Nova #10-#12 and Annual #1

*** (three of five stars)

Favorite Quote:  "It would be advisable for us to flee as well.  You're not going to, are you?"  "Uh-uh.  Never going to happen.  I don't break promises."  "You once promised to keep me -- the last repository of an entire culture's knowledge -- safe, Richard."  "Yeah, well, shut up now.  I'm busy."  -- Worldmind and Richard, at it again

Summary

Nova and a Phalanxified Gamora find themselves in a mysterious place and come to realize they were both hijacked during their extradimensional transit.  They stumble upon a hurt spaceman, but, before Nova can help him, they are all attacked by glowing, floating paramecium-like things, which devour the spaceman and force Nova and Gamora to flee.  Nova is weakened by his attempts to fight off the transmode virus, and Gamora encourages him to embrace it.  They have a relationship chat, which gets cut short when the paramecium-like things attack again.  Worldmind realizes that they are in a Vore, "a natural predator that hunts in the spaces between dimensions."  The Vore gives birth to the paramecium-like things (its children), flushing out Nova and Gamora in the process (ewww).  Nova gives Gamora to Drax and then heads to Kvch, where he's imprisoned by the planet on arrival.  It scans his mind, sorting through his memories of becoming Nova and predicting a timeline 40 years into the future where he's the head of a reborn Nova Corps, which has been fighting the Phalanx for years and is on the verge of eliminating them in a last battle on Earth, which fell to the Phalanx.  These memories -- and projected memories -- remind Nova who he is, and he awakens, discovering that Worldmind put him in a coma to protect him from the planet.  Nova escapes, discovering that Kvch is a dead world just as the virus begins to take over his body.  He's saved by Warlock (formerly of the New Mutants), who explains that he's on Kvch to redeem the technarch race by teaching Tyro, a recently-born technarch, to be a pacificst.  (He also infected Tyro with his mutant strain that leads to default pacifism.)  Nova urges him to help free the Kree, but Warlock explains that he doens't have anywhere near the power to do so and, therefore, will continue focusing on the technarchs.  Meanwhile, Gamora and Drax arrive and the virus, recognizing where it is, turns them into a Babel Spire, calling forward a fully-formed siredam (the parent of Tyro, who Tyro will have to fight to the death, as part of technarch social norms).  Warlock sends away Tyro so he doesn't have to fight and uses his lifeglow to purge the virus from Richard, asking him to delay the siredam so that Tyro can flee.  Richard engages the siredam and is prepared to lead it on a chase when Tyro arrives to challenge it.  Instead of fighting it, though, he has the siredam ingest him (ewww), thereby infecting it with Warlcok's mutant strain of the transmode virus.  The siredam "dies" from the strain and Tyro takes over the body.  Tyro uses his excess lifeglow to resurrect Warlock and then, at Nova's request, purge the virus from Drax and Gamora.  The five then depart to take on the Phalanx.

The Good

1) DnA really excel in stories where the issue opens and Nova has no idea where he is or what he's doing.  In both issue #10 and the previous "Knowhere" arc, they've given the search for answers a Hitchcockian feel, where you know trouble is right around the corner, but you're just waiting to see which corner.  I hope we continue to see more of these, because I don't think I'll ever tire of them.

2) I liked the coverage of Nova and Gamora's relationship.  "Annihilation" was an amazing mini-series, in no small part because of the attention paid to the relationships between the characters.  I think everyone knew that Nova and Gamora weren't going to last, for exactly the reasons stated here:  she's a killer and he's not.  But, DnA give a nice treatment of that here.  It could've been a little more emotional, but I concede that it would be a little hard to have a more complete heart-to-heart when you're fighting off the young of a space creature who's digested you.  So, all in all, it was still some nice to see DnA return to their relationship and not disregard it entirely.

3) Yay, mentioning Ko-Rel's son!  I was worried we were never going to see that plot point addressed ever, since it's usually the type of thing to which authors intend to return, but forget to do so or move off the book, leaving it hanging.  Along those lines, I'm glad to see DnA keeping the memory of Ko-Rel alive.  During the Free-Richard/Phalanx-Richard conversations from Nova #7, Free-Richard told Phalanx-Richard her death would weigh on him for a long time.  DnA have mentioned her several times since then, and I'm glad to see her death has not been forgotten, that she's become Richard's touchstone of humanity as he fights off the transmode virus.

4)  The annual was really well done.  DnA gave a great take on Nova's origin, returning to the idea that he's just a regular kid from Long Island...and it's being a regular kid from Long Island that made him into the superhero he is today.  Plus, rather than just giving us yet another origin story, they actually weave it into the existing storyling, using it to further the plot.  Awesome.

The Bad

1) It's still a little unclear to me what, exactly, Warlock's plan was.  OK, he was going to teach Tyro to be a pacifist.  That, I get.  But, how was the going to save the entire technarch race?  As Nova said, he's essentially just saving one child.  Is his plan to do the same when other technarchs are born in the Creche?  I felt like DnA needed to flesh out this plot a little more.  I actually understood the argument that he couldn't help because he didn't have the power to undo the entire Phalanx, but I don't feel they connected that to the whole "redeem the technarch race" plot as well as they could have.

2) I'm also not sure why the Phalanx decided to form a Babel Spire to call a siredam when Drax and Gamora arrived on the planet.  I thought the Phalanx and the Technarchy weren't exactly cosy?  Are they interoperative?  Moreover, why is calling a siredam the action the Phalanx take when introduced to the homeworld?  Wouldn't they want, I don't know, to take over Kvch, or something?

Nova #8-#9: "Knowhere"

*** (three of five stars)

Summary

As a result of traveling through the "hyper-gravimetric wormhole" at the end of issue #7, Nova is lost at the end of the Universe, called the Rip.  He gets caught in some sort of vortex and finds himself inside Knowhere, a community built inside a Celestial's severed head on the edge of the Rip, which seeks to understand better the nature of the Universe.  He is attacked by a possessed member of the Luminals, Xarth Three's version of the Avengers.  He defeats her, though she unexpectedly disintegrates, leaving him accused of murder by the other Luminals when they happen upon the scene.  He escapes and meets Cosmo, a talking Russian dog who serves as chief of security for Knowhere.  Cosmo informs him that the Luminals brought a black box into Knowhere and asserts his belief that it was this box that resulted in a haunting event that forced the rest of Knowhere's population into hiding.  Meanwhile, the Luminals are possessed by the entity in the box, called the Abyss, who they had intended to send into the Rip to end his threat.  Instead, they attack Nova and Cosmo, who flee and find the box.  They discover that the box has begun to malfunction, likely due to Abyss' skill to escape from anything, anywhere.  Nova drops his fight against the transmode virus long enough to infect Abyss and fix the box.  The crisis averted, Cosmo makes Knowhere's advanced teleportation system available to Nova and sends him to Kvch, the homeworld of the Technarchy and the birthplace of the Phalanx, figuring he could find answers to the transmode virus there.  Later, Drax and Gamora invade Knowhere and use the teleporter to follow Nova.

The Review

In my review of "Annihilation:  Conquest," I was confused how Nova suddenly appeared with Drax, Gamora, and Warlock in tow.  I didn't realize that issues #8-#12 are also part of "Annihilation:  Conquest," at least indirectly.  So, I'm glad, at least retroactively, that I did actually miss something and DnA didn't just sort of insert Nova into the last issue of "Annihilation:  Conquest" without explaining, at least somewhere, how he got there.

That said, I really dug these issues.  DnA give me everything I expected from a "Nova" series by giving us an intergalactic murder mystery.  I mean, seriously, it took a heck of an imagination to have Richard not only be stranded at the end of the Universe but, as if that weren't bad enough, have him trapped inside a Celestial's severed head with a talking Russian dog and a murderous intangible villain.  It was like reading "'The Shining' in Space!"

The Good

1) The Nova/Worldmind conversations continue to really be one of the greatest parts of this series.  DnA understand the importance of injecting fun in their stories, and Nova implying that Worldmind is essentially a bad software program -- and Worldmind correspondingly getting all defensive and offended -- did just that.

2) I hearted Cosmo.  I mean, yeah, was he a little campy?  Sure.  But, could it just have been some boring fill-in-the-blank alien species dude serving as the head of security?  Yes.  I'll take talking Russian dog over boring alien dude any day!

3) DnA could've gone a lot of places in a Nova-at-the-end-of-the-universe story.  I liked not only that they chose to give us a somewhat quirky one that wasn't all intergalactic war, but also that still kept Nova's ongoing troubles -- the transmode virus and Drax and Gamora in hot pursuit -- on the front burner.  It can't all be Annihilus and Ultron!

The Bad

1) Pet Peeve #2:  Although we learn in this issue that Cosmo was the head of security for Knowhere, we didn't know that in issue #8, despite the introduction page of issue #9 so telling us.

2) I'm not 100 percent certain how Nova fixed the box.  He seemed to affect Abyss, not the box, so why could he suddenly fix the box, too?  Was the Abyss physically connected to the box?

Annihilation: Conquest #1-#6

*** (three of five stars)

Summary

Forced to use low-tech weapons that cannot be overtaken by the Phalanx, Blastaar is leading a force of free Kree against the Phalanx when they're overwhelmed.  On Terma, a Kree outworld, Quasar explains to a newly reborn Adam Warlock that the Phalanx have overwhelmed the Kree Empire and a "voice" told her that only he can stop it.  (Adam had entered a regenerative cocoon after being driven insane by the deaths of billions during the Annihilation Wave.)  Before they can finish the conversation, Adam, Quasar, and Moondragon (who's now an actual dragon) are attacked by Kree Selects and flee to Terma's sun, which is revealed to contain the base of the High Evolutionary.  Quasar informs him that the Supreme Intelligence is the one that directed her to Adam, and the High Evolutionary informs her that, at the behest of the Supreme Intelligence, he has created a new advanced Kree race called (you guessed it) "Nu-Kree."  Meanwhile, Ronan and the Super-Skrull enter the Ceded Territories to ask for Ravenous' assistance fighting off the Phalanx and Blastaar is tortured to death by the Phalanx as they try to get information about the Resistance.

On Hala, a resurrected Peter Quill is leading a Resistance cell containing Mantis and Rocket Raccoon, who reveals that Blastaar is merely in hibernation but spreading Mantis' micro-spores through the Babel Spire so they can get more information about it.  In Terma's sun, Quasar begins to suspect the High Evolutionary is actually the one the Supreme Intelligence sent her to find, but they are attacked by Ultron, who had been revealed to be the leader of the Phalanx.  Moondragon is killed in the battle, and Quasar, in a rage, attacks Ultron and his forces while Adam suffers a seizure (which he has been experiencing as a result of being awoken from his regenerative state too early).  The High Evolutionary detonates the star in an attempt to kill Ultron, who simply uses the Phalanx network to download his consciousness into a new body.

On Kree-La, Ronan has the Wraith incapacitate Ravenous and his soldiers with his fear power, revealing he was there not to seek an alliance with Ravenous but to enter the room under his throne, where Ronan had stashed 15,000 Sentries for the day he took back the Ceded Territories from Ravenous.  On Hala, Quill and company set explosive devices throughout the Babel Spire.  The Phalanx realize that Blastaar is alive and turn him into a Select; they attack, killing one of Quill's team.  Quill resists, but Ultron arrives and captures him, later probing his mind to find out the Resistance's plans.  Mantis manages to block Ultron's probes but he eventually detects her and sends his Select to capture her and Bug.  Adam is revealed to have encased the High Evolutionary and Quasar in a force bubble with him, saving them from the explosion of the star, and they head to Hala, where the High Evolutionary reveals the Supreme Intelligence had constructed the "Nu-Kree" manufacturing plant.

On Hala, the High Evolutionary strikes a deal with the Phalanx and renders Adam unconscious.  He then begins downloading Ultron's consciousness into Adam, revealing how Ultron first connected to the Phalanx and how he learned about the High Evolutionary's work with the "Nu-Kree."  Once the transfer is completed, Ultron directs the High Evolutionary to do the same for the entire Phalanx (transferring its consciousness into the genetically perfect "Nu-Kree").  Meanwhile, Rocket Raccoon leads Bug and Mantis to free Peter Quill, while Groot grows himself throughout the Babel Spire, allowing Mantis to ignite him with her pyrotechnic powers and destroy the Spire.  At the same time, Ronan sends the Sentries to destroy Hala and free the Kree from Phalanx domination.  Meanwhile, Nova arrives with Drax, Gamora, and Warlock (the technorganic New Mutant) and takes advantage of the destruction of the Spire to exploit the sudden weakness of the barrier and enter the Kree Empire.  Ultron -- now in Adam's body -- engages Quill and his team, while Quasar learns Adam stored his soul in her Quantum Bands.  Warlock engages Ultron, forcing him to flee Adam's body to avoid being corrupted by Warlock's mutant transmode virus strain.  Quasar returns Adam's soul while Ultron corrupts Praxagora, who's traveling to Hala with Ronan and the Sentry fleet.  Ultron-Praxagora knocks out the Wraith, re-takes control over the Sentries, and then detonates Praxagora in a (failed) attempt to kill Ronan and his crew.  Ultron creates a new (enormous) body from the Sentry fleet and attacks the heroes.  Adam funnels the souls of the Kree departing the leaking Spire into Quasar's bands, and she channels them through her sword.  The revived Wraith traps Ultron's essence in his new body, which Quasar then destroys with the soul-fueled sword.

The Review

I was torn in assigning a three or a four to this series.  I decided on a three because, although I enjoyed it, I have to admit it was a bit of a chore, at times, to read.  It involved a lot of complicated plots (as the super-long summary attests), some of which I thought were really innovative and interesting and others of which I found either confusing or unbelievable.  (I know we're taking about a series with a talking raccoon and ambulatory tree, but you know what I mean.)  Ultimately, it came down to a comparison to "Annihilation," which I found just to be a more enjoyable and solid story.  That said, a three isn't bad.  DnA really reboot the cosmic Marvel characters and I am sorely tempted to buy all the "Guardians of the Galaxy" back issues.

The Really Good

At the end of the day, the decision to fuse Ultron with the Phalanx was nothing short of genius.  You can tell DnA are comic fans, because you need to have a deep knowledge of the Marvel Universe to have the idea to take those two discrete entities and put them together.  Moreover, the reveal that Ultron is behind the Phalanx was made slowly.  It's not until issue #5 -- after the "Prologue" issue, the various mini-series, and four issues of "Annihilation: Conquest" -- that we learn Ultron's motivation.  Suddenly, instead of the story being about the Phalanx taking control of the Kree Empire (as it had been for most of the storyline), we learn that the entire affair is driven by Ultron's desire to fuse machine intelligence with genetically perfect organic lifeforms.  I felt like DnA really hit a home run in terms of moving Ultron past his usual schtick with this idea.  It's a really interesting twist, and one that feels -- pardon the pun -- organic, since DnA took the time to slowly reveal it.  The story could've been just about Ultron taking over the Phalanx and it would've been interesting.  By adding the High Evolutionary and Adam angles (yet another example of their familiarity with the Marvel catalog), DnA give us a really nuanced story that shakes up the status quo of several characters in the Marvel Universe.

The Good

1) The first few issues had to cover a lot of ground, summing up the action that happened over the course of the introductory mini-series.  Unlike "Annihilation," I only read the prelude cross-over issues in "Nova," so I'm still not really sure what happened to some of the characters between "Prologue" and this series.  For example, how (and why) did Moondragon become a dragon?  How did Ronan and the Super-Skrull avoid being Phalanx-ized?  Who is the Wraith?  How did the Kree "spymasters" resurrect Peter Quill?  Despite these remaining question, DnA actually do a good job of giving us the overview (particularly of the Quasar-related events) while keeping the action moving.

2) Ultron!  Holy crap, I didn't see that coming.

3) I'm hesitant to call this "good," but Raney doesn't skimp from showing the brutality of the Phalanx:  the Holocaust-esque "processing" centers that turn Kree into fuel for the Phalanx, the torture room after Blastaar "died," Ultron ripping out Moondragon's heart, Blastaar blowing away Gabe, etc.  We're talking about a pretty grim comic, folks.  Raney's art was great throughout the series, but he really excelled showing us how awful Ultron's domination truly was.

4) "Take me to your leader."  Nice, Ronan.  Also, the two-page spread preceding this comment -- of Ravenous' forces fighting the Phalanx horde -- in issue #2 was spectacular.  Very nice, Raney.

The Bad

1) Um, didn't Ultron rip out Moondragon's heart?  How exactly is she still alive in issue #3?  I mean, yes, she does actually die, but I'm pretty sure even a dragon would've died instantly having its heart ripped from its chest.

2) The Sentries under the throne room in Kree-La, the "Nu-Kree" manufacturing plant on Hala, the "coating" of the Sentries by Praxagora and the Wraith, Ultron's presence on Khan-Lar in time to infect Korath:  these examples are just a few of the moments where DnA went a little too close to the deus ex machina sun and left the story feeling a little scorched for it.  In the first two cases, DnA give us explanations that make sense:  Ronan hid the Sentries under the throne room for the day that he decided to retake the Ceded Territories from Ravenous and the High Evolutionary's lab wasn't where the Supreme Intelligence necessarily was going to actually manufacture the Nu-Kree. However, other parts didn't really get that sort of logical (if still somewhat convenient) explanation.  Praxagora and the Wraith "coating" the Sentries with their combined powers to make them immune to the Phalanx didn't ring true to me, nor did Ultron seemingly just happening upon Korath, who just happened to receive the distress signal from Khan-Lar on his way to find the High Evolutionary.  I'm willing to look past Nova's last-minute arrival since it's still comics, after all, and you need some sort of dramatic entrance at some point.  But, the examples in this paragraph were ultimately the reason why I didn't rank this series higher, because I just felt like it all got to be a somewhat unbelievable string of coincidences.

3) Did we ever get the background story on how Nova finds Warlock and de-infects Drax and Gamora?  (I'm not even sure he did the latter, since Gamora still calls him "Richard-Human.")  I didn't read the Quasar, Star-Lord, or Wraith prelude mini-series, but I'm pretty sure they didn't cover that ground.

Nova #4-#7: “Annihilation: Conquest”

**** (four of five stars)

Favorite Quote:  “Worldmind!  God, it’s good to hear your voice again!  Is that really you?”  “This is no time for sentiment, Nova 11249-44396.”  “Yup, it’s you.”  -- Nova and Worldmind, reunited (and it feels so good!)

Summary
En route to Hala, Nova encounters a group of Sentries who attempt to kill him.  Worldmind comes under attack from a viral program and, upon analyzing it, realizes that the Phalanx have taken over the Kree Empire.  He advises Nova to flee to a neighboring galaxy to secure assistance to fight the Phalanx, but Nova continues heading to Hala.  The Phalanx, meanwhile, have corrupted Gamora, who uses her (ahem) knowledge of Nova to direct an attack, sending a thousand Sentries after him at once via teleportation.  The Sentries box in Nova, who’s forced to open a stargate to incinerate the Sentries and escape.  Wounded, Nova takes Worldmind’s advice and attempts to leave the Empire, only to run directly into the “wall” that the Phalanx established around the Empire in “Annihilation:  Conquest Prologue.”  His body crashes onto Drez-Lar, a Kree outworld.  He’s discovered by Ko-Rel, a Kree Captain leading a group of soldiers stranded on the planet after they covered the retreat of the other inhabitants during the Annihilation Wave.  Worldmind deputizes her as a member of the Nova Corps to protect Richard while he heals.  Meanwhile, Gamora and her hunters arrive on planet.  Ko-Rel dispatches one team easily before returning to the ship to plan strategy with her crew.  She considers leaving Drez-Lar to go get help, but Worldmind pushes her to stay there to protect Richard.  (She has also learned of the fall of the Kree Empire to the Phalanx, contributing to her desire to leave.)  Suddenly, the Phalanx invade the base, slaughtering many of the Kree (including Ko-Rel’s three closest confidantes).  Ko-Rel tries to distract the Phalanx by fleeing the base, but Gamora sees through the ruse and finds Nova, infecting him.  Ko-Rel returns to base to find her crew obliterated and leaves Drez-Lar seeking revenge.  Worldmind directs her to Nova, ordering her to kill him lest the Worldmind itself becomes infected.  Meanwhile, Gamora and Nova hunt down Drax, infecting him.  Ko-Rel arrives shortly thereafter, attacking Nova.  Worldmind guides her in the battle, and she manages to disable Nova with the help of some trickery in a central thermal-processing core.  She hesitates before killing him, which gives Gamora the opening to kill her.  Nova continues to work on behalf of the Phalanx while Worldmind continues to resist the transmode virus, though he is losing the battle.  Nova is eventually roused from the collective consciousness by Worldmind, who manifests a Free-Richard personna to convince Phalanx-Richard gestalt to resist.  (Worldmind’s efforts to fight off the virus are represented by avatars of the Nova Corps.)  Richard rebels, freeing himself of the Phalanx’s control and escaping.  Drax and Gamora pursue him while Worldmind directs him to a neutron star.  By flying through it he escapes the enclosed Kree space, but finds himself on the “far side of the universe.”  He also accidentally dragged Drax and Gamora with him, who resume pursuit.

The Review
DnA continue to have a great knack for pacing and an even better ear for dialogue.  Moreover, I really could not predict outcomes in this book.  The Drez-Lar crew getting slaughtered, Nova becoming part of the Phalanx, Gamora stabbing Ko-Rel:  it was all just one shock after another!  One of the things I think DnA really capture here -- as they did in "Annihilation:  Conquest Prologue" -- is the emotional and physical toll bouncing from crisis to crisis must take.  You don't really see it in other superhero books; the Avengers and the X-Men always seem fresh as daisies when the newest crisis presents itself.  Instead, Richard looks and sounds totally like a man on the verge here.  It's what makes the story believable, different, and memorable.

The Good
1) In terms of the Drez-Lar part of the story, I found it particularly impressive that DnA managed to create a whole group of believable and interesting secondary characters in just a few pages.  Ko-Rel’s crew were distinct, funny, and real.  DnA even manage to differentiate her confidantes, giving us three characters with clear personalities and strengths.  By doing so, DnA actually convinced me they were going to be key to the plot of the arc, so you can imagine my surprise when they were Ensign Jones-ed.  Their deaths imbue the issue with an emotional gravity that it wouldn’t have had if DnA hadn’t so carefully crafted the characters.

2) Holy crap, I think I forgot to breathe for most of issue #6!  The fight between Nova and Ko-Rel was intense.  Moreover, as I said above, I totally didn’t see Gamora stabbing her coming.  I understand why she had to die, to inspire Nova to fight off the transmode virus, but, I have to say, I was sad to discover in issue #7 that she had actually died.  (In retrospect, it made Nova crushing of the image of her son all the sadder.)  Ko-Rel was a cool character and I hope Nova does find her son.

3) Drax!

4) Phalanx-Richard’s narration over the first few pages of issue #7 about the wonders of being a member of the Phalanx was downright creepy.

5) Along those lines, the conversation between Phalanx-Richard and Free-Richard was pretty awesome.  Having Worldmind use the Nova Corps – including Ko-Rel – as his avatars in the fight against the virus was seriously clever.  I also liked how Free-Richard acknowledged that Ko-Rel was going to weigh on his conscious for a long time.  Again, DnA did a great job really creating her character, even if it was only really for two issues, and I’m glad to see it acknowledged that her death meant something.

6) I loved when Worldmind got cranky!

The Bad
1) Pet Peeve #2:  Seriously, issue #5 was almost a textbook case!  We learn about the Select here and we also learn that Ko-Rel isn’t the new Nova but, instead, just a deputized Nova guarding Nova while he heals.  I’m pretty sure we could’ve been told that in-story.  If that wasn’t enough, we get confirmation that Ko-Rel is dead in the introduction to issue #7, killing my hope that she might have survived.  My delusions should be ruined by the issue, not the introduction to it!

2) Frankly?  Gamora’s breasts were INSANE in issue #6.  I mean, I get that artists are usually straight guys drawing for straight guys, but, seriously, if Gamora’s breasts were really that big, she could never have become the Deadliest Woman in the Galaxy.  She’d be practically tripping over herself or, at least, injuring herself every time she swung a knife.  I mean, draw all the skimpy costumes you want, fellas, but let’s at least stick to some sense of biological reality.

Annihilation: Conquest Prologue

*** (three of five stars)

Summary
On an outlying world of the Kree Empire, Phyla-Vell, the new Quasar, and Moondragon fight off a group of scavengers attempting to take control of the temple they’re helping to rebuild.  On Hala (the Kree homeworld), Peter Quill – now military advisor to Ronan the Accuser, the Kree’s leader – greets the Spaceknights, who have offered their A-Ware software to upgrade the Kree’s War-Net.  The Spaceknights upload A-Ware into War-Net, and a test of the Kree’s new military capabilities begins.  Meanwhile, the Quantum Bands have told Phyla-Vell to find “the Deliverer,” who is the only one that can end the disaster that the Kree are soon going to experience.  Phyla-Vell begins to tell Moondragon about the conversation, but it is cut short when a Kree Sentry attacks them.  On Hala, the Sentries that were part of the test go haywire and begin attacking military targets.  Quill realizes that the Spaceknights betrayed him just before all the Kree Sentries come under their control.  Quill escapes and watches, with the rest of Hala, as all the Sentries join together in a unified structure, which sends a blast that stretches across the galaxy.  Quasar follows the blast, discovering that the Kree Empire has been surrounded by a force field.  Quill regroups with his unit, which turns on him, displaying the same odd eye covers that the Spaceknights did.  The eye covers are revealed to be the work of the Phalanx, who were the ones controlling the Spaceknights and who have now taken over the Kree as well.

The Review
DnA set up a good story here, showing the desperation and hardship of the aftermath of the Annihilation Wave.  We don’t often see that in comics, where these sort of galactic wars just fade into the background, so I’m intrigued to see where they’re going with the story.

The Good
1) DnA do a great job of letting the action unfold.  They use the Quasar and Moondragon introduction to establish how desperate the Kree Empire is in the wake of the Annihilation Wave, thereby setting up the scenario under which Peter Quill and Ronan the Accuser jumped at the chance to upgrade the Kree’s defense capabilities thanks to the Spaceknight’s A-Ware.  It was pretty clear the Spaceknights were going to betray them, but by firmly establishing Peter and Ronan’s desperation, DnA give a plausible reason why even they turned a blind eye to the possibility.  Most authors would’ve just served up the betrayal without explaining why two fairly savvy guys like Peter and Ronan would’ve fallen for it.  DnA, thankfully, respect the readers more than that.

2) Peter Quill continues to be a rocking character.  I loved all his scenes here, from flirting with Ten-Cor to fighting his way through Hala.

The Unknown
Are we talking about the same Phalanx who almost wiped out the X-Men?   If so, I need to do some Internet research, because it was a while ago and my brain has definitely not retained all that information...

The Bad
As opposed to the Peter Quill scenes, the Phyla-Vell scenes were almost painful to read, despite being key to the plot.  Between the over-the-top “LOOK, WE’RE LESBIANS!” dialogue between her and Moondragon and the constant expository narration, I spent most of her scenes rolling my eyes and waiting impatiently for us to return to Hala.  I hope DnA figure out a way to present a more nuanced character now that they’ve got the exposition out of the way.