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Wednesday, February 4, 2026

Favourite comics: Nova #1 John Buscema , Marv Wolfman - A new hero or Spider-Man in space?

By 1976/77 I was 16 going on 17 years old and my interest in superhero comics was starting to wane. I needed something new that would be a fun and exciting read to retain my interest in the genre and that happended in June 1976 with the first issue of Marv Wolfman's brainchild, “The Man Called Nova” ( cover above by Buckler/Sinott). Of course the main selling point about Nova was that he had more than a passing resemblance to a certain Peter Parker, with a bit of Green Lantern in his origin. The fact that issue 1 ( and #2) was illusrtated by John Buscema and Joe Sinnot added even more fun to this origin issue.
From issues 3-14 the equally great Sal Buscema took over the art chores (with Tom Palmer and Frank Giacoia on inks) and from issue 15 until #25 (the final issue) Carmine Infantino was the artist. Although the first 4 issues showed great promise with issue 5 the storyline ( for myself anyway) took on a bit of a dip by trying to emulate Lee/Kirby/Ditko's trick of trying to bring the character into the "real" world by having him visit the Marvel bullpen in order to get them to give him his own mag - unlike Stan Lee's simialr storys this failed big time, and my interest in Nova began to wane- although when I saw the above cents copy on sale recently, it didnt stop me picking it up to replace my long lost 10p UK original .
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2 comments:

  1. KidFebruary 5, 2026 at 12:35 AM

    I too bought this comic when it first came out, McS, but my currently unreliable memory can't remember my jumping-off point. I may've kept #1, but I think I gave whatever other issues of Nova I had to a recently deceased pal (while he was yet alive, obviously), but sometime in the late '80s or early '90s, I acquired the first dozen issues and still have them. Yeah, you're right - it was definitely a mix of Spider-Man and Green Lantern, especially in how Nova got his powers in the latter's case.

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  2. McSCOTTYFebruary 5, 2026 at 1:20 AM

    I picked the title up occasionally after the first 5 issues but it never lived up to its early promise for me. I only have my "new" first issue , my original 2nd issue , and a couple of Sal Buscema issues . The newsagent I bought my original first issue from is no longer there , I recall where it was but not the name of the shop despite visiting it around 3 times a week for over 4 years as it always had loads of US comics.

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Favourite comics: Nova #1 John Buscema , Marv Wolfman - A new hero or Spider-Man in space?

By 1976/77 I was 16 going on 17 years old and my interest in superhero comics was starting to wane. I needed something new that would ...