Rorschach Reviews: Nova 1 Marvel NOW!

Rorschach Reviews

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Comic book: Nova 1 Marvel NOW!

Creative team: Writer-Jeph Loeb
                         Art-Ed McGuinness and Dexter Vines
                         Colors-Marte Gracia
                         Cover-Ed Mcguinness 

Release date: 20th February 2013

Score: 6/10

Pros:-A good but not great first issue that details the main character and his family as well as giving a hint of reason to his becoming a hero.
        -Some sensational yet simple comic book art from McGuinness.
        -Rocket Racoon and Gamora make cameos. Increasing their awareness in lieu of their upcoming feature in the Guardians Of the Galaxy film.   

Cons:-Loeb does not make the new Nova particularly likeable. Although realistic in modern day interpretation, the first issue does not paint Sam in a good light.
         -As with many Marvel NOW! books there is a less emphasis on action, something that can put off casual readers. The kind of readers this book is meant to attract
         -The new Supernovas seem like a riff on The Green Lantern's Corpse unit; the black ops team in the Green Lantern corps.  

Main events: A team of black-ops styled Novas called SuperNovas attack a base and free Rocket Racoon and Gamora, Jesse Alexander recalls this tale to his son Sam, his father is the janitor for his school, Sam does not believe his fathers stories and thinks of him as an embarrassment, Sam is constantly bullied, Sam does most of his fathers work, his father lives outside the house with a map of space and the Nova corps helmet, he starts to bond with a classmate Carrie, Jesse recalls another adventure to his daughter, his last adventure where he was sent off to Earth in the event of a threat that possibly wiped out his team, Sam talks to his mother about his 'loser' father, he also talks to his younger sister but is unable to muster the courage break her 'fantasy' of her fathers heroic adventures, Sam is supended after fighting his bullies, He is in trouble due to his dads disappearance from work, Sam vows to search for his father and gets into an accident, at the hospital he get's two unique visitors; Gamora and Rocket Raccoon.   

Best Quote: 'You have no idea the sacrifices he's made. I hope you grow up to be half the man your father is'-Sam's Mother, Sam sarcastically takes this as becoming half a janitor.

Best Panel:The final panel as Rocket Raccoon and Gamora visit Sam in hospital, the expression on Sam is hilarious.

The new Nova takes off and begins to build the cosmic side of Marvel things in their NOW initiative. The new Nova is one Sam Alexander, he is a son of famed black ops Nova (SuperNova) Jesse Alexander. Jesse left his team 15 years ago during a mission gone awry, his teammates sent him back to Earth to go back to his family. A proud father, Jesse keeps searching to go back to his team mates while getting drunk and telling his adventures to his son and daughter. Sam is force to do his absent father's janitor work, get's bullied and is embarrassed. He's story seems superb in turning the man into a hero, but Sam is written poorly by Jeph Loeb. When the teasers of the issue came out, the interviews mentioned the new character as a cosmic rendition of Peter Parker. Sam is completely off from this description, he is an asshole. I do not understand why new teen heroes are made gritty by turning them into complete jerks.

The art is the best bit of the book. It is ultimately epic and neither flashy or different, set to comic book standards the art is fluid and easy to follow. McGuinness is as good as his prior work with Loeb from Red Hulk and once again even with the multiple dialogues and long script, he outshines his writer. The best is seeing the quirky brand of humour added by the cameos by Rocket Raccoon and Gamora. It's a superb marketing strategy, to gain visibility for the B-List characters who have their own ongoing comic coming next week and movie next year.

These characters with the SuperNovas get a large proportion of the action. However the book does not have alot of action, understandable for the debut of a new character and ongoing book but essentially it will once again hard to attract new readers. The black costumed SuperNovas introuced are splendid but they seem like a copy of the black ops Green Lantern Corpse. With Nova already a slight riff on the Green Lanterns, it's kind of a problem. Hopefully the second issue can up the ante.


'Nuff Said

Aneesh Raikundalia