Nova #31: "Most Wanted"

*** (three of five stars)

Summary

Shortly after the events of "Secret Invasion," Project P.E.G.A.S.U.S. threw a welcome barbecue for Nova Corps.  (I know, right?  How much would you want to be there?)  At it, Darkhawk expressed his insecurity about always being second rate (something we saw him do previously in "Nova" #19) as opposed to Rich, who was a recognized hero.  Rich assures him that he played a large part in beating back the Skrulls and reminds him that being a hero has crappy moments, warning him, "be careful what you wish for."  In the present, Nova is pursuing Darkhawk, as a result of the "WANTED!" psychic message sent by Gladiator last issue, on the Outworld Shard, a planet that is "entering the terminal phase of its collapse into the Fault."  Earlier, while the new Nova Corps recruits -- divided into Millennians and Corpsman, based on length of service -- start training under Philo, Rich insisted to Worldmind that Darkhawk wasn't a killer.  In the present, Darkhwak and Rich talk, with Darkhawk insisting no one will believe him that he didn't kill Lilandra and Rich reminding him they're friends and he can trust him.  At that moment, they're attacked by "a huge xeno-cellular bloom" that emerged from the Fault.  Also, Worldmind realizes that a group of Kree archeologists that she previously thought evacuated the Outworld Shard didn't.  (Space archeologists get themselves into a lot of trouble.  If you don't believe me, see "Nova" #16.)  Chris and Rich flee the bloom to save the archeologists, evacuating all but the lead scientist, who's in the catacombs of some temple-looking complex and touches a green gem that looks shockingly like Darkhawk's.  Nova gets separated from Chris and searches for him, only to be attacked by "Darkhawk," who's mysteriously wearing a green gem, not his usual red one.  When the red-wearing Darkhawk approaches a stunned Nova, Rich attacks him, screaming at him for shooting him.  At that point, Chris reveals the truth about the Fraternity of Raptors, who really killed Lilandra.  Before Nova can fully process the information, they're both attacked by the green-gemed Darkhawk, just as the Outworld Spark disintegrates.

The Review

OK, so, this story picks up the thread about the Fraternity of Raptors from "War of Kings."  I don't have too much to say about the issue, because it only just introduces the issue with the Fraternity at the end of the book.

The Good

I thought the training session with Philo was great.  This issue was everything I want this series to be, as a mentioned in my last review:  Nova gets to go on solo adventures, while the trainee Corpsmen inject some fun and hijinx into issues and give the series the sense of being a team book without sacrificing the focus on Rich.

The Unknown

On some level, I feel like Darkhawk's fear that no one will believe him that he killed Lilandra is a little overblown.  I mean, it wasn't long before a second Darkhawk was attacking him and Rich, so you figure that other people are also going to realize pretty soon that more than one Darkhawk exists.  But, I'm not yet counting this part as a bad, because I think DnA are using it mostly as a device to show how isolated and scared Chris feels, particularly given the tone of the first few pages of the story.  So, we'll see how it develops.  At this point I'm willing to give them the benefit of the doubt.