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Nova (1976) #1-25
Essential Nova, Vol. 1
Before New Warriors, Nova was one of the 70s' most scintillating stars and it shows! Be it murder mystery or cosmic clash, the Human Rocket rises to the occasion! Historic heroes! Futuristic Fiends! War with the Skrulls! Special guest-appearances by Spider-Man, the Thing and... Moses!?
Collecting: Nova 1-25, Amazing Spider-Man 171, Marvel Two-In-One Annual 3
Collecting: Nova 1-25, Amazing Spider-Man 171, Marvel Two-In-One Annual 3
392 pages, Paperback
First published May 1, 1971
5 people are currently reading
75 people want to read
About the author
Marv Wolfman
2,303 books306 followersMarvin A. "Marv" Wolfman is an award-winning American comic book writer. He is best known for lengthy runs on The Tomb of Dracula, creating Blade for Marvel Comics, and The New Teen Titans for DC Comics.
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Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews
April 13, 2021
I enjoyed the stories of a fresh new hero way back when they came out. Nova was always a great action packed comic. Very nice collection of these early stories. Recommended
August 30, 2019
Sono tutte storie che lessi già diversi anni fa sulle edizioni Corno (in particolare la mitica testata "Gli Eterni").
Rilette in b/n, anni dopo, hanno un altro sapore. Intanto salta subito all'occhio come Nova sia stato creato con la speranza che fosse il nuovo Uomo Ragno. Questo è un tentativo che la Marvel ha effettuato diverse volte, praticamente ogni lustro. I punti in comune nelle origini sono molti: entrambi liceali bullizzati, con famiglie problematiche, acquistano super poteri che, nel caso di Nova, ricalcano l'origine di un personaggio della Distinta Concorrenza (lanterna verde Hal Jordan). Entrambi hanno una vita sociale già non semplice, messa in difficoltà dai superpoteri. Entrambi hanno nemici abbastanza "weird". Il taglio verso la fantascienza invece che verso storie urbane, a metà anni '70, riflette anche il fatto che nella società americana, dopo la sconfitta e fuga dal Viet-Nam, la voglia di evasione (SF è una classica forma di evasione) è enorme e si vede sia nel cinema (Star Wars è del 1977 mentre Nova esce nel 1976) sia nella letteratura.
Come tentativo di creare un nuovo fenomeno tipo Uomo Ragno questa testata è stata, ovviamente, un fallimento. 25 albi, due anni di storie, più un paio di cross-over con Uomo Ragno e la Cosa dei Fantastici 4 è quanto prodotto all'epoca, e raccolto in questo volume.
Il personaggio, in se, non è privo di interesse e possibilità, tanto che fu meglio sviluppato a inizio anni '90 con i New Warriors.
Le storie di questo Essential non erano granché come trama, già per quegli anni soffrivano di una certa vena naif. Wolfman non è riuscito a creare un avversario valido fino a quando non ha recuperato il Dr. Sun, una sua vecchia creazione da Tomb of Dracula. Per il resto sono storie abbastanza buffe e dimenticabili.
Ai disegni, dopo i primi 2 numeri di John Buscema e Joe Sinnot, abbiamo una annata di Sal Buscema inchiostrato da Sinnot o Palmer, quindi la parte grafica è mediamente buona. La seconda annata vede Carmine Infantino ai disegni, con inchiostratori vari, e lo stile cambia completamente, cerca di essere maggiormente dinamico, c'è un maggior uso di retini che nel b/n spiccano. In particolare nella saga con Nick Fury contro l'Artiglio Giallo vi sono chiari riferimenti e omaggi al lavoro rivoluzionario di Steranko, più nelle pose dei personaggi che nell'impostazione psichedelica delle tavole.
La lettura è stata veloce, ma solo perché conoscevo già le storie. Infatti soffrono di una eccessiva verbosità, specialmente nell'uso di troppe didascalie, che si possono tranquillamente saltare nella maggior parte dei casi. Le storie migliori in realtà sono le ultime, quando inizia il viaggio nello spazio verso Xandar, con praticamente tutti i personaggi coinvolti e la famiglia di Nova a casa che non sa che fine ha fatto il figlio.
Purtroppo, con la chiusura della serie, la storia è proseguita all'interno di Fantastici 4, all'epoca scritta sempre da Wolfman, e poi in Rom. Tutti albi ovviamente non raccolti in questo volume.
Come giudizio sono 2 stelle.
Rilette in b/n, anni dopo, hanno un altro sapore. Intanto salta subito all'occhio come Nova sia stato creato con la speranza che fosse il nuovo Uomo Ragno. Questo è un tentativo che la Marvel ha effettuato diverse volte, praticamente ogni lustro. I punti in comune nelle origini sono molti: entrambi liceali bullizzati, con famiglie problematiche, acquistano super poteri che, nel caso di Nova, ricalcano l'origine di un personaggio della Distinta Concorrenza (lanterna verde Hal Jordan). Entrambi hanno una vita sociale già non semplice, messa in difficoltà dai superpoteri. Entrambi hanno nemici abbastanza "weird". Il taglio verso la fantascienza invece che verso storie urbane, a metà anni '70, riflette anche il fatto che nella società americana, dopo la sconfitta e fuga dal Viet-Nam, la voglia di evasione (SF è una classica forma di evasione) è enorme e si vede sia nel cinema (Star Wars è del 1977 mentre Nova esce nel 1976) sia nella letteratura.
Come tentativo di creare un nuovo fenomeno tipo Uomo Ragno questa testata è stata, ovviamente, un fallimento. 25 albi, due anni di storie, più un paio di cross-over con Uomo Ragno e la Cosa dei Fantastici 4 è quanto prodotto all'epoca, e raccolto in questo volume.
Il personaggio, in se, non è privo di interesse e possibilità, tanto che fu meglio sviluppato a inizio anni '90 con i New Warriors.
Le storie di questo Essential non erano granché come trama, già per quegli anni soffrivano di una certa vena naif. Wolfman non è riuscito a creare un avversario valido fino a quando non ha recuperato il Dr. Sun, una sua vecchia creazione da Tomb of Dracula. Per il resto sono storie abbastanza buffe e dimenticabili.
Ai disegni, dopo i primi 2 numeri di John Buscema e Joe Sinnot, abbiamo una annata di Sal Buscema inchiostrato da Sinnot o Palmer, quindi la parte grafica è mediamente buona. La seconda annata vede Carmine Infantino ai disegni, con inchiostratori vari, e lo stile cambia completamente, cerca di essere maggiormente dinamico, c'è un maggior uso di retini che nel b/n spiccano. In particolare nella saga con Nick Fury contro l'Artiglio Giallo vi sono chiari riferimenti e omaggi al lavoro rivoluzionario di Steranko, più nelle pose dei personaggi che nell'impostazione psichedelica delle tavole.
La lettura è stata veloce, ma solo perché conoscevo già le storie. Infatti soffrono di una eccessiva verbosità, specialmente nell'uso di troppe didascalie, che si possono tranquillamente saltare nella maggior parte dei casi. Le storie migliori in realtà sono le ultime, quando inizia il viaggio nello spazio verso Xandar, con praticamente tutti i personaggi coinvolti e la famiglia di Nova a casa che non sa che fine ha fatto il figlio.
Purtroppo, con la chiusura della serie, la storia è proseguita all'interno di Fantastici 4, all'epoca scritta sempre da Wolfman, e poi in Rom. Tutti albi ovviamente non raccolti in questo volume.
Come giudizio sono 2 stelle.
June 19, 2024
This was about what I expected. A young hero given powers he didn't ask for and then finds himself forced to cope with both his new powers and all the problems of his usual teenage life. (Think Spiderman.)
Art was decent, story wasn't bad but didn't really stand out. Overall a good series, but not really a stand out. I'm more familiar with the character from his time in the New Warriors and his more recent stories in the cosmic Marvel universe.
This is worth a read if you've ever been curious about the character's early stories.
Art was decent, story wasn't bad but didn't really stand out. Overall a good series, but not really a stand out. I'm more familiar with the character from his time in the New Warriors and his more recent stories in the cosmic Marvel universe.
This is worth a read if you've ever been curious about the character's early stories.
April 24, 2016
This volume collects #1–25, Amazing Spider-Man #171 and Marvel Two-in-One Annual #3, written by Marv Wolfman (with the exception of A S-M) and pencilled by John Buscema (#1–2 & 21), Sal Buscema (#3–14 & M T-i-O), Ross Andru (A S-M) and Carmine Infantino (#15–20, 22–25).
It introduces the 70s superhero Nova, that is young Richard Rider turned into a cosmic powered hero in a fashion that borrows from DC's Green Lantern tradition while being infused with the teenage angst of Marvel's own Spider-Man. As such, the series is successful and a fun read.
The reader is introduced to a host of villains, like Powerhouse, the Condor, Diamondhead, the Sphinx, Black Light and many others; and also features guest appearances by Thor, Spider-Man, Nick Fury and S.H.I.E.L.D., and even the villain Dr. Sun from Wolfman's Tomb of Dracula.
The volume contains the entire run of the first Nova series, originally published between 1976 and 1979.
It introduces the 70s superhero Nova, that is young Richard Rider turned into a cosmic powered hero in a fashion that borrows from DC's Green Lantern tradition while being infused with the teenage angst of Marvel's own Spider-Man. As such, the series is successful and a fun read.
The reader is introduced to a host of villains, like Powerhouse, the Condor, Diamondhead, the Sphinx, Black Light and many others; and also features guest appearances by Thor, Spider-Man, Nick Fury and S.H.I.E.L.D., and even the villain Dr. Sun from Wolfman's Tomb of Dracula.
The volume contains the entire run of the first Nova series, originally published between 1976 and 1979.
November 21, 2023
2.5
A bit of a mess. At times, it seemed as though they were just throwing things at this story to see what would stick. It wasn't all horrible or anything, just busy and frantic.
All in all, it's pretty average but not necessarily the kind of average I want to read again.
A bit of a mess. At times, it seemed as though they were just throwing things at this story to see what would stick. It wasn't all horrible or anything, just busy and frantic.
All in all, it's pretty average but not necessarily the kind of average I want to read again.
November 27, 2013
As many others have commented, this was originally published in the mid/ late 1970's, and is decent enough for that era. I like the character very much, but over the course of the stories Richard Rider is nothing more than a poor mans Peter Parker. The adventures are pretty simplistic, and a steady stream of new villains are introduced to give Nova purpose. I enjoyed the later art a lot less than the beginning of the series too.
When all is said and done, it's comic book fast food. Fine while reading it, but quickly forgotten when something tastier appears.
When all is said and done, it's comic book fast food. Fine while reading it, but quickly forgotten when something tastier appears.
March 29, 2022
‘In the Marvellous tradition of Spider-Man’ is the proclamation emblazoned on the first issue of Nova which hit the world in 1976. Meant to entice, this advertising jargon put me off, I recall. There were ‘Italian Style’ pizzas in the shops which were made in Germany and ‘in the tradition’ sounded like con man talk for ‘rip off of’. Happily, it wasn’t. Although Richard Rider was a high school kid like Spider-Man there were minor differences. He had a mother, father and kid brother at home. The school bully was tougher and smarter than him because he was both weedy and dumb. Peter Parker has been weedy and clever, thus appealing to geeks. Perhaps Richard Rider was meant to appeal to the completely disadvantaged. Furthermore, his origin was in the tradition of Green Lantern, not Spider-Man, as he was bequeathed his powers by a dying alien, one Centurion Nova-Prime who pursued the monstrous Zorr across the galaxy.
The monstrous Zorr vanishes mysteriously at the end of the first issue and Nova has to contend with some minor villains. Condor is a winged muscleman and scientist who has somehow enslaved the energy draining Powerhouse to his will. Later Diamondhead joins the fray and they are all in fear of someone they call ‘The Dreaded One’. Clearly writer Marv Wolfman was building up the suspense for the unveiling of The Dreaded One. Who could it be? Doctor Doom? Magneto? The Red Skull?
It turned out to be the Sphinx, a being 5000 years old, condemned to eternal life and searching for some secret held in the brain of one man. He has scanned many minds but cannot find it. This put me in mind of Darkseid searching for the Anti-Life equation but there is nothing new under the sun. Sphinx is accompanied by a snivelling lackey called Kur and a mysterious hooded figure called Sayge whose face he can’t bear to look at for it is a mirror of his soul. Sayge reprimands Sphinx for pretending to be a god. All in all this is a step up from bank robbers and a reasonably good stab at giving the strip a cosmic dimension, which was all the rage at the time.
The art for the first fourteen issues is by ‘Our Pal’ Sal Buscema, a competent workhorse whose pencils are a grade below those of his big brother John. Sal delivers solid storytelling in the mighty Marvel manner. His figures are dramatic and well-proportioned and he gets emotion into the faces. Between five and nine panels to the page with lots of word balloons means you are not short changed on story. Buscema does layouts only and the quality of the finished work in such cases depends on who inks them. In this case he is well served by Tom Palmer, Joe Sinnott, Frank Giacoia and Dick Giordano. It’s hard to think of four better inkers from that era. I wish Sal had done full pencils, though. The factory system of American comics doesn’t produce the best work possible when the jobs are split this much.
Carmine Infantino took over the layouts with issue #15 and then went on to do full pencils in later ones. His layouts were inked by Tom Palmer. Infantino was one of the greats of the Silver Age of comics but his work became a bit quirky later and I’m not sure I like it. The storytelling is terrific - he was always a great layout man - but the figures seem to be copied from Frank Robbins and it all looks a bit wonky. I read an interview once with a seasoned DC inker who said that Infantino was hard work because his pencils were so sketchy. His later art isn’t bad by any means but it is stylised and when you get stylish you risk losing some fans. Gil Kane went the same way. I generally preferred these DC guys when they were toned down by Murphy Anderson and Joe Giella but it’s all a matter of taste. Some people can’t stand Kirby!
I paid £17.02 for this because with the Essentials line coming to an end I figured it would soon be a rarity. I was right. This volume collects all 25 issues of Nova’s original series but unfortunately leaves the story dangling. It was resolved in The Fantastic Four but to see that you’ll need to buy Nova Classic Vol # 3 unless you have a brother like mine who has every Marvel comic in creation and will lend it to you. Nova Classic Vol #3 is available in electronic form which age cannot wither, unlike my paper Essentials which are getting a bit brown round the edges.
If Nova had been all that terrific it wouldn’t have been discontinued. It’s okay. Competent Marvel seventies story telling by Marv Wolfman with reasonably worthy art by a pair of old pros. Not highly recommended but reasonably entertaining.
The monstrous Zorr vanishes mysteriously at the end of the first issue and Nova has to contend with some minor villains. Condor is a winged muscleman and scientist who has somehow enslaved the energy draining Powerhouse to his will. Later Diamondhead joins the fray and they are all in fear of someone they call ‘The Dreaded One’. Clearly writer Marv Wolfman was building up the suspense for the unveiling of The Dreaded One. Who could it be? Doctor Doom? Magneto? The Red Skull?
It turned out to be the Sphinx, a being 5000 years old, condemned to eternal life and searching for some secret held in the brain of one man. He has scanned many minds but cannot find it. This put me in mind of Darkseid searching for the Anti-Life equation but there is nothing new under the sun. Sphinx is accompanied by a snivelling lackey called Kur and a mysterious hooded figure called Sayge whose face he can’t bear to look at for it is a mirror of his soul. Sayge reprimands Sphinx for pretending to be a god. All in all this is a step up from bank robbers and a reasonably good stab at giving the strip a cosmic dimension, which was all the rage at the time.
The art for the first fourteen issues is by ‘Our Pal’ Sal Buscema, a competent workhorse whose pencils are a grade below those of his big brother John. Sal delivers solid storytelling in the mighty Marvel manner. His figures are dramatic and well-proportioned and he gets emotion into the faces. Between five and nine panels to the page with lots of word balloons means you are not short changed on story. Buscema does layouts only and the quality of the finished work in such cases depends on who inks them. In this case he is well served by Tom Palmer, Joe Sinnott, Frank Giacoia and Dick Giordano. It’s hard to think of four better inkers from that era. I wish Sal had done full pencils, though. The factory system of American comics doesn’t produce the best work possible when the jobs are split this much.
Carmine Infantino took over the layouts with issue #15 and then went on to do full pencils in later ones. His layouts were inked by Tom Palmer. Infantino was one of the greats of the Silver Age of comics but his work became a bit quirky later and I’m not sure I like it. The storytelling is terrific - he was always a great layout man - but the figures seem to be copied from Frank Robbins and it all looks a bit wonky. I read an interview once with a seasoned DC inker who said that Infantino was hard work because his pencils were so sketchy. His later art isn’t bad by any means but it is stylised and when you get stylish you risk losing some fans. Gil Kane went the same way. I generally preferred these DC guys when they were toned down by Murphy Anderson and Joe Giella but it’s all a matter of taste. Some people can’t stand Kirby!
I paid £17.02 for this because with the Essentials line coming to an end I figured it would soon be a rarity. I was right. This volume collects all 25 issues of Nova’s original series but unfortunately leaves the story dangling. It was resolved in The Fantastic Four but to see that you’ll need to buy Nova Classic Vol # 3 unless you have a brother like mine who has every Marvel comic in creation and will lend it to you. Nova Classic Vol #3 is available in electronic form which age cannot wither, unlike my paper Essentials which are getting a bit brown round the edges.
If Nova had been all that terrific it wouldn’t have been discontinued. It’s okay. Competent Marvel seventies story telling by Marv Wolfman with reasonably worthy art by a pair of old pros. Not highly recommended but reasonably entertaining.
August 20, 2022
I was curious about this bronze age Marvel Comic, which I saw plenty of in the 70s, but never read. Having finished all 25 issues (+a Marvel 2 in 1 Annual included in the mix), I can safely now say.. meh. I liked the beginning of the series, the intrigue and weirdness with the Sphinx, and the series coda that ends with the Champions of Xandar, but a lot of what comes between is dull knockoff-Spiderman stuff. (And hey, why not copy Spiderman, Marvel comics of the 70s? You own him.) And yet, meh.
True enthusiasts might enjoy the good Sal Buscema art and the interesting last issues by the legendary Infantino who for some reason has a different inker on almost every issue. The good news is that, chronologically, Marv is about to leave Marvel and write the great New Teen Titans series for many years.
True enthusiasts might enjoy the good Sal Buscema art and the interesting last issues by the legendary Infantino who for some reason has a different inker on almost every issue. The good news is that, chronologically, Marv is about to leave Marvel and write the great New Teen Titans series for many years.
December 8, 2019
I tend to be forgiving towards bronze age comics but Nova really is a mess, and an aggravating factor is that it benefited from big names of the times.
The titular hero is an teenager with the self-pitying and toxic masculine streaks that are a fine example of the worst of what the 60s and 70s Marvel had to offer, which only makes Sam Alexander's beginnings shine brighter by comparison. The writing is as dated as it could be, with villain-of-the week interspersed in some sort of story arc that exhausts all the tropes it can muster with no great effect. Marv Wolfman is better than this.
Same goes for John Buscema : he is uncharacteristically bland, like he bored himself to death drawing this. Carmine Infantino takes over for the last issues and maybe it's just me, but I hate his late 70s style with a passion, so that did not help.
Silver lining : the very last issue is inked by Klaus Janson, who even then had all the hallmarks of his very distinctive identity and succeeds in giving Infantino's layouts real style.
The titular hero is an teenager with the self-pitying and toxic masculine streaks that are a fine example of the worst of what the 60s and 70s Marvel had to offer, which only makes Sam Alexander's beginnings shine brighter by comparison. The writing is as dated as it could be, with villain-of-the week interspersed in some sort of story arc that exhausts all the tropes it can muster with no great effect. Marv Wolfman is better than this.
Same goes for John Buscema : he is uncharacteristically bland, like he bored himself to death drawing this. Carmine Infantino takes over for the last issues and maybe it's just me, but I hate his late 70s style with a passion, so that did not help.
Silver lining : the very last issue is inked by Klaus Janson, who even then had all the hallmarks of his very distinctive identity and succeeds in giving Infantino's layouts real style.
May 21, 2019
I typically don't like old comics, but this one was very entertaining and well-written
September 29, 2013
I read all of Nova V.1 (that is 25 issues plus an issue of Spider-Man) recently in issue form. Nova was intentionally a throwback in storytelling terms to the early Silver Age of Marvel. For the first half or so of the issues, the stories are self-contained and usually introduce a new villain to be an attempted Rogue's Gallery for Nova. The second half had more stories that were multi-part, but that meant that much of what Wolfman was initially going for (as a throwback) was lost. I enjoyed more of the issues than I didn't, which would normally merit 3-stars, but I thought the art was very good throughout.
October 2, 2010
I had a few issues of the original series and had seen most of the exciting covers in "How to Draw Comics The Marvel Way". But I hadnever read the series as a series. Honestly, it was good, teenager hero, family issues, original and odd villians. Certainly straddled the genre between regular super hero and other worldy super hero. He battled Sandman as well as the Kree. I liked it especially for the run of Carmine Infantino artwork.
December 30, 2014
Bastante bueno, interesante, como me lo había recomendado mi hermana, a mí no me gustaba el personaje de Nova y cosas de la vida, no lo quería leer. Pero al final vino el Booktube-A-Thony le di una oportunidad y me gustó mucho. Encima aparecen un montón de personajes como Iron Man, Thor, Spiderman, Cosa, etc. que hicieron a la historia un poco más interesante.
3.75/5
PD: el 3.75 es porque odio que Nova diga "Blue Blazes!". Me molesta. Mucho.
3.75/5
PD: el 3.75 es porque odio que Nova diga "Blue Blazes!". Me molesta. Mucho.
July 3, 2013
For its time period, not bad. It introduced a lot of interesting characters and gave them some depth and had some interesting possibilities, though the really interesting possible plots in space weren't explored until the very end. A bit slow by today's standards though.
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October 19, 201727 comics in one! love it
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