Also this week...

ANNIHILATION: CONQUEST - PROLOGUE - Another week, another crossover.  Annihilation: Conquest is the sequel to last year's 23-part Annihilation, and follows much the same structure - except this time, instead of a four-issue Nova miniseries, we're getting four issues of the ongoing Nova title.  Conquest isn't a direct sequel; instead, it's some of the same characters dealing with a new invasion.  And if you're an X-Men reader of the 1990s, you may or may not be pleased to hear that it's the Phalanx.  Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning write a decent first issue, selling the Phalanx as a major threat, and putting the new Quasar over as a rookie lacking confidence.  Wisely, they've chosen to focus on a small number of characters rather than try to introduce the whole cast in this issue.  Mike Perkins' art is the best I've seen from him, and he even manages to make the clunky old Spaceknight and Kree Sentry designs look impressive.  A good start, although I remember saying the same thing about the original Annihilation only to see it degenerate into "Hey, remember this character who once met the Silver Surfer in 1992?"  Fingers crossed.  A-

INCREDIBLE HULK #107 - Marvel do love their crossovers.  For those of you keeping track, this week alone sees the first part of "Endangered Species", the first part of "Annihilation: Conquest", two Initiative books (one of which, Moon Knight #11, seems to have qualified solely on the grounds that Iron Man appears in the penultimate panel), two Spider-Man "Back in Black" books, and four "World War Hulk" tie-ins.  A little excessive, do you think?  Still, so far "World War Hulk" is living up to the promise of its first issue, and Greg Pak is doing some really good work on his solo title.  The Hulk's in it, but the real focus is on Amadeus Cho, Hercules and the Angel, as a group of well-meaning fellows trying to help the Hulk out, and getting the obligatory pummelling for their efforts.  The theme of this story seems to be the idea that, hey, maybe the Hulk really is a dangerously uncontrollable monster, for all his good intentions.  Pak's building that idea persuasively, without trashing the character in order to do it.  Gary Frank's a great artist for this story, shifting effortlessly from the conversation scenes to the brawling.  So far, this one is looking like a winner.  A

There's more from me at If Destroyed, and if you're desperate for more Article 10 columns, you can always hunt through the archives on Ninth Art.

Next week, Marvel is flooding the shelves.  I despair sometimes.  Actually, these days, I despair most of the time.

X-Men #200 is an anniversary issue and, supposedly, contains important plot points.  It ties in with Cable & Deadpool #42, although for some reason nobody's bothering to promote that fact.  Meanwhile, X-Men: First Class returns with a new ongoing series, and Ultimate X-Men #83 continues its version of the Morlocks storyline.  (Not to be confused with the one currently running in Uncanny X-Men, which is totally different.) 

X-Factor #20 continues the X-Cell arc, while Wolverine: Origins #15 has yet more of Wolverine fighting Daken.  And as if all that wasn't enough, there's also the first issue of World War Hulk: X-Men, which sounds like the most pointless thing ever.

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