Has Nova shown up in the pages of Secret Invasion? No, but we can rest assured that he will right? Well what could have easily been explained away in a sentence or two at best was instead drug out over an issue. Marvel completely wasted Nova #16 in an effort to bring Nova from space to earth.

In Nova #16 our hero is just travelling around technically minding his own business when the ‘Secret’ Invasion comes looking for him. Yeah? That’s what I said. This invasion seems less secret by the second since the Skrulls risked the whole deal trying to take out one guy. With all the info they have, wouldn’t they have known that Nova was off planet? Why risk putting Nova in play if you’re the Skrulls? It’s simple: to sell more comics.

Don’t get me wrong, Nova is a great book. It has been ever since issue one, but this issue is inexcusable because it’s a shameless tie-in. Why that’s a bad thing is simple, new readers have very little to latch on to save the cliffhanger ending that is customary with comics. There is little in the way of plot development or story, the book just kind of moves along at a frenetic pace and then it’s over. It’s true that the writers do a good job of giving regular readers a strong sense of the chronology. Unfortunately you’ll have a bunch of readers who bought the book because of the banner across the top who will have no vested interest in issues that don’t feature said banner. As if the book never really existed for them.

In all fairness I must speculate on the positive aspects of the book. Considering that Nova himself is dealing with the partial loss of the Worldmind (a super computer and source of Nova’s extra power) there could be a chance that nova factors heavily into the final two issues of Secret Invasion. Maybe the Worldmind can figure out what’s happening and help the other heroes identify the Skrulls? Heck, it could happen!

However, the odds are better that it won’t work out that way and that nova will go through two issues of meaningless drivel just to make a panel appearance in the core title. I suppose that the ultimate goal was to bring him back to earth in the end, and to that degree they were successful. It’s just that that isn’t good enough, the Super Skrull angle was a weak one at best. The double double-cross was just silly, buy the book at your own peril, you don’t need it.

What really gets my goat is the idea that the only way to know if this issue is worth a damn will be to buy the next issue, and the final two issues of Secret Invasion. See ya then!