Nova #10

By Former Contributor
On 28 November 2013
0

By Zeb Wells, Carlo Barberi, David Lopez, John Livesay, Terry Pallot, and David Curiel.
Nova: Adventure Time by Gerry Duggan, Paco Medina, Juan Vlasco, and David Curiel.

This supersized 100th issue of Nova sees Sam deal with the proposition to join the New Warriors. Zeb Wells focuses this issue mainly on the interaction between Sam and his supporting cast instead of bringing a lot of action into the script. This issue also features a mini-story from the new Nova writer Gerry Duggan. This smaller story sets the stage for Duggan’s upcoming run and adds a new dynamic to Sam’s character.

Wells fully embraces the teenage side of Sam and really plays up the relationship with him and his mother. Sam fights to try and be the hero that he wants to be, but still has to face the fact that he is a teenager. When faced with this predicament Sam whines and complains over mundane things like curfews or calling to let her know where he is. While this can be annoying at times, Wells embracing this part of Sam really emphasizing the fact that Sam is an immature hero. It’s an interesting take on the origin story, as we see that even though Sam is thrust into greatness, he may or may not be ready for it.

The mini-story at the end of the book, Adventure Time, did a good job of injecting some action into this issue. We see Sam taking on some space mischief with the juxtaposition of Sam’s responsibilities taking away from his life on Earth. Duggan seems to have some promising ideas for his upcoming run, and we see that at the end of this mini-story.

The art for this issue was a bit awkward. Carlo Barberi and David Lopez had a very cartoonish style to their art that made the characters out of proportion at times. Some of the facial expressions were stiff and the character’s faces had awkward lines that made them stand out awkwardly. Even some of the body movements and positions were stiff and not very humanizing.

This issue was a nice wrap up to what we’ve seen in the past few issues with a little extra to what we’ll see in the coming months.