Nova 10, Deadpool Annual 1

Nova 10
Wells and Duggan (w) and Barberi, Lopez, Medina, Livesay, Vlasco, and Pallot (a) and Curiel and Stewart (c)

This is technically issue 100 of various NOVA books so we get an oversized issue with a couple of stories in it. The first continues where we'd left off, with Zeb Wells showing us a contract negotiation between Sam and his mother as they try to find a common ground that will allow Sam to join a superhero team. He's under the impression that this team will be the Avengers, who he still recalls being asked by Thor to join, but, in truth, it's for the position of reserve on the New Warriors, soon to be formed by Speedball and Justice. He's angry that he has to deal with this contract at all and angrier still that it'd be for a team without much prestige or power, so he throws a bit of a fit and, against his mother's wishes, he flies off to talk with the Watcher. The Watcher, of course, doesn't really talk back, but does show Sam images of the previous Nova, Richard Rider, teaming up with unknowns and providing them a lot of firepower before teaming up with the Avengers and providing them next to nothing. Sam understands and goes home, signing the contract and optimistic that he can be of use on a smaller team with more realistic goals. The second story gives us our first taste of Gerry Duggan as the new NOVA writer, giving us a quick story that shows Nova responding to a distress call in space and saving the human and alien onboard while his mom, back on Earth, argues with the school principal about Sam's truancy issues. Sam saves the aliens and heads home, hoping to make it to school on time only to find himself nearly mysteriously blinded when he reaches Earth again. Likely, that's where our story will pick up next time. A third story (comprised of solely a double page spread) shows us a peek at what NOVA 1000 would look like. It's cutesy but lacking most charm, honestly. Fortunately, it's two pages so whatever.

Not a bad book. It's certainly a nice transition from Wells to Duggan as we see the official conclusion of the storyline Wells brought to the book throughout INFINITY and with the New Warriors' appearance. Wells brings the same sort of energy to Sam that he'd done throughout his short run on the series and it's easy to recognize why he'll be missed, pushing forward. It's still obviously far too early to say anything about Duggan and a rather short second story in here doesn't give us enough to judge but Wells did a phenomenal job bringing an energy and an easy levity to the series, which is not as easy to do with superhero books as you might expect it to be. Solid conclusion for Wells and a nice little start for Duggan, even if it was too short to really glean a ton about what's coming next, beyond sudden blindness.

Deadpool Annual 1
Acker and Blacker (w) and Shaner (a) and Gandini (c)

A quick trip back in Deadpool's somewhat recent past shows him hired, just before SECRET INVASION, to kill Matt Murdock, Hell's Kitchen's most famous attorney. Deadpool bemoans the fact that New York is a tough place to get things done, what with all of the passing-by superheroes and ninjas and what-not. He's interrupted before he takes his sniper shot by a character calling himself Madcap, someone who seems more than a little crazy and who, like Deadpool, has healing factor powers as well as the power to make people go varying levels of crazy. For the already-crazy Deadpool, it backfires on Madcap and ends with Deadpool feeling pretty relaxed. At this point, Daredevil shows up and delivers a solid beating to the two of them before Thor also appears and lightnings the villains into dust. Deadpool eventually re-shapes but Madcap is nowhere to be seen; at least not until Deadpool starts thinking and realizes that Madcap has clearly reshaped with him. It's been a rather long-time thing with Deadpool that he has two different caption boxes, one yellow and one white. Turns out the white one has been Madcap, trapped in Deadpool's mind. 'Pool admits that it grew on him after a while, having someone else to talk to, but another contract to kill Murdock leads to another superhero smack down when Luke Cage confronts Deadpool (near the start of Marvel NOW) and punches him enough to let Madcap take temporary control of the body, which doesn't sit well with the mercenary. Thor again shows up and Madcap, using his powers, gets Cage and Thor to start a tug of war using Deadpool's body and ripping Madcap from him, hence why there are no more white caption boxes. Daredevil shows up again and beats Deadpool down and Deadpool can't help but miss the other voice in his head.

Fun little book that both gives a direct reason for part of Deadpool's craziness and then takes it away, changing very little but giving us a nice little origin story of sorts. It's a clever little twist, not without its own charms, and it's presented well. Madcap and Deadpool are rather funny together and everyone else that has a cameo is well-written and funny in his own right (as a "Thrilling Adventure Hour" fan, I couldn't help notice that Acker and Blacker wrote Thor a little like Croach the Tracker which did not upset me in the slightest and which also made Daredevil feel a little like Sparks Nevada but probably only to me). Despite the slight shift in "origin," the book certainly isn't particularly serious and it's hard to say if this will impact canon or anything or if Madcap, who leaves this issue miraculously in one piece, will turn up again at some point or if this was a one-off deal but it's certainly a fun book and it has a good deal of charm to back it up and to slot it nicely into its role as an Annual issue.