Now I haven’t been reviewing ‘Nova’ in quite awhile now but what with it being Halloween weekend and all and this being the only title I picked up that was keeping up with the holiday, I couldn’t help but take a crack at it. And I’m glad that I did!
Gerry Duggan not only gives us a great little time with Nova but also puts him in with the younger students who were all introduced in ‘Wolverine and the X-Men.’ For the most part, it is all perfectly done, though when he is in Westchester we do see a brief appearance by Quentin Quire which doesn’t fit anywhere near current continuity. That’s okay as the one liner is perfectly his style and perfectly placed and for a Halloween themed issue you probably shouldn’t be caring about that. Even with Quire, who probably shouldn’t be there on page for a couple of panels, the rest of the X-Men all have their voices. They, of course, aren’t quite as on page as Nova himself is, but any fan of ‘Wolverine and the X-Men’ isn’t going to feel that their characters are being ignored at all.
Federico Santagati does a great job on the art all throughout. We see everything taking place on Earth and it just fits right. If anything, I would have expected to see more of a surprise by the supporting characters at our super heroes but honestly, again, Halloween issue. It really worked great. The small sections that are done in space do feel exotic and properly science fiction enough to not stand out like a sore thumb.
In the issue, Sam is feeling pretty lonely and goes to visit the X-Men to hang out for some trick or treating. We find out he was called by accident as someone was trying to get a hold of Speedball. They all get along pretty well and find themselves a place to be heroic in that a couple of older kids are stealing candy from younger ones.
Time to go save the day.
We get some investigative work, some jokes, and all around a touching story that really was just the kind of thing that the current ‘Nova’ series is good at. They do so much better of a job than I had expected and if you are still looking for some light-hearted humor in the Marvel Universe, this is the place to find it.
Overall the issue was a fun and festive one for the holidays. While this was a stand-alone issue, for those of you who have been following Nova’s adventures there are hints at the bigger storyline of what is going on with his dad as well as an AXIS tie-in for the next issue. This appears to be set after the events of AXIS that Nova was already a part of by what was shown on television, but thankfully he doesn’t seem to be affected by them which is fitting for the character being who he is. A fun issue that was just an all around enjoyable read.
NOVA #22
Writer: Gerry Duggan
Artist: Federico Santagati
