Last week, after much discussion and shooting down of things, we chose not to discuss Marvel's "event," Annihilation on last week's Big Monkey Podcast.

The reason why we chose not to do so were simple.

Only two of us (Ben & Jon B.) had even bothered to follow it. Why is that, I wonder?

Traditionally, space adventure is often thought of very highly. No one need look no further than "The Kree-Skrull War Saga." DC's criminally never reprinted 1988 event "Invasion." Those fond feelings often don't translate into blockbuster sales figures, at least where space opera is concerned.

For example, let's take Rann-Thanagar War. Of the four "big event books" (The OMAC Project, Villains United & Days of Vengeance) that led up to Infinite Crisis, R-T War was Big Monkey Comics' hardest sell.

I've always wondered why. Was it that, of the four, it had the least "star power?"

Villains United featured writing by fan-fave writer Gail Simone, ass-kicking art by Dale Eaglesham, telling the story of six villains vs. a secret society of super-villains numbering in the hundreds.

Days of Vengeance worked on the premise of a few C-list magic based heroes proving what it is to be a hero in a futile attempt to contain DC mainstay, The Spectre.

The OMAC Project had strong ties to Batman and served as a launch point for a future Checkmate series.

Written by Dave Gibbons and drawn (most of the time) by future Green Lantern artist Ivan Reis, Rann-Thanagar War mainly focused on the conflict as seen through the eyes of Rann's Adam Strange and Thanagar's Hawkman.

Of the four R-T War was the least well-received. As I remember it, the blogosphere's reactions to it all were more interesting than the actual war, with various blogs declaring war upon one another in the name of the hated Rann or our beloved Thanagar.

(Guess which side I came down upon.)

But I digress, we left Annihilation exactly where we left it... nowhere. What is it about "space adventure" that seems to only translate to critical acclaim and not "fan favorite" status?

Is it that the Big Two of DC & Marvel's sole focus seems to be on superhero fare?

Are the events of Countdown or World War Hulk just that more interesting?

Is it that space opera ain't very good for the bottom line?

Is something like Green Lantern: Sinestro Corps Corps an anomaly, an exception rather than the rule?

What do YOU think?

Labels: Big Monkey Podcast, Green Lantern