s space action masters Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning, along with Eisner Award winning artist Tan Eng Huat unveil the only team mighty enough to face the Dire Wraiths! With galactic civilization in disarray after The Thanos Imperative, the Annihilators must band together to prevent the sinister shape-shifting horde from destroying the universe itself. Innocent worlds teeter on the precipice of destruction…so it’s time for the best of the best to unite and unleash righteous justice!

“The Annihilators is the cosmic dream team…the biggest hitters forming the most powerful super-team in the known Universe!” said DnA. “Prepare to feel the Cosmos shake!”

Every issue of Annihilators features two full-length stories—that’s over 40 pages of all new content from your favorite Cosmic creators! In the second story, join DnA and artist Timothy Green II as they launch Rocket Raccoon and Groot on an adventure that’ll change their lives forever. In commemoration of this can’t-miss story, this issue also features a variant cover from legendary creator Mike Mignola!

Editor Bill Rosemann added “Take the assembled majesty of Marvel’s most powerful heroes, add on the cult-fave duo of Rocket Raccoon and Groot, pile on a ridiculous amount of writing and artistic talent, and top it all off with cool covers by Alex Garner and the one and only Mike Mignola. That, True Believers, is a recipe for face-melting, brain-frying, pedal-to-the-metal, that’s-why-I-read-comics awesomeness.”

This March you can’t miss Annihilators #1 (of 4)!

Comments

[skalja]

*yawn*

[nezchan]

Seriously, swashbuckling space opera is way more interesting than just piling on the cosmic heavy-hitters.

Besides, if it ain't got Rocket Raccoon (not to mention Groot), what's the point?

[jarodrussell]

I'm not sure if I'm just in a bad mood this month or if the proximity to Christmas break has me more interested in the flights of fancy I plan to engage in with my Trio, but...it's like Marvel put DNA's GotG into a centrifuge and split it down to it's two base components: low-powered badassery (H4H) and cosmic space opera adventures (The Annihilators) expecting to sell twice as many comics...and I don't care for either.

The reason GotG worked is because it was Pragmatic Space Batman (Star-Lord) and his team of Almost Weres, whose internal chemistry resonated so closely to Stargate: Atlantis that I believed that, enjoyed when, and loved how they handled crises far greater that you'd think they could have managed.

I want my fucking Reece's Cup, not this damn chocolate and peanut butter.

[nezchan]

Damn you, now I want a Reece's!

[sherkahn]

Oh look, a yummy Reece's!

[nezchan]

I hate you with the fury of a million suns. ;D

[nezchan]

So what you're saying is, GotG was Doc Savage and his "Fabulous Five"?

[jarodrussell]

...and Charlie's Angels, in the Pegasus Galaxy, fighting space vampires, yes.

If GotG had been more familial in the first issue and a bit less snarky, if Star-Lord had been a little less grim-focused-heroic, I'd say it was like Buckaroo Banzai in Space, but I think Stargate Atlantis maps pretty well to it: Star-Lord = Sheppard, Mantis = Teyla, Drax = Ronan, Rocket = Rodney, Cosmo = Zelenka, Jack Flag = Major Lorne, and Knowhere = Atlantis.

[nezchan]

See, that's my point. That's the essence of quality space opera right there, that team dynamic and over-the-top sensibility. It's awesome, inspiring, sometimes absolutely silly in the conceits it takes seriously, and I love the stuff.

But this crew doesn't have that. For one thing, most of them seem like distant loners, deadly serious about themselves and their Incredible Cosmic Powers (tm), so where do you get that "team of shmoes exceeding themselves" dynamic from? Heck, I'd be very surprised if most of them like each other.

Despite the fact that in space opera you start with impossible and work your way upwards (see the Lensman series for an object example), folks like Silver Surfer and such are already at ludicrous, and there's not much place to go than shit like the cancerverse invasion. The only reason they'd have to team up would be for incredibly rare events that threaten everything, and then where's your human-level plot for your readers to identify with?

I think I'm rambling now...this wine sure is tasty.

[jarodrussell]

I love me some over-powered dudes...ask me about my man-crush on Majestic sometime...but you're right. Those five are just a bullet...not even a gun.

I see two ways this could work: (1) if Ronan (I misspelled Ronon Dex before) or Gladiator takes the lead, with Quasar as their McCoy/Spock cosmoscientista, Beta Ray Bill as their Ronon Dex/Teal'c, and Surfer as the Sixth Ranger; (2) Silver Surfer collecting these guys because he has a plan and needs players in place, because even he can't be everywhere at once. It could work if the point of the Dire Wraith attack is, much like all the previous wars, that no matter how powerful you are, sheer numbers can overwhelm you.

It works if...and only if...DNA play it like the pilot episode of Leverage, where these guys only work together because no matter how much they don't need each other, they need each other this time and we're only going to do it this one time.

I'm still probably going to tradewait this, though...said that before...and move toward Batman books for the time being. It's really hard to see how these five will be able to play off each other at all.

[icon_uk]

Quasar's never been a "cosmoscientista", he's the MU's Hal/Kyle fusion; an ordinary guy given cosmic level powers and responsibilities, but still dealing with it on a human level.

[jarodrussell]

Doesn't he have some kind of cosmic awareness thing?

[icon_uk]

He might have done momentarily in a story in the past, but it's not a standard part of his powerset, or it didn't use to be at least.