Nova #18

Overall- There was so much that I liked about this issue, that I don't even know where to start... First off, among my collection of comic books, I own the entire first and second New Warriors series, as well as both of Nova's solo series from the 90's. Along with that, I own Darkhawk's entire series from the 90's, as well as Quasar's entire series from the 90's. So, before you even read any further, that should give you some idea of how much I like those three characters. This comic basically took three of my favorite characters from the 90's and teamed them up against the Skrulls...

I'm actually surprised that I can contain myself long enough in order to even type this review up. I LOVE all three of these characters. Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning impress me more and more with each passing issue of this series. I also appreciated the nod to Mark Gruenwald in this comic. I thought it was a nice touch to name the director of Project PEGASUS after Mark, especially, in light of the fact that Mark was the man who wrote Quasar's entire series, if I'm not mistaken. It's a small touch like that, that other people might easily miss or disregard, that really makes me appreciate this comic and the writing abilities of Abnett and Lanning. OK, with my fan boyish gushing out of the way, onto the story.

Nova along with Darkhawk are trying to hold the Skrulls out of the weapons vaults at Project PEGASUS. Quasar joins them in their battle, which shocks Nova, since he was present when Annihilus killed Quasar. Nova, not being one to look a gift horse in the mouth, accepts Quasar's assistance, and the three heroes start to cut down the Skrull invaders. Unfortunately, Quasar's body seems to be made up totally of energy, and after one huge blast that routs the Skrull forces, Quasar returns to a quantum energy container in order to reconstruct himself.

While all this is occurring, Worldmind has been rebooted thanks to Nova's genius brother. Worldmind contacts Nova and send him and Darkhawk assistance in the form of experimental cyborgs that Project PEGASUS was creating. The Skrulls, realizing the futility of the situation, retreat and decide to destroy the entire Project PEGASUS laboratory with an enormous spaceship. Before they Skrull ship can cause too much damage, it is destroyed by individuals garbed in the traditional colors of the Nova Centurions. After the destruction of the Skrull ship, the Centurions approach Nova and salute him as Nova Prime.

Holy ####ing ####, this comic was amazing on so many levels!!! I can't find one single thing about this comic to complain about. Like I stated in the beginning of this review, I am a monumental fan of Nova, Darkhawk, and Quasar. I was also a huge fan of the writing of the late, great Mark Gruenwald, and I proudly own most of the work he created for Marvel in the 80's up until his horribly untimely death in the mid 90's.

Everything about this comic was nearly perfect. Skrulls were vaporized, Darkhawk was kicking a$$ side by side with Nova, and Quasar was back from the dead. What more could I ask for from a comic? After sitting here and really thinking about it, to me, this comic book deserves the score of 10 out of 10. That's the first time since I started this blog that I've scored a comic book perfect. Hell, I've rarely even given out scores as high as a 9. I know a lot of other people might read this comic book and disagree, but this comic was pretty much a dream come true for ME. I implore, beg, plead, and urge anyone reading my writing to collect Nova's series. I've loved every issue of this series so far, and this issue solidified Nova as one of, if not my favorite comic book today.