Taking The Long Way Around

I was thinking about Nova #7, which came out two weeks ago, and how the title's tie-in with Annihilation: Conquest ended by essentially tossing Nova out of play for the primary Annihilation: Conquest mini-series itself. It seemed like it was four issues that really didn't need to happen.

That isn't to say there wasn't good stuff in those four issues, or that it wasn't important. Rich knows the Phalanx are a threat, and his need to organize a resistance is going to drive him for some time. He's got the guilt of Ko-Rel's death hanging over him, though I wish she'd survived to join up with Quasar or Wraith later on, even if Rich wound up out of the loop as he did (or Rich sends her out for reinforcements while he stays to fight). Rich has to start rebuilding the Corps at some point, why not then? He's partially Phalanx-infected, he's lost, Gamora and Drax are on his tail, which means the Phalanx can start infecting life in this new place as well, and he's at 17% power. Plus, there was the glory of the Memory of Blue Pikachu Nova, whose awesomeness can't be overstated. But still, in the four issues, Rich flies in, gets in trouble, flies out, and is now so lost, even if he could rally support, he may not be able to find his way to Kree Space soon enough to be any good.

It almost feels like a situation on a TV show, where a character mentions they're going on a vacation far away, and that's why they won't be around for awhile. Now as far as explanations go, "I tried to escape through a barrier by flying into a neutron star and opening a stargate with the intense gravity increasing my velocity, only to wind up in uncharted space" isn't too shabby, but still, it leaves me wondering if the four issues were necessary.

I get that for something as dire as Conquest, there would be questions of where Nova was, seeing as he's the only space cop left, and he takes his job pretty seriously. But I think it might have been better to have that barrier in place before Rich made it to Kree Space, spend an issue or two of Rich trying to get through it, maybe he tries the trick with the neutron star in #7, and then winds up in the middle of wherever it was he ended up at the end of that issue. It's all theoretical physics; they can make it do whatever they want. The good news is, I think now we'll see what Abnett and Lanning really want to do with Nova, where before they dealt with his reaction to the post-Civil War situation on Earth, and settled why the man with the entirety of the Nova Force isn't going to be around to help during Annihilation: Conquest (provided he doesn't lead some late cavalry charge at the end). Those were things that needed to be covered, if only to placate us bitchy fans (I admit, I wanted to see Rich's reaction to NoLongerSpeedball), and now that they've been handled, the creative team can get down to the nitty-gritty, as it is known. Which I am quite excited for. I want to know about Xanth's Greatest Heroes! Who are they? What are they? Are they like the Metal Men, cause that would be kind of groovy. They don't have to be like the Metal Men, that was just a thought.