Book of Doom: Nova #1

Rising from the pages of Annihilation, Nova gets a fresh new series this week, and it just so happens to be the topic of this week’s Book of Doom, where you get four (or sometimes three or two) reviews for the price of one. Due to the Husker football spring game, I’ve been at work non-stop since Friday, so my apologies for the one-day lateness, for those of you out there who like to keep track of that sort of thing.

That aside, I’d like to say up front that I really enjoyed this issue. The writers (Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning) are the guys responsible for last year’s Annihilation mini-series, so they obviously know the character of Nova, and, as they showed in that mini (as well as this debut issue), they also have a heck of a knack for coupling awesome one-liners with exciting moments of action. The basic plot of this issue follows Nova as he, the sole surviving member of the Nova Corps, as well as the bearer of the entirety of the Corps’ power, goes on a streak through the galaxy, from one world-shattering crisis to the next, policing as many planets as possible, as quickly as possible, before breaking down and wiping out. At the issue’s close, he decides to come home to Earth, where Iron Man and S.H.I.E.L.D await.

It’s a fun book, and it’s very action packed. The idea of Nova returning to an entirely different Earth, thanks to the events of Civil War, packs some interesting implications, and it’ll be quite the read in the coming months as he deals with Superhuman Registration and the deaths of his former teammates, the New Warriors. I loved Annihilation, and I’m 100% on board for Nova.

But, before I go thinking that I have the last word on this one, I’ll defer to my fellow members of the Legion. Take a look at their thoughts after the break:

First, let’s have Jean-Claude Van Doom take a crack at it:

I realize that Nova is basically Marvel’s ripoff of Green Lantern, but when I started thinking about the character, I realized he’s probably more akin to another DC hero, Dr. Fate. They both have goofy blue and gold uniforms, they both wear gold helmets, they both have complicated histories and they’ve both been massively uninteresting for most of their existence. Needless to say, I was not psyched for this issue.

There’s a cool thing about low expectations, though. They’re easy to top. This issue was just very well conceived. The direction of hero-who’s-overstretched-but-determined is a good angle that seems like a logical after effect of Annihilation (which I didn’t read, but know the gist of). The interplay between Richard and the computer mind reminded me of Firestorm, except entertaining. The action scenes were well done, from writing to art. Just good stuff top to bottom.

I’m a little curious about where the series is going, though. It seems like they set up a good style, but will that paradigm shift completely once Nova returns to earth? I’m actually more excited to go back and read Annihilation than I am for the next issue of Nova, but thanks to a solid effort here, I’m on board for both.

One problem: This costume redesign is really stupid looking. It works on the cover, but it’s groan-worthy on the inside. Shoulder spikes? Really? That’s a good idea?

Excellent. Two-for-two. Lastly, here’s Jim Doom’s take:

Man, I was halfway joking when I asked if Nova was like the Marvel version of the Green Lantern, just making that comment based on the “Nova Corps” reference in the solicitation. I had no idea that it went so far as to be a group that divides the universe up into sectors with a central intelligence that communicates with each member of the Corps and does stuff like translate and tell them where danger is. It really is like a Green Lantern ring in the form of a head bucket.

But it was a pretty decent intro. It took a little too long to get the message across that Nova needed to take a break after pushing himself too hard, but I like that it seems to be headed in the direction of Nova building a new corps. I also got a kick out of the translations – I liked the little touch of certain things being untranslatable.

This wasn’t really the type of book I normally pick up, but it was good enough that I’ll probably keep reading it. That’s about all I have to say.

WELL. Seems we’re all in agreement. Nova’s good. Go read it and tell us your own thoughts.