It should also be noted that there’s an awesome Nova Toon Tumbler that the Panteon prevented *anyone else* from purchasing from the shop.

Greedy jerks.

You should have shown up before we bought them all.

Which happened before we opened the store.

Sucker.

off hand i’d say Marvel’s best right now Order and Thunderbolts are good but the talk vs action formula is out of whack their all talk

Too bad Ellis is leaving Thunderbolts.

IS it really too bad to be losing Ellis? I love the status quo he’s set up but if you’re going to DO this team right you may need someone who plays nicer with otheres than Warren. I mean yes it’s fun to see them fight say Razorback but I WANT to see them fight Spider-man. Sue me somtimes hype works

Greedy jerks.

Of course, there’s also the Infinity Gauntlet and that entire area- both are a bit older, of course. “Older” being 80’s and 90’s.

cool you guys do this, but it was kind of a short piece. It would have been even better if you guys did a rundown of available trades, where to start in the series and/or how it connects to everything else in the Marvel universe and Marvel tie-ins.

As Nick said, the Hot Pants tends to be a short feature… that’s just a stylistic choice, a quick hit kind of “Here’s why we all like it” kinda thing.

But… there does seem to be some confusion on Annihilation/Nova, so here’s my attempt at explaining, for everybody in the thread:

1. Yes, you can read Nova without reading any Annihilation. However, the series spins out of events in the original Annihilation, and then ties back into events in Annihilation: Conquest. It’s still a great read, and if you want to dip your toe in without diving all the way into Marvel’s space stuff, you can pick up Nova and, if you like what you see, pick up Annihilation to get a deeper sense of the character and what’s been going on that got him to this place.

2. Annihilation: Conquest, the new series, is still running (#6 concludes it, and comes out in a couple weeks). Once it’s done, there will almost certainly be a hardcover collection. It might be kind of tricky to find the first few issues. But you can find the Annihilation: Conquest hardcover, which collects a couple of the prelude miniseries, which start telling the larger story. And they are quite awesome. In addition, while the characters in Annihilation: Conquest in some cases come from the original Annihilation, it’s enough of a standalone story that you could skip the original Annihilation and just read Conquest and really not be missing *too* much, plot-wise.

3. Annihilation, the original story, is a great sweeping cosmic epic that is well worth picking up. It is told in three biggie-sized trades, which collect the four miniseries (Ronan, Super-Skrull, Nova and Silver Surfer) as well as the six-issue Annihilation miniseries. The miniseries each establish important characters and status quo stuff to put the Annihilation stories in motion, and the best way to read them is as they are collected (along with the Drax miniseries) in Annihilation Books 1-3. It’s true that some of those minis are weaker than others (Super-Skrull and Ronan both have their weak points, as does Drax), but they’re all at least solid, and Nova and Silver Surfer are notably better than that.

If you’ve got the cash, I recommend starting with Annihilation Books 1-3, *then* reading Annihilation: Conquest Vol 1 HC, *then* reading the Nova trade. At which point you can pick up the Nova single issues (#8-up, currently the book is on #12) and, in a few months, the Annihilation Conquest Vol 2 HC, as well as the Guardians of the Galaxy series.

*Or*, if you’re low on cash or just want to try one of these out, you could jump in on the Nova trade, the Annihilation: Conquest Vol 1 HC *or* Annihilation Book 1. In my opinion, any one of these is a decent jumping-on point to Marvel’s space stuff.

And totally worth the time and money. Abnett & Lanning have carved out a cool as hell part of Marvel space in which to tell some kickass stories.

Silver Surfer? Jeez, maybe the most craptacular comic book character ever. How did it make it into the recent movie?

*sputter* *choke*

Silver Surfer… a bad character? Good God, man, what’s wrong with you?!

The Surfer is an *awesome* character. He’s been done badly, to be sure, but when he’s done right, he’s all kinds of cool.

I know this isn’t a Skrull thread but will the Big Skrull threat cross over into Nova and the space books (like Guardians of the Galaxy) or is this earth-only?

I think the Secret Invasion stuff is going to cross over with at least an issue of Nova and/or Guardians of the Galaxy. I *hope* that I’m wrong. But I trust that Abnett/Lanning can write good stories even if Secret Invasion is (as expected) a total crap sandwich.

I wasn’t aware Wolfman wrote them- that alone is usually a good sell for me, especially if it’s earlier Wolfman.

Speaking of Nova… I see that an Essential trade is out. Is that worth picking up, or is my money much better spent on the recent trade? Anyone know? (I’ve become a bit of a penny pincher and love the Essential format, but Nova is a bit of an unknown quantity for me.)

I enjoyed the Essential, but I liked the latest series more. That’s a matter of taste, of course.

I bought the first Annihilation trade online. Are you supposed to read it straight through, or read the first issue of every mini series first, then each second issue, or what?

Just read them straight through. They tell their own stories that each lead into the actual Annihilation miniseries.

Ya see, I actually liked the Super Skrull miniseries. I’m an old school Skrull fan and like his portrayal and depth added to him. Want nothing to do with Secret Invasion though.

I picked up the three trades cheap recently and loved the first two. I just started the 3rd trade and, based on the strength of the first two, have everything else (Nova, Conquest, Quasar/Star-Lord/Wraith) coming in. I’m not a fan of Space stuff, but really dig the characterization of everyone (Thanos, Nova, etc.)

agreed I think the idea of a massive Skrull invasion worked best in 3-d man. It was 1958 LA 3-D man was the only superhero.
In modren Marvel a massive cossover based on skrulls has a few REALLY BIG PROBLEMS
1. if anyone can be a skrull it’s hard to care who is.
2 in my mind they already ran into but sooner or later they are going to make somone a skrull who just does not
3 if they think somehow being a skrul makes up for bad writting no dice. i’m no happier if one more day was skrulls.

Anyway…based on the recco in this column I’ll for sure do some more digging and give Annihilation/Nova a try.

I picked up the three trades cheap recently and loved the first two. I just started the 3rd trade and, based on the strength of the first two, have everything else (Nova, Conquest, Quasar/Star-Lord/Wraith) coming in. I’m not a fan of Space stuff, but really dig the characterization of everyone (Thanos, Nova, etc.)

You can skip out on Annihilation Conquest and not have a problem understand what’s going on in the Nova tie-ins. It’s written in such a way that Nova’s story ties in nicely and meaningfully without making it required reading for Conquest, or Conquest required reading for Nova. I wish all tie-ins were as skillfully done.

To summarize:
Annihilation vol. 1 (TPB or oversized HC)
Annihilation vol. 2 (TPB or oversized HC)
Nova vol. 1 (TPB)

P.S. I’m a huge fan of the New Warriors vol. 1 incarnation of the character and DnA’s take feels like the same guy, definitely more grown up, but the same guy none the less. It’s a nice touch as no other takes on those original NW characters have felt right until now.

Anyways, good choice for Hot Pants.