Nova #1 (of 4)

Writers: Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning
Penciler: Kev Walker
Inker: Rick Magyar
Colorist: Brian Reber


Following events in the Annihilation Prologue, Richard Ryder (a.k.a. Nova) is now the last remaining member of the once mighty Nova Corps. His task now is to absorb the Xandarian Worldmind, keeper of all Xandarian knowledge and regulator of the Nova Force, which gives the Nova Corps members their powers, and transport it to a safe location where it can rebuild itself. But the last person to absorb the entire Nova Force was driven insane. Can Richard Ryder overcome his grief and help protect the Xandarian legacy or will he give in to the overwhelming power of the Nova Force and be destroyed?

Like I said in my review for the Annihilation Prologue, it’s hard to pass up any story where Nova’s involved. Nova is one of my all time favorite characters and has been ever since I first read about him in the pages of the original New Warriors series. I’m not sure what attracts me to the character. Maybe it’s the fact that he’s like a low-rent Green Lantern. I have always had a soft spot for underdog characters like that. Plus, he has one of the greatest costumes in all of comics! Okay, okay, now everyone knows I like Nova. What about the comic itself?

While I’m not terribly interested in Annihilation itself or any of the other mini’s that are part of this event, I was pretty impressed by this issue. Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning have always had a knack for awesome sci-fi stories with a dark twist and a bit of sarcastic humor. It’s why I loved their version of the Legion of Superheroes so much. And boy do they ever deliver in this story, taking Nova from a hopeless situation and somehow making it worse, while ramping up the action to amazing levels. Having Kev Walker on art chores doesn’t hurt either. I’m a big fan of this guy and I’m glad to see his work again after so long. I think the last comic I saw his art in was an issue of, perhaps not coincidentally, Abnett and Lanning’s Legion series. It’s gorgeous stuff, really.

If I had one gripe about this first issue, it’s that Nova gets a new costume… again! They’ve tried and tried and tried so many times to move him away from his original duds and into something a little more “modern” but he always ends up back the way he started every time. You can’t mess with success, people! I have to admit, the new costume actually makes sense in the context of the story and it’s actually one of the better updates I’ve seen. But that doesn’t mean I’ll be happy if he stays that way! Oh, dammit, who am I kidding? I can’t stay mad at you, Nova.

Special thanks go out to Jeremy Shorr, owner of Titan Comics for allowing us to use his advance preview books for review purposes.

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