Writer: Keith Giffen

Art: Andrea Divito, Laura Villari, Gabriele Dell’Otto, Bryan Hitch

Release Date: October 11th, 2006

Price: $2.99

Nova’s United Front is divided In this week’s all-new ANNIHILATION #3 by Keith Giffen as he sets off on a desperate mission to save whoever he can before it’s too late. Ronan wants to heads to Hala to free the Kree race while everyone else is just trying to survive! But, can they hold off the Annihilation Wave? And what’s Drax’s secret agenda, anyway? Let’s dive in a find out!

When ANNIHILATION #2 came to a close, all hell was busting loose. The Annihilation Wave, using Thanos’ teleportation technology, emerges on the safe haven of Nova’s United Forces. The odds seemed insurmountable and readers learned that Annihilus and Thanos appeared to be using Galactus and the Silver Surfer for something really big, which Keith Giffen unveils as this issue comes to a close. Well, desperate times call for desperate measures and our remaining members fight against all odds to unearth a means to get as many of their people to retreat as possible.

As readers commence this issue, the first aspects of the comic that leap off the page are how incredibly busy, muddled, and unorganized each and every panel are. This reviewer realizes that there is a universal war happening with millions of insect-like creatures but the action and character movement comes across as too chaotic, messy, and jam-packed bringing about a comic that is hard to follow at times while being smothered by heavy, blue dialogue.

Furthermore, many of the panels look repeated except with more explosions overtop the new parts and pages. This critic feels like Andrea Divito and Laura Villari’s art has been so much better in prior issues. Moreover, the choice of colors appears to be drowning out the fight scenes, as well as the smaller panel progressions with the intense warfare. This comic fan wishes that Divito and Villari would have focused their energy and attention on larger, more detailed splash pages, as they did with Galactus and Thanos, or toned down the busy nature of the smaller panels to help this reader be more vigilant throughout the narrative.

In terms of the story, Keith Giffen delivered another action-packed display from start to finish. However, readers will depart from this issue feeling like nothing new or out of the ordinary happened. There were no enormous surprises or shocks to the story. Every detail and plot thread was assumed and predictable from the last issue. Basically, readers could skip this issue and be filled in with about two sentences of explanation.

Furthermore, there were no curveballs. Readers will see every twist and turn coming because Giffen did a great job of laying out the direction of the story throughout the prior two issues. That said, where was the spice? Where was the drama? Where was the feeling? Fans knew our heroes would have to find a way to escape. However, even the moments that Giffen expected to make emotional, monumental, and shocking ties to the reader, they fell flat because he spent more of his time focused on the war and the fight scenes related to the big picture instead of getting readers to care about the two smaller storylines involving the Super Skrull, Ronan, and Drax.

FINAL THOUGHTS

Overall, the issue wasn’t terrible by any stretch. However, there wasn’t anything that encapsulated this reader and raised my level of excitement. The issue was straightforward, obvious, and cluttered with dialogue, small spaces, and dull color tones causing this reviewer to leave the narrative with disappointment. Giffen and his team simply laid out the expected and predictable, other than one minor plot angle which was barely touched on, and the issue simply fell flatter than an open soda can. That said, this reviewer is still eager for the next issue in hopes of FINALLY getting some of the heroes this fan knows, adores, and feels more of a connection with. Maybe this was Giffen’s set up issue for the last half of the series? Well, here’s to hoping things pick up in issue 4! If you’ve been reading along, this reviewer would say “hang in there and stick it out.” However, this would not be a great issue to jump into the event if you’ve been dying to see what it’s all about.

7.4/10