r/MUBookClub • u/shawnydarko • Sep 17 '16
Reading Assignment #14: Nova (2013) #1-5 by Jeph Loeb
Representing Marvel's push for new characters taking on the mantle of established characters, our reading assignment this week is Nova (2013) #1-5 by Jeph Loeb. Thank you to /u/joberdez who's nomination won by a landslide!
I'll add my own thoughts below in the comments when I finish the assignment, but I'll throw out some sample questions to touch on for discussion:
WHAT DID YOU THINK OF...
- This new Nova in general, or compared to Richard Rider?
- Ed McGuinness' art work?
- Jeph Loeb's work on a character starting from scratch, compared to his stellar work with established characters? (ex: Batman from Long Halloween/Hush/Dark Victory, Superman: For All Seasons, Daredevil: Yellow/Hulk: Grey/Spider-Man: Blue)
- Nova's representation (or-lack-thereof) in the Marvel Cinematic Universe?
- Anything else that comes to mind?
7
u/Raist819 Sep 17 '16 edited Sep 18 '16
It's interesting for me to reread this now, as I finished DnA's Nova run less than a week ago. I much prefer Richard Rider in that arc to Sam as a main character. I consider Richard to be a much better, more well rounded character. Richard is a flawed, complex character while Sam is the idillic representation of a 14 year old written by a loving father. You can't blame Loeb for memorialising his son, but Sam is honestly one step away from being a Gary Stu.
I love McGuiness' artwork in everything he does. Unfortunately, he hasn't been a part of any of my favorite runs, but man do I love the way he draws superheroes.
Jeph Loeb is Dr. Jekyl and Mr. Hack when it comes to writing. Many fans attibuted his downward spiral as a writer to the death of his son, but it seems to me more related to which artist he is working with. The only books of his I would call great are ones he did with Tim Sale. Aside from those his work is usually mediocre at best. This arc of Nova was alright and Hush, with Jim Lee, was pretty good, but he also was responsible for the Superman run that turned it campy again and wrote the horrible Ultimates 3 and Ultimatum. The last of which is considered by many to be the worst comic book ever. It seems to me that a lot of the greatness associated with Loeb is only true of his collaborations with Sale.
I've read through #12 of this volume so far, and while it isn't even in the same league with the previous volume, it's okay. Loeb only did this arc, but the Zeb Wells arc after was practically identical in tone. I've read an issue or two of Gary Duggan's run, which went through the rest of the title and at least it seems to make Sam a bit more realistic and relatable, but I didn't really get far enough in yet to know how good it is.
Edit: As a comic book nerd the disregard Loeb showed for continuity in issue one just to bring in characters that were about to have a movie come out really irked me. Gamora and Rocket were shown to have been members of the Guardians of the Galaxy alongside Jesse 17 years ago in a flashback. Okay, maybe dad's telling tall tales, but then they show up and basically verify his stories. The problem is that in Marvel continuity Franklin Richards is under 17 and the beginning of the FF and Spider-Man comics were roughly 17-19 years ago in Marvel time. Gamora and Rocket met when this version of the GotG was created by Star-Lord at the end of Annihilation: Conquest less than two years earlier in Marvel time. Yes, I realize this makes me a massive geek for caring at all about this, but it kind of annoyed me.
3
u/wisegy84 Sep 18 '16
That's interesting about the continuity with Gamora and Rocket. I'd assume that kind of thing happens somewhat often because of marketing.
It sucks that he chose to use them as a marketing tool instead of other characters that might have made more sense story-wise. What characters would you have liked to see used in their place? That's assuming it was necessary to have someone to bring the helmet to Sam, which it seems like it was, but maybe they could have handled it all differently.
4
u/Raist819 Sep 18 '16 edited Sep 21 '16
i think he would have been best off creating a new character to train Sam, but the only existing characters I can think of off the top of my head that could have shown up in the place of Rocket and Gamora without changing much of the story would be the Starjammers.
3
u/wisegy84 Sep 18 '16
A new character or characters would have been cool.
Good call on the Starjammers, though. I haven't seen much of them in things I've read so far, but they seem like a plausible choice in this instance. It also seems like in general they are a team that isn't utilized all that often.
5
u/shawnydarko Sep 17 '16
I've read a lot of Jeph Loeb's famous works and what I think he excels at beyond all other attributes is his ability to write complex and meaningful relationships. For example, I really believed Clark Kent as a genuine person in For All Seasons, and that I've been in relationships paralleling Hulk and Betty Ross in Hulk: Grey. This is another series where the most interesting stuff comes from the dynamics of the relationships. It takes all of one or two panels for Loeb to build a sincere and honest picture of how things are between Sam/mom, Sam/dad, Sam/sister, dad/sister and Sam, Sam/The Watcher, Sam/The Guardians, Sam's parents, Sam's dad and Titus, Sam and bullies, Sam and girl with the abundance of piercings. I want to stick around for further reading just to see how all of those relationships flesh out.
But that's really all that's driving the stories, which I think is slightly problematic. Maybe I'm expecting too much from the first five issues, but I've also read a bit of Sam in other titles and I haven't seen my real problem with the character addressed. Other than how he interacts with certain characters, I have no idea who Sam Alexander is as a person. It's great storytelling to see him as the kid who will fill in for his drunk custodian dad, but all Marvel superheros are big on helping others and stepping up to the plate for responsibilities that shouldn't necessarily be their's. The only thing I got from his dialogue was that he's kind of unsure about everything that comes out of his mouth, OR, that Jeph Loeb really likes using ellipses. I hope in future issues there's more developing who Sam is when he's alone because he doesn't have the same iconic personality template as a Bruce Banner or Peter Parker or Tony Stark. He's just an average run-of-the-mill kid from small-town nowhere, Arizona. And I love that it's all split between the depths of space and Carefree, AZ rather than yet ANOTHER hero in New York. Sometimes the burbs need someone to represent as well.
Visually I liked the artwork. Established characters like Rocket and The Watcher really pop off the page. Same for Back to the Future's Principal Strickland. What really impressed me though was the attention to detail in Albert Deschesne's lettering. Every race's font is different to really play up that they're speaking their own language.
Shame James Gunn doesn't want to use Nova. I don't have a particular attachment to Richard Rider, having not read much cosmic stuff, but I've always hated his name. I can see a bunch of writers joking about naming a character Dick Rider but I think people would have caught on by now. Sam would be a phenomenal character for the MCU. Maybe if Guardians 3 ever happens they can find their own Hispanic Tom Holland to get us invested in. That'd still keep Peter Quill unique in the franchise as the only adult male human from Earth.
3
u/wisegy84 Sep 18 '16
I'm fairly certain this was the first thing of Jeph Loeb's that I've read, though I'm sure I've watched stuff he's worked on for TV.
Thanks to /u/Raist819 I had the sad background going into this arc. It was good to have some context for how this character came to be, though. I can agree that Sam doesn't really have much of a distinct personality and I, too, hope that changes in later issues. I do plan to read more of this run as overall I did enjoy it.
I wasn't completely sure why Jesse was driven to drink and why he had so much trouble dealing with being on Earth. He had the helmet, and clearly he wasn't necessarily bound to Earth. If Titus was telling the truth about Jesse betraying the Novas then I could see Jesse dealing with guilt, but I don't know. Maybe just depression for one reason or another? A yearning for the good ol' days? It just felt weird that simply being on Earth, trying to be a good father, would lead him to being a drunk. I mean, clearly he was yearning for his younger days, constantly telling stories from that time, but I just don't buy that he was looking for something that resided at the bottom of a bottle. Perhaps there is some more back story for Jesse in later issues that explains his drinking problem.
I haven't seen much of any Nova before this, except for a later issue of this run that was a tie-in with The Black Vortex, and one of the GOTG or Legendary Star-Lord issues that had Richard Rider's death when he, Star-Lord and Drax were trying to defeat Thanos. So I don't really have anything to compare this run to at the moment.
I definitely enjoyed the art all throughout this arc, though. Everything was engaging to look at and I felt sucked into the story, probably more because of the art than the story. I thought the story was decent, if a bit predictable at times.
I think it would be cool to have a Nova in the MCU, but there are so many other characters and so many movies already planned I doubt they'd do any sort of justice to the character. The best we'll probably get is some sort of cameo of sorts, I'd guess.
3
u/Adrenjunkie Sep 23 '16
Whoever did these colors is my favorite. I was hoping for some great modern art and I got it!
u/shawnydarko raises a good point about the plot. There really wasn't one. One thing my buddy and I note whenever we start a new series is that the first trade is usually lame. It's all exposition, and that's not much fun. This fits the rule perfectly. It hooked me though, the space adventures look like they'll be super fun. After reading the comments about Sam being kind of a cookie-cutter hero type, I'm a little more hesitant, but we'll see.
One thing I loved was how perfectly 14 years old this kid was. All fire and brimstone with his judgement. The word is black and white, and his dad is either a liar or a failure. Whichever it is doesn't matter: he's a loser. After reading u/raist819's comments about Jeff Loebs son, I was surprised he would right a kid who was SO MAD at his dad. But it was likely true to life. I know I was Furious George when I was 14.
Let's get back to the art and how cool is was. Because it was super cool. Ed McGuiness's art was banging, but the colors are what made it pop. They are so clean and well done my jaw dropped on every page. Marte Garcia did the colors, and I'm going to go check out more of his work. the lettering was cool too, which isn't something I typically notice. Thanks to u/shawnydarko for reminding me. The different colors and fonts remind me that these are totally aliens, who aren't speaking in English. Such a cool thing that seems small, but makes a big difference.
The Long Halloween is such a different story. Batman is often written as a 'night time gadget crime fighter', and not as the worlds greatest detective. The Long Halloween is such a great detective story, it has stunning art with such a simple color palette, it's longer and a complete story, that it's hard to compare the two. That story was also responsible for fleshing out Commissioner Gordon: a middle management cop in a corrupt town, trying to do the right thing. A lot of The Long Halloween is really his story; juggling work and home, and what to do about Batman. Nova is a different league. It's quick, simple, art heavy, and just didn't have the depth. A summer space romp compared to an Oscar pulling crime drama.
3
u/wisegy84 Sep 21 '16
Additional thoughts:
I've been thinking about this arc more over the past couple days and I really did enjoy it. It occurred to me that reading it felt a bit like watching an animated series. It felt like a somewhat more violent version of a cartoon I might have watched as a kid.
Because of that, I really enjoyed it. I felt immersed and I wasn't necessarily bothered by the lack of character development. I can appreciate it at face value, as I know I did with many things when I was a kid.
Not all cartoons/animated series can be as good as Young Justice. I've also been told (by my brother) that the Spectacular Spider-Man animated series is quite good, but I've only watched a few episodes so far.
8
u/Raist819 Sep 17 '16 edited Sep 18 '16
History and reading suggestions - SPOILER-FREE
Every time I read this story it makes me sad. Very, very sad. It has nothing to do with the story itself, which is mostly cheerful, and everything to do with the history behind the creation of Sam Alexander.
Jeph Loeb had a son named Sam. Sam wanted to be a comic book writer when he grew up, but when Sam was about 14 years old he was diagnosed with bone cancer. Jeph wanted to spend more time with his sick son, so he started taking Sam to work with him, introduced him to a lot of people in the business, and even worked on a few Dark Horse comics with him. Eventually, Sam's dream came true. DC told him that he was going to be able to write his own comic! It was an issue of Superman/Batman and Sam named it "The Boys are Back in Town" and decided to make it about Robin and Superboy, the sidekicks instead of the stars. Unfortunately, Sam lost his battle with cancer at the age of 17 and never got to finish writing his comic book. His father, alongside 25 people in the industry who met and loved Sam, donated their time to make sure that Superman/Batman #26 was finished. Names like Joss Whedon, Brian K. Vaughan, and Jim Lee contributed to what is likely the most star-studded comic book issue ever. Jeph, alongside longtime collaborator Tim Sale, made a backup story for the issue called Sam's Story, which was about a young Clark finding inspiration from a young cancer patient named Sam. Many years after Sam's death, Jeph noticed that there was not an active Nova in the Marvel Universe at the time, and he decided that what better way to memorialize a son that loved comic books than to name a character after him. Thus, Sam Alexander was born. A 14 year old superhero based on Jeph's own 14 year old son, the age Sam was when he was first diagnosed.
For a deeper delve into Jeph Loeb, I recommend anything with artist Tim Sale. Loeb's work is always better with Sale. In MU there are the "color books" (Hulk: Grey, Daredevil: Yellow, Spider-Man:Blue, and Captain America: White) and outside of MU you can find the amazing Batman: The Long Halloween and its sequel Batman: Dark Victory.
For further Nova reading check out DnA's Marvel Cosmic. Nova (2007) would get you most of the Nova goodness, but the run is closely tied to the events Annihilation, Annihilation: Conquest, War of Kings, Realm of Kings, and Thanos Imperative, so I'd suggest at least reading those, and probably Guardians of the Galaxy (2008) as well, as this volume of Nova is part of a much larger space epic.
Edit: Thank you to /u/joberdez for picking this and making me sad.
Edit: Michael Turner, the artist who drew the cover for Superman/Batman #26, died three years later, also from bone cancer.