Cover to Cover: This is your DOOM!!!

Catwoman came out this week, but, for some reason, not Birds of Prey or Hack/Slash. This has utterly shattered my universe, because the three have historically come out together. My schedule is hopelessly annihilated, but at least we got the conclusion to Annihilation: Conquest!

So, short of Birds and Hack, Catwoman #78 and Annihilation: Conquest #6 are on the review today.

Catwoman #78
by Will Pfeifer and David Lopez

I thought that Catwoman would be off the Hell Planet by this issue, and I was both pleasantly and unpleasantly surprised.

Unpleasantly in that I was wrong. Pleasantly in that the story here's very well told nonetheless.

Back on the Hell Planet, Catwoman makes a "non-aggression pact" with Hammer and Sickle. The two of them are so deliciously Communist; I love how Sickle is making constant references to the inevitable revolution that will overtake the capitalist world.

And then Cheetah attacks Catwoman! The fight is great, in that we get to see Catwoman being AWESOME, and we actually get to see her put good use to the cigar that the Joker gave her back in issue 75 or so.

There's a side-story with Slam Bradley too, in which Slam looks for what happened to Catwoman. I'm not exactly sure who he is, but I know that his son was the father of the baby in OYL. Most importantly, though, he introduces us to Interrogation 101:

[when interrogating] Make them fear you, then make them love you. Then make them drunk.

A really fun and smart issue, although I can't help the feeling that I'm better off waiting for the trade.

Four out of five pseudo-lesbionic covers.


Annihilation: Conquest #6
by Abnett, Lanning, Raney and Alves

I haven't been keeping up with the miniseries itself, but I've been reading enough to understand this issue:

1. Rocket Raccoon and his wild gang of space marauders damage the babel spire that's trapping Hala in Ultron's grasp. They lose a few friends tragically.
2. Ronan the Accuser is about to sacrifice Hala for the sake of the Kree Empire -- until Nova and gang come blazing forth!
3. They open the barrier to Hala and kill Ultron's current body, Adam Warlock, only for Ultron to transfer his consciousness to a bunch of Phalanx sentries to form a Megazord! Go go mega Ultron!
   
4. Adam Warlock's soul returns to him via the Quantum Bands.
   
5. A furious battle winds up in Wraith trapping Ultron (so he can't transfer his consciousness to another body), so then Phyla-Vell delivers the deathblow to Ultron!
   

(epilogue) With the Phalanx conquered and Ultron destroyed, Peter Quill starts thinking about a ragtag band of proactive defenders to prevent anything like Annihilation or Annihilation: Conquest from happening again. Guardians of the Galaxy is go!

Well, this issue was awesome. Kick-ass characters, kick-ass moments, kick-ass fights, kick-ass dialogue. And I'm jumping on in the very last issue.

The only complaints I have are:

• Phyla's killing of Ultron wasn't as awesome as Nova's killing of Annihilus. Considering that Conquest is excellent in and of itself, though, that's still a compliment.
• I really don't like Tom Raney. All that slick coloring doesn't cover up the fact that he could definitely sharpen his faces and his anatomy. Cases in point:

You do not draw anyone's, much less Peter Quill's, forearm that thin when everything else is that huge.

And Super-Skrull's face isn't that flat, and his forehead isn't that long.

All things considered though, I am definitely looking forward to Guardians and I'm kind of really interested in the relationship between Rocket Raccoon and Groot, and Mantis and that other guy.

Dammit Annihilation, I just can't quit you!