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.

Fantastic Four: In Search Of Galactus

Reprints Fantastic Four #204-214
Written by Marv Wolfman.
Penciled by Keith Pollard, Sal Buscema, John Byrne and Diverse Hands.
Inked by Joe Sinnott and Diverse Hands.

Variant cover.

Summary:

The Fantastic Four are in the Baxter Building, relaxing after a recent battle, but Reed Richards is worried because he has discovered someone is siphoning power from the FF's computer into space.

Suddenly, a woman beams into the building, followed by a skrull! This skrull calls himself Skrull X. He has super powers and is a handful for the FF. Reed zaps him with a stasis ray, ending the fight. 

They learn that the woman is Queen Adora of the planet Xandar. She fled her homeworld when it was attacked by the skrulls. Adora came to Earth seeking the aid of the Fantastic Four. Without assistance, Xandar and its people will be destroyed by the Skrulls. The team meets and decides to help free Xandar.  

But Johnny Storm, the Human Torch declines. He says he needs to return to college and take a leave of absence from the FF. Coincidentally, Johnny receives a recruitment letter from Security University, a college designed to provide privacy for the "wealthy and famous." But strange things are happening at the university. We learn that, behind the scenes, Security U. is run by the Fantastic Four's old foe, the Monocle. He's working with a mysterious criminal organization called the Enclave and Security is a front that will help them take revenge on the Torch and his teammates.  

Peter Parker shows up on campus, doing undercover reporting for the Daily Globe. Parker observes Security's students, including Johnny, attack a military base. He goes into action as Spider-Man and is attacked by the Torch. If Spider-Man wants to bring the Monocle to justice, he'll have to free the Human Torch from hypnosis, or go through him.

Meanwhile, in outer space, the Fantastic Four arrive on Xandar and find it under attack by the skrulls.  The FF join the battle, they seem to be gaining the upper hand, when they're zapped by the skrull's stun ray. They are captured and skrull emperor Dorrek says they will be tried for treason against the Skrull Empire.

 

During the trial, Reed tries to reason with the judge and is gunned down. Ben and Sue get the same treatment. But they're not dead and they escape from their jail cell and escape to Xandar. Dorrek lets them escape, saying the FF will be dead in a few days. They were shot with a ray that will make them die of old age. Plus, their ship is set to explode.  

When it explodes, they are rescued by the Champions of Xandar, led by Nova. They are traveling with the Sphinx (who previously battled the FF), who suddenly disappears.  

Sphinx reaches the computers of Xandar, which make him a virtual god. The universe will not be safe until the Sphinx is defeated. Sphinx is angry at Earth for the way its people treated him, so he vows to destroy the planet. 

The Sphinx attains near godhood.

So Reed gets an idea. He will recruit Galactus, devourer of worlds, to stop the Sphinx. Galactus agrees, but only if the FF can find a new herald for him.

The FF try to get Galactus' attention;
Nice artwork from John Byrne & Joe Sinnott.

The heroes find Tyros the Terrible and bring him before Galactus. The Big G turns Tyros into Terrax The Tamer. As Galactus' herald, Terrax has the power to fly through space and create earthquakes with his cosmic battleaxe. Galactus follows through on his agreement and goes to Egypt to battle the Sphinx.

Can Galactus save Earth from the Sphinx? If so, will Galactus then devour Earth? Will the Fantastic Four die of old age? 

Plus, Reed creates a new "ally" for the FF: Herbie the robot!

Review:

This is a very good, epic-length story that could have been an all-time great saga, if not for...well, see below. But it still contains a good story and even better art.  

Story:

Marv Wolfman wrote every issue reprinted here, and it's good from cover-to-cover. You're never in doubt that the FF will survive the aging ray, but it's always entertaining. The battle between Galactus and Sphinx is the high point of this book. 

The Human Torch/Spider-Man vs. Monocle portion has nothing to do with the main storyline, other than serving as an excuse for the Torch to be absent, but it's a fun side story. Spidey and the Torch were always a good duo. It feels more like a Marvel Team-Up story than an FF tale, but that's okay.

The FF challenge Tyros the Terrible.

The Sphinx's flashback was good, and his battle with Galactus was a good fight, even if it was one-sided. The Fantastic Four interacted nicely with Nova and the Champions of Xandar. That makes sense, since Wolfman was writing both series at the time.

Sphinx looks back on life & origin.

Speaking of Galactus, it seems like every Fantastic Four scribe took a shot a writing a story that featured "The Big G", as the Torch calls him. Wolfman does a good job with Galactus, reminding us that he's not a "villain", but an entity that is above simple good and evil. Terrax/Tyros is a Wolfman creation and he went on to menace the FF for years after this story.  

Galactus gets a new herald, transforming Tyros into Terrax.

Wolfman found a clever way to introduce Herbie the robot.  For those too young to recall, Herbie took the Torch's place in the FF when the Fantastic Four cartoon aired in 1978-79. Another company owned the rights to the Human Torch, which is why Herbie was created. In the panel below, Wolfman provides  a sly explanation for why Johnny Storm didn't appear in the cartoon:

Reed creates Herbie.

But In Search Of Galactus has some problems.  

First off, I've never been crazy about the skrulls as primary villains. The skrulls rarely use their shape-shifting powers here, which makes them just generic aliens with guns.  

Skrull X is the only skrull who uses shape-shifting abilities. He has other powers and even mimics the Human Torch's power. He tells Johnny, "like the Super-Skrull, I have been given the ability to dulplicate the powers of the Fantastic Four." So why didn't Wolfman just bring back Super-Skrull?  Skrull X has an unimaginative name and he just feels like a "poor man's Super-Skrull."

Skrull X attacks the Torch.

The Skrull-Xandar conflict is dominant for the first 160 pages of the book. Then Wolfman drops it in favor of the Galactus/Terrax/Sphinx story. We get a few token mentions about Xandar after that, but we never learn how/if they survive the Skrull's attack. 

And there's a bit of a continuity error. At the end of one issue, Sphinx disappears from his ship. But when the story resumes, Sphinx is still present.  

It's still a good story, but it could have been even better if Wolfman had tied up some of the plots and subplots.

Art:

The art here is excellent, with one exception. The portion reprinted from Fantastic Four #208 is credited to "D.Hands", meaning "diverse hands" served as inkers.  

Other than that, we get gorgeous pencils from Keith Pollard, Sal Buscema and John Byrne, all inked by Joe Sinnott. Here's a great two-page spread from Byrne and Sinnott:

How does it look?:

  Here's a scan from Fantastic Four #205:

And here's how it looks in the book:

Fantastic Four: In Search Of Galactus is a fun romp through space with art from some of the Bronze Age's finest pencilers and inkers. It's recommended, but the unfinished plot threads keep me from giving it my highest rating.

J.A. Morris' rating:

.5

3 and a half 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.