Wednesday, September 2, 2009

Marvel's War of Kings Review

The War of Kings is over. At least for the most part. The "Who Will Rule?" book is released next week, but the war itself is over and some aftermath is felt.

After the Annihilation Wave struck, the Phalanx (an ultimately Ultron) made a play for much of the galaxy or universe, or however big the scope of these battles is. While that was happening, the Skrulls, decimated from the Annihilation Wave, enacted their "Secret Invasion" of Earth. Obviously, that plot failed, but it evidently left the Inhumans pretty ticked off that all these people keep trying to beat them up on the moon while on their way to Earth-proper. Well, they've had enough, and that begins the War of Kings.... that, and crazy Emperor Vulcan of the Shi'ar Empire.

It turns out the Inhumans are really a big experiment by the Kree (another empire weakened by Annihilus and the Phalanx) to evolve humans into becoming spies and assassins for them. Emboldened and pissed off by all the waiting for bad things to happen to them, the Inhumans are off to claim the weakened Kree empire as their own.

Except for the ending, most of the story plays out just how you think it's going to. The Kree get attacked by the Shi'ar, you throw some Inhumans, Negative Zone baddies, and you have yourself a war... of kings... however minor.

I'm obviously trying not to give too much away in this, but you will definitely see some pretty major characters die. Most of this is attached to the politics and tension of the situations that surround all sides of the war. I think the politics of these events really make up most of the intrigue in the Marvel Cosmic events. It was cool to see Ronan the Accuser take over the Kree after the Annihilation War. It is still cool to see that even now, parts of the universe are being run by old enemies and no one has been completely exterminated because the previous wars have taken too much out of everyone. Honestly, I'm more invested in the Cosmic side of things than the Earth heroes because things are just that much more volatile. More is at stake, the problems are bigger, heroes seem more.... heroic.

What YOU want to know is: Is this worth my time and is it better than Conquest?

Answer: Yes, and about the same.

I'm not going to compare it to Annihilation, because that first one kicked ass quite a bit. It is not as good as that. Conquest I felt was a bit too overreaching and long, but definitely had some great moments that made me really enjoy it. Sure, Wraith felt tacked on and Phyla-Vel was pretty damn annoying most of the time, but we got the Guardians of the Galaxy and Adam Warlock back along with some Phalanx and Ultron coolness. Oh, and let's not forget Nova getting infected and creating some great stories in that book (Technoarchs rock!)

That said, I don't think War of Kings has the scope that the Annihilation stories did. It is still spacey and big, but I felt that the battles didn't mean as much. The Guardians of the Galaxy were far more behind the scenes and in this they are able to take a much more active roll in protecting galactic balance. You may want to shoot Phyla in the face though. Something like Conquest would largely be too big for them, although Adam Warlock tends to be a force unto himself. I think Dan Abnett realized this and had to devise a way to take The Nova Prime out of most of the fight. Richard Rider would have beaten entirely too many "big guns" to make most of the battles worth while. I would have liked to see him take on Gladiator for a few rounds, but oh well.

Something that surprised me was that I thought the Starjammers were a very cool team. I didn't know who most of them were, but for the most part, they were fun to follow. I'm sure this was mostly because they were being hunted by the Shi'ar for the entire story. I'm not sure how they logically made Havok channeling cosmic power now, but the guy is a good leader. Emperor Vulcan is his brother, so there is a bit of drama there, but it really only serves the "you killed our father" and "how could I be related to someone so awful?" angst.

The picture shows the principal characters of the entire story, although, I feel like they never really knew what to do with Blastaar and his armies. The Guardians of the Galaxy and Nova deal with him a bit, but he seems like more of a distraction than anything.

Ahem, so Blastaar, Darkhawk, Black Bolt, Gladiator, Crystal (Black Bolt's sister), Emperor Vulcan, and Lilandra Nermani all play the most major roles in the conflict (I might have lopped off Blastaar and replaced him with Adam Warlock, Havok, or Medusa (Black Bolt's wife).

Since I'm not a huge X-men follower, much of the X-men backstories were lost on me, which means a lot of Shi'ar things as well. The "War of Kings Saga" issue in this is essential if you don't follow every Marvel storyline ever told, like me. This thing gave a decent rundown of what the heck is going on with all these people. Who knew there was another Summers brother!? I also wish they didn't just come up with alternate reality versions of characters just to satiate some fans (Rachel Gray). Now that I'm thinking about it, no wonder I don't follow the X-men anymore....

I feel like the whole story really opened some doors for Crystal and Darkhawk.... perhaps Gladiator as well. Gladiator was the one I knew of the most, but I came out really understanding some Crystal and Darkhawk a bit more. I'm not sure how fleshed out their characters were to begin with, but they really opened up in War of Kings.

I didn't even know Darkhawk was that young and still lived with his parents. Wasn't he working for Project P.E.G.A.S.U.S.? Seems he'd get some cash from that... Regardless, he's a Cosmic character now, which ought to make him suck less.

There are definitely issues you can skip in this. Most notably, the War of Kings: Skaar, Son of Hulk issue. It served no purpose. Maybe they were trying to capitalize on those people who were really into World War Hulk a few years back? Stupid story that had no bearing on the War of Kings, so if you come across it, skip it.

To top it all off, it looks like we have a new (or old) cosmic villain in the mix once everything is over. I am a bit geeked for it myself. Oh yeah, and space might have a few more tears in it by the end of it all. Who doesn't love good guys fighting bad guys coming though Space-time tears though?

For the most part, I enjoyed the War of Kings and look forward to the upcoming Realm of Kings. This got me to like the Guardians of the Galaxy more and helped me get into the Inhumans a bit. It definitely changed the cosmic landscape and you should read it if you love all things epic and space-related. Perhaps there will be some grand story called the Saga of Kings that comes out of it all.





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