This Might Take The Nova-Green Lantern Similarities A Bit Far

Last month, in Nova #26, Garthan Saal appeared before Malik Tarcel as Tarcel was held captive by the Shi'ar. Tarcel was the one named Nova Prime after Richard Rider was booted out of the Nova Corps, and his active debut as Nova Prime went less than spectacularly. Saal was the last person before Richard Rider to house all of the Nova Force, though he did so without bringing the Worldmind along for help. Funny thing about that, Saal went nuts, and became a real terror for awhile.

Now, apparently, he's back*, and I am concerned. I kind of hope I'm wrong here, but I see the return of Garthan Saal as signaling the imminent formation of a Anti-Nova Corps, or a Super-Nova Corps. I could see Saal somehow having held onto some of the Nova Force he once wielded, so that he is actually a repository equal to the Worldmind, and he gets his own little troop together**. I know the Nova Corps is the Marvel version of the Green Lanterns (without the predilection for head trauma), and that's cool. Hey, I laughed when Richard said he doubted anyone would be foolish enough to bring a Living Planet into the Corps, wink, wink. I wonder if Richard having his own Sinestro Corps to have to contend with might be pushing it.

Now, there's a good chance that's not at all what Abnett and Lanning have planned, and even if it was, I trust them to make it work. Saal could set himself up in opposition to the Nova Corps, but do so by pointing out to the new recruits that the Worldmind manipulated them into joining***, then threw them into the middle of a war without sufficient experience and little regard for their lives. He could promise a "better" way of doing things if they joined up with him. He could still be running a peacekeeping force, but they'd probably be more aggressive, actively trying to shape events rather than just help those in need. Or Abnett and Lanning could go some other way and I would probably dig that as well.

I think I'd rather see Nova helping people in new locations, meeting new peoples, and new threats. My absolute favorite arc of Nova so far has been the two-parter on Knowhere, and other than the fact that Celestials (one of whom's head was the foundation for Knowhere) were previously established, I think all the characters in that story were new. Garthan Saal in charge of his own army is a new twist on an old enemy, but I don't know, I think I'd rather see Richard dealing with an intergalactic crime lord, for example. There have to be a few out there somewhere, and it would be a little different challenge for him. He's a cop, so crime lords should be within his purview.

* Assuming Tarcel wasn't hallucinating. It occurs to me that if the sane part of the Worldmind could communicate with Richard through it's memories of Rhomman Dey and Ko-Rel, then the Ego-tainted crazy part could communicate with Tarcel through the memories of Saal.

** Sadly, I remember someone on scans_daily complaining back when Rich briefly tangled with the Silver Surfer that Nova should totally not be outclassed by the Surfer, and providing examples of what Saal was capable of with all the Nova Force. Well, this would settle that, since it would mean Rich only had 50% of the Nova Force. Not that the concerns of random scans_daily member should be of that much importance, but it was something I remembered as I was typing this out, and I thought to myself, perhaps that explanation would shut their complaint-hole.

*** By controlling their thoughts, and controlling their endocrine systems so they'd be receiving a constant flow of endorphins, which would make them associate their positive feelings with being a Nova.