The Official "Nova" Comic Book Discussion Thread

[sandwraith]

which Brubaker completely ignored and wrote Richie off like a total dupe. Seriously: Psionic Shields?! Nova's got 'em, he's fought mind control off before like twice! Serpent Crown thingie? We don't even know what it is and it controls Nova before we know what's going on.

This is why I'm afraid of Nova in any other writers' hands. Giffen and DnA have my confidence...anyone else not so much. Incidentally, after Wolfman, who wrote the subsequent Nova series?

 

[TheCorpulent1]

Yeah, Brubaker did a pretty terrible job with Rich. It's a shame, but I just try to ignore it.

 

[sandwraith]

Its hard to. Especially in the closing moments of #4 where Brubaker (through Steve) pretty much admits he can't work with Nova citing "how busy" he is with cosmic stuff. Which is to say he should have thought of that in the first place. Honestly, did they slap Nova on the covers to sucker Nova fans into boosting sales?

 

[Silicon Surfer]

The Serpent Crown is a fairly major artifact. If Rich got controlled by that it is not a bad showing.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

It was the Serpent Crown's evil twin brother or something. I didn't mind that he got controlled so much as I minded his having to be rescued. Rich didn't do anything to overcome his situation; Captain America just showed up and fixed things with ease, using Rich's own powers. If Cap could do it, why couldn't Rich have done it, or at least contributed in some way to taking down the thing controlling him? Instead he was just a victim throughout the arc.

 

[Dread]

The Serpent Crown is a fairly major artifact. If Rich got controlled by that it is not a bad showing.

It wasn't just that.

Spoiler

It was that was all Nova did in that arc. He showed up merely to be possessed and provide Brubaker the threat of the opening arc. Atop of that, Worldmind decides to transfer all of the Nova Force into Steve Rogers to make him a temporary Prime to defeat the possessed Rider, which he does...with ease. And then Nova takes off. There's almost no interaction with the other characters and he really does nothing in that arc but fill a hole in the plot where a villain would have ideally went.

At no point does Nova offer any resistance to being possessed. Anyone who didn't read the space comics would only know him as a random space hero who is quite powerful, but doesn't have a spec of Steve Rogers' will. Which I don't think is an accurate depiction. And if that was enough to spark interest in a character, Silver Surfer would still be popular.

 

[sandwraith]

It wasn't just that.

Spoiler

It was that was all Nova did in that arc. He showed up merely to be possessed and provide Brubaker the threat of the opening arc. Atop of that, Worldmind decides to transfer all of the Nova Force into Steve Rogers to make him a temporary Prime to defeat the possessed Rider, which he does...with ease. And then Nova takes off. There's almost no interaction with the other characters and he really does nothing in that arc but fill a hole in the plot where a villain would have ideally went.

At no point does Nova offer any resistance to being possessed. Anyone who didn't read the space comics would only know him as a random space hero who is quite powerful, but doesn't have a spec of Steve Rogers' will. Which I don't think is an accurate depiction. And if that was enough to spark interest in a character, Silver Surfer would still be popular.

Which is why I dropped SA after #4. Brubaker's writing pretty much gave hints that Nova wasn't going to be a recurring character anyways. Honestly, I hate how they made him an "Avenger" when they did what we all expected to do: make him look like total utter crap in comparison.

Richie shouldn't even have considered joining these "Secret Avengers" in the first place. Yeah, I know in the Marvel U Rogers has this total utter charisma to turn hardcore grown men into fanboys but considering how removed Nova's been from Earth these past few years, you'd think he'd be immune to it. Sadly not

http://img69.imageme.fr/DSC2926.jpg 948

 

[Silicon Surfer]

While that scenario is certainly poor writing nobody that I know of has ever resisted the Serpent Crown or thrown off it's effects on their own. Namor was amnesiac for years after getting hit by it until Johnny Storm snapped him out of it.

 

[JewishHobbit]

I don't care about him being posses as much as:

1) There was nothing besides that that warrented him being there

2) Steven took on the Nova force like it was nothing while Rich had to struggle with it for a long while during and after Annihilation.

3) Nova had barely 3 pages of non-possesed panel time to actually show who he is.

It was just bad. Seriously, that could have been anybody and all it did was make Nova look like a chump. Sacreficing cool characters to make other things look better (Nomad, Banshee, etc.) thanks Brubaker.. you're a swell writer

 

[TheCorpulent1]

Welcome to my world for the past few months with Zemo in Captain America.

 

[Dread]

While that scenario is certainly poor writing nobody that I know of has ever resisted the Serpent Crown or thrown off it's effects on their own. Namor was amnesiac for years after getting hit by it until Johnny Storm snapped him out of it.

It wasn't even THE Serpent Crown. It was like it's Martian knock-off.

I like Brubaker on CAPTAIN AMERICA, but, he's definitely had his misses.

 

[sandwraith]

Thing is, his line-up looks so damn promising. I mean Valkyrie? I love Valkyrie. War Machine? Great stuff. The rest of the team brings something or other to the table. But Nova...? Brubaker missed badly there.

 

[THANOSRULES]

meh it was a bad first arc for everybody in that book...really did anyone come off interesting beside steve?

Maybe Ant-man, but really he just does his already established bumbling.

I'm not digging the book cept the art.

 

[Anubis]

Still, it's the best Avengers book....

 

[Dread]

Thing is, his line-up looks so damn promising. I mean Valkyrie? I love Valkyrie. War Machine? Great stuff. The rest of the team brings something or other to the table. But Nova...? Brubaker missed badly there.

Indeed. He's tried to dabble in space stuff before, but I don't think it's his strength. He is far more at home doing black ops, lower powered stuff. He seems to have more difficulty with higher power characters for very long.

meh it was a bad first arc for everybody in that book...really did anyone come off interesting beside steve?

Maybe Ant-man, but really he just does his already established bumbling.

I'm not digging the book cept the art.

SECRET AVENGERS at this point I see as STEVE ROGERS TEAM UP. He is the lead and gets the most page time. All the other heroes are there to be led by him and interact with him. Eric O'Grady is the one who got the most focus in the first arc aside for Rogers, but even that wasn't too major. The other characters are just there for functional roles. Beast is there to be the brain, War Machine to be the armored guy, and Valkyrie to be the god. But beyond that, they haven't done much. Black Widow does more in a typical issue of CAPTAIN AMERICA than she did here. Moon Knight hasn't done a whole lot, but to be fair, he usually has his own title and he fits the black ops angle more so than, say, Nova or Valkyrie.

Brubaker really needs to get better at bringing up a central villain for an Avengers book.

Still, it's the best Avengers book....

At this point, AVENGERS ACADEMY is the best Avengers book to me. SECRET AVENGERS is second to that. Just because SECRET AVENGERS may have a higher profile team and may be more "important", doesn't mean to me that it is superior in quality. Both have had five issues and Academy has been far more consistent in quality.

 

[Anubis]

If you say so.

 

[sandwraith]

If Avengers Academy is anything close to The Initiative, I might pick up the first trade.

I am an Avenger#3 looks like DnA is grasping at straws to keep Richie in the Marvel U. I'm real worried that when Chaos War and Dark Son Rising hits, contained Cosmic Marvel becomes extinct...that being said I am kind of looking forward to DSR.

 

[NightBeetle]

NYCC LIVE: Marvel's Next Big Thing

Abnett and Lanning announced a new cosmic one-shot which is tentatively titles "Devastation Wave" which will set up the status quo of the cosmic part of Marvel moving into future projects. The pair also talked up their incoming street-level ongoing "Heroes For Hire" which promises an unexpected twist final page.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

Cool, at least we know there are definitely plans for the cosmic stuff after The Thanos Imperative now...

Still, it's the best Avengers book....

Avengers Academy disagrees.

 

[JewishHobbit]

Still, it's the best Avengers book....

Not a chance in my opinion. I read them all save the Prime mini-series. To me, Secret Avengers rivals Avengers for bottom of the barrel. The story wasn't intriguing, bad use of characters (more than just Nova even), and ignoring continuity. The only thing saving it from the absolute bottom is Deodato's art, in my opinion, is greatly better than Romita's. Academy, New, and Young are all better books all the way around.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

I read only Avengers Academy, Secret Avengers, and Avengers: Prime. Somewhat ironic given that I recall being much more of a self-described Avengers fan than you, JewHobs...

But you bite your tongue, sir, for even mentioning Deodato in the same breath as Romita, Jr. He's a thousand times the artist Deodato will ever be.

 

[JewishHobbit]

I read only Avengers Academy, Secret Avengers, and Avengers: Prime. Somewhat ironic given that I recall being much more of a self-described Avengers fan than you, JewHobs...

Is this one of those "mine's bigger" posts? Because I assure you, it probably is.

But you bite your tongue, sir, for even mentioning Deodato in the same breath as Romita, Jr. He's a thousand times the artist Deodato will ever be.

Oh don't get me wrong, I do like to like Romita Jr. comics. They make wonderful toilet paper when I'm out.

 

[Specter313]

Cool, at least we know there are definitely plans for the cosmic stuff after The Thanos Imperative now...

Yeah, and there's another quote from DnA or someone saying that after what happens in TI, they can't imagine books for Nova and GotG NOT still being around with all that will be going on.

 

[Colossal Spoons]

Good news

 

[JewishHobbit]

Yeah, and there's another quote from DnA or someone saying that after what happens in TI, they can't imagine books for Nova and GotG NOT still being around with all that will be going on.

Yeah, that makes me nervous. Not sure what to expect... which is actually preferable going into the later part of a story. It's a bit wierd feeling, you know? Marvel not giving up the ending to stories before they happen just to promote whatever comes next.