Annihilators #3 & Captain America: Hail Hydra #5

Two Marvel comics here, the end to a surprisingly good Captain America mini-series, and the penultimate issue of the underwhelming Annihilators mini. Let's get to it!

Captain America: Hail Hydra #5(of 5):

Summary: We've finally made it to the present with this mini-series, as Steve Rogers decades long search for Dr. Geist has nearly reached it's conclusion. Now in control of what was once SHIELD as well as the Avengers, Steve sends out several teams of heroes to locate and shut Geist down once and for all. Feeling the heat, Geist rushes his final experiment into action, the creation of a literal god. As luck would have it, Steve, Captain America(Bucky), Hawkeye, War Machine, Luke Cage and Thor manage to discover Geist's lab(hidden under the Statue of Liberty). The heroes arrive and discover that Geist had bonded himself with the giant God of Hydra, and was sticking out of it's chest. The God shrugs off everything the heroes throw at it(including Thor's hammer!), grabbing Steve in one of it's hands. Geist taunts Steve, telling him that he'd advise the God as it conquered the Earth in Hydra's name, when the God suddenly rips Geist out of it's chest. The God then tells Geist that he had created a perfect god, and as such, it saw all of the flaws in Hydra and Geist, and wouldn't tolerate Geist. The God crushes Geist in it's hand and puts Steve down, telling him that he had won the war against Geist, as well as some cryptic, god-like things before teleporting away, ending this one.

Thoughts: I enjoyed this mini-series a lot, as Jonathan Maberry did an excellent job of taking Steve and documenting his war against Hydra since WWII. So yeah, overall I enjoyed this one. But(you had to see that coming), I wasn't overly fond of the way this issue ended. So Geist actually managed to create a REAL god? I mean yes, I know Geist had been working on this project for YEARS, but a real god? And not an evil god, but a “good” god? That was kind of weird... Other than that though, no complaints here.

Score: 8 out of 10.It's safe to say that the God of Hydra has no shame...


Annihilators #3(of 4):

Summary: This issue begins with the Dire Wraith Queen making it rain magic! The Silver Surfer tries to tell Quasar to try to block the Black Sun in the sky to dampen the Wraith Queen's magic, but is halted by the Wraith Queen trying to jam one of her tendrils into the Surfer's head. Unfortunately for the Wraith Queen, this action proves to be too much for her, and leaves her mind wide open for the Surfer to look into. The Wraith Queen eventually manages to disengage from the Surfer but is weakened and easily wrapped up by the rest of the Annihilators. The Surfer tells the team that the threat wasn't over yet, as the Black Wraith Sun had begun to fuse with the regular Space Knight Sun. Beta Ray Bill opens a portal to Limbo(the place the Dire Wraiths had been banished), and take the Wraith Queen with them. Upon seeing the heroes and their “Queen” the Wraiths begin throwing rocks at their Queen, who they blamed for their fate. The Annihilators realize that they had to protect the Wraith Queen from her own people, just as Immortus(!) sends his Army of the Ages to deal with the Annihilators encroaching on his territory. Back on the Space Knight homeworld, some Space Knights break Dr. Dread out of his holding cell and we learn that Dread and the Space Knights who had freed him were... Oh god, already?! Skrulls...

Thoughts: Hmm... Well, I will say that I did enjoy the main story of this one a bit more.... At least until the reveal at the end. Really? The goddamn Skrulls?! After the train wreck that was Secret Invasion, I was hoping that I wouldn't see a Skrull pop up in a current Marvel comic for at least 5 years! I mean nowadays whenever I see a Skrull, I break into dry heaves... Well, I guess it was only a matter of time until the Skrulls came back... Hopefully Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning will retcon most of the crap Bendis did with the Skrulls during SI and I'll be able to look at Skulls without the horrible memory of Secret Invasion still scarring my mind... Oh, and as for the Rocket Raccoon back-up story, I don't even know what to say... It was awful in ways I couldn't imagine! For the sake of my sanity(as well as yours, dear reader), I'm just going to completely ignore it. But I will say that I deducted an ENTIRE point from the final score of this comic because of how horrible that RR story was...

Score: 5 out of 10.Not the Skrulls!!!!!