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!!!!!

Annihilators #2 & Captain America: Hail Hydra #4

Two Marvel mini-series to post today, one good, and one not so good. Read on to see which is which! Man, what a cheap shill THAT was!

Captain America: Hail Hydra #4(of 5):

Summary: Woooo, it's Captain time, baby!!! The events of this comic take place during one of Steve Rogers MANY fights with the government, which led to him giving up the Captain America mantle and simply becoming The Captain. Trust me, it's awesome. Anyway, Cap tracks down a bunch of Hydra agents in Romania and saves a vampire the Hydra goons were hunting... That's not something you see every day... Cap is still trying to hunt down Dr. Geist, and was hopeful that these Hydra agents may have had insight. Unfortunately for Cap, the Hydra cannon fodder know nothing, and Cap is still at square one. Cap heads to Nick Fury and Nick hands Cap some info on the location of several Hydra bases, strictly off the record, since Cap is persona-non-grata with the Feds at this point. Meanwhile, Dr. Geist and Baron Strucker unveil their latest abomination, the Unsterblich, which apparently means “Immortal” in German(thanks German to English dictionary!). Unsterblich is a combination of the blood of Achilles, Thor, Cap and a few others, and is the most powerful creation Geist has concocted thus far. Cap begins to look into the info Fury gave him, and discovers an old ally from WWII(who had died), crudely reanimated by Geist to torment Cap. The zombiefied woman, Trude, tells Cap that Geist WANTED Cap to find him, and that Geist was planning on using his Lazarus formula(which can reanimate the dead as thinking zombies) to reanimate the honored dead at Arlington National Cemetery unless Cap provided Geist with his blood. Cap realizes the devastating affect the sight of thousands of dead soldiers would have on the American public, so he agrees to meet Geist at Arlington. Cap brings Falcon and Nick Fury with him, and Geist brings a small army of Hydra agents, as well as Unsterblich. Fury immediately calls in SHIELD, and we get ourselves a huge battle. Cap squares off with Unsterblich, which doesn't go all that well for him, and Geist uses the Lazarus formula to reanimate the dead at the cemetery. This brings out Dr. Strange and the Avengers(both the East AND West Coast branches) into the fray. Strange uses his magic to cover the cemetery in shadows, so nobody outside could see what was going on, as well as trying to put the dead soldiers back where they belonged, while the Avengers deal with Unsterblich and Hydra. During the battle, Geist manages to get a needle full of Cap's blood, but his forces, including Unsterblich, are rapidly being wiped out. Having gotten what he wanted, Geist manages to fly off, promising Cap that he hadn't seen the last of him, ending this issue.

Thoughts: Huh, I REALLY liked this issue! I mean yes, we ALL know what a Captain America fan I am, but regardless, this issue was the best in this mini-series thus far, and that's not a knock on the rest of this mini, because it's been solid throughout. For a character who has only been around for this mini(so only 4 issues so far), Geist fits PERFECTLY as the type of villain you'd expect Cap to be facing. A madman who is trying to unlock the secret of immortality and create a race of gods. The characters who appeared in this one, as well as Steve being the Captain made this comic seem like it came right out of the late 1980's/early 1990's. So kudos to Jonathan Maberry(writer) and Kyle Hotz(art) for that one. If I had one complaint, it would be the rushed way in which Geist escaped(he flies away from the Avengers in like one page?!), but other than that one little quibble, I thoroughly enjoyed this comic, and am eagerly anticipating the last issue to see how the story of Geist ends.

Score: 8 1/2 out of 10.Sweet!


Annihilators #2(of 4):

Summary: Thanks to Dr. Dredd, the Dire Wraiths are attacking the homeworld of the Spaceknights. Dredd toys with the Annihilators, who can't touch Dredd, since he is sharp enough to cut the Silver Surfer himself. Having amused himself enough, Dredd cuts a hole in reality and walks through, leaving the Annihilators to deal with the Wraith invasion. The Annihilators quickly realize that the Wraiths were drawing their power from the black sun Dredd had placed in the sky, so Beta Ray Bill and Quasar blanket the sky with clouds, cutting off the Wraith's power supply. That act pisses Dredd off, at which point he reappears on the Spaceknight's homeworld to figure out a way to cut through the clouds. Ronan approaches Dredd, who smugly tells Ronan that he couldn't be harmed. However, Ronan uses his Universal Weapon(which is a much better name than “Cosmic Rod”) to change Dredd's genetic structure, dulling his edge so to speak, which allows Ronan the opportunity to bash Dredd over the head, ending his threat. With Dredd out of the way, the Annihilators head to the throne room of the leader of the Spaceknights, where the Surfer reveals that thanks to his Power Cosmic he had deduced that a) Dredd hadn't done this whole deal alone, b) the leader of the Spaceknights had backed Dredd since she felt her people had become lazy and complacent since the threat of the Dire Wraiths had ended, and c) that the leader of the Spaceknights had been manipulated by queen of the Dire Wraiths, who appears in the room and attacks everybody, ending this issue. There was also a back-up story dealing with Rocket Raccoon and Groot, but the less said about THAT the better...

Thoughts: What the hell?! I mean, I loved Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning's Nova AND Guardians of the Galaxy runs. A LOT! So naturally, I was psyched when I heard about this mini-series. I then read the first issue and wasn't very fond of it, but figured things would pick up with issue #2... Well guess what? Things DIDN'T pick up with issue #2 at all! As a matter of fact, I liked this issue even less than the first one! Granted, I hate the Dire Wraiths and the Spaceknights, so that right there hurt my enjoyment of this one, but the story itself just isn't grabbing me. It all feels so rushed... Last issue we get Dredd as the big threat. He frees the Dire Wraiths. This issue Dredd is beaten with ease, while the Wraiths don't fare much better. Then we learn that the leader of the Spaceknights caused the return of the Wraiths, THEN it turns out she was being manipulated, AND then all of a sudden we find out the Wraith Queen was behind everything... As for the Rocket Raccoon stuff, I hate it. I get that it's supposed to be funny, but I didn't laugh at any of it. At all. And that's really not good when it comes to a comedy feature...

Score: 5 out of 10.I can see how carrying a giant hammer around could be useful...

Quick Hits: 2/15/11

I really don't have much of an introduction today... Um, this is an all-Marvel Quick Hits edition, and... well, that's pretty much it. I'll definitely have a New Comic Day post up tomorrow, and I MAY be able to do a DC Quick Hits post, but that may have to wait until Thursday. Alright, enough small talk, let's get on with it!

X-Factor #215:

Summary: We begin with Jamie and Layla investigating a case where a man was killed in an apparent vampire attack. The man's daughter claims that her stepmother did it and staged the vampire attack thing. Jamie and Layla speak to both parties(the daughter and the stepmother), and don't come up with any answers. The duo head to the morgue and talk to the... um, morgue guy(?) and he seems to be pretty sure that the man was killed in a vampire attack. As they leave the morgue, Layla makes a vague comment insinuating that she knew more about the case(as usual)then Jamie did. This infuriates Jamie, who demands that Layla tell him what she knew so he could solve the case. Layla doesn't want to do this, because if she told Jamie everything that she knew, he'd have no free will, since he'd simply be following whatever Layla said. After a moment of thought, Layla tells Jamie that they should head to the daughter's apartment and stake it out. After some watching, some sort of mist rises from the sleeping form of the daughter and materializes into some sort of vampire-like creature. Layla helpfully explains that the creature is actually a Vandella, which is a fancy way of saying a succubus. Jamie drives after the creature, which heads to the home of the daughter's stepmother. The Vandella moves in to kill the frightened woman, but is stopped by one of Jamie's dupes. By this point Jamie and Layla arrive on the scene and the creature attacks Jamie. Layla spouts some mystical mumbo-jumbo that she had learned during the time she spent with Dr. Doom, and exorcises the creature from the still sleeping daughter, solving the case, and ending this issue.

Thoughts: There was absolutely nothing wrong with this story. It was the embodiment of a perfectly acceptable comic book. The story held my attention from cover to cover, the mystery was pretty good, with me not guessing who had killed the victim until it was revealed, and the artwork was good. Did it blow me away? No, but it was a fine way to spend a few minutes.

Score: 7 1/2 out of 10.Vampire, Vandella, same thing.


Widowmaker #4(of 4):

Summary: We begin things with Black Widow, Hawkeye, Mockingbird and Dominic Fortune facing off against a horde of Soviet super-villains and a gaggle of Japanese ninjas all being led my BW's ex-husband, Ronin. Oh yeah, plus there's a volcano erupting as well. The heroes decide to run towards the volcano with the hope being that they could halt any further eruption. They actually succeed by throwing explosives at the base of the volcano... Um, okay... From there, the heroes split up, with Fortune mopping up the Soviet's, Mockingbird and Hawkeye dealing with the ninjas and BW battling her crazed ex-husband. Fortune holds up his end and deals with the Soviet's and winds up assisting Hawkeye and Mockingbird against the ninjas. BW winds up tricking Ronin into believing he had decapitated her(with an assist from Soviet villain Fantasma), allowing her to shoot Ronin in the back a few times. With all of the villains defeated, BW loads the injured Ronin on a plane, and the heroes leave.

Thoughts: Man, what happened here?! I mean this mini-series had Hawkeye, Mockingbird and Black Widow in it! Those three characters are among my favorite Avengers, hands down. And yet this mini-series did absolutely nothing for me. The story was quite bad, and took forever to unfold, which is kind of weird considering this mini was only 4 parts! I will say that the dialogue was well done, as I enjoyed the back and forth bantering between Hawkeye and Mockingbird, but when the saving grace of a comic is the dialogue, you know there's a problem. Maybe if I reread this mini-series over again in one sitting I'd have a better appreciation for it, but as it stands right now, it was severely disappointing.

Score: 4 out of 10.Hawkeye: the BEST comic book archer out there today, hands down.


Captain America: Hail Hydra! #2(of 5):

Summary: Sprinkled throughout this comic were some well done flashback's that tell us that Hydra has been around since before 2671 BCE, and that the organization has always seemed obsessed with the secrets of immortality. The main story gets underway soon after Captain America(Steve Rogers)emerges from his long ice bath and joins the Avengers. Cap gets a letter from a German freedom fighter he knew during WWII telling him to meet her near Bucky's grave. Cap meets the woman and after some small talk the woman questions why Cap wanted to meet her. Cap asks the same question and realizes that he had been suckered into a trap, as a bunch of undead Hydra agents attack. Luckily for Cap, he was suspicious of the letter once he received it, and the classic Avengers were waiting off in the distance to back him up. Baron Strucker and Dr. Geist(two Hydra bigwigs)watch the battle from afar and decide that with the Avengers there the fight had become unwinnable. Geist shoots the German freedom fighter in the back, and all but one of the undead Hydra agents escape in the confusion. Giant Man takes the Hydra corpse back to Avengers Mansion with him, while the rest of the Avengers head to the hospital with Cap and his shot friend. It turns out that the woman was shot with a poisoned bullet and the doctors can do nothing to save her, so she tasks Cap with continuing her crusade against Hydra. Meanwhile, the Hydra corpse Giant Man was working on comes to life and attacks him, allowing a horde of undead Hydra agents(and Dr. Geist) into the mansion. Cap and the other Avengers arrive and Cap spots Geist, who he had run afoul of during WWII. Over the course of the battle, Thor winds up getting shot in the back by a mystical arrow which draws his blood. Some of the deceased Hydra agents grab the arrow out of Thor and retreat, leaving Cap and the Avengers somewhat baffled by what had just occurred. This issue ends with Geist and Strucker celebrating the fact that they had managed to acquire the blood of Captain America(a super-soldier)and Thor(a god), meaning they were one step closer to Hydra's longtime goal of immortality.

Thoughts: I have no real complaints here. Much like the last issue, this was a perfectly acceptable story. I liked the flashback sequences, as they helped to hammer home the point that Hydra has been around for several millennium, meaning they are not just some simple terrorist group that sprung up in the 20th century. The flashback's also helped establish that Hydra had been collecting and hording mystical weapons throughout the years(including the arrow that pierced Thor), all for their ultimate plan of creating an army of perfect beings, indestructible and immortal. What can I say, I've always been a fan of Captain America, and I've also always felt Hydra was severely underutilized, so this mini-series is right up my alley!

Score: 7 out of 10.How can I not like a comic with th CLASSIC Avengers in it?!

Captain America: Hail Hydra #1(of 5)

Review: This is yet another Captain America flashback mini-series in a long line of them. Not that I'm complaining, because the more Cap I can read about, the better! We begin in 1944 as we head towards the end of the War in Europe. Captain America and Bucky have been contacted by a woman from the German Freedom League(the homegrown Nazi opposition force)and told of some bizarre experiments that were taking place in a castle in the middle of Germany. Cap and Bucky head inside to investigate and discover a mad scientist along with some German soldiers preforming some sort of weird experiments on dead bodies. The heroes manage to plow through the cannon fodder, until Bucky is knocked out by some hulking, bullet ridden man. Cap engages the man in battle, and finds that most of his best shots have no effect. Eventually, Cap is able to defeat the man, but turns around to discover several more bullet ridden men and women approaching him. The zombies knock Cap and Bucky out cold, and strap them to an operating table, where the mad scientist explains that he wasn't working for Hitler, and that he expected Hitler to fall within the coming months. Instead he was working for another organization(the Thule Society)and that he had mastered a way to reanimate dead German soldiers to work under him. After revealing all of this to Cap and Bucky, he informs them that they would soon die and be reanimated to join his undead army. The mad scientist goes to inject Cap with some sort of drug, but is shot in the back by the woman from earlier with the German Freedom League. The woman frees Cap and Bucky and shoots up the zombies while the injured mad scientist slowly begins to make his escape. The woman nearly catches the mad scientist, but he is saved by the arrival of who looks to be Baron Strucker, who carries the mad scientist away, leaving a live grenade behind to cover his escape. From there, the German Freedom League arrive on the scene and tell Cap they'll burn all of the zombie's bodies, as well as search for the mad scientist. Cap leaves, and this issue ends with the members of the GFL revealing they were actually agents of Hydra, and that although Cap's raid had set them back several years, they had all the time in the world for their plans to bear fruit.

Thoughts: For the most part, I enjoyed this issue. What's more fun then mad scientists, creepy castles and zombie soldiers?! However, there were some things that left me scratching my head... Was the Thule Society a branch or predecessor of Hydra, and if they were, why did Hydra, in the guise of the GFL send Cap in to attack the mad scientist? Or did Hydra send Cap in to take down the mad scientist so that they could use him and his creations? The ending made it seem like Hydra was upset that Cap had located the castle and set them back several years, but then why would they have sent Cap into the castle in the first place? Yeah, maybe I'm over thinking it a bit, but that's what I do! Anyway, this was a solid start to what will hopefully be a great mini-series.

Score: 7 1/2 out of 10.Cap and Bucky versus zombie Nazis? Yes please!