Annihilation: Ronan #4 (of 4)

Written by Simon Furman

Pencils by Jorge Lucas

Cover by Gabrielle Dell’Otto

 

This is the last of the mini-series before we start Annihilation proper. Each was supposed to serve as a marketing ploy to sell more books and as a way to introduce the readers to each of the characters, which makes me think that Super-Skrull didn’t really die at the end of his mini. I must admit that I’d never heard of Ronan before this series so it wasn’t a bad idea to let him get the spotlight for a couple issues. Too bad it sucked.

 

Ronan is a Kree Accuser (think Judge Dredd in space) who has been charged with treason and kicked out of the Kree Empire. He’s been on a hunt to find his own accuser, Tana Nile, since the beginning of the series, and we never learn what exactly Ronan was accused of or even if he really did it or not. The Annihilation Wave has taken a back seat to Ronan’s personal justice.

 

So Ronan tracks Tana Nile to a crap planet ruled by Gamora (from Warlock’s old band of anti-heroes) who is now an out and out villain protecting Tana. Ronan meets up with some old buddies, fights Gamora, and runs into some guy named Glorian (a former apprentice to ‘The Shaper of Worlds’, whoever that is). Glorian remakes the crappy planet into a good one, but just in time for the Annihilation Wave to attack. In the end, Tana Nile dies, Glorian becomes a simpleton, and Gamora becomes a good-guy again.

 

Because Tana dies before revealing anything to Ronan, that particular sub-plot doesn’t get advanced at all. In fact, other than hooking Ronan up with his Kree buddy and Gamora, this mini-series doesn’t change anything. So, as a mini-series, this has been the worst one of all in actually producing a conclusion, of any kind. We’ve simply been introduced to Ronan and that’s about it.

 

Even the internal conflict within Ronan is a non sequitur. Ronan is supposed to have freed himself from any lasting loyalties to the Kree Empire, but Ronan never acted in any interest but his own from the very beginning. Maybe he no longer has an addiction to meting out justice, but Furman has hardly showed such a change.

 

As if the plot wasn’t bad enough, Furman’s dialogue is horrible. People speak as if they were always shouting. It’s melodramatic drivel. To give an example from Annihilus’ Queen, speaking to herself of course (bold-type in original): “This virgin world, so fruitful and full of life…I will make it barren. – I… Who resists?” Here’s another example from Ronan, also speaking to himself (bold-type in original): “So. That is where you have been hiding. Your grand design crumbles, puppeteer, and I…will bring it crashing down around you!” Sadly, almost all the characters talk to themselves and introduce themselves during mid-battle.

 

Most of it is more than I can bear—this is one of the few comics I actually didn’t want to read. Lucas for his part is a decent enough artist, especially for this kind of story where you have tons of creatures on the panel at once, but he sometimes lets himself get lazy where panels are nothing more than ‘sketches’. I’d like to think time-constraints caused the sloppy work because a lot of the book is good work. Dave McCaig’s flat color scheme is partly to blame—a couple panels have character’s clothes the same color as the fire in the background.

 

I’ve read two things by Simon Furman now, this and his Captain Universe mini-series’. He’d have to come up with something really amazing to convince me he can write in a style not reminiscent of the late seventies.

 

Rating - 1