First: annuals - if the current trend is indeed to put some random artist and writer on it, that aren't doing the regular book, then that's a poor use of the annual. Personally, I used to like it when the annual was the yearly climax to whatever story was going just then. Like New Teen Titans Annual #1 - "WAR!" - the culmination of their experience with the Gordanians, Blackfire, and (if I remember right) the Omega Men. That was awesome! Or the way NTT Annual #2 introduced the Adrian Chase Vigilante, *and* a handful of assassins that were contracted through the Monitor - a nice, intriguing lead-in to Crisis, and a wrap-up to the Anthony Scarapelli story.
However, somewhere along the way, someone (and I suck lemons at remembering who and/or quoting the source, so deal with it - the day I start gettin' paid for it, I'll do my research) said, "Why do I need an annual for the climax to the story? If I'm just going to continue the story, why not do it in a regular issue?" And that's not an awful question, so okay, let's change formats. Marvel, in particular, went to what I call the "shared story" format - storylines like "Atlantis Attacks," that ran through 4 to 6 of the company's annuals. Not a bad tactic for getting you to check out other books.
Then came the event stuff. Probably the most blatant annual event was 1993's new character annuals, from both Marvel and DC. Marvel just had individual annuals that introduced a character and came with a trading card for that character. DC made it a storyline event with "Bloodlines," and didn't include cards. After the new character stuff, thematic annuals seemed to rule the day, with themes like "Pulp Heroes," "Elseworlds" and "Legends of the Dead Earth." Personally, I love that kind of thing, but it gets old after awhile, just like collecting some 35 issues for any one event.
Considering the extra price, the annual should be something special. Rather than putting some unknowns on the book, that you haven't been on the journey with the whole time, the annual should be a "thank you for sticking with us," from the regular writer and artist - an extra effort to show you that they appreciate the fans. To me, having some other team do it just says that they wanted to put out one more book, so they could get five more bucks out of my wallet. Forget that.
I like an annual that climaxes the current story, even if that is something that could have been done in a regular issue. However, I like for that climax to be backed up with one or two solo stories (I'm thinking of a team book here) that tells us a little more about certain members or maybe even an enemy - maybe even something that's setting up the next story. And maybe a Who's Who (oops, showing my age! I meant Secret Files)/ Official Handbook page or three, in the back. That's a sweet annual.
(Crud, I hate it that I can't start a new thought in a new comment window... grr - makes my rants all extra long)
So, second, there's the disconnected feeling everyone was talking about. In a weird way, Marvel's fostered that. Going back to Onslaught, when reality got flipped, the X-Teams were in one universe, and everyone else was in the other, with the Hulk stuck inbetween (or rather, a personality in each universe). [Come to think of it, that may go back as far as Secret Wars - were there any X-Men on the Battleworld? Hm...] Anyway, point is: Age of Apocalypse was an X-story, and Heroes Reborn was for the rest of 'em. Avengers were all up into Civil War and Secret Invasion, with two and three books (or more - I didn't really count - Avengers, New, Mighty, Dark, Non-Fat, etc.). Fantastic Four always seems to get their own event-related mini-series, so that we see what they're up to while all this stuff is going on, but it never seems to me that they're directly involved. Color me surprised that Reed Richards was directly involved with rocketing the Hulk into space. It's like they've found some awkward way to give them all their own space, yet still have year-long, company-wide events.
And I'll try not to say "all up into" or "color me [anything]," ever again.
Log in to comment