Review: Nova #5 (Loeb)

No surprises here. The tragic descent of the Nova concepts and legacy into silly, child-oriented cutesiness continues. Celebrators of mediocrity at certain websites are calling for a Disney “Family” movie to be made of this trash. That appears to be the intent – a modern day re-telling of the silly “Last Starfighter” type Disney movie. No respect for what came before and the true cosmic fans. It’s sad really.

Of course, untrained and inexperienced NINO outsmarts a veteran black-ops Nova Corpsman and an organized military to save the day. Yeah – that’s plausible. And of course, NINO’s wiser and more responsible than Rocket and Gamora. And of course there’s the final touching father-son “connection” scene from across the universe. Pardon me while I inject some insulin to get control of my blood sugar. The level of silly sweetness here is about to send me into a coma.

Admittedly I’ve not kept up with Ultimate Nullifier mythology – but I seem to remember that use of an Ultimate Nullifier also destroys the user. Sadly, NINO’s use of the device does not result in his destruction. Too bad – because I would’ve enjoyed THAT story.

There were two saving graces. First, no letters page, so no suffering through Editor Stephen Wacker’s typical obnoxiousness. Second, McGuinness’ art is stellar as usual and Delgado’s colors are the perfect complement to the first-class art.

Otherwise, NINO remains exactly what it was intended to be – a downgrading of the concepts and legacy to appeal to the literal lowest common denominator of comic book readers. It’s silly, implausible, child-oriented, manipulatively sentimental, cliché filled, and intelligence insulting. NINO is a “Lost in Space” version of cosmic – a near parody of the themes and concepts that true cosmic fans desire.