Time For A Bro-down Showdown — Reviewing ‘Nova: Centurion’ #5

Sometimes meeting old friends means hugs and other times it means landing a punch (or more) right on their face. Richard Rider woke up and chose violence as Peter Quill, the Star-Lord, has come back into this life.

Various threads come crashing together as Nova: Centurion #5 introduces a deadly new threat. Another exciting chapter comes from Jed MacKay, Álvaro López, Mattia Iacono, and Cory Petit.

<<Spoilers Follow>>

I have to say, the solicits, or lack of them, have made me worried about the future of this series.

Nova is one of my favorite characters, thanks to the 2000s Annihilation era of cosmic Marvel, and MacKay has been killing it here. This issue is just such a great look at the long, shifting, and now tense relationship between Rider and Quill. These former war mates who became best friends have served on teams over the years to semi-antagonists.

It’s nice to see some of the threads set up by the Imperial event last summer actually lead somewhere. The launch of books after this event has been a bit rocky with what has come out being a bit of a hodge podge. One of the previously announced books hasn’t been talked about since, leading to concern that the line is already about to shutter.

Fingers crossed that we’re just getting a pause or season model and this book at least continues. I need more of MacKay getting to write rough and tumble characters like this with full access to every nook and cranny of the cosmic toybox. That includes sliding in some seemingly new toys like this Shudder-Indigo entity that emerges from the poor sick Cammy.

This issue spends a good split of time between closer, more intimate settings and wider distant sequences. López brings it for both, really giving all the characters such depth and details as they march and surge through the setting. He adds all the right elements to bring scale and sense of life to any set pieces.

I really enjoy how well slick whimsical sensibilities mix with the rougher grittier bits in this artistic style. It benefits the character and their particular current lot in life.

Just look at that full page spread with the history of the Shudder-Indigo. Awe-inspiring and horrific at the same time, it creates this wicked montage spanning the ages of the Nova Corps and figures we haven’t seen before.

All of this is bolstered by the color palette that Iacono presents with it’s blend of darker and lighter tones. It gives space itself the dense dark elements with some softer blues and purples to really deliver the majesty of our universe. It also is full of a very moderate level focus for the palette that works to provide a more neutral or familiar level baseline to build upon.

Going this route gives room for the more out there elements, such as the costumes of many characters, to pop more on the page. As they are where the more vibrant tones find a home and space to really dance.

Our main dudes here have a lot to get off their chest, both verbally and physically. Petit makes sure we can hear it all in the lettering on the page, each word and blow echoing in our mind’s ear. He lays out each bit of lettering with such grace and delicate ease so that it flows smoothly and logically, pumping up the boxes, fonts, or other lettering tools to get the most out of every single utterance.

Nova: Centurion #5 is now available from Marvel Comics.