Ah, the Negative Zone: that pocket dimension with few denizens but many would-be dictators, all hungry to take over Earth . . . where they can rule over somebody!

This card is especially pertinent with what’s happening in the Marvel Universe right now. I’m not talking about Civil War . . . for what does a petty dispute among four-color costumes in some godforsaken Earth country mean when the entire universe is threatened with galactic conflict? That’s right; I’m referring to Annihilation, where one of those would-be dictators, Annihilus, has gathered an army and begun an anti-life crusade. With his Cosmic Control Rod and a nigh-unstoppable weapon called the Harvester of Sorrow, he leads his Annihilation Wave, destroying planet after planet and galaxy after galaxy with the intention of razing every trace of life from our entire dimension, taking it over, and ruling it in his own happy way.

How does this connect with the Heralds of Galactus set? Every major cosmic character is caught up in this conflict: from Silver Surfer (who has agreed to serve Galactus once more), to Nova, to Ronan, to the Super-Skrull, each with his or her own miniseries leading up to the Annihilation series itself. Others involved include Drax, Galactus, Galactus’s heralds both past and present (such as Firelord and Stardust), Captain Marvel, and Quasar; just about anyone you can think of who is cosmically attuned, several of whom are in this very set!

Heralds of Galactus has some legacy love, and that includes the Skrulls (who are, in my humble opinion, the team of the set) and the Negative Zone! Now, I’ve been a huge fan of the Negative Zone for a long time. I brought an unaffiliated deck that built up to Blastaar and Annihilus to Origins in 2004, so naturally I was giddy when I saw that there were a few more bones thrown to us Negative Zone fans . . . and one of those cards is the new and improved Negative Zone!

Discovered quite by accident by Mr. Fantastic, Reed Richards, the Negative Zone is a universe dimensionally parallel to ours save a couple of small but very important differences: 1) All of its matter is negatively charged (anti-matter, essentially) and 2) this, among other attributes, makes the atmosphere in the Negative Zone breathable by humans. It is separated from our universe by a buffer zone called the Distortion Area, in which matter and anti-matter are constantly thrown together in massive explosions.

The Negative Zone is filled with bodies similar to our universe; miniature galaxies complete with suns, planets, and other space matter. However, most of these are uninhabited, and one can search far and wide throughout the Zone before finding life of any sort. This has led to several warlords rising up and carving out empires, often deeming themselves rulers of the entire Negative Zone. This includes both Annihilus and Blastaar, each of whom believes himself to be the sole Ruler of the Negative Zone (and they have often fought over the right to the nomenclature).

When Reed opened the portal between our respective universes, this essentially opened up for these self-assuming despots a gateway to a vast, life-filled farm to be harvested and ruled over. Both Annihilus and Blastaar, among others, have ventured forth into our universe with the goal of conquest (usually beginning with Earth). They have always been pushed back in defeat and the portal was usually sealed completely until either Reed tinkered and toyed with it, causing it to open again, or some random battle with some random villain caused the seals to break. Most recently, Reed opened the portal to allow Kl’rt the Super-Skrull access so he could find the key to destroying Annihilus’s Harvester of Sorrow. The portal otherwise remains sealed in the upper portion of the Fantastic Four’s HQ, the new Baxter Building.

Annihilus seems to have found a way to get to our universe through other means. Most likely, he came through the Distortion Area and then through the outer edge of our universe, called the “Crunch.” As our universe expands, the Negative Zone contracts, and the contraction is called “The Big Crunch” (compared with our “Big Bang”). The Crunch is the edge of our universe, slowly eating into the Negative space.

This Negative Zone, an update from the original Marvel Origins version, has the version “Shadow Dimension,” because it’s a shadow dimension to ours, negative to our positive. It allows you to pull an opponent’s character out of the shadows or put one of your Negative Zone characters into the shadows. This is beneficial for several reasons. Aside from being able to force your opponent’s hidden characters into the light, imagine your Blastaar and Annihilus in the hidden area, ensuring that they will not only stun an opponent’s character the turn they come out, but also the turns after. With a stall deck, you can feasibly devastate your opponents as long as you need to (although with those two, you shouldn’t need to play beyond turn 7)!

Since its effects only require an activation, you don’t need to worry about the severe discard that the original Negative Zone demanded. Additionally, its use increases in Sealed Pack, where you can use it to help against the many concealed characters in this set that your opponent may pull from his or her sleeve.

Having two Negative Zone cards increases the chances of getting that needed Zone (or a second copy if your opponent blows up the first one). You can now put up to eight copies in your deck depending on how much Negative Zone assurance you need. Just don’t forget that they’re still unique, and a new Negative Zone will KO an old one since they share a name.

Negative Zone is still a power to be reckoned with. It and the new characters add some new tricks to help formulate a plan to bridge the gap between universes and take over Earth once and for all!

Questions? Comments? Send ’em along and I’ll try to get them answered in the column! Email me at Kergillian (at) hotmail (dot) com.