Nova #19

Overall- Just so everybody reading this knows, I have been now, and will probably always be a huge fan of Nova. During his early "New Warriors" days, to his own short lived comic series'. I think one "Nova" series only lasted about 7 issues in the mid-late 1990's! With that being said, I was really happy when I read "Annihilation", in which Nova finally "grew up", and became a major force in the Marvel Universe. The current "Nova" series is by far one of the better Marvel comics being produced nowadays. Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning are really doing a great job on this book, and I would implore anybody to give this comic a shot. Yes, I've said that before, and I will continue to beg people to read this comic. Now, onto this issue.

At the conclusion of the last issue, Rich discovered that Worldmind had begun to recruit new members for the Nova Corps(for those of you more familiar with the DCU, think of the Nova Corps as Marvel's answer to the Green Lanterns). Rich actually likes the new Corps members, but is alarmed that Worldmind began to reorganize the Corps without his knowledge or approval. After several successful missions on Earth, Rich decides to visit Worldmind, who is currently residing within the Project PEGASUS base Rich's brother Robbie is working at. Rich confronts Worldmind about the new recruits and asks Worldmind when it was able to recruit Corps members. Worldmind tells Rich that while he was asleep, Worldmind would take control of his motor functions and travel to different worlds, searching for appropriate recruits. Rich is pretty angry that Worldmind would use him in such a way, and tells Worldmind not to recruit any new Corps members until the two of them could choose who should join together. Worldmind responds with a not very convincing "I heard you", and Rich leaves to take down some super powered freak with his fellow Nova Corps members. After taking down the bad guy, Rich returns to the Project PEGASUS base and is shocked and horrified to see that Worldmind had empowered practically everyone in the base, including his own brother with a portion of the Nova force.

The confrontation between Rich and Worldmind has been brewing since the original Annihilation crossover, so I am really excited to see where Abnett and Lanning are going to take things. Worldmind has been annoyed with Rich for a while now, due to Rich's recklessness and his inability to follow orders blindly. Rich on the other hand has been put off by Worldmind's disregard for the safety of others as long as Worldmind itself was kept safe. There were many times when Worldmind was still residing in Rich's head, where Rich would rush headlong into battle while Worldmind would be yelling at Rich to abandon the fight to protect Worldmind. It looks like Worldmind is finally going to see just how far Rich can be pushed, especially since Worldmind is using Rich's own brother to further it agenda.

Besides that, this comic also had Darkhawk, which is always a major plus, as well as a funny scene with Vance Astrovik A.K.A. Justice, watching TV while Nova was giving an interview. Vance was sitting on his couch in his darkened apartment in full Justice apparel, cape and all watching TV... Why the hell was Vance sitting alone in his own apartment in full costume? I had to laugh at this scene, because it really fit with Vance's character. Any long time reader of New Warriors would really be able to appreciate that scene, because it really captured Vance perfectly. It's the little things like that which really cause me to love this comic. For a score, I'll go with a 9 out of 10. The next few issues look to get VERY interesting.