Nova Classic Vol. 1

 

Reprints Nova #1-12, Amazing Spider-Man #171

Written by Marv Wolfman and Len Wein.

Penciled by John Buscema, Sal Buscema and Ross Andru.

Inked by Joe Sinnott, Tom Palmer, Frank Giacoia and Mike Esposito.

Richard Rider is your typical suburban teenager living in Hempstead, Long Island. He attends Harry S. Truman High, where he's not very popular. Richard struggles academically and isn't good at sports. He's often picked on by bullies, especially star athlete Mike Burley. At home, Richard is overshadowed by his younger brother Robbie, who is an honor student. All this gives Richard, in his words, "a class-one inferiority complex."

Richard Rider gets smacked by Mike Burley, then he's smacked by a bolt from outer space!

But that changes in a hurry! Richard is randomly chosen by a dying alien from the planet Xandar to inherit super powers. He's knocked unconscious and hospitalized. The next day, Richard is walking down the street, when suddenly, he turns into a new person. He has super-strength, a helmet that acts as a police scanner and can fly at the speed of a rocket. The awkward teenager has transformed into the man called Nova! A new superhero is born!

Richard becomes Nova for the first time!

Richard is flying around, trying to get used to his newfound abilities when New York is attacked by Zorr, who is responsible for the death of the alien who passed his powers to Richard. He is still learning how to use all of his Nova powers, but he manages to distract Zorr from destroying the city. With a little help from outer space, Zorr is defeated.

Zorr attacks New York & only Nova can stop him.

In the days and weeks that follow, Nova encounters many different super-powered opponents:

The duo of Condor and Powerhouse! Condor possesses the wings, strength and talons of his namesake.  Powerhouse absorbs power to increase his strength. He was found by Condor, who brainwashed Powerhouse into committing crimes.

Nova is double-teamed by Condor & Powerhouse.

Diamondhead, strong as a diamond and nearly invulnerable!

Corruptor, who hypnotizes the mighty Thor into attacking Nova!

Thor takes a serious punch from Nova.

Tyrannus, immortal would-be conqueror of Subterranea. He attacks New York with a giant Earth-Shaker robot!

The faceless, superstrong Megaman, who has the power to create earthquakes and fires!

But Nova's deadliest foe is the Sphinx. He possesses the Ka stone, which gives him super-strength, telepathic abilities, the power to turn people into dust. He wields almost god-like powers. Sphinx served as a wizard to the Pharaoh Ramses of Ancient Egypt and has been alive for centuries.

The Sphinx plots his takeover of Earth.

Sphinx arrives on Earth seeking world domination and plans to start with becoming crimelord of New York. This brings him into conflict with Condor, who also wants that role. Condor teams with Powerhouse and Diamondhead to battle Sphinx. But their chances of victory are enhanced when Condor reprograms Nova's mind, convincing him he's on the same side as the villains!

Plus, Nova teams up with the amazing Spider-Man to find out who killed Richard Rider's uncle. Their investigation brings them into conflict with the villain known as Photon!

Photon chains Nova & Spider-Man to an anchor!

 
Review:

Prior to picking up this Nova Classic Vol. 1, I'd only read a handful of these stories. I was never a huge Nova fan, so I had low expectations. But I was pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed this tpb.

Mike bullies Richard, while the Nova Centurion looks to transfer his powers to someone on Earth.

Story:
Marv Wolfman wrote all but one of the issues reprinted in this tpb. The content reprinted here could be described as "Silver Age tales seen through a Bronze Age lens". Richard Rider's high school experience (not to mention his alliterative name) is very similar to Peter Parker's early years. However, unlike Parker, Richard is not a great student and his grades suffer partially due to his moonlighting as a superhero. High school bully Mike Burley is not only a star athlete, but also (unlike Flash Thompson) a better student than Richard. Nova acquires powers from an alien, similar to the origin of the Silver Age Green Lantern.

But this is more than just a pastiche. These are solid Bronze Age action stories.Nova may not have become as huge as Spider-Man or Wolverine, but he's had staying power, in comics and other media. Nova was recently featured in the Ultimate Spider-Man animated series and the Nova Corps appears in the upcoming Guardians Of The Galaxy movie.

If I had to pick a favorite part, it's the fight/team-up with Thor. It's a classic Marvel scenario: villain takes control of hero, two heroes fight. But it's a great fight and Corruptor is a good villain. Wolfman wrote Thor very well here, especially when the thunder god praises Nova as "brave beyond thy years."

Corruptor takes control of Thor's mind.

The Sphinx first appeared here too. He's had a nice run as a major villain in the Marvel Universe in the nearly four decades since his creation, battling the Fantastic Four several times.

Nova battles Sphinx in a tv studio.

The other villains featured in this book are a mixed bag, but generally good. Condor and Powerhouse are sort of generic "guy who can fly" and "superstrong guy" villains. But I enjoyed the dynamic between the two, with Condor forcing Powerhouse to do his bidding. Diamondhead is another brawler, but he's visually very appealing.

Corruptor is great in his appearance here, turning Thor against Nova, and Corruptor would menace Nova in the future as well. Megaman is a very tragic figure. I felt sorry for Megaman, since he was turned insane by the loss of his humanity.

Nova goes toe-to-toe with Megaman.

Wolfman does a nice job showing Richard learning how to use his new powers, and dealing with his high school struggles. I liked Nova's exclamation of "Blue Blazes!" whenever he was surprised.    Wolfman writes some humorous scenes that feature Richard's friend Bernie Dillon. Speaking of humor, we also get a "behind the scenes at Marvel" story. The comic's creative team, Wolfman and Sal Buscema, wants to make a comic based on Nova's heroics. This is the sort of thing we'd call "meta" today, but Marvel has done stories like this throughout their history. I always enjoyed it when Marvel poked fun at themselves.

Marv Wolman & Sal Buscema run away in fear while Nova battles the Earth-Shaker robot.

The book ends with a two-part crossover team-up featuring Spider-Man. It's common to pair up a new hero with a company's flagship character, to draw attention to the new guy. But it's a good story, it was nice to see Spidey give Nova some pointers and tell the younger hero that he was still making mistakes after years as a crime fighter.

Nova & Spider-Man briefly fight, partly due to the Daily Bugle's attacks on Spidey.

If there's anything wrong with the stories, it's that some of the villains' motivations are vague. For example, we never really learn why Condor must defeat Sphinx to become lord of crime. Sphinx wants the world, why wouldn't he just let Condor have New York? But all in all, we get some fun stories in Nova Classic Vol. 1.

Art:
The stories are good, but the art is where the book truly shines. John Buscema's pencils inked by Joe Sinnott looked great throughout the Bronze Age and their work here is no exception. After the 3rd issue, John was replaced by his brother Sal, who is inked by Tom Palmer and Frank Giacoia. One issue of Amazing Spider-Man is reprinted here, featuring legendary penciler Ross Andru inked by longtime Spidey inker Mike Esposito. In other words, several of the best Bronze Age artists work on this book and their pencils and inks are excellent.

How does it look?:
Very good. I haven't read all these stories in their original comic book format, but here's a scanned page from Nova #6:

This scan is borrowed from Lady,That's My Skull.

And here's the same image as reprinted in Nova Classic Vol. 1:

Extras:
In addition to the complete stories, we get an editorial from Wolfman that details the creation of Nova  (published in Nova #1). The last page of the tpb shows the process of the creation the cover for Nova #12, drawn by John Buscema.

The heroes battle Photon & agents of AIM.

Nova Classic Vol. 1 is a great introduction to the character for those who never read these stories.  Diehard fans of Nova who read these tales back in the 70s should still pick this up, since Nova's early adventures have looked this good. The stories are generally fun and the art here is excellent throughout the book.

J.A. Morris' rating:

.5


3 and a half Sals.