Life Inhibits Cuteness

So, I've come to a decision. Due to the fact that I have to be at the university until 9 p.m. on Thursdays this semester, I've opted to move Adorable Baby Panda's reviews of the week to Friday. We'll probably both be in a better frame of mind at that point anyway.

Which means that Thursday will be more of my usual tomfoolery. So let's begin. I finally actually read Civil War: Frontline #10 yesterday. As you may or may not be aware, I have not been a fan of Robbie Baldwin's transformation into Penance. Having now read the sequence that is the donning of his new outfit, I like it even less.

The spiel about "612 people died in Stamford, so that's how many spikes there are, and the 60 largest represent the dead kids, and my powers killed two cops, and their blood is on my hands, so I've put spikes on my hands", what a mess. If I read that in some random book, or heard a character say it in a TV or movie, I'd be rolling my eyes, and possibly trying to induce vomiting. I suppose it can be read as his being resigned to this, but it feels like the sort of "Look at me! See how much I'm suffering over what happened!" stuff that Buffy used to pull, and that I hated Buffy for.

But that's the way it is now. Like with DC and Cassandra Cain, I'm just going to have to sit back and wait to see whether this gets undone someday. It seems like just dumb enough of an idea to be wiped out, but also just extreme enough that they can't do it. He's too far gone to retrieve. Whatever, it's not the point of the post.

I want Nova to come back to Earth after Annihilation wraps up and see his old buddy Speedball. It's wouldn't be hard to arrange. Nova's saved the universe, and before he gets to work rebuilding the Nova Corps (he can't patrol the universe by himself), he goes home to see the family. Rich knows about Registration, but figures just a quick visit, no big deal.

While he's home, some criminal gets loose, and starts wrecking stuff. Probably the Rhino. He seems to be everywhere these days. Rich steps in, but because he isn't registered he's considered a target/threat as well. Cue the Suicide Squ - Thunderbolts, cue Nova punching Disturbingly Costumed Boy, and knocking the mask off, cue "Toothpick? Robbie? What the hell is going on?" Nova knows about Civil War, and what happened to his old teammates (I'd like to see a moment of reflection for his dead sometime girlfriend at some point. Just a thought), but I doubt he knows about {sighs, rolls eyes} Penance. So that would be amusing. Then he could wipe the floor with the T'Bolts and be on his way.

And if Bullseye or Not Venom happened to die in the fight, oh well. And it could happen. Nova was trained by Drax, so he too, is a bit grittier and darker than he used to be, just not in as profoundly absurd a way as Speedball. Though I doubt any one of the Thunderbolts are considered a threat needing terminating by the Xandarian Worldmind. And it's probably better if Nova doesn't go all Punisher on us, so never mind.

For the record, I have no clue about Nova's view on actually registering. I know he finds this squabbling over registration to be stupid and counterproductive to what heroes are supposed to be doing. I'd imagine he could do it, just to get them out of his hair (since he'll be off in space anyway), or he could tell SHIELD to take a long walk off a short pier. I prefer the second option. I can definitely see him in the same situation Hal Jordan's currently experiencing, where he keeps having to catch space criminals on Earth, ignores Superhuman Registration protocol, and gets in deep trouble as a result.