Nova Classic Vol. 3

Reprints Nova #20-25, Fantastic Four #204-206, 208-214
Written by Marv Wolfman.
Penciled by Carmine Infantino, John Buscema, Keith Pollard, Sal Buscema and John Byrne.
Inked by Dave Hunt, Steve Leialoha, Mike Esposito, Klaus Janson, Joe Sinnott, Bob McLeod and D.Hands.

Summary:
Richard Rider's father Charles is in a tight spot. He recently lost his job and was forced to borrow money from a shady organization called the Inner Circle. Charles turns state's evidence and will testify against the Circle. But he decides to go to the Inner Circle and tell them off first. Richard changes to Nova and follows his father. Unbeknownst to Nova, his younger brother Robert is following him.  Robert has built a Sherlock Holmes robot because he believes Richard is hiding something and has the robot tail his older brother.

The Corruptor returns.

It turns out that the leader of the Inner Circle is Nova's old foe, the Corruptor. Nova finds the Inner Circle's hideout and beats them up. When he unmasks one of them, he's shocked to find it's Charles Rider. Robert walks in, sees this, and accuses Nova of attacking Richard. This leads to Nova unmasking and revealing his identity to his family.

Elsewhere, Richard's high school classmate Mike Burley finds an old man who is very sick. When the man is taken to the hospital, the x-ray machine has a surprising impact on him. It restores the superpowers he once wielded as the 1950s hero know as the Comet! He can fly with the speed of a comet and shoot energy blasts from his fingers.

The villain Diamonhead resurfaces in New York. Nova tries to stop him but winds up unconscious.  Comet arrives and helps Nova recover. The older hero will team up with Nova and act as a mentor of sorts to Richard.

Comet helps Nova deal with Diamondhead.

Crimebuster returns, too, and we learn that Comet is his father. Until their reunion, Comet thought his entire family had been killed in a bombing.

After another fight with Diamondhead, Nova is transported to the Xandarian spaceship that gave him his powers. He is the prisoner of Doctor Sun, a brain connected to a computer network, contained in an android body. Doctor Sun believes the Xandarian technology is his key to immortality.

Doctor Sun reflects on his confrontation with Dracula;
Nova goes after Sun.

Unbeknownst to anyone, Nova's old villain the Sphinx is on the spaceship as well. He tells Sun that immortality is a curse and that he, the Sphinx, wants to die. He believes that only the planet Xandar can provide the knowledge that can end his life.

Comet, Crimebuster and Powerhouse (who reluctantly battled Nova in the past) join the others on board the ship. We learn that Powerhouse is a native of Xandar. And Diamondhead has sneaked on the ship too!

But shortly after they begin their journey, they are attacked by a fleet of skrull ships.

In a short time, they will be aided by the Fantastic Four in a war against the Skrull Empire.

Plus, the Sphinx gains the powers of a god and battles Galactus!

Review:
Nova Classic Vol. 3 collects the final six issues of Nova's original solo series and these stories show why the series was cancelled after 25 issues.

Story:
Marv Wolfman doesn't seem to know what to do with this series and tries a different direction every 20 pages or so. He brings in Comet to be a mentor to Nova. Wolfman has Nova unmask in front of his family. Nova becomes part of team fighting in outer space. Unfortunately, none of the "directions" add up to much.

The Champions of Xandar team with the Fantastic Four against Sphinx.

The revelation that Crimebuster is Comet's son feels more random than dramatic. And neither character is developed enough for the reader to care about them very much.

So Nova's series ends with a whimper.

The second half of the book is very good. It focuses on the Fantastic Four rather than Nova. But it features the skrull attack on Xandar, so I guess it makes sense to include it in this tpb.

Prime Thoran shows the FF Xandar's living computer.

All but one of these FF stories was also reprinted in Fantastic Four: In Search Of Galactus, which I reviewed the other day, so I won't go into detail again. Click here for my take on the FF stories.

The Fantastic Four & Herbie battle Terrax.

In any event, the FF portion of the book is better than the Nova stories.

We don't get to see the ending of the Xandar/Skrull war. It didn't end until Rom #24, published about a a year and a half after the last issue reprinted in this tpb. But Marvel doesn't currently own the rights to Rom the Spaceknight, so all we get is a text recap of how the war ended. Talk about an anti-climax!

Art:
Carmine Infantino pencils five of the six Nova stories that are reprinted in this tpb. His art is okay, except for the last issue. Infantino is inked by Klaus Janson in that last issue and their art looks very slapdash and sloppy. They were two of my favorite Bronze Age artists, but they don't make for a good combination in this book.

Nova, Comet & Sphinx defend their ship from a Skrull attack.

John Buscema, who penciled Nova's early issues, draws one issue here and his art is good as usual. He's inked Bob McCleod and Joe Rubinstein and they do a fine job.

The Fantastic Four stories were penciled by Keith Pollard, Sal Buscema and John Byrne with inks by Joe Sinnott. Their art is excellent.

How Does It Look?:
Here's a scan from the last page of Nova #23, borrowed from SuperMegaMonkey:

Here's how the same page looks in Nova Classic Vol. 3:

Extras:
Nova Classic Vol. 3 gives us entries from the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe for Nova, Sphinx, Corruptor, and the Champions of Xandar. It closes with several pages of original art. It also contains a three-page story published in What If #36 where Richard returned to Earth and recaps his battles with the skrulls.

While the first six issues reprinted in Nova Classic Vol. 3 aren't very good, the inclusion of the Fantastic Four stories makes it worth picking up. But if you already own Fantastic Four: In Search Of Galactus, you may not feel the need to get this tpb just for the Nova stories, unless you're a Nova completist. The FF stories bump it up from a 2-Sal review.

J.A. Morris' review:

3 Sals.

Nova Classic Vol. 2

 

Reprints Nova #13-19, Defenders #62-64, Fantastic Four Annual #12 and Marvel Two-In-One Annual #3

Written by Marv Wolfman and David Anthony Kraft.

Penciled by Sal Buscema, Carmine Infantino, Bob Hall, Keith Pollard and Don Perlin.

Inked by Joe Sinnott, Dick Giordano, Tom Palmer, Bob Wiacek, Jim Mooney, Don Perlin, Frank Giacoia, Dave Hunt and Bruce Patterson.

Summary:

Richard Rider is in a bank withdrawing some money. Suddenly, a robbery occurs, led by the Sandman!  Richard is in street clothes and can't turn into Nova. Thankfully, a new crimefighter, the Crimebuster goes after the villain.

Nova & Crimebuster foil a robbery attempt by the Sandman.

They take out his henchmen and lock Sandman in a bank vault. But he turns to sand and gets away.  When Sandman gets to his hotel room, he has a visitor waiting for him. The man claims to be a psychologist and says that Sandman's problems are all in his head.  

Then he uses a device called the encephalogrammer to take control of Sandman's mind.    

Nova stops a kidnapping near the United Nations headquarters. He learns that the target was a Dr. T'Kora, a nuclear scientist from Wakanda. Sandman shows up and captures Nova and T'kora. Nova is able to beat Sandman, but learns later that the brain behind the scheme is the villain know as Yellow Claw! Nick Fury and his SHIELD agents team up with Nova to fight Yellow Claw.  

In addition to T'Kora, Yellow Claw has captured another nuclear scientist, Samuel Burley. The villain wants them to use their knowledge to create a tidal wave that will destroy New York City! It ends with Nova in hand-to-hand combat with Yellow Claw.

Nova battles Yellow Claw & tries to save New York from a tidal wave.

Sometime later, Nova is flying around New York and notices the sky is getting dark in the daytime. He gets zapped by a ray of some kind. It's the work of a criminal named Blackout. After a brief fight, Blackout encases Nova in solid black light, then takes off.  

Nova comes face to face with Blackout, winds up imprisoned in solid light.

Through a flashback, we learn that Blackout was a criminal named Marcus Daniels. He volunteered to be a test subject in exchange for the government dropping charges against him. The experiment was an attempt to harness "the power of the black star", but it resulted in Daniels gaining superpowers.  Blackout uses those powers to kill the scientists when they fail to cure his condition.  

Nova goes after Blackout and they fight to the finish on top of a skyscraper!

Later, Dollar Bill, an aspiring filmmaker and friend of the Defenders, has made a documentary about the non-team of superheroes. The documentary is shown on a local tv station. In the film, Dollar Bill reveals the location of the Defenders' unofficial headquarters and says that since the Defenders have no formal rules or roster, anyone can join. This angers the team, since their existence is otherwise unknown to the general public. Nighthawk is especially angry at Dollar Bill, since the Defenders' HQ is also his home!

The next morning, more than a dozen superheroes, including Nova, knock on the Defenders' door.  Since the Defenders roster is more or less open, all the heroes now claim to be Defenders. Nighthawk is furious and his anger leads to various skirmishes among the heroes.  

Nova & Marvel Man play "cowboy";
Nighthawk chases the Falcon.

But they come to their senses when they hear that New York is under attack from dozens of villains who also claim to be Defenders! The Defenders and "neo-Defenders" come to their senses and unite to stop the villains.  

Lastly, Nova encounters a gigantic green humanoid standing on a street in New York. A flying saucer appears next to him and starts drilling in to the ground. Nova attacks the giant, but is no match for him.  Realizing he's outclassed, Nova heads to the Baxter Building, home of the Fantastic Four, to seek help.  The Thing joins Nova and they go after the giant. Similar "drilling" attacks are occurring in major cities all over the world.

The Monitors go on a rampage in Tokyo.

An alien woman arrives and explains the scenario to the Ben and Nova. Her name is Milandra and she says the giants attacking Earth are aliens known as the Monitors. They visit planets throughout the universe to test the worlds to see if they "are fit to survive!" The Thing and Nova will need Milandra's help if they want to save Earth from the Monitors.

Plus, Nova's enemy the Sphinx battles the Fantastic Four and the Inhumans!

Review:

Nova Classic Vol. 2 isn't a bad book, but it's a step down from the previous volume.

Story:

Nova's creator, Marv Wolfman, writes all the Nova solo stories in this tpb. It starts off with a bang, with Nova and Crimebuster stopping bank robbers. Nova's battle with the Sandman is an exciting story.  Sandman has and long been one of my favorite characters and Wolfman writes him well here. The presence of the Crimebuster makes things a bit more fun. I enjoyed his interaction with Nova, as they're both still learning how to be superheroes.  

But the next part of the book is where things go a bit wrong. The Yellow Claw three-parter isn't very compelling. I just didn't care much about Mike Burley or his brother, or Yellow Claw's plan to destroy New York.  

For that matter, Yellow Claw himself is problematic at best. He's a product of the "Yellow Peril" stereotypes found in Western Culture during much of the 20th century. But beyond that, I just don't think he's a very interesting villain. And the Yellow Claw story takes up 53 pages of the book (more than that if you count his shadowy "behind the scenes" appearances).  

Things pick up a bit with the Blackout story. I've always thought his powers were pretty cool, and he battled the Avengers a few times in the 1980s. Blackout also recently appeared in an episode of Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., so Wolfman deserves credit for creating a villain with staying power.  

Nova & Fury prepare to battle Yellow Claw's minions.

The Sphinx/Fantastic Four battle really has no business being in this tpb. Nova only appears in one panel during Sphinx's flashback and this story doesn't directly tie in to Nova's series beyond that.  Wolfman also wrote the Fantastic Four's series at the time and I'm guessing he wanted to tie his titles together, but it just feels like filler in this book. I reviewed the story in an earlier review when it was published in Fantastic Four: Reunited They Stand, so read that review for more details about the story.

The Defenders issues also have very little to do with Nova. He just briefly appears as one of the many superheroes who show up to be a "Defender For A Day",  but it's a fun story. David Anthony Kraft writes great scenes of (mostly) B-level heroes bickering and sometimes brawling with one another.  Plus, we get to see the Hulk learn how to throw a frisbee! I'll admit that I'm biased, since Defenders was one of my favorite series of the Bronze Age. 

The final story, from Marvel Two-In-One Annual #3, also written by Wolfman, isn't that great either.  The Monitors are generic aliens and Milandra isn't particularly interesting. But I enjoyed the interaction between Nova and the Thing. Wolfman wrote the Fantastic Four in the late-70s and always had a good grasp of Ben Grimm's character. I think it would've worked better as a regular issue of Marvel Two-In-One, rather than an "annual-length" story.  

Art:

Sal Buscema pencils the first few issues reprinted here, delivering his usual high quality Bronze Age work. Carmine Infantino takes over after that and I don't have a problem with Infantino's art here. It reminds of his pencils in Star Wars, but Buscema and Infantino had such different styles at the time that the change is quite jarring.    

Buscema also penciled the stories from Defenders and Marvel Two-In-One Annual. He's inked by several different inkers. Some inkers work better than others with Sal's pencils here, but Buscema gives us plenty of entertaining fight scenes.  

Nova is attacked by Spider-Man, Hulk & Iron Man...
or are they robot versions of the heroes?

Keith Pollard and Bob Hall penciled the story reprinted from Fantastic Four Annual #12, with inks by Bob Wiacek. Their art is okay, not great but not terrible either.

How Does It Look?:

Here's a scan from a copy of Nova #16, courtesy of supermegamonkey:

And here's how it looks in the tpb:

Extras:

Several pages of original art.

Nova Classic Vol. 2 is a bit of a disappointment, since the first volume was a lot of fun. But the solid art from Sal Buscema makes up for some of the lackluster stories. I'm a huge fan of the Defenders, which earns this tpb a half-Sal more than I would've otherwise given. But if you're not a Defenders fan, you probably won't enjoy this tpb. 

J.A. Morris' rating:   

 .5                

2 and a half Sals.

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.