Nova #28 (HERE BE SPOILERS!)

Are we really supposed to believe that Thane is such an idiot that he thinks that the Guardians and the X-Men killed his followers, not Mr. Knife?  Really?  The problem is that you have to believe it if you're going to believe this issue.  After all, it revolves around Sam accidentally bringing the Black Vortex into J'Son's flying fortress, where Thane is waiting to get his hands on it.  (I was reminded why I stopped getting this series with this development, since Sam seems to be a Looney Tunes character given his ability to do exactly the wrong thing at exactly the wrong time.)  Now, we have a Vortex-ed Thane.  [Sigh.]

* (one of five stars)

New-ish Comics ("HERE BE SPOILERS!")

Nova #7:  So, Sam Alexander arrogantly assumes that he can solve the world's problems, but instead screws up everything he touches.  He calls an actor wearing a wig "she-male" and "weird" and implies that a director who wants to cast him in a movie is a pedophile.  He wants to save the world, but only if it's sexy, meaning that he only grudgingly helps fix the playground that he destroyed in the first place.  Yeah, I'm really inspired to follow this character.  Bye, "Nova." You're pretty much a disgrace to the name, but, thankfully, everyone'll forget you in a few years.  (How's that feel, Wacker, huh?  Pretty good, right?  You're against continuity, as you saw in the letters page, so I guess that means you want everyone to forget everything you've done so that future authors don't sacrifice the story.  "Steve Wacker?  No clue.  Did he work at Marvel?  Really?  Huh.  Must've not had an impact.  Hey, I have an idea:  let's make Otto Octavius Spider-Man.  No one's tried that!")

Superior Spider-Man #16:  Honestly, I’m not really sure what Otto or Slott are trying to do at this point.  Phil went on a crime spree and Spidey decided to stop him.  OK, fine.  But, why the vendetta?  Given his aggressive approach and new technology, Otto would’ve likely made pretty quick work of Phil, had he engaged him one-on-one.  Instead, he throws everything he has at him – revealing his secret identity to the public, deploying his Spider-Patrol to find him, etc.  I mean, it wasn’t like he was trying to stop Dr. Doom from blowing up New York; he was trying to stop a twenty-something kid from robbing a few more jewelry stores.  Sure, Peter has always subscribed to the "broken windows" approach to crime-fighting as a result of his accidental role in Uncle Ben's death; Otto himself acknowledges in his public announcement why catching a small fish is important, given Spidey's history.  But, we're not dealing with Peter.  We're dealing with Otto (who no longer even has Peter's memories, making his comments about Uncle Ben all the weirder.)  Phil seems pretty beneath him, given the scale that he feels befits him.  I'm not saying that he wouldn't have confronted Phil if he had crossed his path, but it seems unlikely that Otto -- who previously expressed disdain for stopping the random purse-snatching, even with Peter's nagging voice in his head -- would see Phil as a threat that merited the level of attention that he pays him here.  (Otto even acknowledges that Phil was a minor threat in his TV interview after Phil is rescued.)  It actually makes him look weak, as if he were scared of Phil.  Unfortunately, Slott gives no real reason for why Otto attacks Phil the way that he does here, leaving you scratching your head at the end.

Moreover, the ease with which Otto dispatches Phil means that this issue has absolutely no tension.  I mean, Phil doesn’t even have the chance to turn into Hobgoblin.  He barely manages to pull his sword.  You have no doubt that Spidey and his superior force are going to stop him.  The only part of this story that could've captured the reader would exploring Phil's emotional response to watching his life collapse in such a spectacular fashion.  But, Slott has crammed so much into this issue – Captain Watanabe and Carly going after the Spider-Patrol, Captain America calling to reprimand Spidey – that he spends no time on it.  We just get random images of Phil under pressure, thanks to Ramos, not Slott.  (Even Norah's firing barely gets more than a panel.)  This issue seems like a great example of the missed opportunities that we’re seeing lately on this title.  The days of using Otto’s predicament as a meditation on the difficult decisions that Peter Parker often had to make as Spider-Man are gone.  Now, we’re just left with color-by-number fights with no emotional depth whatsoever.  Do we really think that Otto isn't going to be able to use his resources to take down a second-rate Green Goblin?  (Also, on that note, I'm increasingly convinced the "Goblin King" is Vin.)  Even Carly's search for answers lacks excitement, since it seems unlikely that she's going to find a way to expose Otto that doesn't expose Peter's secret identity and that results in someone being able to act on that information?  This series is just getting worse and worse.

X-Factor #261:  For every one of "The End" issues that I like, I seem to have one that I don't.  This one is unfortunately in the latter category, though, given that it involves two of my least favorite characters, I guess I'm lucky that it was this one and not the Rictor/Shatterstar one.

Like the Rahne story, this story feels rushed, leaving you wonder what David could've done if he had more than one issue to tell it.  For example, Darwin admits here that he was misled about Tier bringing about the end of the world, seemingly blaming it on Hela's possession.  But, why would Hela possessing him make what he thought he knew about Tier wrong?  In fact, if mass death was involved in his previous vision, wouldn't he more likely be able to ascertain that Tier was a threat rather than less likely, given Hela's possession?  We never really get an answer to those questions, in part because we move onto the revelation that Darwin is in love with Monet.  I've read "X-Factor" long enough to find that assertion plausible, so it's not a complete non sequitur.  Moreover, it makes sense that this confession and its consequences come a time when both characters are searching for someone to make them feel again.  But, we have to move quickly off exploring what it all means and onto Hela.  David seems to imply that Darwin and Monet found what they wanted here, something that I'm happy to believe.  But, I'm still not sure why Darwin would pass up the chance to be cured of Hela's possession.  Does he think that Monet only loves him this way?  If so, I'd buy that, I guess, but David doesn't really get a chance to fully explore that possibility.

You'll notice at this point I've spoken mostly about Darwin.  Monet is really a ghost here, barely having an impact beyond as a foil for Darwin.  Now that she's returned from the dead, she seems to conveniently have dropped her opposition to it, shown previously when she dismissed Guido as a soulless monster and inadvertently set the stage for the Hell on Earth War.  It would've been interesting for David to explore that, maybe even set up a conversation with her and Guido where she might tell him that she understood how he felt now.  But, again, David didn't really have time for that.

In the end, this issue is fine in and of itself.  In fact, the problem with it is that David really has struck on something in playing Darwin and Monet off each other, so it's a disappointment when you consider how much David is forced to leave on the table when it comes to both characters.

X-Men #4:  The parts of this issue that focus on the X-Men are the best, with Wood doing an amazing job of invoking the yesteryear's X-Men, full of leadership battles and personal tension.  But, man, I am over Jubilee.  Honestly, she and Wolverine are almost both unrecognizable here, making me just grit and bear their panels until I returned to the main story.  I'm pretty sure I'm done with this series post-"Battle of the Atom."

Nova #6 (HERE BE SPOILERS!)

You know, I really want to like this series.  It’s had its moments, but, throughout this issue, I just kept feeling like I was reading a story that I've read 1,000 times already.  Teenage superhero can’t tell the girl that he likes that he’s a superhero.  Check.  Teenage superhero struggles to keep up his obligation to his family.  Check.  I know it’s unfair to compare Nova to Spider-Man, since everyone everywhere writing about a teenage superhero has to carry that baggage.  Maybe it’s because Wells is so used to writing about Spider-Man that he can’t help himself.  But, he doesn’t really seem to have his heart in trying to carve out Sam’s own experience here.  This issue just felt like a color-by-the-numbers effort and, given that Marvel is charging $3.99 for this title, I’m wondering if my money is better spent elsewhere.

Nova #5 (HERE BE SPOILERS!)

This issue doesn't have the most complicated story ever written, but Sam's confrontation with Titus follows a logical trajectory and wraps up this introductory arc pretty nicely.  Moreover, Loeb ditches two of the series' more forced sub-plots by having Sam's identity revealed to his mother and by confirming that Sam's father is alive.  Sam's quest for his father promises to be a pretty decent framing device for him learning about his powers, so I'll hang with this series for a few more issues at least.

Nova #4 (HERE BE SPOILERS!)

Meh.  This series is going off the rails pretty quickly for me.  This whole issue revolves around some pretty unbelievable exposition on the part of the bad guy, who conveniently tells Sam that he's managed to create an Ultimate Nullifier.  Then, when Sam shockingly manages to use his Nova powers to their fullest extent like a seasoned veteran (and not a distracted rookie) and steal the weapon, he proceeds to "hide" it in the trash can.  Yup.  I'm not sure how much longer I'm going to be here for this ride.  I know we're supposed to be wondering where Sam's dad is and why he decided to go after Titus in the first place, but I spent most of this issue just wishing that Richard would return.  Sad, but true.

Nova #3 (HERE BE SPOILERS!)

Meh.

My first problem with this issue is that Loeb relies on a pretty formulaic approach to Sam as he adjust to his newly discovered powers.  "I just went to the Moon!"  "I think I'm missing a math test!"  On some level, it's a necessary step, Sam adjusting to his new circumstances and wondering how they're going to complicate his daily life.  But, Loeb doesn't really put too much effort into doing anything unique with this story, giving us the same "teenager gains powers" story that we've all read a hundred times since "Amazing Fantasy" #15.

I could live with that, seeing it as a temporary bump in the road as we start to gather speed, but I can't say that I'm thrilled with other parts.  We still don't know how Sam's father became a member of the Nova Corps and why no one seemed to be aware that he had been one (since everyone thought that Richard Rider was the first human Nova).  We also don't know why he wasn't called to help the Nova Corps when it was destroyed (the first time), though I assume we're going to discover that he was off-line or something.  In fact, we still don't know what happened to him or why he was suddenly called when he was, though Rocket Raccoon acknowledging that whatever happened to him was his fault makes you think that he'd be a little less hard on the kid.  Finally, we don't seem to be getting to the point where we eventually need to be, namely, "Marvel Point One" #1, when Sam warns everyone about the coming of the Phoenix Force.  Instead, we spend time sending Sam against the Chitauri, which seems like an unnecessary movie distraction given that "Avengers 2" doesn't hit theaters until 2015.

Essentially, I could deal with weak characterization or a weak plot, but we seem to be getting both here.  Fingers crossed that Loeb is able to move past this awkward phase and start telling some better stories.

Nova #2 (HERE BE SPOILERS!)

I liked this comic.  It's a great example of everything that this sort of series should be.  You've got the hero getting mysterious hints of something happening outside his limited world, learning that his family has a secret history, and then finally expanding that limited world thanks to the lessons of the secret history and the discovery of an unexpected power.  Loeb grounds the story in an believably earnest character and starts to set up a strong supporting cast.  (How great was Rocket Raccoon here?)  Plus, McGuinness gives it all a sense of grandeur that only the high desert and deep space can inspire.

But, I have questions.

First, in terms of the story itself, we clearly need to learn why the Nova Corps suddenly called on Sam's dad after all these long years.  In fact, it really begs the question why he was allowed to be on a temporary hiatus in the first place, given that Rich could've used some help during that whole period where he thought the entire Nova Corps had been destroyed and he had to defend the galaxy by himself.  Given that we've already ret-conned the fact that Rich was the first Earth-based Nova, Loeb has to move a lot faster in answering these questions.

But, we really need to know about Rich.

No, seriously.  Wacker implied in the letter page of "Guardians of the Galaxy" #1 that Rich returned in this issue, but, unless he's also somehow Sam's dad, it clearly didn't seem to happen.  In this issue's letters page, he promises that we'll learn more, but it's not enough. I effing love Rich Rider.  "Nova" and the various "Annihilation" series are some of the best comics that I've ever read and I feel like we've somehow returned to the bad old days, where Rich is treated like a joke, rather than the good past days, where Rich is the guy who saves the whole effing galaxy while the Earth heroes were fighting over whether they should be forced to reveal their secret identities.  He deserves better than he's getting here and someone better acknowledge that soon.

I have questions and I want answers.  Until then, this series is going to be hard to enjoy, no matter how exciting and fun Loeb and McGuinness make it.

Nova #1 (HERE BE SPOILERS!)

Wow.

I didn't really know what I should expect here.  After all, I'm Team Rider all the way.  I'm remarkably annoyed that we still don't know if he's alive or dead, particularly given that it appears that Star-Lord has somehow survived getting trapped in the Cancerverse with Thanos at the end of the "Thanos Imperative."  But, I was willing to give this series a try, mainly in the hope that we'd see Rich return in its pages at some point.

But, man, Loeb and McGuinness make you almost forget about Rich immediately.  (Almost.)  I thought that it was brilliant of Loeb to take a page from "The Last Starfighter" and give us a 15-year-old boy living a life without a lot of prospects in Carefree, AZ.  Instead of focusing on high space adventure immediately, Loeb spends the issue showing us who Sam is.  You're quickly reminded that Loeb has spent time with a lot of teenage superheroes in his day, because he paints a pitch-perfect portrait of Sam, filling him with the type of angst-ridden embarrassment that only a teenager with an alcoholic father who also happens to be a janitor at his high school can muster.  But, to make matters worse, Sam's dad isn't just those things; he also tells stories about being the greatest Nova ever, stories that may entertain Sam's little sister but makes Sam all the more embarrassed.

But, when Gamora and Rocket Raccoon appear in his hospital room, maybe he's not so embarrassed.

Loeb is clearly going to have to address at some point how Sam's dad, Jesse, was a Nova 17 years ago, particularly since I'm pretty sure that we've previously been told that Rich was the first human Nova.  Moreover, I'm pretty sure Gamora and Rocket Raccoon weren't a team 17 years ago, so we probably have to address that at some point, too.  But, if Loeb can navigate those waters in a remotely believable way, I think we've got a hit on our hands here.

Loeb makes sure that we know that Sam has angst, but he also makes sure that we know that he's a good kid.  He takes care of his dad and worries about his little sister and just want some chances in life.  In other words, he's like Peter Parker without the genius.  You've got all the bones of a really great character her.

Moreover, Ed McGuinness is amazing in this issue.  Whether it's showing a Southwestern desert vista that emphasizes how isolated Sam feels or a deep space battle that displays his father's heroism, he manages not to lose emotion in the middle of the grandeur.

As I said, if the next few issues manage to deepen the story in a believable way, I'm going to be very, very happy with this book.