Writer: Jeff Loveness, Ramon Perez / Artist: Ramon Perez / Marvel Comics
[quote_simple]”This is a public service announcement
Sponsored by *The Nova Corps* and the good folks at *Marvel Comics*
Fellow *fan-girls/boys*, it is with the utmost pride and sincerity
That I present this issue, as a living testament and recollection
Of history in the makin’ durin’ our generation” -Just Blaze[/quote_simple]
Allow me to reintroduce this character, his name is Nov’ (uuuuuuuuh), N to the O V! *starts clapping like that under armor “we must protect this house” commercial.* Bring it in, y’all. I said bring it in, y’all. The real is back. I said the real is back. That OG space adventurer is back. I said that human Rocketman is back. *Shatner voice* the human Rock-It-Man is back. *Otis Redding scream* Richard Rider is back up in these funny pages but ain’t shit funny mother fuckaaaaaaaas.
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. The space man is back on Earth. For those catching up, Richard Rider appeared on his moms doorstep after being dead for damn near what, six years? (usual length for a status quo change is two). We saw Rich perish in the Cancerverse after facing off against Thanos. Peter Quill survived to tell the tale but it looks like we need a re-write. How did Richard survive? What is he doing here? How did he even get here? We can’t answer all that right now. [unless you rea Nova #11 from the previous volume] What we can say is that he’s back… but it looks like he may not be alone. Rich’s mom fills him on on the passing of his father. Then informs him on just who was the one to bring back his helmet straight fallen soldier in the line of duty style. That’d be the new god (no Jack Kirby) Sam Alexander himself.
We see Sam out helping Ego the living planet deal with an infestation (of sorts), flying back home for a quick breakfast before school, then arriving at school, taking off his helmet and realizing he wasn’t wearing any clothes underneath his Nova outfit. Loveness and Perez show Sam as being more experienced and confident in his adventures and at the same time becoming absent minded due to his heroes duties as well. Sam is so focused on hero work that he’s forgetting the obvious things. I loved this about the issue; it shows not only a maturity but a boost in the state quo for this Nova. We get a feeling that Sam is no longer a freshman at the hero game. He’s moved up into the late sophomore, maybe early junior year (since this is vol.3 for Sam) level of his hero career. I love when a creative team is able to show a humorous side to the characters naturally and we get a lot of that this issue as well.
We see Sam getting roasted for by his friend Blake and it’s obvious that Blake knows that he’s Nova. What’s unclear is whether the kids in the background around Blake and Sam discussing this as he attempts to talk to the new girl are aware of this as well or are background fodder. They react to what’s happening and what’s being said by Sam so if those are friends, Sam out here letting it fly that he’s Nova rather freely. Anyhow, we got Sam embarrassing himself in front of the new girl and trying to redeem himself. Now I remember Sam having a love interest from his first volume, I wasn’t around for the second so it seems dynamics and environment may have changed.
Regardless this creative team makes it work for this latest installment of world building for Sam. There’s a great thought caption of Sam speaking to himself incrediblyfastsothatthereaderhastocarefullylookwordbyword at the enjambment in order to understand what Sam is saying and how fast he is saying it. I’m a huge fan of that technique and we don’t get to see it done often enough as a character trait. There was so much comedy condensed into those captions that it draws you into the comic more.
Perez shows a lot of flexibility with his art this issue as well. Perez gives us a style that’s layered but looks so rough, gritty and sketch underneath the surface of that beauty; it reminds me of Skottie Young’s art from New X-Men. I loved that type of smooth but rugged hint of sketches to the art. Then we get the cartoonish art of Sam day dreaming. That was very playful, cute, and visual pleasing to the eye as the reader is aware of the ludicrous fantasy world we’ve entered. Perez shines in the crashing the reality he’s drawn combined with Richard Rider’s vision from the Cancerverse as well.
This issue was very fun. I’m glad I picked it up and am looking forward to Sam Alexander meeting the original Nova. Sam is a legacy character for Richard but in a sense he’s also his own character as he inherited his helmet from Black Ops Novas which were more elite than the corps Rider was apart of. It’ll be exciting to see these ranking dynamics play out as well as the gap in experience between the two.
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