Comments on: John Seavey’s Storytelling Engines: Nova

By: MarkAndrew

MarkAndrew — Fri, 23 Nov 2007 20:10:45 +0000

The only things Nova has in common with Green Lantern is that they both do stuff in space, and are part of a galactic police force.

That’s true.

Is this supposed to be an argument that they don’t have the same basic concept?

‘Cause it’s really not working.

By: chroom

chroom — Fri, 23 Nov 2007 01:07:35 +0000

I got the ESSENTIAL NOVA a couple of years ago and really enjoyed it. Yes, the supporting characters are a bit crap, particularly the uber-Yiddish friend (“Bernie”, if I recall correctly), but as I understand it, Nova was supposed to be the Spider-Man for a new generation of readers. Secret identity, girl and school troubles, great power/responsibility … it was pretty much according to the Spider-Man template, with a little of GL’s origin thrown in.

Of course, things changed significantly over the course of the series. But it was still good superhero fun for the most part: silly and melodramatic at times, but fun. If only they hadn’t ended the series (and the ESSENTIAL) volume on a cliffhanger, it would have been even better. Still, it’s one of my favorites, just for the fun factor.

By: BDillon

BDillon — Wed, 21 Nov 2007 16:34:20 +0000

I definitely agree that Quasar is more GL than Nova. He seems to have gotten back to his roots more in the new series, and away from the cocky, annoying character he played in New Warriors. In the new series he was back to being the Peter Parker/under-confident character, and was forced into taking charge due to the Annihilation Wave and the WorldMind pretty much demanding it. I think the growth they’ve given him has been done well, and made the series one of the better ‘cosmic scale’ comics currently out there.

By: googum

googum — Wed, 21 Nov 2007 15:33:00 +0000

I don’t know…I got the Essential a couple weeks ago, and Nova’s supporting cast was just terrible. Also, Richard started out as a very Peter Parker character, yet by the time he got to the New Warriors, he was more a Flash Thompson type. What’s up with that?

By: HellRazor

HellRazor — Wed, 21 Nov 2007 12:44:04 +0000

The only things Nova has in common with Green Lantern is that they both do stuff in space, and are part of a galactic police force. And with the Nova Corp now gone, it’s pretty much just “they both do stuff in space”.

Personality and power-wise they are nothing alike.

Quasar was actually designed (at least in his later incarnations) to be a Marvel version of Green Lantern, hence the way the Quantum bands make solid light objects. (Just like that guy in the Squadron Supreme, Power Prism I think, who was another Marvel GL replica).

By: Nova the Storytelling Engine « New Warriors Continuity Conundrum

Nova the Storytelling Engine « New Warriors Continuity Conundrum — Wed, 21 Nov 2007 04:46:41 +0000

[...] Read the full blog post. [...]

By: Matthew E

Matthew E — Wed, 21 Nov 2007 01:07:54 +0000

I can see Jaime Reyes following basically the same career path as Richard Ryder.

By: GarBut

GarBut — Wed, 21 Nov 2007 00:49:31 +0000

Organizing plot and characters does not define a storytelling engine. It defines storytelling. NOVA’s engine, as the other comments have pointed out, is the GL engine, in Marvel garb.

By: Bat2supe

Bat2supe — Wed, 21 Nov 2007 00:21:36 +0000

Hey, guys!!

Nova=Green Lantern: sure especially in Annihilation.

I agree with Stephane, the Nova concept is good & makes all the revival possible but all the supporting cast etc from the 1rst serie isn’t prominent neither in the New Warriors nor his own serie.

Marv Wolfman did a good job introducing the Character & core concept, telling good Nova stories at the time. But, like you mentioned, not a lot of his supporting cast did it ’til today.
So, his concept was/is great but I don’t agree with u about storytelling engine.

By: John Seavey

John Seavey — Wed, 21 Nov 2007 00:19:57 +0000

Concept has always been a part of the storytelling engine. I usually define it as (concept + main character(s) + supporting cast + setting + antagonists + tone). The current Nova revival has kept most of the elements of the original series, although it’s emphasized some more than others (his parents, for example, were a big part of the original series, but have only had a couple of appearances in the new series.) The only thing we haven’t seen from the original Nova is appearances by his old enemies, and to be fair, the series is only seven issues old, and has been dealing with ‘Civil War’ and ‘Annihilation: Conquest’.

By: Stephane Savoie

Stephane Savoie — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 23:57:54 +0000

I’d go so far as Nova = Green Lantern.

I don’t know if I agree with this installment of storytelling engines, though. I mean, the concept of the character was strong enough to support two revivals. But his storytelling engine… his concept combined with his supporting cast… where’s that? Surely you can’t mean to combine concept and storytelling engine?

By: sean

sean — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 22:51:31 +0000

Nova + Quasar = Green Lantern.

By: TF_loki

TF_loki — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 22:27:41 +0000

By killing all their wives and girlfriends, of course!

By: jazzbo

jazzbo — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 22:14:32 +0000

But if they don’t kill off those minor characters, how are they supposed to show us that this crossover is “serious”?