The relationship between artist and creation is strange. Some may use the analogy of parent and child, while others may use friend, lover, or simply a “thing.” But it’s a difficult relationship no matter what label. What you make is intended for others, yet others may not see what you tried to make. So imagine if you could talk to your creation. Better yet, what if you could travel with them?
Such is the dark, moody, hazy world that is Grant Morrison’s Annihilator. With stunning art by longtime Morrison collaborator Frazer Irving, Annihilator #1 is the surprisingly small and intimate set-up for what is bound to be a grand epic.
Ray Spass (pronounced “space,” as in “outer”) is messed up. He’s a drunk and drug addict that hires prostitutes by the truckload. He was a successful screenwriter in Hollywood that hasn’t quite gotten over an ex-lover. He has a zany look, appropriate for his inner psyche but it’s also kind of absurd, and it’s a look that is difficult to empathize with. Which seems to be the point. It’s one of those shaved heads with the other half of the cranium having full-grown hair. He looks like Shane from The Walking Dead trying to look hip, and it comes off as gross. But Spass is gross anyway.
We meet Spass buying a new house in Los Angeles. It’s a beautiful, modern home but its fucked up past (it has hosted Satanic rituals and has been the site of murders) is what brings Spass to move in. He’s attracted to bad juju, in his words. But he’s also tired. Exhausted. He’s drinking during the day and is snorting coke by the barrel loads. His only friend, if you could call him that, is his white-haired agent in a suit that he’s alienating every time they meet. His agent begs him to shape up, because the studio has given him one last opportunity to write what they want to be their next tentpole franchise. Spass’ current screenplay is good, but not great, and doesn’t have anything past the first act. Spass collapses under the pressure — which turns out to be a pretty horrific illness.
About that screenplay. It is the titular Annihilator, and it comes from the movie-within-the-story’s physical location: a black hole. Max Nomax is an intergalactic rebel, a kind of a gothic/punk-rock Han Solo. Nomax has been sentenced for a crime — a vague one, but something Morrison himself has promised that we’ll come to know about as the series continues — and is banished to solitary confinement (save for an odd, bug-eyed teddy bear robot and the stasis corpse of “an angel”). Scientists stationed near the black hole went absolutely insane, which just excites the ever-living crap out of Max Nomax.
Nomax tricks his captors to a grisly fate, and just as Max delivers a brief but passionate soliloquy against the never-ending darkness… we’re back to Spass.
It is difficult to understand the framing structure of Annihilator. Throughout the book, Max Nomax and his creator Ray Spass have a parallel adventure, but without spoiling the framing goes out the window when someone shows up where they shouldn’t be. By the last page, it is hard to see what will become of Annihilator‘s storytelling.
There is plenty to see and mull over right in issue #1, and the hauntingly beautiful art by Irving will warrant at least one look-through just looking at the drawings. Irving’s understanding of colors is masterful. There isn’t merely one color palette all over the book, but rather he uses particular palettes against certain locations. Downtown Los Angeles does not look like the space station above the black hole, but there’s something unifying about their look that prevents visual whiplash. Blues goes against yellows, which reminds me vividly of Eyes Wide Shut, for some reason. Erotic imagery makes for a fascinating sequence in the middle of book #1, a sequence told montage-style seen through drugged eyes. You are almost lulled into a high that makes the transition into the two and a half pages of fucking like a dream. A dream you are harshly woken up from.
I’m excited to see Annihilator all the way through. Issue #1 leaves enough to keep you wanting more, but it failed to establish the proper rules of not only the world but of how it will tell its story. But the story is good! It’s ingenious. It’s Milton and Aligheri and Lovecraft and Easton Ellis and somehow, kinda George Lucas. It’s inventive sci-fi, and I can’t wait to read the next issue.
Geekscape gives Issue #1 a powerful 3.5/5 stars. It’s an amazing premise cut too short and without any clear understanding of the world’s rules. In any case, we’re really looking forward to what’s next.
Looking for more Annihilator? Read our interview with creator Grant Morrison here.
