Month: September 2025

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Annihilation Omnibus: Ronan

This is a review of the Ronan miniseries, written by Simon Furman with art by Jorge Lucas, which appears in the Annihilation Omnibus. You can read my reviews of Drax the Destroyer, Nova, The Silver Surfer, and The Super Skrull here, here, here, and here. 

Short summary: the Marvel universe is being invaded by The Annihilation Wave, a space armada hailing from the Negative Zone led by Annihilus, a beaucoup powerful bug warlord. Will this be the last time I have to post this summary? Stay tuned! 

Ronan the Accuser is a Kree. He’s blue, like a Smurf; unlike a Smurf, he’s built like a pro wrestler and wields an enormous hammer. Ronan is an Accuser, which means he passes summary judgment on, well, just about everybody, but especially the Kree. Think judge, jury, and executioner and you’ll get the idea. 

Ronan has been accused of treason! It’s obvious he’s innocent, because people with binary points of view – besides being scary – don’t sell out their ideals, which are baked in. After a rigged trial, Ronan is exiled from Kree Space. 

Ronan’s new goal in life is to track down the alien who gave false testimony and make her reveal who betrayed him. This leads him to Godthab Omega, a gritty planet held together by dirt, spit, and barbed wire. Besides the settlers, this world is occupied by a band of women named the Graces. They are led by Gamora, the self-proclaimed Deadliest Woman in the Universe. 

But wait, there’s more! A cosmic entity named Glorian manipulates Ronan and Gamora into fighting, and uses the power run-off from their battle to terraform the world into something beautiful. Now Godthab Omega has way more trees, which is so nice! This attracts the attention of the Annihilation Wave, because reasons. 

Wow, lots more plot than I expected! Lots of names to look up, too, but that’s my problem not yours. So is this miniseries any good? There is a lot of material crammed into four issues, but if you like space opera set in gritty worlds this is entertaining. 

There is also a touch of humor, which may or may not be intentional. Gamora, the most dangerous woman in the universe, goes into combat wearing a thong. If it was me, I’d wear battle armor, but I’m not the most dangerous woman in the universe. Maybe it’s a battle thong?

I will give Ronan this. He might be a big blue goon, but he sure isn’t a chauvinist. He pulls no punches when battling Gamora as they joyously pummel the crap out of each other. The miniseries moves the larger Annihilation plot forward while also changing Ronan as a character.* Since the big galoot is a mover & shaker in the Annihilation miniseries, which I will review next week, this is a must-read! 

*Addendum: the next time we see Ronan, he tells a Kree commander he’s relieved of duty right before smashing his skull in with his hammer, so maybe he hasn’t changed all that much.

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Legion of Super Heroes: The Great Darkness Saga

This is a review of the Legion of Super-Heroes: The Great Darkness Saga, written by Paul Levitz with art by Keith Giffen. You can read my review of Superboy and the Legion of Super Heroes Volume One here. 

The Legion of Super Heroes are a group of 30th century youngsters with superpowers who have teamed up to defend the universe. Back in the Silver Age they were all teenagers. Thus, the monikers Cosmic Boy, Saturn Girl, Light Lass, etc. The stories in this volume, written in the late 1980s, treat them more as New Adults (early twenties). Think space opera combined with superpowers and dopey melodrama.

By dopey melodrama I’m talking romance, because let’s face it, everyone loves romance!!! How about an example? Light Lass convinces her beau Timber Wolf – who has a face that could scare a block of concrete – to undergo cosmetic surgery. 

Soon afterwards Timber Wolf is shanghaied into a disastrous intel mission on the Khund (not-nice aliens) homeworld. They are rescued in the nick of time by a team led by Saturn Girl, which crashes on an asteroid. By the way, Saturn Girl is Light Lass’ sister-in-law. 

Hey, why doesn’t Light Lass lead the rescue party? Wonder what’s up with that? Our hapless heroes are rescued by another search party led by Light Lass, who sees Saturn Girl and Timber Wolf hugging. Light Lass quits the Legion, giving Timber Wolf an ultimatum – stay or go with her. What will he do? 

In the meantime, Princess Projectra and Karate Kid return to her homeland and are almost burned at the stake. Brainiac Five accidentally resurrects an old Legion foe, Computo, which marks his one billionth screw-up since he joined the team. Everyone forgives him, because they’re used to it. And someone stirs in a deserted old planet in backwater space.

The Legion receives a much-needed shot in the arm when Keith Giffen comes onto the title as artist and co-plotter. We have new Legionnaires – Blok, who is a living rock; Invisible Kid, whose little sister is host to genocidal computer Computo; and The White Witch, a sorceress. 

This volume features the Great Darkness Saga, a five issue storyline that involves the awakening of cosmic menace Darkseid in the 30th century. I am not giving anything away because the cover of this volume shows us Darkseid, who terraforms an entire planet into his effigy. 

Darkseid sends out degraded versions of cloned heroes as his emissaries – to collect items of power, and then people. The Legion is overmatched, especially when Darkseid learns of the existence of the planet Daxam, which orbits a red sun. He warps the planet under a yellow sun, which means billions of super-powered Daxamites under his control! Can the universe survive? Well, yeah, but it’s a big story.  

Nowadays, the Great Darkness Saga would be a special event with multiple issues in twelve different titles. Instead it’s just there – the best Legion of Super Heroes storyline ever created, one of the top superhero comic storylines of the 20th century, and a high point of both of the creators’ careers. If you like superhero comics combined with space opera it doesn’t get any better than this.