Nova: Return of the Rings #1: Worlds in Mind

Nova is a narratively rich hero with multiple characters having taken on the role over the years. Originally created as a Spider-Man-inspired answer to Green Lantern back in the 70s, Nova has grown beyond his origins through the countless creators who have brought something new to his character.

When I asked Josh Trujillo what his version of Nova meant to him was, he had the following to say: “What excites me about Sam is his courage and his big heart. He’s a young kid with the power and knowledge of the universe in his hands and a huge legacy to live up to. He’s so cool, and you can tell any kind of story with him.”

Nova: Return of the Rings #1, like many other Voices comics, is split into two stories. There is the titular A story, “Return of the Rings,” by Trujillo, Loureiro, and Abdias, and its backup is the 5-page B story, “Shining Light,” by Ponce and Pereira. Both stories are colored by Jão Canola and lettered by Corey Petit.

The main story begins in media res in a strange prison. Very Nova-like. Sam can’t remember where he is or who. This is a natural setup for fans who are unfamiliar with Nova’s character and also works well as an opening given the character’s noticeable absence from more recent mainline books aside from the occasional Iron Man team-up.

Things quickly take a turn as Sam’s prison break inevitably boils over into an action-filled showdown between Nova and King Arasmer, one of Trujillo’s own creations from Marvel’s Infinity comics. While the action is handled well in the issue, what leads up to the action and what follows it is arguably more interesting. There are a few twists in the issue’s main story that are surprisingly well written. The clues for both of these are signposted at least twice before the actual reveal, but not so obviously as to give away the “oh snap” realization when Sam figures either one of them out.

Rafael Loureiro and Bruno Abdias’s artwork carries that recognizable fun quality of old-school cartoonists. The characters don’t have to be hyper-realistic simulations to be interesting. Sam’s simplistic design and the relatively sparse backgrounds feed into the flow rather than distract. Most importantly, the action isn’t hard to follow, and the story occasionally does interesting things with its panel arrangement, like stacking panels or using diagonal angles to split up the action.

Juan Ponce & Andy Pereira’s “Shining Light” is a short story about the kind of hero Nova is. When a crisis draws him away from his sister’s performance, Sam gets right down to saving the world and thinks of all the people his actions could affect. Even those that heroes like Iron Man might gloss over. A lot of the story comes from Nova’s narration, which Juan Ponce writes excellently.

The art in Shining Light is extremely aware of its page constraints. Andy Pereira stacks as many panels as they can onto one page without breaking the story apart too much that it would affect the flow. The story and visuals both work together to handle Sam’s characterization very well. Despite its short length, this reads like the abridged version of a full-length Nova story.