Nebula rebuilds her body and her memory in this exclusive preview

Nebula has never had her own solo series before, but after becoming a bigger player in Marvel’s cosmic landscape both on screen and on the page, the space pirate/cyborg mercenary finally gets a chance to break out on her own. Writer Vita Ayala, artist Claire Roe, colorist Mike Spicer, and letterer Travis Lanham redefine Nebula’s character in a new five-issue miniseries by giving her a literal hard reset and upgrade, wiping her memory while boosting her power with predictive analysis technology. The first issue of the series showed Nebula doing what she does best, stealing the tech and recklessly integrating it into her own system before taking severe damage to the head. The creative team gave a taste of what this upgrade means for Nebula’s fighting prowess in the first chapter, but now Nebula has to learn how to use this new power while also figuring out who she is and how to get back to her old life.

This exclusive preview of next week’s Nebula #2 shows her adjusting to her new life on a desert planet, where she befriends a young woman who gives her shelter and any other assistance she might need. Nebula gets the opportunity to return the favor when the woman is threatened by local goons, triggering Nebula’s warrior impulses. As an artist who hasn’t spent a lot of time in the sci-fi genre, Roe gets to flex new design muscles as she creates new alien environments and characters, and these pages quickly establish a cozy atmosphere for Adira’s home before jumping outdoors into a landscape that reinforces the western genre influence. Spicer’s coloring leans into the western look with muted earth tones and a sandy texture, and the brightness of Nebula’s blue and purple skin emphasizes that she is an outsider on this planet. Nebula has a blank slate to decide who she wants to be, but will she stay on this new path when her past memories and trauma inevitably return?