Annihilation: Conquest - Quasar # 2 - Destiny: Part 2

Relatively Spoiler-Proof

This continues the story begun in Annihilation: Conquest#0 and the first issue of the mini. Phylla and Heather are revealed to each be saddled with their own demons as they seek the mysterious "savior." Phylla has to deal with not having fully mastered the quantum bands and the fact that they are losing more power. This is without taking into account the corruptive berserk influence Annihilus left in the bands themselves. There is an excellent summary of Moondragon's origins, narrated by Heather herself, which establishes the character's present state quite nicely. The Super Adaptoid and the Phalanx drones continue to plague the pair, resulting in a transformation at the end of the book that almost guarantees you'll buy the next one.

Art-wise, the pencils continue to please, though you would strictly note that the quality in book 1 is slightly better.

Another great issue.

Annihilation: Conquest, like it's predecessor, has a few mini-series going into the event. I must say that these work a lot better then the usual event tie-ins that we get with major events (Civil War, World War Hulk, ect..). The only problem lies in the fact that Marvel seems to want to force these stories into a 4 part mini series. That's all well and good when you have enough story to fill four issues, but it can cause problems if there just isn't enough there. With each individual character now out with one or two issues now, it became apparent with Quasar #1 that it was the weakest of the four. Nova had the advantage coming in from an ongoing series, while Wraith and Starlord were surprisingly entertaining.

This issue opens up with more of what we already saw in #1. They are fighting off yet another alien in the opening pages while spewing out almost every cliched comic book dialog known to man. If they are not repeating what they're mission is for the umpteenth time, they are going into great detail about they're powers and how they're going to use them against they're latest enemy. Christos N. Gage has never been known for writing mundane dialog such as this, so it comes as an even bigger disappointment. The issue isn't completely worthless however, as there is a few development's in the story. The only problem is that so far we've had 2 issues, and everything could have been accomplished in one with ease.

The saving grace for this issue are two twists that happen in the closing moments. While this did peak my curiosity for the next issue, my expectations are very low. I don't know if Gage was trying to make up for the lack of story with the dialog, but he should put more faith in Mike Lilly to illustrate what is happening instead of having the characters explain every minuscule detail.