Nova is the only ongoing series launched out of the Annihilation event so far, and it kind of bridges the “Wave” and “Conquest” chapters. The first three issues had Nova return home to Earth, only to find that his experiences going through a cosmic war had led him to outgrow the pettier squabbles of superheroes.
Now, he heads back out into space and dives headlong into the aftermath of Annihilus’ devastating attacks on the Kree. Following distress calls from the planet Hala, Nova discovers that The Phalanx have now conquered what is left of the Kree army, parasitically living in their bodies. He rushes in headlong and is nearly killed, forcing Worldmind to give the Nova powers temporarily to a female warrior named Ko-Rel.
She’s dead by the end of this arc, so don’t get too attached.
Meanwhile Gamora–under the thrall of the Phalanx–infects the dying Richard Rider with the Phalanx virus. She does it with a kiss…
…Against his will. But it works. He’s converted to the Phalanx. The two then knock boots while serving the Palanx for a bit, converting Drax.
They also occupy themselves by fighting the new Nova 0001.
New Nova 0001 tries to free Rider’s mind.
She fails and is killed by Gamora. Once dead, the Nova Force went back into Richard Rider, freed his mind, and enabled him to escape–with Gamora’s Phalanx troops, which now include Drax, hot on his trail.
At this point, the Annihilation Conquest event begins. Nova won’t join in until the end of that event, though–instead, his own series operates in tandem. Shout out to the well-choreographed work here on the part of Abnett, Lanning, and Marvel editorial.
In order to escape Gamora, Rider goes through a wormwhole and ends up in Knowhere–the galactic planet/city build out of a dead Celestial’s head. You remember Knowhere, right?
It’s cool.
Once there, he meets their security chief, a dog with telepathy named Cosmo (who also made it into the films).
Cosmo advises that Knowhere is in trouble.
He teams up with Cosmo and the local super-team Luminals to fight off an attack by a sorcerer named Abyss.
The story is certainly good enough, but it’s a little too similar to the body-snatching main story of the Annihilation Conquest event.
Anyway, once they’re freed, Nova goes towards Technarchy to get help against Phalanx, only to be found by Gamora and Drax. This time, he’s able to free them from the thrall of Phalanx and head to the Technarchy (home of the New Mutant Warlock) and recruit him and his son Tyro into the Annihilation Conquest war.
That’s the first appearance of Tyro.
It’s nice to see Warlock again. Honestly, I thought he was dead.
The story ends in Annihilation Conquest #6.
English (US) · 