Marvel Cosmic Universe

Getting sucked into a story is a great way to spend your free time. Sometimes, I’ll find a story in a movie or a TV show. Oftentimes, I find it in a book. Last night, the story I found came from a wonderful source, one I don’t dive into as often as I used to.

I began reading Marvel’s Annihilation crossover event.

This is a completely new arena for me. For me, Marvel comics have always been about Mutants and Avengers and New York City. Although I knew of the greater Marvel universe, I never felt compelled to read any of those stories. When Guardians of the Galaxy was announced at Comic-Con a couple years back, I began wiki-reading up the various cosmic features of the Marvel universe.

I wasn’t let down. I get hungry for the stories just thinking about the characters out there like Galactus, the Living Tribunal, and the Watchers. And worlds. Worlds upon worlds of alien races and creatures. The Shi’ar, the Kree, and the Skrulls, and many, many more. The Marvel cosmic universe was so much bigger than the one measly planet I’d been reading about my entire life. Sure, the Phoenix Force would touch down every now and then, or an alien race would attempt to invade, but I had no idea the grand scale Marvel’s universe held. What the wikis all told me hinted at something like Star Trek in size, but with a mythology and history behind it dating back to the beginning of the universe.

Of course, wikis are just wikis. They don’t pull you in. They tease and they taunt with ideas, but this isn’t even close to a story.

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Last night, I finally began reading Annihilation. For those of you unfamiliar with the basic premise, here’s the situation. At the edge of our universe, where our universe expands into the Negative Zone (don’t ask), is an area of space called the Crunch. From here, a wave of battleships thousands strong emerge into our universe. It’s safe to say they lay waste to pretty much anything.

These initial stories unfold throughout Annihilation: Prologue and then into the four issue series Annihilation:Nova. I read all five of these comic (and then some) last night. I couldn’t stop. The characters, the worlds, and the scale all sucked me in. I learned about the fate of the Xander homeworld alongside Nova, and I saw the power commanded by the Annihilation Wave. I also saw...well...I don’t want to spoil anything, but it was pretty, well, terrifying.

I’m not far into the series. I’ve only begun reading Annihilation #1, and I only touched on some of the other stories surrounding the event, but so far, I can’t get enough. That’s something I’m always looking for in a story. More. More. More. It's definitely worth and read, and easily something to get into. I loved the Nova series, and I'm really hoping to see more of him.

BTW - Thank you, Marvel, for offering Marvel Unlimited for a buck. I can’t even log on tonight.