Nova

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Comic Book News

Review: Guardians of the Galaxy #18 (Bendis)

Bendis has earned praise writing street-level crime fantasy books – such as Daredevil.  He’s unquestionably talented at producing such fare.   Sadly, he has no “street cred” as a science-fiction writer.  And it shows.  It’s what people mean when they say they don’t like the “voice” of this series – especially in comparison to Volume II (you know, the Non-Bendis-Written material upon which the summer’s biggest movie was based).
 
Volume II soared into the awe and wonder of the cosmos with the Guardians directly – often single-handedly – involved in competently handling universe changing events.  With Volume III, Bendis has reduced the Guardians to a marginally competent, third-rate Avengers-lite team; only slightly less obsessively Earthcentric than the actual Avengers and definitely not ready for prime time.  He stuffs as many Avengers as possible into the team and has Star-Lord taking marching orders from the Avengers or worrying about what the Avengers will think about his actions.  I’m sure at some point he’ll have the Guardians take on Kingpin in Hell’s Kitchen – and probably lose the fight.  His conception of the Guardians has them taking on small problems mostly concerning Earth – and barely being able to handle these small problems.  Of course, lots don’t like this “voice.”  Face it, if not for the movie hype, this book would’ve been cancelled six ssues ago due to lack of interest/sales as nothing much of consequence has happened up to now.  Even Brevoort has admitted that sales of this book are primarily due to movie hype.
 
This issue has been eagerly anticipated by several different factions.  Rich Rider fans have hoped it will bring his return to full duty status in the Marvel Universe as the powerful, bad-ass hero he was in Volume IV of the Nova series.  NINO fans hope it will be Rich’s death story so as to cement NINO in place once and for all.   Neither faction will be satisfied by this issue.  It’s just a long lead-in to a larger story arc that only begins to answer the question posed by Gamora at the beginning of the issue:  “Where is Nova?  What happened to Richard Ryder?”  At least Gamora knows who the REAL Nova is.  And apparently Bendis has spelling problems.  Hey Bendis – it’s spelled R-i-d-e-r.
 
Unless Bendis uncharacteristically resists the obvious clichés being telegraphed in this issue, this story arc will likely be a gift to the NINO fans who want Rich gone once and for all.  Star-Lord appears to be under the influence of a Cosmic Cube trying to protect itself – and (the actual) Nova appears to be getting ready to take the Cube away from him before Thanos can gain possession of it.  You can guess what happens next.  Particularly with the Revengers set to guest-star next issue.
 
I will say that this issue is the best issue of the worst GotG series to date.  It has more competently performed action than all previous issues combined.  And Rich’s brief action sequences and panel time are better than all 20 issues of NINO combined.  I also enjoyed seeing Star-Lord back in uniform and actually acting like his Volume II self rather than the 20-something-year-old doofus that he has been morphed into by Bendis. I enjoyed seeing Drax in his intelligent, muscular, tattoo-less, purple-skull-cap-wearing incarnation obsessed with killing Thanos.   Thanos himself came across as less menacing/powerful than he should have been.  Thanos’ portrayal is the big disappointment in this issue.  Thanos plans for all possible contingencies.  He should’ve already found several ways to exit the Cancerverse independent of the Cube and harassment from Star-Lord, (the real) Nova, and Drax.  He’s pretty much an ineffectual talker at this point.
 
The art and coloring are outstanding.  As always, McGuinness and Ponsor do not disappoint.  As is typical, the art is the best feature of Volume III.
 
So, it’s a mixed bag with Bendis apparently setting up to flip the bird to the Rider fans once again.  Hold on – because it’s going to be a rocky ride for the next couple of months as both fan factions invested in the outcome of this storyline engage in some bruising fights in comic book forums.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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Comic Book News Marvel

Review: Nova #11 (Duggan)

The degradation of the Nova mythos continues with the truly terrible NINO #11.
 
The first three-quarters of the issue is devoted to the totally un-interesting minutiae of NINO’s personal life where he’s first said to be blind but seems to walk around surprisingly well for someone who can’t see.  Then there’s some warmed-over teen Peter-Parker-ish clichés about dealing with the school bully followed by some equally hackneyed scenes about school problems and babysitting his sister before he goes off into space and fights some spiders in a scene lifted right out of the new Hobbit film.  Yawn.  Personally, I was rooting for the Spiders to win and mercifully rid us of NINO once and for all.  And frankly, the Spiders should’ve won.  It’s pure contrived silliness to believe that NINO could realistically win such a fight.
 
I see Duggan is going to continue the sad precedents of Loeb/Wells in disrespecting and demolishing everything that was good, exciting, and innovative in true Nova mythos – and replacing it with hackneyed, implausible nonsense.  This character is a totally unlikeable, blundering, idiotic, annoying little jerk.   He’s depicted as being rude and boorish to a very nice teacher who is genuinely concerned about him and sincerely attempting to help him.  Not very heroic.  And not a very good role model for the pre-pubescent audience at whom this travesty of a (so-called “cosmic”) comic book is apparently aimed.
 
Once again NINO’s mother proves she’s unfit and needs to be reported to child protective services.  She’s depicted as skipping out on paying a Doctor’s bill, leaving a proven irresponsible minor in charge of babysitting his sister, and once again allowing 15-year-old NINO to go off into space (on a school night no less) and use vast powers he is not trained to use in life-threatening situations.  NINO and his sister need to be removed from her care as soon as possible, and she needs to spend some time in the County Jail.
 
Being rude to good teachers, skipping out on bill paying, having minor children participate in life-or-death combat operations, glorifying ineffective parenting, disrespecting the importance of education?  Exactly what kind of message is Marvel/Disney trying to send to the kiddies anyway?
 
You know what else is annoying?  NINO’s presumptuousness and the level of obliviousness to plausibility that must be exercised by any reader to actually be entertained by this NINO nonsense.
 
NINO has never been inducted into the Corps by anyone in authority to do so.  
Yet – being untrained, undisciplined, and having no empowerment by any authority – he presumes himself a member of a para-military organization and goes about performing police actions.  It’s no different than a 15-year-old child putting on his deceased police officer father’s uniform, strapping on a gun, and driving around enforcing the law whilst claiming that it was his right to do so because his deceased father was a cop.  Would anybody realistically respect that?  Or would some responsible adults put a stop to it?  I think we all know the answer to that question.
 
Medina’s art was an improvement over last issue, but he’s got to do something about NINO’s mother’s eyes!  Why does he always draw her as sporting these huge, round, “bug-eyes?”  Is she really an alien in disguise?  If so, that would explain a lot.  I guess irresponsible parenting is the norm on her planet.  Curiel’s colors are well done as usual and are really the best part of this waste-of-time-and-money comic book.
 
In a scene lifted right out of Return of the Jedi, Duggan gives us a big bad for next issue (that NINO couldn’t possibly beat in a fair fight) sitting on his throne with a scantily clad girl at his feet.  Yawn.  Hey Duggan, maybe you, Loeb, and Bendis should just admit that cosmic isn’t your thing and go back to writing super-heroic fantasy.  Ripping off popular fantasy, science-fiction, and science-fantasy isn’t good cosmic – and neither are constant quotes from Star Wars.  We had actual science-fiction writers on Nova and Guardians of the Galaxy in the past who actually understood, liked, and respected the characters and the mythos upon which the characters were built, and those stories were BETTER than the watered-down trash you’re cynically dishing up for Avengers-zombie consumption.
 
Friends, if you want good and true Marvel Cosmic, leave Loeb’s NINO and Bendis’ Garbage of the Galaxy on the shelves and buy the Star-Lord reprints from the 1970’s that are now available (even though the cringe-worthy covers depict Bendis’ Star-Lord).  Also, check out John Byrne’s new Star Trek comic book.  As for Duggan’s NINO, let’s all be the responsible adults that NINO’s mother isn’t and boycott NINO so that it can come to a quick, well-deserved end in the dustbin of comicdom where it belongs.
Op-Ed: The Loeb-otomization of Nova
Marvel Comic Book News

Op-Ed: The Loeb-otomization of Nova

The Cosmic Triune An Opinion-Editorial “The Lo(e)botomization of Nova” Lobotomization:  to deprive of intelligence, vitality, or sensitivity.                                                     

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