Nova #25

War of Kings takes a backseat for an issue, letting Richard Rider get the Nova Centurions in order. Not a bad issue, especially since as an "interlude" type of thing, it is still packed with action. Sure, the Shi'ar aren't involved much, but Ego makes for a helluva villain. The whole idea of a hyper-successful merge between the Worldmind and Ego is a great idea, since Nova can't just blame Ego, it seems like there was some sort of symbiotic thing going on. The idea that Worldmind had maintained some data in the old centurion personalities was neat too, especially when Quasar gets to comment "Well, we've all died once or twice in the line of duty." I hope that DnA keep Quasar as a buddy for Nova since they make a lot of sense hanging out together. The interaction with the Worldmind's new dominant personality will be fun to watch too. I always liked Ko-Rel as a centurion, so now we'll get the benefit of her personality even though she died months ago.

The bits of the issue that do deal with War of Kings are pretty interesting too. It looks like Mentor II of the Imperial Guard has no problem with torturing Tarcell, the current Nova Prime. Vulcan's involvement in the torture makes a lot of sense, if there is any part of ruling that he'd keep a hand in, it would be in torturing his foes. He's a great maniacal villain who obviously relishes the chance to personally hurt his opponents. Looks like we won't be able to count on Mentor II turning good though, huh? I do worry that the Super Nova who shows up at the end is a good guy. I always liked him as a villain. (That is who that is, right? The old Super Nova from Byrne's Avengers run?)

Kevin Sharpe does a good job keeping a consistent look with Andrea De Vito. He's not as clean with his pencils, and Richard looked a little bulky as Quasar, but not too bad. Sharpe's pencils looked better than the last time I remember (in an X-title).

Good