What If...Annihilation (...Reached Earth?)

   Maybe this should have been part of my Annihilation Week event, but, to be honest, I didn't even remember I had this until a couple of days ago. In this alternate earth tale, Annihilus and his Annihilation Wave reach our planet because Drax failed in freeing Galactus and the Silver Surfer from his clutches.

    The invasion fleet arrives during the events of Civil War right when it appears that Captain America is about to kill Tony Stark. So when a giant bug crashes into the Empire State Building, the two opposing forces must put aside their past differences and fight together with Nova to save the planet and the rest of the universe from total destruction.

    Featuring a cast of hundreds (many of which die a gruesome death being swarmed by massively huge bugs), the real stars of this 'What If...' one-shot are the Inhumans and the Watcher, two players that don't even factor into either Annihilation or Civil War.

    The art was amazing and stunning. The story itself was just as good if not in some ways a little better than the last couple of issues of the actual Annihilation miniseries. About the only part of this book I didn't enjoy was the last couple of pages which seems to leave the story tragically open-ended. However, knowing Marvel's history of turning stories from 'What If...' into Universe-616 canon, I would be pleasantly surprised if someone one day turned XXXXXXXXXX into the next Nova. It would make for an exciting new story or even series.

   Worth Consuming

   Rating: 9 out 10 stars