Ok, first off? Gorgeous cover. In fact, let's get the obvious right out of the way, first. John Cassaday is an amazing artist. We should all know this by now. I don't really think anything more needs to be said on the subject.
As for the rest of it...
Joss Whedon continues to show he has more of a handle on these characters than Grant Morrison ever did. Than many writers in the last 10-15 years. And even a nice handle on Nick Fury.
My only complaint is that the pacing feels terribly strange. This issue almost felt anticlimactic, if it wasn't for the squee-inducing moment of the fastball special, and Ord is otherwise brought down fairly easily.
This isn't a bad thing, it's still well written, it just left me wanting so much more from the book, in a good way. I'm pleased to see we finally got some backstory on Ord, and why he's come here, and what his goals are. This makes for potentially interesting storylines, hopefully ones that won't dangle for years on end. The tragedy is, his actions are very likely to have ended up causing the destruction of his people that was forseen. Gotta be careful with those prophecies.
And just what is Emma up to...?
I absolutley loved the moment when Jean got namechecked for X-Men having a prior history for wiping out civilizations. And on that note...
This issue gets four out of five Brocolli Heads, only taken down a notch because it left me with that slight sense of "That's it?" at the end of an otherwise engaging arc.
J