Though the seventies gave birth to many iconic Marvel characters, Nova the Human Rocket may be one of most beloved by comic fans. Nova wasn’t a very original character. He was essentially Marvel’s take on DC Comics’ Green Lantern. A kid named Richard Rider is given the power of Nova by a “dying” alien. Nova’s power levels were far less than those of Green Lantern’s, though. He had limited super strength and toughness as well as the power of flight. These powers would increase throughout the years, though, until Richard Rider reaches a level capable of taking on foes as powerful as Annihilus and defeating them. What sold Nova to the masses, though, were two things—he was a relatable character like Peter Parker with a down-to-Earth secret identity and the design of his superhero uniform. The Nova suit was beyond awesome for its time and the dynamic covers of his series pulled people to his book.
Marvel has recently released a Nova omnibus that not only collects the entire first run of the series, including all twenty five issues, but also issues of the Fantastic Four, Spider-Man, The Defenders, the Thing, What If, and more that feature his important guest appearances during the early years of the character. The omnibus is a bit smaller than most Marvel releases, weighing in at slightly less than 900 pages. Thankfully, the Nova omnibus is cheaper too having a retail price of $100 instead of the normal $125.
A good many of the stories from this era of Nova are not on par with the majority of stories Marvel was releasing at that time but also come across as somewhat dated. That said, there are some true gems buried among them and just like the old Nova comics, the omnibus has an awesome cover and dust jacket, making it look really cool on a shelf.
