Nova 4

nova 4

Today, Shelby and Drew are discussing Nova 4, originally released May 15th, 2013.

Shelby: In the pilot episode of Firefly, we meet the ship’s pilot Wash as he is playing with some toy dinosaurs. As the T-Rex and his veggie-saurus friend survey their new home, the Rex turns on his friend, prompting the delightful line, “Curse your sudden, but inevitable betrayal!” In last month’s look at issues 1-3 of Nova, Patrick and Drew discussed Jeff Loeb’s penchant for cliches; they assumed Young Sam would be betrayed by Rocket and Gamorra, but because it seemed so obvious, they also assumed it was a fake-out. They weren’t totally wrong; Loeb gives us our inevitable betrayal this issue, but it comes from a completely unexpected direction.  Continue reading

Nova 1-3

Alternating Currents: Nova 1-3, Drew and Patrick

Today, Drew and Patrick are discussing Nova 1-3, originally released February, March, and April 17th, 2013, respectively.

Drew: Cliche is a complicated subject in genre fiction. We tend to characterize predictability as bad, but it’s only by setting up expectations that writers are able to thwart them. Moreover, those tropes may be the very thing that draws us to those genres in the first place — we want the hero to beat the villain, get the girl, and ride off into the sunset. As a veteran writer conversant in a number of genres, Jeff Loeb understands the power of those tropes, mixing them potently in his take on Nova. Continue reading