Overall- Ahhhh.... I sure love this comic book. Here's the story. To the shock(and horror)of Nova, Worldmind has managed to possess Ego, the Living Planet, basically making Ego serve as a host for Worldmind. Worldmind goes on to rename Ego Nu-Xandar, after Xander, the original planet that housed the Nova Corps, before it was destroyed during Annihilation. On top of that, Worldmind introduces thousands of new Nova Corps recruits from all over the universe to Nova.
All of this was done without Nova's knowledge or cooperation, and needless to say, he's a tad pissed at the situation, besides being highly concerned about Worldmind using Ego as a base. For those of you who might not know, Ego the Living Planet is basically a crazy sentient planet that roamed the universe destroying other planets and being a major nuisance. Ego has fought against the Fantastic Four as well as Thor, so Ego can be considered a major threat. Worldmind assures Nova that Ego is no longer a threat, and that it was long overdue for the Nova Corps to be reformed.
Nova storms off of Nu-Xandar to clear his head and runs into the Fantastic Four, who are(naturally)alarmed by the sudden appearance of Ego in the sky. Nova heads to the Baxter Building with the FF and explains that Ego isn't a threat and that Worldmind has erased Ego's mind and transplanted its own sentience into Ego. Mr. Fantastic seems to think the reformation of the Nova Corps is a good thing, but Nova just can't shake the feeling that something is horribly wrong.
While Nova was speaking to the FF, Nova's brother Robbie, who became a Nova Centurion a few issues back arrives. Robbie provides a holographic image of Worldmind, and Worldmind and Mr. Fantastic talk science for a while. Worldmind offers Mr. Fantastic any information he wants, in order to allay any fears the FF may have about the Nova Corps. Worldmind then accuses Nova of basically going insane. Needless to say, Nova doesn't take this news well, but Worldmind explains that since the destruction of Xandar, Nova has been housing the entire Worldmind computer/Nova Force in his brain. Worldmind tells the FF that there is a possibility that the massive amount of information/power Nova has been storing might have damaged his brain.
Nova doesn't want to believe this, and asks Mr. Fantastic for his advice. Mr. F says that Worldmind doesn't seem malicious, just concerned about Nova's mental well being. Nova decides to trust Worldmind and returns to Nu-Xandar with Robbie to transplant the remainder of the Nova Force into Worldmind/Nu-Xandar. As Nova approaches the power cell that will absorb the Nova Force from him, he has second thoughts and decides this whole situation, from Worldmind reforming the Nova Corps without consulting him, to the recruitment of his brother into the Corps, to the possession of Ego, just seems too wrong. Nova tells Worldmind he won't return the Nova Force, so Worldmind orders the Centurions to attack Nova. Nova easily overpowers the Centurions thanks to the Nova Force, but this distraction was all Worldmind needed to forcefully tear the Nova Force from the body of Nova. After Nova has been completely de-powered, Worldmind basically fires him from the Corps and teleports the now powerless Richard Rider to the front of his home on Earth.
What can I say that I haven't already said about this comic book? Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning are continuing to do a stellar job on this comic, and with the exception of Ed Brubaker, these two guys are the best writers currently working at Marvel. That's some lofty praise, but I truly mean it. If you want to read a great Marvel comic book, or just a great comic book period, read Nova. Like I said, just read my last couple of reviews for this comic, and you'll see this series has been great month in and month out.
As for the story, I can't wait to see where Dan and Andy are going here. Worldmind must be possessed or something, which would explain Nova's ominous feelings, but Dan and Andy are doing a great job of painting Worldmind as a more benevolent force. While Worldmind's actions seem overly harsh at times, in reality, Nova HAS been rather careless in protecting Worldmind, and he hasn't bothered to try to rebuild the Corps. While it would be easy to just say Worldmind is evil and leave it at that, in truth, much of what Worldmind said this issue rang true. It's comics like this one that really help me remember why I love reading comic books. For a score, I'll give this issue a 9 1/2 out of 10. I can't fricking wait to see what happens next issue!
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Personally I feel that Matt Fraction is Marvel's best writer right now. He wrote one badass Iron Fist and an awesome Iron Man!
ReplyDeleteI do like Abnett and Lanning though. Annihilation was awesome, and Nova's Conquest arc was the best of that.
(Didn't Abnett do the Starlord book too...? That was pretty cool.)
I'd say that the Nova Corp are just a ripoff of the Green Lantern Corp, but I think Abnett and Lanning in particular has moved them away from that and also moved Ryder away from being a slacker with super powers.
Actually, I stopped reading Iron Fist after Ed Brubaker left that book(the "Seven Capital Cities of Heaven" storyline just dragged on WAY too long for me!)and I refuse to read anything related to Iron Man, unless it's a team book... I'll never forgive Marvel for ruining Tony Stark's character during Civil War. I swore after Cap's death, that I would never read a solo Iron Man series no matter who the writer was.
ReplyDeleteIn Marvel though, in my eyes, NOTHING matches Ed Brubaker's work on Captain America and Daredevil. His work on Cap is just unbelievable.
Abnett and Lanning also write the Guardians of the Galaxy book which is nearly as good as Nova. And yeah, Annihilation totally reinvented the cosmic portion of the Marvel Universe, which Marvel desperately needed. Marvel's cosmic stories are still lagging behind DC's cosmic stories, but with Annihilation, and the upcoming War of Kings(which sounds amazing!)Marvel is making great strides in catching up to DC's superior cosmic characters. As long as Marvel has the common sense to keep Brian Bendis away from the Marvel space titles, I'm one happy camper!
I'm also a pretty big fan of Dan Slott, who was on Avengers: Initiative, and is currently writing Mighty Avengers. Besides that, I'll always be a fan of Peter David. When he's on, nobody writes a funnier comic.
And yeah, the Nova Corps is a rip-off of the GL Corps in a lot of ways, but I've been a fan of Nova since his New Warrior days(the original 90's team)so I'm just happy to see him getting his due respect in Marvel right now. Actually, I'd love for Rich to develop into a Hal Jordan type of character for Marvel. With the current storyline, I think this might become a possibility.
That is what I mean though. During the 90s he seemed like a poor man's early Kyle Rayner to me, and now they are developing him into a whole new kind of character.
ReplyDeleteI do love Slott, but this economy had me slash all of my Marvel so I have to follow in trades.
As long as the cosmic writers keep bringing up the old and forgotten 70s cosmic characters I believe they should be safe from Bendis' meddling...
Yeah, you know, that's the key word you used there too, developing. You don't really see a lot of old fashioned character development anymore. I hate to constantly use him, but Bendis is a great example of a lazy writer who doesn't bother to actually develop characters. Bendis just takes characters and instantly transforms them into an almost different character, without any character development.
ReplyDeleteThat's why I've been enjoying Nova's development so much. He's a totally different character now than he was back when Annihilation first broke out. He changed gradually though, in a logical fashion over the course of several issues thanks to his experiences in space.
I wish Bendis would do that... No, we get Hawkeye, the master archer suddenly transformed into Ronin, the master ninja or Spider-Woman, who was working for Hydra, then SHIELD, then Hydra again, then as a secret agent for SHIELD, with little explanation as to why. Or of course, Bendis changing the entire Skrull race just because he can.
Anyway, thanks for the comments GL. It's great to have someone out there who's as knowledgable about comics as you are visiting my blog. The more I'm talking comics, the happier I am!