Nova #11

By Gerry Duggan, Paco Medina, Juan Vlasco, David Curiel.

Sam Alexander is back on Earth and has begun to see strange, floating lights everywhere. As he struggles with the responsibilities of his everyday life, Sam has to figure out what these lights are and where they could possibly lead him. Gerry Duggan takes over writing for Nova with a new adventure for Sam and a new villain waiting in the darkness of the galaxy.

Duggan has really embraced the funnier side of Nova as a character, with Sam’s sarcastic teenage voice coming to the foreground in his first issue. While this story is building on what Duggan gave us in his mini-issue in the 100th issue of Nova, there is still a lot of build up and exposition to the story happening. Some of which felt a little unnecessary, like the bit with the chess club. Eventually, the pieces will hopefully come together and all fit in to place. Other than small plot points like that the book was very good for Duggan’s first full length issue. The story he is telling is compelling and a bit more on the dramatic side than what we’ve seen in earlier issues, and could play out to be a really interesting story about the Nova Corps in general.

Paco Medina is still drawing this book, and he brings  his signature style to the pages of Duggan’s story. His artwork is more lighthearted and fits the style of writing very well now. The character’s faces aren’t as awkward as they have been in a few of the past issues, and the characters really have come to look more dynamic. The bright colors really pop off the page, and coupled with the art and story this book feels lighter than the past few issues of Nova. With the new voice that Duggan has brought to the story, the artistic components are complimenting each other very well.

With the introduction of the new villain at the end of this book we’ll get to see the full challenge of this new story in the next few issues. It should be a fun ride.