Nova #25

This is one of those comic books I've been waiting all month to get my hands on. For the record, this is a "War of Kings" x-over issue and is written by the always brilliant team of Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning.

-This issue begins the way the last one ended, with Ego/Worldmind beating the holy hell out of Rich, who is currently in possession of the Quantum Bands of Quasar since he is no longer a Nova centurion. Rich tries to fight back(UNsucessfully)until the ghost of Quasar arrives on the scene to help. Quasar explains to Rich that the Quantum Bands are not really supposed to be used as weapons of blunt physical force, they need to be used on all levels, not just physically, but emotionally and intellectually as well.

-Rich manages to create a sanctuary for himself with the Bands and grabs a breather while trying to figure out what to do next.

-While this is occurring, Rich's brother Robbie decides to leave the control center where he was stationed by Worldmind and charges towards the scene of the conflict between the Shi'ar and the Kree in order to help any centurions captured by the Shi'ar.

-While Rich is pondering how to help Worldmind, Worldmind sends two avatars from Rich's past to help him in the form of Ko-Rel, the Kree woman who took the role of Nova while Rich was infected by the Phalanx and Rhomann Dey, who was the centurion who originally recruited Rich into the Nova Corps. Oh, and they're both dead. Just figured I'd get that out of the way.

-The two avatars explain to Rich that the problem here is the fact that Worldmind went insane, and then was corrupted by Ego. It seems that while Worldmind was trying to keep Rich sane while he was carrying around the totality of the Nova Force(remember, a human mind isn't supposed to be able to hold the entire Force)Worldmind wound up going crazy from the strain of helping Rich. The avatars conclude the conversation by explaining to Rich that he has to retake the Nova Force into himself, so that Ego can be purged from Worldmind and Worldmind can be rebooted.

-By this point Ego has broken into Rich's sanctuary and Rich turns tail and runs, trying to reach the main control hub of Ego in order to re-access the Nova Force. Rich winds up reaching the hub, but Ego takes control of all of the Nova centurions present and sends them all after Rich.

-Rich realizes that there is NO way he can defeat Ego plus a mess of centurions, so he makes a last ditch effort to reach Worldmind's personality by telling Ego/Worldmind that all along everything Worldmind has done has been in an effort to save Rich's life. Ergo, killing Rich would be contrary to Worldmind's original intentions. This logic causes Ego/Worldmind to freeze and gives Rich the time he needs to re-access the Nova Force.

-Rich returns the Quantum Bands to Quasar's ghost and hits Ego with a blast so powerful that it basically lobotomizes Ego. With Ego finally gone, Worldmind reappears to Rich and explains that after being corrupted by Ego the the personality guide(that creepy head that talks to Rich)would have to be deleted. Rich is obviously upset about this turn of events(that guide had become his friend!)and after some flowery words from Worldmind it deletes itself and uploads a new guide for Rich. The new guide? The Kree woman from earlier, Ko-Rel!

-This issue concludes with the previous Nova Prime, Malik Tarcel being tortured by Emperor Vulcan of the Shi'ar. After Vulcan has had his fun, he leaves Tarcel hanging from some chains in a prison cell. Garthan Saal, Rich's enemy from the old Nova series, shows up to rescue Tarcel from his predicament.

I'm a bit conflicted regarding how I felt about this comic. On the one hand, Rich is once again the Nova Prime, but on the other hand the original Worldmind is gone. I have to admit I really liked that bossy bastard! I'll miss you original Worldmind.

The next issue should deal with the newly re-powered Rich taking off after his brother in an attempt to save him before he runs into the deadly menace that is the Shi'ar. Plus Garthan Saal is back. Jeez, I think the last time Garthan was around was when he took Rich's place on the original New Warriors. It's been a while since I read those comics, so my memory may be somewhat off, but Garthan was the person before Rich to house the entire Nova Force in his body and wound up going totally insane from it. Personally, I'd love to see Andy and Dan craft Garthan into a Sinestro type of character. That's really the one thing Nova is missing, a recurring thorn in his side. For a score, I'll give this comic an 8 out of 10. This was definitely a good comic book, one I'd have no problem recommending, but not quite at the level of greatness this series has attained before.