Special all-superhero edition! For the kidz!

Seriously, does anyone out there know what the first recorded use of “z” to replace “s” at the end of a word is? By god it’s horrendous…except when ironic, OF COURSE!

Anyway:

Annihilation #1-6 (of 6)
Writer: Keith Giffen
Artist: Andrea DeVito

Giffen and DeVito’s Marvel space epic to end all Marvel space epics came to a close last week in satisfying, punch-tastic fashion. Featuring most of the major players in the Marvel Universe’s outer reaches — Galactus, the Kree, the Skrull, Silver Surfer, Nova, Drax the Destroyer, Terrax, more — Annihilation concerns a relentless attack on our universe by the Negative Zone’s psychotic baddie Annihilus, whose army consists of Thanos (you remember: Infinity Gauntlet, Infinity War) and a bunch of insect-y thingies.

Although like most big crossovers it’s a bit predictable, choppy, and doesn’t amount to much at the end of the day, Giffen’s unpretentious, fast-paced narrative and DeVito’s flashy and streamlined artistic style make Annihilation a highly entertaining and exciting “event” free of the heavy-handed moralizing and forced grandiosity of pretentious, egotistical eye-rollers like Civil War and Infinite Crisis.

Teen Titans #43
Writer: Geoff Johns
Artist: Tony Daniel

Another week, another weak DC title from Geoff Johns wherein a bunch of sourpuss heroes fight a bunch of baddies for whatever reason. Memo to Geoff: buddy, no offense, but there’s a good chance this probably isn’t going to be great literature, so it might help if you lightened up a little. How can your characters even move with all the baggage they carry around? Zing!

No, the book isn’t horrible. It’s just another exercise in maudlin, vainglorious nihilism for die-hard DC fanboys and gals…of which there are many, granted. But at the end of the day it’s just a mediocre soap.

New X-book after the jump.

Astonishing X-Men Vol. 3: Torn
Writer: Joss Whedon
Artist: John Cassaday

The Hellfire Club attacks the X-Mansion! Aaaaahhh!

This third volume of Whedon and Cassaday’s X-book is also a big soap opera, but it’s an exciting, smart, and engaging one with a real sense of danger and urgency. I’ll be honest, I never got into Buffy, and I couldn’t make it through an entire episode of Firefly, but I’m enjoying Whedon’s work on this title — he sticks to the plot without relying on the kind of grating, self-consciously cute dialogue that can make his TV shows a chore if you aren’t a fan of his aesthetic.

But the really amazing trick Whedon pulls off (besides proving Grant Morrison was the best thing to happen to the franchise since Claremont/Byrne) is giving the X-Men a legitimate threat in the Hellfire Club. Add in a real story that keeps the reader guessing, sharp characterization, and Cassaday’s usual stellar artwork, and you have what has to be one of the best superhero titles out there right now. A refreshingly good time.

Spread the word!