Soaring High Once More — Reviewing ‘Nova: Return Of The Rings’ #1

Once upon a time, around fifteen years ago, Marvel Comics entered a period where multiple young new heroes were created. While many remember Ms. Marvel Kamala Khan and Spider-Man Miles Morales, there was another who stood as tall as them during that decade; Sam Alexander, the new Nova.

Over the years poor Sam has ended up shuffled off to character limbo, while Kamala suffers as a backup X-Men and Miles still has to have his name plastered in a series title. At last, Sam Alexander is back in Nova: Return of the Rings, the latest edition in the Marvel Voices series of annual Hispanic and Latin American heritage month celebrations.

We get two stories featuring the fantastic Sam, with the first coming from Josh Trujillo, Rafael Loureiro, Bruno Abdias, and Jão Canola. The second story is presented by Juan Ponce, Andy Pereira, and Canola, with Cory Petit doing lettering for both.

These two stories perfectly showcase how dynamic a hero Sam is and what he deserves to be at the forefront of things again. Trujillo begins with the return of the first of the Ten Rings of Power, which were often connected to the Iron Man villain The Mandarin.

A new villain known as King Arasmer currently has the mind ring, and wants Sam to don his helmet to become his champion. Unfortunately, Sam doesn’t have any memories of who he is, but that won’t keep a former Avenger and Champion down at all.

I love that Trujillo showcases that Sam is a badass character who is a hero in every facet. He’s able to deal with a lost memory issue (something heroes come across often) to pull one over on the villain and come out on top. Sam, Kamala, and Miles are the true Marvel trinity in my eyes, and I’ve been a Marvel fan since long before any of them existed. Everything about these characters and their space in the Marvel Universe in that era was so exciting and fresh.

That energy is very much captured in this one-shot.

Loureiro and Abdias exude that same energy with the vibrant and compelling artwork. It flows with crackling kinetic energy as the figures take up space with great detail. Emotional range is clear upon their faces. The paneling choices exemplifies this in various cases. Oh, that one panel with King Arasmer grinning with sharp teeth was unsettling in the best ways possible. Everything to do with the action sequences feels big in the moment and fits into the tone that the story is meant to evoke.

In the second story we have Sam with family, to watch his sister Kaelyn perform at a festival, only for hero duty to pull him away. Iron Man and Mister Fantastic call for Nova specifically, being the only West Coast hero with the powers to stop this threat. It gives the emphasis that Sam is a well regarded hero in this universe, as he was on the Avengers with Iron Man. He’s not a rookie or a newbie but instead someone that has the experience and power to handle big things. Ponce makes that work so well here and gives all the character’s the right push.

The family aspect, and Sam hearing his sister’s voice at the moment he’s down works so well. We get so little with supporting casts and families in many hero books at Marvel these days. Sam and his family were a huge part of his multiple ongoing series in the 2010s.

Very much like the first story, Pereira delivers such a fun and vibrant art style here. It skews more to a denser variety than the first story which was more on the whimsical scale. I love the panel shifting that we get and how zeroed in the views are here. It gives everything such an immediate and connective feeling through and through. Kind of like a letterbox over wide-screen sort of appeal.

In both stories, Canola delivers some very bright and shiny vibrant color palettes. Each is slightly different to mesh with the differing pencils. There is a lighter feeling to the first story colors while the second one has a denser and darker tint to the tone. Both fit the atmosphere perfectly and remind of why superhero stories are supposed to be so fun and bright.

Across both there is a great sense of emotional tone, volume, and visual appeal with Petit’s lettering. He gives the different characters and types of voices perfect appearance with shifting bubble styles, and colors to mirror their delivery (verbal or audio) or give them some distinct touches. Petit always brings in the right modifiers and switches that allow lettering to feel so smooth and perfect for the moment.

Marvel, and specifically new Editor In Chief Stephen Wacker, hear me, please please please bring Sam back full time. This character rocks and deserves more than character limbo hell.

Nova: Return of the Rings #1 is now available from Marvel Comics.