Rising comic book writer Vita Ayala is back again with another solo series for one of Marvel’s most beloved characters, Nebula, the daughter of Thanos. Nebula has grown to become a fan-favorite character ever since her live-action debut in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Fast forward to 2020 and you have Nebula headlining her first-ever comic book solo series, helmed by an overly talented group of women.
Nebula 2020 finds our titular character in search of a mysterious piece of technology called the “All-Seer”. And Nebula is not allowing anyone to stand in her way of getting this piece of technology implemented into her cybernetic system. Whether it’d be a child, security or the inventory of the All-Seer itself, Nebula is not taking “no” for an answer. But what happens when that piece of technology doesn’t turn out to be the best of technological implementations to Nebula’s cybernetics? Layer that with a run-in with Devos the Devastator and you have a recipe for disaster.
What really drew me to this series was the creative team behind it. Vita Ayala, Claire Roe and of course the always colorful and vibrant covers of Jen Bartel. But this issue just didn’t quite land for me personally. While first issues, depending on how many pages it will contain. Will serve you a hefty plate of setup with a clear sense of direction or it will serve you a character who’s overall motives aren’t necessarily clear, and that’s what we got. A serving of where do we take this character in this very first issue?
I kept asking myself while reading this issue, “why does Nebula really want the All-Seer?”. Does she want it for self-gain? Why does she want it for self-gain? Where’s the clear motive of actually wanting this piece of technology, other than the All-Seer being able to “predict the future”? And while that we get an answer of whether or not the All-Seer can predict the future (it doesn’t), we still do not know the motive behind wanting it.
Even during her battle with Devos the Devastator, we see how detrimental this All-Seer is to Nebula. Causing her mind to constantly race due to the overflow of informative traffic, analyzing the playing field to see what the best outcome would be. She successfully defeats Devos, in a cool, cliche comic book villainy kind of way, “I can see why I always lose when I monologue now”. It was great!
After defeating Devos and escaping Ayan Al Space Station, she crashlands on a mysterious planet and is aided by an inhabitant. The stranger asks Nebula who she is and Nebula reveals that she does not remember. Here is where the issue finally gets interesting but we have to wait until the second issue release to see how Nebula’s life has changed now that she’s lost her memory and is most likely being hunted due to having the All-Seer stuck into her head.
This issue didn’t quite do it for me, but the ending has me intrigued enough to give the next issue a read. Simply because I want to see how Nebula starts to overcome her memory loss and how she tried to recover that. She has a reputation that she is now unaware of, so how does that also play into the storyline remains to be seen. I have faith in Vita Ayala to deliver something good here so I’m interested enough to give it another shot.
As for the artwork, it didn’t add or take away from the story itself. That no slight to Claire Roe in any sense, the art is there to move the story forward as it should. I’m not blown away by Nebula’s design either. I know it’s a variation of the Nebula many fans like me have become familiar with but it is what it is.