Nova Vol. 7

This volume collects issue #7 of the 2013 Marvel series Nova, titled "Away Game," written by Zeb Wells and drawn by Paco Medina, continuing the run launched by Jeph Loeb and Ed McGuinness. The protagonist is Sam Alexander, a boy from Arizona who inherited a Nova helmet after his father Jesse went missing and became the youngest member of the Nova Corps. Having just fought the invader Titus in his hometown and left the skate park in ruins, he decides tonight to extend his crime-fighting reach across the whole country. The story begins in New York: Sam poses atop the Statue of Liberty only to be driven off at gunpoint by a circling helicopter; he then mistakes a controlled demolition for an attack and crashes into the Superior Spider-Man, who is on duty (with Otto Octavius's consciousness occupying Spider-Man's body). This sharp-tongued, seasoned "Spider-Man" has no interest in mentoring a newcomer, telling him only that "New York has no shortage of superheroes"—just as Iron Man flies overhead. Sam heads west, passing Justice (Vance Astrovik) and Speedball (Robbie Baldwin), veteran New Warriors chatting atop a truck about reforming the team, for whom the streaking red figure becomes a "sign." In Los Angeles he stops an ice-cream truck with a "kidnapping clown," only to discover he has stumbled onto a film set. Chastened, Sam finally takes the advice to monitor police and emergency frequencies with his helmet, and realizes there are far more distress calls nationwide than he can possibly handle. He ends up back in Arizona at the skate park he destroyed, cleaning up alongside the workers and receiving from an ordinary foreman advice more practical than anything any superhero could offer. On the moon, the Watcher Uatu's gaze passes over Sam to a familiar figure farther off—Thanos—setting up the next volume's Infinity event.