Cone of Psilence! That is so awesome!

While everyone else is reviewing Secret Invasion, Captain Britain and Secret Origins this week (all of which I enjoyed immensely), I'll be breaking down the high points of Nova #15. It doesn't get any better than this: Nova, Silver Surfer, Galactus and a gruesome baddie that makes Skrulls look like barbie dolls. Now, I compare Harrow to Skrulls because instead of taking to form of the race he's trying to fit into, Harrow actually takes over their form - all to feed on the terror of life forms in their death throes. You see, he's been hitching a ride on Galactus' ship for a long time so that worlds Galactus is feeding upon - which are already gripped by terror - are ripe for Harrow to pick individual victims and go on a murdering spree (which all makes much more sense as you read the book).

Now, you may be asking yourself: Why does Galactus allow this creature to stow away on his ship year after year? Whay doesn't he throw the beastie out the airlock, or worse? Well, the answer is hilarious. Harrow has formulated a "Cone of Psilence" to shield his mental activities from the notice of Galactus. For those of you who don't get the joke, the agents of Control used a device called the "Cone of Silence" to have private conversations on the hit television show, Get Smart. Yup, it's a super-obvious pun and I love it.

Every time I see Silver Surver, I find myself wondering why he's serving Galactus again. Anyone who read the Surfer's comics in the early 90's will remember all the grief Surfer underwent because of his guilt for dooming hundreds of worlds as Galactus' herald. He became an independent adventurer/hero who valued the preservation of life above all things and strove to atone for all the deaths for which he felt responsible. Now, I assume that I'm not the only person who is wondering what happened that caused such a reversal in the Surfer's character. It will be interesting to see what Marvel decides to do with this personality change in the future, assuming they don't think we're all stupid and forget the old Norrin Radd. When Nova encounters Surfy in this issue, there is no trace of the hero I mentioned, but only the Herald of Galactus, which concerns Nova more than it concerns me. What's great however, is that when Surfy finds out about Harrow's depraved, hidden activities, he blasts Harrow with the Power Cosmic and says "Your Cone of Psilence is erased". Priceless!

Lastly, it bears mentioning that a character shift occurs in this book. Abnett and Lanning had a good idea and have Nova go through an experience so traumatic, that it knocks Worldmind out of commission. This will pose an additional problem for Richard Rider, of course, and since next issue is a Secret Invasion tie-in, it'll be interesting to see how Nova deals with this disadvantage.