The Nineties NOVA reboot: An Appreciation of NOVA #1

You know it's good 'cause the cover is shiny and gold!

Never collected comics in the nineties, so I get to enjoy some of the “best of the nineties” as brand new to me. Every so often in a thrift store or dollar store, you'll find boxes of comics from the nineties for cheap. “Millionaire's collections” I call them, these collections of multiple number ones from Marvel, DC and Image from the early mid-nineties, amassed by folks who you can tell had no clue about comics, folks who helped fuel the speculator boom. Now the books are ripe for cheap picking, left unbagged and unloved for fifteen years. Not collector quality, but still fun to read!

I found this issue of NOVA Number One in such a collection. Having become a fan of NOVA in the recent past with Annihilation, I'm interested in going back and finding out more about where the character comes from, so I picked up this issue for about fifty cents. Seems in late 1993 Marvel gave NOVA his own series. The masthead on this issue says Vol. 1 No 1 January 1994. The issue is titled “Heavy Mettle” and Richard Rider's got the Rock 'n Roll hair to go with the title! Written by Fabian Nicieza, penciled by Chris Marrinan, inked by Mark Stegbauer, lettered by the ever-able Chris Eliopoulis, colored by Tom Smith, edited by Rob Tokar, with Tom DeFalco credited as “Heavy”. There's a nice Thank You on the title page as well, “For Marv Wolfman and John Buscema and Len Wein and John Romita - - For creating a character still flying high and kickin' butt after all these years!”

NOVA's “situation” here is a little contrived and handled over-obviously: NOVA, the Deadbeat Superhero! From the cover headline: “No Prospects – No Future – No Limits!” to the intro blurb on the first page, “...He can fly to the Moon, but he can't afford a subway token - -” and even NOVA's first “dialogue” in a thought balloon: “Overpowered and Unemployed!” - the setup is hammered home again and again before we're even off of page one! Of course, that may have something to do with how compressed the storytelling is here – Nicieza crams a ton of information and background in with his plot. Richard Rider's new power level is being tested. Ultimately, that's it, the entire plot, but Nicieza uses that simple structure to fill the reader in on NOVA. This makes the issue a great introduction to the character of NOVA, but it doesn't make for much of a story. Still worth reading for what it is.

There is a narrator on page one, the voice of something following and assessing NOVA, and providing the reader with a handy run down of Richard Rider: “Subject Identification: Terran nomenclature designate * Richard Rider (identification codified as sub-designate: NOVA (participant in Terran super-human attack force: NEW WARRIORS” This Something has evidently engaged NOVA and is putting him through his paces in the skies over Manhattan. He's newly powered up from events in “New Warriors #40-42” an editorial caption tells us, as Richard muses over “...becoming a part of the new Xandarian Starcorp - - getting my powers increased to the point where even I don't know how strong I am.” Followed immediately by, “...and I still can't land a decent job.” Okay, yeah, got that. Maybe the fact I'm newly unemployed makes me sensitive, but jeesh. Again!

Luckily, the action ramps up so the deadbeat musings drop off for a bit. Those “testing” NOVA turn out to be Shi'ar! With “War of Kings” ramping up, that made this back issue suddenly more interesting! The Shi'ar's identity is hidden by the armor they wear as they attack NOVA. The battle ends when he believes he's killed them, but they've only transported themselves away to fight another day.

Under the pretense of “know thine enemy”, the Shi'ar review Richard Rider's files, giving us the short version of the Richard Rider/NOVA story: Family background with a talk of younger brother Robert Rider's greater intelligence; Villains fought – Diamond-Head, Powerhouse and Condor; Richard giving up the NOVA force; His reassuming the power when dropped from a rooftop; Joining the New Warriors and wearing a really bad red costume; and battling Firelord and Air-Walker and the reformation of the Xandarian StarCorp. The Shi'ar warriors comment on Rider's life as they watch the file, giving the “history” a bit of an MST3K feel as they question Richard Rider's abilities.

NOVA's look is interesting. Going along with the “deadbeat” theme, Richard Rider sports a constant five o'clock shadow, in case you miss the textual references. He's also got the long hair of an early nineties rocker – think pre-grunge. Check out the pony tail flying out from under the helmet!

We get a briefing on Richard's current lifestyle. He lives at the New Warrior's headquarters because he's broke. We get a glimpse of his relationship with girlfriend Laura Dunham. He moans about seeing some old high school friends. She asks him how the job hunt is going... sigh. Thankfully, just a page and a half later NOVA is back in the sky, with the Shi'ar threatening attack... until the next page, oh. High school reunion time, and more back story filled in as Rich meets with old friends Ginger Jaye, Bernie Dillon and Caps Cooper. Richard moans about his personal life... not having a job, having to move out of his parent's apartment because they were worried some villains might trash the place...

As you'd hope, that is “cue – Shi'ar Attack” time! They attack in their armor again, leveling the soda shop around NOVA, injuring innocent people like Richard's friends. He fights back. They talk about hunting him and are surprised when he can understand them – he is learning to use his new Xandarian power set. He beats them down and discovers that they're Shi'ar... eliciting the first “Blue Blazes!” of the issue! NOVA is confused... aren't the Shi'ar supposed to be good guys? Suddenly, something NOVA can't see punches him HARD. Enter GLADIATOR! Some good old fashioned cosmic comic book battling ensues.

Gladiator eventually carries a train into orbit and throws it at NOVA. At first I thought, “what's he got, a space station or something?” Then I realized, “no, he's carried a train into orbit.” Nice. When NOVA grabs Gladiator's cape and hauls him up into orbit this becomes a fairly classic battle! Gladiator tries to burn NOVA, but NOVA merely absorbs the energy... and then lets it back out in a burst aimed straight back at Gladiator! After the blast both float in orbit. Gladiator makes his way over to again go at the now stunned NOVA, until both are transported away.

They reappear before “Prime Commandant Adora” who tells NOVA this has been a test requested by Shi'ar Empress Lilandra! Garthan Sal, once known as SUPER NOVA, is with Adora, acting as her Centurion Sector Coordinator. Richard Rider protests that he's been tested, saying, “After everything I've done for Xandar, after I ruined my life to help you out against the Skrulls, then helped you rebuild and reform the StarCorp, you're questioning if I have what it takes?!” The words carried an odd echo – made me think of where NOVA is at in his current arc. Adora assures Richard that he wasn't tested to see if he “had what it takes” but instead to see if he knew how to use what he had “properly”.

“Showed all of you, right? Guess I showed myself, too. I can play the game at this level, can't I?” Richard realizes. He gets in a final punch in Gladiator's kisser before heading home for a 21st birthday party at his parent's. Robbie presents him with a job idea - “NOVA Express”! And then all of his friends appear – it's a surprise party! The end.

So... it's a forty-six page re-introductory issue with a healthy case of first issue-itis, a heavy focus on the character's creation story. There's not much of a plot to this issue, as any complexity is sacrificed in the interest of filling in character history, but Nicieza does tell NOVA's backstory well using the thin plot. He also makes an interesting comment to start off a long essay that fills the issue's “letters” page: “...I didn't like THE MAN CALLED NOVA when it first came out in 1976.” He goes on to explain how he grew to love the character, of course, and to optimistically hope for a more than twenty-five issue run to surpass the original series' run. He maps out what's ahead for the first year's story arcs (ooohhh... Spider-Man and New Warriors crossovers), and then, perhaps prophetically says, “And that's just the first year! Just wait until NOVA goes out into Space! But that would be Telling.” Sadly, this mid-nineties NOVA run ended at 18 issues, according to the Grand Comics Database Project at Comics.org. But NOVA eventually did take to space for Annihilation. The wait was just a bit longer than Nicieza thought it would be back when he was writing that last page of this 1994 NOVA Number one.

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