This Week's Essential Comics: 02/20/13

Yay! Double dose of Baz this week!

DC

• Green Lantern#17
• Green Lantern: New Guardians #17
• Justice League of America #1
• Nightwing #17
• Red Hood and the Outlaws #17 (Can't believe that Jason and Bruce are finally going to confront each other in the New 52, and it has to be drawn by Timothy Green, II. Guy can't draw.)

Marvel

• Avengers #6
• Daredevil #23
• Deadpool #5
• Indestructible Hulk #4
• Nova #1 (I'm going to give it a fair chance. I have no reason to dislike the new character or direction that the book is taking.)
• Superior Spider-Man #4

Whew! Expensive week...

I wonder if there's going to be an Arrow ad on Justice League of America #1... (Who am I kidding? They had one on the conclusion to DotF. Why wouldn't they have one on JLA #1?) It's pretty disappointing because all of DC's covers this month are stunning. Arrow ads just ruin them.

Green Lantern, JL, JLA, JLA: Vibe, GL: New Guardians, GLC, Thor, Superior, and a few more are waht I want

JUSTICE LEAGUE #17 $3.99
JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA #1 $3.99
WONDER WOMAN #17 $2.99
AVENGERS #6 NOW2 $3.99
DAREDEVIL #23 $2.99
INDESTRUCTIBLE HULK #4 NOW2 $3.99
NOVA #1 NOW $3.99
SUPERIOR SPIDER-MAN #4 NOW $3.99
X-FACTOR #252 $2.99

I'm getting JLA! JLA! JLA!

and Saga, Daredevil

• Saga #10
• Thor God of thunder #5
• Indestructible Hulk #4
• Justice League #17 and JLA #1
• Nova #1 (Read the early reviews on midtown... surprised!)
• Superior Spider-man #4
• Avengers #6 (Least Favourite out of all)

I can't wait for Nova and Guardians of the Galaxy!!

Whoever said that they hate this new Nova because he is not Richard Rider is just being unfair and selfish.

My pull list this week:

• Action Comics
• Birds of Prey
• Daredevil
• Green Lantern
• Green Lantern: New Guardians
• Justice League
• Nightwing
• Wonder Woman
• Indestructible Hulk

I'll also probably get JLA and at least take a look at Vibe

Novaaaaa!

Man, there is a ton of comics I want. Bruce Wayne, can lend me some money? Please?

From here: Green Lantern (Sucks that Geoff Johns is leaving), Thor, Justice League of America, Action Comics, Justice League, Avengers, Deadpool, Indestructible Hulk, Superior Spider-Man, Nightwing, and possibly Hellblazer 300.

From the list I am getting Green Lantern, JLA, Nova, Alpha Big Time, Action Comics, Justice League, Nightwing, Superior Spider-man, and Indestructible Hulk.

@cc1738: im going to wait and see how the new lantern writers are instead of not giving them a chance

@StMichalofWilson: that cover is amazing.

Saga, maybe JLA, maybe Savage Wolverine

This is an excessively expensive week for me. I'm going broke. lol. Granted, I'm dropping a lot of these fairly soon.

• Green Lantern
• Green Lantern New Guardians
• Green Lantern Corp
• Nightwing
• Supergirl
• Justice League
• Thor God of Thunder
• Captain America
• Superior Spiderman

@ColonelRunAway said:

The day Morrison's Action Comics Finale, the Hellblazer Finale and both of Mark Waid's books get edged out by a goddamn Loeb/McGuiness #1 is the day we lose the war.

Morrison's run ends on #18.

Big week for me!

Supergirl, Justice League, and the New Vibe #1.

My pull list is absurdly large this week...

• A+X #5
• Alpha: Big Time #1
• Avengers #6
• Batwoman #17
• Daredevil #23
• Indestructible Hulk #4
• Justice League #17
• Justice League of America #1
• Morbius the Living Vampire #2
• Nightwing #17
• Nova #1
• Red Hood and the Outlaws #17
• Saga #10
• Sword of Sorcery #5
• Thor: God of Thunder #5
• Vibe #1
• Wonder Woman #17

The day Morrison's Action Comics Finale, the Hellblazer Finale and both of Mark Waid's books get edged out by a goddamn Loeb/McGuiness #1 is the day we lose the war.

Where are the ladies on this list? How about Batwoman and Captain Marvel? Wonder Woman, maybe?

Also, looking forward to seeing what Johns does with JLA.

Thor god of thunder

Harbinger

XO Manowar

I can't believe the wait for Justice league of America is all most over , I get Martian manhunter in the hands of johns and a good team book that will have an impact in the dc universe. Jla Jl Gl Avengers

Hellblazer. That's all I care about this week. Well, that's not true, but I'm super pumped for the finale.

Hellblazer 300 should be on every essential list. The end of the longest running, most recognizable Vertigo title is over. Show it some respect. Where is Karen Berger when you need her... Oh yeah, DC screwed her over.

Green Lantern, JLA, JL, Thor GoT, Nova, Superior Spiderman, Avengers, Captain America, Deadpool, Indestructible Hulk, Saga and XO Manowar for me.

Lately I've only gone to my LCS once a month when Batman comes out then also pick up whatever else I've missed. But Thor has been beyond amazing, so I need to get #5 the day it comes out. Might get Nova too based on the cover alone.

getting the copy of Justice of America with the variant cover of Puerto Rico :D

RHTO looks promising, especially since we are getting some different artists to finish off these next two issues before Lobdell leaves

I can't wait for Green Lantern!!!

DC
ACTION COMICS #17
BATWOMAN #17
BIRDS OF PREY #17
CATWOMAN #17
GREEN LANTERN #17 (WRATH)
GREEN LANTERN CORPS #17 (WRATH)
GREEN LANTERN NEW GUARDIANS #17 (WRATH)
JUSTICE LEAGUE #17
JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA #1
JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICAS VIBE #1
NIGHTWING #17 (DOTF)
RED HOOD AND THE OUTLAWS #17 (DOTF)
SUPERGIRL #17
SWORD OF SORCERY #5
WONDER WOMAN #17
YOUNG JUSTICE #25

MARVEL
ALPHA BIG TIME #1
AVENGERS #6 NOW2
CAPTAIN AMERICA #4 NOW
DEADPOOL #5 NOW
INDESTRUCTIBLE HULK #4 NOW
MORBIUS LIVING VAMPIRE #2 NOW
NOVA #1 NOW
SAVAGE WOLVERINE #2 NOW
SUPERIOR SPIDER-MAN #4
THOR GOD OF THUNDER #5 NOW

@Trevel8182: you might wanna put this or paraphrase this in the Nova forums. Im pretty sure you'll get backers, hell i'll back you.

I enjoyed the preview of Sam's father's time as a Nova, but I am going to skip the series. Somehow I don't think I will enjoy Peter Parker-ish Nova.

I found this on a CBR forum this guy really sums up my feelings on this whole NOVA thing.

Long time reader, first time poster. Go easy on me, CBR...

... Anyway, I grew up with Richard Rider as Nova. I was reading comics around the late 80s, early 90s, and my first exposure to him was in New Warriors... where Nova QUICKLY became my favorite character in the group and stories with him my favorite stories. I still very lovingly have my shiny cover of New Warriors where Nova got a new costume. I always knew he was bound for bigger, better things, and I feared it would never happen given his status as a C-lister on a C-list book.

But then "Annihilation" happened and everything Nova could've been suddenly BECAME. Nova tapped into all that potential I spent years reading about and telling my friends about. Richard Rider finally shed his "C-lister" shell and emerged as a bonafide A-list hero. This was during the era of Civil War, where the earth heroes were too busy having a hissy fit over law books and acting very UNheroic towards one another; and while they were fighting each other, Richard Rider was out there in the dark expanse of space saving the entire galaxy like a true hero, doing what truly matter.

Not only was Nova my favorite comic book character of all time, he renewed my love for comics. I hadn't seriously bought comics in ages, but Richard Rider's story and adventures sucked me back in and offered me a breath of fresh air from the dark, "edgy", vapid, eye-rolling, political, convoluted mess that Marvel had become. Where Spider-man was selling out his marriage to the devil, there was Richard Rider having amazing adventures in space with a psychic Cosmonaut dog. Where Captain America was being gunned down, there was Richard Rider inspiring hope and fighting evil in the universe and giving the Marvel universe a champion to admire. His stories were fun, funny, but also didn't talk down to you. Richard Rider was younger than Peter Parker, yet he grew up much faster, acted more mature, and stepped up to his role as a hero in a way that even Marvel's own iconic heroes were failing to do at the time. The team writing Nova just found that sweet spot of fun and depth and, most importantly, originality.

All this is a way of saying... I am NOT liking Sam Alexander as Nova. I've NEVER liked the idea of "legacy" heroes, even as Marvel has been chasing after that idea for some time now. I forget who said it, but there was once someone at Marvel claiming that the difference between them and DC was that they have CHARACTERS, not COSTUMES. I would like to remind Marvel of that now. It upsets me to see my favorite character, Richard Rider, replaced with a largely derivative, largely regressive, largely annoying child, backpedaling on all the deep, wonderful character growth that took nearly 3 decades to fully capitalize upon. It literally feels that RIGHT when Richard Rider was finally A-list and awesome, he had to be kicked out and some hip, new "Spider-man number 6,812" pops up.

I've read a few issues, and I've certainly seen this Sam kid on the Spider-man cartoon. I am not a fan. At all. I gave him a fair shake, and I know they say first impressions aren't the whole story, but they are important. There is literally NOTHING special about Sam. I can't stand the kid. Even if I did, I'd be upset that the grand, epic, cosmic stories, which I loved precisely BECAUSE they avoided the muck of earth-based Marvel politics and in-fighting, have been utterly gutted and the comic brought crashing down to earth with a thud. I'm sure the kid will grow. I'm sure his stories will be nice and clean Disney-like fluff for little Timmy to enjoy...

... But that's the mindset I always hated. It's the George Lucas mindset of "we have a kid hero for kids to relate to". I never subscribed to that. Ever. I grew up with Spider-man already a man, married to a wonderful wife, and I was JUST as interested in Peter's role as an adult and husband. I adored Wolverine in the 80s and 90s, despite the fact I was just a kid reading about a guy who certainly wouldn't pass for a man in his 20s, let alone a teen. There's a reason Batman costumes outsell Robin costumes at Halloween. Kids don't need KIDS to be heroes to relate to a hero. I grew up reading Nova, and I adored him because, young or not, he embodied the type of person I aspired to be, both in the flaws and strengths of his morality. He was hotheaded. He was arrogant. He was rude and self-centered at times. And yet, reading his stories, you were sure in every single issue that he absolutely, 100% was committed to the idea of being a hero, in words and deeds. As such, he endeared himself to the reader, which made his eventual rise into the champion and leader of entire armies of galactic soldiers in a war for survival not only pay off in dividends, it proved every fan of him RIGHT.

"Nova" is not a costume. It's not a mantle. It's not a legacy. "Nova" is Richard Rider. Just as Superman is Clark Kent, Wolverine is Logan, and Batman is Bruce Wayne. Ultimately, I did not read years of Nova, New Warriors, Guardians of the Galaxy, Secret Avengers, or other books because "Nova" was in the stories; I read them because RICHARD RIDER was in the book.

I have deep issues with Loeb's statements that they "respect" the work of DnA on Nova, and thus they left him "dead", yet apparently they don't "respect" the work of DnA to keep Thanos or StarLord dead too. I find that both odd and troubling. I'm upset that they felt the need to create a "new" hero piggy-backing on the name of a much more beloved character rather than having the creativity or gumption to just make a brand new hero. I'm bothered by the change of tone, the change of location, and the change of directive. You could claim it's because I'm against things that are "different', but I ADORE something different... but I reject the idea that "different" has to come at the expense of a quality character, a quality universe, and years of strong continuity.

And I utterly reject the idea that someone "respects" the work of someone else so much they wish to not even bother following up or continuing on from it. I would have loved to see that years ago; "We respect the work of Stan Lee on Spider-man so much, we'll never use Peter Parker as Spider-man ever again! Also, because Stan Lee did such a good job on X-men, we won't ever use any of them in our stories because we love and respect him so much." What kind of thinking is that?

We LOVE Richard Rider. We LOVED his adventures as Nova. We certainly did NOT want him to vanish, his book given to an insufferably annoying hipster kid, and his galaxy-spanning adventures to be brought down to street thug bashing on earth. This is not development; this is regression. I can only assume it's some sort of misguided appeal to the "kiddies" to have a relatable hero, but I've already discussed how no kids wants to be a superhero kid; they want to be the adult hero who's cool and powerful and awesome and confident. Marvel does that, and I don't know why. They worry that Spider-man being married or having a kid will make him "too old" to be interesting to children? They worry that Nova, already younger that Peter, isn't young enough so they put in a 16 year old teen to do the same old tired "kid gets power and learns to become a hero" stereotype that is as old as the medium itself? Batman has children and you don't see DC shaking in their boots that their most popular character, arguably the most popular hero of all time, is now too old since he's a dad whose very son is currently Robin.

This has turned into a rant, but here's the long and short of it: I want to read a story with Richard Rider. I want to read awesome cosmic stories of him in space fighting imaginative aliens and saving planets. I want the comic that used to thrill me and excite me, like it took the best elements of Buck Rogers, Flash Gordon, John Carter, and Star Wars and gave me some of the most amazing, mature, yet fun and imaginative stories I've read from Marvel in DECADES.

I'm not getting that from Sam Alexander, nor do have I warmed up to him. Both the character AND the stories have utterly disappointed me to a degree of sadness and frustration that I don't think I can properly convey. I don't plan on buying any more issues of Nova, I have no interest in Loeb's "new" Nova, I have no interest in Marvel's direction for the character or series, and the only silver lining I can think of is that I'm happy Richard Rider wasn't retconned to be as annoying and insufferable as Sam Alexander is in the comic and cartoon he's in. I don't like him, no sir. Not one bit.

It sucks. It really does. If you're a Richard Rider fan, it really sucks having editors and writers dismiss your love for the character, dismiss the legacy of the character, dismiss the passion that former creators poured into him, and all the hard work it took to take a C-lister and turn him into the guy people loved. I still vividly recall my friend popping in a copy of Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom and going "who is THIS guy? He's AWESOME" and I could then pull out my copy of "Annihilation" and show him just how awesome he was. THAT'S the character I grew up loving. THAT'S the character I continue to love. And THAT'S the character I wish I could still be reading about.

Nova is Richard Rider. He's not a costume and not a mantle. And he's the only Nova I care to read about.

Saga is always top of the list for me. Plan on giving JLA a shot. Green Arrow, Baz and Martian Manhunter, plus Johns named dropped Ostrander's Suicide Squad run as a major influence on his writing for this comic. Can't wait to check it out.

@k4tzm4n Uuhm, you put up the Preview for Green Lantern:New Guardians not Green Lantern