The Revolution has always been a fan of Nova ever since we were wee little revolutionaries. I just thought he looked cool. So, I have always collected any titles that Nova has appeared in. Unfortunately, Nova’s titles have been ill-fated. Will the mini-series avoid the same fate as its predecessors?
Creative Team
Writer: Dan Abnett & Andy Lanning
Penciler: Kev Walker
Inker: Rick Magyar
Art Rating: 4 Night Girls out of 10.
Story Rating: 6 Night Girls out of 10.
Overall Rating: 5 Night Girls out of 10.
Synopsis: The issue starts with the Annihilation Wave hitting Xandar and killing everything. All of Xandar has been destroyed except Richard Rider and the Xandarian Worldmind (a sentient super-computer created to govern and maintain all of Xandarian culture. We see Richard lying on the battlefield. The Worldmind awakens him and tells him that everyone has been killed and that Richard’s number one priority is ensuring the safety of the Worldmind. It tells him to come to its location to prevent it from being destroyed by Annihilus. Instead, Richard sees a couple of the Annihilation Wave invaders and decides to try and give them some payback. Unfortunately, he is too weak and gets smacked around. The Worldmind then engages Nova’s flight function and guides him toward the Worldmind’s location.
Nova lands at the Hub which is where the Worldmind is housed. The Worldmind tells Richard that it will download itself into him. Richard is worried since the last person who tried that was Garthan Saal, better known as Super Nova. The immense power drove him insane. During this argument, Richard refers to the Worldmind as “Dad” due to a slip of the tongue since the Worldmind is so stubborn. Worldmind tells Richard not to worry since there will be three differences between what Super Nova did and what they will be doing now.
One, Worldmind will support Richard in retaining control of the Nova Force and Worldmind will reinforce Nova’s suit systems to assist in this task. Two, Nova will only carry the Nova Force for a limited time. Third, they have no other choice since the enemy is already attacking the outer defenses of the Worldmind. Richard agrees and Worldmind uploads the Nova Force into him. Once it is done, we see Nova in a spiffy new outfit.
The Worldmind is now in Richard’s head and it counsels him on how to handle the Nova Force. Richard blasts off and just loses his mind. He starts destroying all the Annihilation Wave ships. There is then a massive explosion and the next we see is Nova disoriented on a nearby planet. He regains full consciousness and noticed that the Worldmind is no longer in his head. Suddenly Drax the Destroyer appears along with a girl and Drax tells Nova that he is his best shot at getting out of here intact. End of issue.
Comments
The Good: Abnett and Lanning do a good job capturing Richard’s impulsive and rash personality. They also write some pretty good dialogue between the Worldmind and Richard. It definitely is reminiscent of father and son bickering at each other.
I wasn’t overly impressed with Abnett and Lanning during their run on the Legion of Super-Heroes. However, they are good Sci-Fi writers and they are definitely in their comfort zone with this cosmic setting.
I’m an old Captain Marvel fan (the one and only original Captain Marvel) as well as an old Adam Warlock fan. Therefore, I love all these cosmic characters and settings. That is probably the only reason why I enjoyed Nova #1 at all.
The only positive about the art was the cover. The cover absolutely rocked.
The Bad: The story was just average. It felt too formulaic. I’m interested just enough in the story to buy the next issue, but I’m hardly anxiously awaiting the next issue like I am with titles that I really enjoy.
The Revolution thought that Kev Walker and Rick Magyar’s art was just horrendous. It reminded me of Keith Giffen’s art, and I can assure you that that is not a compliment. The art is just so sloppy and messy that it really detracts from the comic.
If this comic didn’t have Nova and all the cool Captain Marvel/Adam Warlock cosmic characters in it then I wouldn’t even have bothered to get this issue. I definitely cannot recommend it to anyone unless you are a fan of these characters.