Nova, Cosmo, and the monster on Knowhere

This all indirectly links back to the Guardians of the Galaxy.  Remember Knowhere from the movie? It’s a severed Celestial (a more powerful Galactus-type god thingie) head that houses all sorts of weird people, objects, and ideas.  In the comics, Knowhere serves as the base of operations for our dear Guardians (until the most recent volume anyway).  But before all that happens, it first has to be discovered.  Leave that to Richard Rider, the lone surviving Nova in Nova #8-9, written by Dan Abnett & Andy Lanning and drawn by Wellinton Alves.

Before that, let’s get into some Richard Rider history.  I’ve mentioned before that the Nova Corps acts as Marvel’s Green Lantern Corps, and even Rider’s origin story pretty much mimics Hal Jordan’s. Ready for this?  A dying Nova Corps member named Rhomann Dey hovers in his spaceship near Earth, where he uses the last remnants of his power to find an inexperienced replacement on the nearby planet.  He selects Richard Rider, who all of a sudden gains the uniforms and superpowers of Marvel’s space cops.  So let’s not beat around the bush: Richard Rider is Hal Jordan in a different comic book company.  And like Hal Jordan, the galactic threats in space dwarf any minor petty conflicts that happen to be going on Earth.  For comparison, Marvel’s Annihilation event (Drax, Cammi, and all that) occurred at the same time as Marvel’s Civil War.  Watch in Nova #2, written Abnett & Lanning and drawn by Sean Chen, as Nova and Iron Man discuss the difference between those two events:

The name Guardians of the Galaxy is not a hyperbole.  They legitimately save the galaxy.  Pro- or anti-registration doesn’t really matter when Annihilus and his bug army almost wipes out the entire universe.  I’m just saying Nova’s stakes tend to be a bit higher.  And today, he finds himself stranded on Knowhere.

As Nova stated earlier, he houses the entire Nova Force inside of him, including the super computer Worldmind that contains a planet’s worth of knowledge.  That’s who’s speaking to him in the white and yellow text boxes.

The city of Knowhere has a fair amount of noise and traffic.  It sits at the edge of space and time, making it a valuable trading hub.  But not right now — a monster lurks the hallways and it’ll be up to Nova and his new ally to stop the creature.  Remember this guy from the movie too?

Meet Cosmo, a former Russian astro-dog who now acts as the security chief for Knowhere.  The Guardians of the Galaxy use him as their liason and he tags along on a few missions as well, making this Soviet treasure a surprisingly important of the team.  Plus, he’s delightful, right?  Oh, and psychic.  Like Jean Grey if she wore a spacesuit and had someone else pick up her poo.

So about this monster.  It can’t be captured, turns people into zombies, and kills everyone else.  With the entire Nova Force at Rider’s command, the baddie doesn’t stand much of a chance — except this arc takes place during Annihilation: Conquest, the follow up event to Annihilation.  The Phalanx, former X-Men bad guys and a race of cyborgs, have the ability to infect/control organic creatures. They take advantage of the chaos Annihilation left to use their brainwashing on the entire Kree army, causing a second war to immediately break out.  Then infected Gamora infects Nova.  Bad news.  Luckily, Worldmind can keep the virus from turning Rider into an evil cyborg himself at the small expense of 83% of the total Nova Force.  Rider’s operating on fumes here.

Though first, how about a monster background story?

The dog saves the whole population.  Of course, that’s all for naught if the two of them can’t defeat this purple energy creature.  Add Nova’s Phalanx handicap and the odds look bleak.  But I did mention previously that Cosmo tags along with some of the Guardians of the Galaxy missions.  The dog doesn’t fight with his sharp wit and inability to use first person when he talks.  No, this is the Jean Grey-ish dog we’re talking about.  It’s not an accident Cosmo became Knowhere’s security chief.

I’m going to be a jerk and end the story here.  You can buy the book for the rest of it and the creative way Nova defeats this unbeatable monster.  I figured it’d be nice for us to get a glimpse at the comic book version of Knowhere and Cosmo.  To add to your small taste, here’s a bit of Guardians of the Galaxy #1, written by Abnett & Lanning and drawn by Paul Pelletier.  By the way, if you haven’t noticed, these two writers are responsible for a huge chunk of the modern Cosmic Marvel universe. Seriously.  They wrote the series Nova and Guardians of the Galaxy, as well as the main writers for the Cosmic Marvel events Annihilation: Conquest, War of Kings, Realm of Kings, and The Thanos Imperative.  In summary, they’re a big deal.  Now two pages of Guardians of the Galaxy #1.

On Wednesday, get ready for two weeks of the Super-Skrull.  It’ll be life-changing.  Get it?  Because Skrulls can change shape?  I apologize for nothing.