Nova #11.7 Fantasy Cover by Oscar Jimenez

For months I had been trying to get in contact with Oscar Jimenez. I have been a huge fan of Oscars art since he worked on Contest of Champions II for Marvel and The Flash for DC among others. Oscar did a knock out commission for Shannon Slayton a couple months back that blew me away and Shannon hooked me up with Oscar. Probably the most unusual commission request that Oscar had ever been asked to do,but he was excited to do this for me. The details in this piece are just crazy good. I generally have my own ideas for layouts,but I wanted to take an existing cover and Re-Nova it(Apologies to Aidan Lacy),and it fits into my current theme. Oscar's take on The Thing alone was worth the price. Extremely happy with this one,and many thanks again to Shannon for the assist!

Story so far: Nova is a man out of time. Using Doctor Doom's time machine to prevent a tragedy from happening to his girlfriend Ginger Jaye,Nova has traveled through the past to get back to the moment in time to prevent this accident from happening. After meeting and teaming up with Bucky and The Kid Commandos in 1944,Nova once again uses the faulty remote to the time platform in hopes to return to the present.

Now: Nova once again finds himself in New York City. Could it be he has returned to his present? In the distance he spots The Baxter Building,so perhaps,although it looks somewhat different than what he remembers. Before he can be sure of his surroundings,the remote to Dooms time platform explodes in his hand. Whenever he is,he is here for good.

Nova's first instinct is to head to the Baxter Building. Flying to the top he enters through an open window after hearing voices from within. As he enters he is enclosed in a plexiglass cylinder with the Fantastic Four gathered below him. Their costumes are different from what he remembered and The Thing looks “Lumpy” compared to his usual “Rocky” self. The bad part is the FF thinks he's a villain invading their HQ. Nova tries to explain himself,but the Thing moves in to attack. Nova is able to break free of the FF's trap and a brief tussle takes place before Nova is pinned down by elastic arms of Mr. Fantastic. Reed Richards determines that Nova is indeed NOT a villain,but a time traveler from years ahead in the future. Nova explains his situation to the FF,telling them he has no means of returning to his own time as Doom's time machine is gone. Reed tells Nova “Not exactly” as the time machine still lies within the vacant castle of Dr. Doom.

Using their pogo plane The FF and Nova return to Latveria and find the Time(Chair in this version),machine. Reed thinks he can program the machine to send Nova back to the exact time he needs to return to within a minute or two. Nova and the FF exchange farewells and will someday meet again. The platform descends over the human rocket and he is gone.

As quickly as the time platform took Nova from the Baxter building of old It has now transported him to the busy streets of NYC where people seem to be running every which way. Nova turns to see the impossible,himself in hand to hand combat with the Cobalt Man. He HAS arrived back to where Reed said he would. The other Nova is unaware of his future self is just a half block away. Knowing when the debris that injured his girlfriend Ginger Jaye will collapse and cover her Nova waits a few seconds before blasting into action to push the falling brick and mortar away from his friends. Ginger has been saved! Nova's past self follows through with his defeat of Cobalt Man as he did before.

New problem. There are now two Nova's occupying the same space in time. Worse yet,past Nova has discovered future Nova in the distance. Thinking him a new menace(perhaps a clone?),past Nova launches himself at his future self and the two connect. The impact leaves one Nova standing,as the meeting of the two merged both Nova's into one. The last Nova standing has full recollection of all the events that transpired in the past and present.

Nova changes back into Richard Rider to re connect with his friends,more so Ginger who has dodged fate. The foursome leave the scene of destruction and head for home. Upon returning to his house and family Rich has time to think about the consequences of being Nova and the chances of putting his friends and family in harms way again,and comes to a decision. His days as Nova are over!

Next issue: The End?