Nova #24

How did I let this comic slide for so long??? Usually once I get Nova, I read it almost immediately. Oh well, better late than never I guess. This is a "War of Kings" x-over issue and is written by the dynamic writing tandem of Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning.

-Robbie Rider(that's Rich's little brother)has been assigned communication duty for the duration of the Shi'ar-Kree war. Needless to say, Robbie is far from pleased, since his main aspiration is to take after Rich, which would mean fighting on the front lines.

-Robbie is mentally connected with a female Nova Centurion named Suki, who he is giving advice and direction to. Suki and her battalion of Centurions arrive at a Kree planet that was being overrun by Shi'ar forces.

-After a bit of a battle, the Centurions manage to chase the Shi'ar from the planet. The Centurions are happy, Nova Prime Tarcel(he's the field leader of the Nova Corps)is happy and Robbie is happy... That is until Gladiator and the Imperial Guard of the Shi'ar Empire launch a retaliatory attack.

-Gladiator's forces utterly crush the Centurions and Gladiator even manages to force Nova Prime Tarcel to surrender(!). After Gladiator rounds up the Centurions for imprisonment, Shi'ar Emperor Vulcan sends Strontian and her Praetorians to take over the operation from Gladiator. Not one to disobey orders, Gladiator takes Nova Prime Tarcel and leaves. Strontian then orders her men to execute every last one of the Centurians, leaving Robbie helpless to do anything except listen in as the Centurions are killed off.

-The other part of this comic dealt with Rich(now in possession of the Quantum Bands)deciding to attack Worldmind. However, in order to get at Worldmind, Rich has to make his way onto Ego the Living Planet.

-With Quasar's ghost leading the way(don't ask!), Rich manages to enter Ego and eventually makes his way to Ego's brain. Upon arriving, Rich is met by the shocking sight of Ego wearing Worldmind's "clothes".

Wow, that ending really threw me for a loop! It seems that somewhere along the line Ego has managed to corrupt Worldmind, which would explain the extreme actions Worldmind has been making as of late. This revelation will undoubtedly lead to Rich taking on Ego for control of Worldmind next issue. Now, Ego by itself is a nearly unstoppable foe, but Ego powered by the Worldmind should be completely unbeatable! I'll be very interested to see how Dan and Andy have Rich overcome those odds next issue.

The secondary story with Robbie and Suki was good, but obviously paled in comparison to Rich's story. I'm not really sure what the stuff with Robbie is leading to, maybe he'll finally realize that being a Nova Centurion isn't all fun and games and he'll head back to Earth. Hopefully after next issue when all of the smoke clears there will still be some sort of Nova Corps patrolling the Marvel Universe. I like Rich and all, but I would prefer to see him operating with other Centurions, similar to the way the Green Lantern Corps works in the DC Universe. For a score I'll give this issue a 9 out of 10. Prior to the last page, I probably would have given this comic an 8 or so, but that final revelation was just excellently done. I didn't see it coming at all, which really says a lot!