Marvel Two-In-One Annual #3
When Strike the Monitors!
Patrolling the city, Nova is alarmed when a giant alien creature with a strange drilling device appears in the middle of New York. When the Avengers are unavailable, Nova tries to seek the aid of the Fantastic Four, but find that the only member resident is the Thing, who agrees to help Nova try and stop the alien creature. Meanwhile, two more similar creatures appear in both Paris and Tokyo.
Fighting one of the aliens, Ben and Nova find that they are unable to damage it or its device. They are then confronted by an alien female named Milandra, who tells the two heroes that the aliens are called Monitors. She explains that they go to various planets and evaluate the beings that live there, and if they do not meet their strict standards, they destroy the planet.
Not wishing the Earth to be destroyed, Milandra offers to aid the Thing and Nova to stop the Monitors. She explains to them the power source of their computers is two other female robots that used as power sources for their devices. During their travels, they free the other two robots and destroy the Monitors device. Nova is temporarily teleported into deep space but manages to get back to Earth through a space warp.
In the final battle, the female robots manage to convince the Monitors to spare the Earth, and they depart but not before restoring all the damage that they had done since their arrival.
Recurring Characters
Thing, Nova, Monitors, Edwin Jarvis, Bernie Dillon, Roger Cooper, Ginger Jaye
Continuity Notes
Nova glosses over a number of things going on in his personal life:
He mentions that things are going well with his girlfriend Ginger Jaye. The pair were high school sweethearts from Nova #1-23
He also mentions his father is free on bail pending trial. Nova's father Charles Rider was unemployed and was tempted into working for the Inner Circle in Nova #14-15. This led to his father getting arrested for illegal activities in Nova #16. He was released on bail in Nova #18.
