Nova Vol. 5 #8

This issue is the eighth installment of Nova Vol. 5 (the 2013 relaunch), titled "Chapter 8: Infinity," and ties in with the Marvel event Infinity. The protagonist is Sam Alexander, the new Nova who succeeded the late Richard Rider. The issue opens with Sam's everyday life: he pays to rebuild a skateboard park he accidentally destroyed during a mission, but at the park the girl he has a crush on, Carrie, confronts him to his face with "You're Nova." Flustered, he loses his helmet, falls from the sky, and is briefly knocked out. When he comes to, he finds Justice (Vance Astrovik) and Speedball (Robbie Baldwin), former New Warriors, standing over him. The two are rebuilding the New Warriors and want him to join, on the grounds that they were both friends of Richard Rider and understand the Nova force. Sam refuses at first, but once he learns of that connection he agrees to at least come take a look. A second thread plays out in space: Thanos learns there is another Nova on Earth and, because of an old grudge tied to the Cancerverse, wants the Nova wiped out entirely. With the larger stakes of Infinity keeping him from acting personally, he sends Kaldera, the ferocious daughter of the Near-Death Blade, to Earth to hunt Sam. The issue ends with Kaldera at Sam's front door, asking his sister Kaelynn where he is; his family is in danger, and the crisis hangs unresolved.