I was impressed with Marvel's Annihilation event from the start, but my interest in most of the spinoff/lead-in limited series waned about halfway through. Now we arrive at the reason for those various prologues, and I have to admit I'm impressed with how the writer and artist on this book manage to use cosmic, alien characters that are far removed from the human experience and craft an engaging, dramatic and exciting war story. Giffen achieves an excellent balance between the cosmic color of the characters and circumstances and the grounded, gritty world of war. Those who didn't check in on this event in the initial stages might find this script to be a bit inaccessible, but the action and convincing qualities of the conflict should draw them in nonetheless.
The Annihilation Wave continues its push through the universe, destroying and consuming all in its path. Fortunately, opposing forces have organized and rallied, and under the command of earthman Richard Rider, AKA Nova, they've managed to halt the advance of Annihilus's forces. Furthermore, a trio of Galactus's former heralds have managed to wreak havoc with the wave's massive weapons and ships in orbit, and Firelord even succeeds in learning the secret of the wave's hivemind advantage. But Nova and his allies also learn than while they've had some small measure of success against the Annihilation Wave, it's made an impossible and frightening breakthrough elsewhere in the cosmos. And that breakthrough involves Galactus, the World-Eater.
Di Vito's art is slick, and it certainly captures the energy and wonder of the space-opera elements while also injecting a dark, grave atmosphere in keeping with the "war is hell" riff at play in the story. Oddly enough, the more alien in appearance a character, the more interesting is Di Vito's art. The human or near-human characters all seem a little too alike. The colors are slick and really reinforce the cosmic, alien qualities of the story. I was particularly taken with the color effects used to bring the bug-aliens' antennae to life.
Though it's not had the same level of brouhaha, Annihilation is a Crisis on Infinite Earths level crossover story, incorporating just about every space-faring Marvel character Keith Giffen has been able to throw at it. It boasts the same kind of ambitious and epic qualities, but that carries with it some problems. There are so many characters at play in this book that those not intimately versed in Marvel history and continuity are bound to feel a little left out of the loop. For example, the history of conflicts between Thanos and Drax the Destroyer turns up as a plot point here. It was satisfying for those of us who read Giffen's recent Drax limited series or who love Thanos's mad, nihilist schemes. But those who are new to the characters won't get that same satisfaction, obviously.
While the continuity at play here might be overwhelming for some readers, Giffen manages to make the notion of war in space accessible in a surprisingly grounded way. Obviously, we're not getting a blood-and-guts look at war here, but the atmosphere that he establishes with the script drives home the point pretty well. I think he and the writers on the other limited series have drawn this event out beyond a necessary length (it'll be almost a year from Annihilation Prologue to the final issue of this series), but at least this event book isn't crossing over into Marvel's other titles either. 7/10
