This was the first of two issues of AMAZING SPIDER-MAN that was in the SUPERHERO GIFT PACK that I received for Christmas in 1978. It was also the second half of a two-part story, but one that had begun in a different title entirely. Unless I miss my guess, this is the first time when a story moved either from AMAZING SPIDER-MAN directly into another title or vice versa. Doing these sorts of cross-title crossovers was still a relatively novel thing, and required greater coordination than was usual. In this instance, it was no doubt helped by the fact that writer/editor Len Wein had been a close friend of Marv Wolfman, the creator/writer/editor of NOVA, since they were both in high school together.
NOVA was created by Wolfman to be, in essence, a 1970s version of the early Spider-Man, a teenaged super hero still in grade school who had great powers thrust upon him that he would use to battle crazy super-villains and the like. It wasn’t as nuanced a series as AMAZING SPIDER-MAN had been in its formative years, there was nothing approaching the “With great power, there must also come great responsibility” theme of ASM. But it was a solid super hero feature, and one that I liked. This crossover was clearly designed to bring some fan eyeballs to the series, as ASM was Marvel’s best-selling book. But speaking for myself, I never saw the issue of NOVA that sets up this second half until decades later, and so for me, this issue functions as a singular stand-alone without any of its set-up. And it still mostly works that way.
This two-parter is also a murder mystery with a certain gamelike approach to it: supposedly, Wolfman set up the mystery in his chapter in NOVA #12 and then handed the story over to Wein. But he didn’t tell Wein what the solution to the mystery was–Len needed to work it out for himself, just like the heroes. When I eventually did go back and read NOVA #12 years later, I found that it was almost entirely set-up for material that was recapped here early on, and so it wasn’t a terrific reading experience for me. But that’s on me for having read the two chapters in the wrong order. In any event, while there’s a villain to be defeated, it’s much more important to the reading experience to be able to work out the actual identity of Photon among the suspects listed on the opening page, based on the clues that Wolfman lays out and that Wein recaps.
So, what’s the story? Well, Dr. Ralph Rider, the uncle of Richard Rider/Nova and an inventor was murdered by a criminal called Photon, who was after his latest invention. Dr. Rider was also a puzzle aficionado. There were a number of potential suspects on the grounds when this happened, including A.I.M operative Harry Daze, Maggia member Jason Dean, competitor Michael Lincoln who had accused Dr. Rider of stealing his work, Peter Parker, notorious photographer, and Franklin Risk, unscrupulous businessman. Each witness gave their story, but one of them could be lying and secretly be Photon. Working that out is what Spidey and Nova, to say nothing of investigating officer Captain James Steele have to do.
Thing is, neither Spidey nor Nova are what you’d call the world’s greatest detective, so they decide instead to lean on their specialty: brute force. Most of the assorted suspects are in the wind, so Nova does a high-speed search of the area, turning up a hydrofoil making its way to the lighthouse out at Montauk Point at the end of Long Island. Figuring that this must be their guy, the two heroes race to the lighthouse–only to find that not only are three of the suspects together and working in cahoots to get Rider’s invention–Daze, Dean and Risk–but Daze has also called in a platoon of A.I.M. beekeepers, giving our two heroes somebody to punch for the next couple of pages. As action was always a critical ingredient of Marvel comics in the 1970s, this was a welcome diversion.
But then, Photon appears, and is able to knock out both Spidey and Nova with a convenient high-tech blaster. As a way of finishing them off, the A.I.M. crew chain the pair to a giant anchor and sink it into the waters beyond the lighthouse. Nova’s in no immediate danger–his helmet is designed for deep space and he’s got his own built-in air supply. But the wall-crawler is in serious trouble if he can’t break his chains in time. Which he does. Nova does the bare minimum, rocketing the two of them to the surface, where they compare notes before heading off after the bad guys. They’re able to narrow their suspect down to one of the three men present: Dean, Daze or Risk.
There’s one more break-in, one more fight, and Photon attempts to use Nova’s dad as a shield, the two heroes are able to clobber him and are ready to discover his identity. But before that can happen, Captain Steele shows up with his men, and he’s ready to show them the obvious clue that they overlooked. Because remember, Dr. Rider was a fan of puzzles, and when he died, he knocked over the pages of a calendar, pointing to them. July, August, September, October, November and December. And if you take the first letters of those months, then Rider is fingering his killer: JASON D, or Jason Dean. And on that note, the adventure is concluded. It was a somewhat strained hybrid between a regular Marvel comic and an Ellery Queen-style murder mystery, but I give Wein and Wolfman credit for trying it, even if the result was only middling.
The Tom Brevoort Experience 
Just a correction. Len and I didn’t meet in High School. He lived in Levittown, Long Island and I lived in Flushing, Queens but went to the High School of Art and Design in Manhattan. We met because Ron Fradkin, a friend of his, saw my fan letter in Mystery In Space and called me. Coincidently my sister lived in Levittown and I was going to visit her the next day which is when I met Ron and Len. And hilarity ensued.
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This is about 48 years too late, Mr. Wolfman, but this was an interesting effort at taking things you loved about the comics of your day (who said, “The Golden Age is twelve?”) and update them for (then) contemporary fans.
Not everything has The Teen Titans or Dracula‘s success, but this was really clever and heartfelt.
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I loved Nova for most of its run, hampered only by not growing to appreciate Infantino’s for a while and Doctor Sun. The character being drawn by Ross Andru was a treat, despite Sal Buscema also being a favorite. Andru will always be my classic Spider-man artist and always in an all time top five list!
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Loved both Nova and this crossover. What’s not to like about a hydrofoil? I think Ross and Mike were still in their prime on their ASM run with this issue.
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Nova ( Richard Rider ) as a 1976 era version of the early Spider-Man stories when he was still in high school: In Richard Rider’s case it is what if Flash Thompson was Spider-Man instead of Peter Parker. Had Rich’s younger brother Robert “Robbie” Rider been Nova instead he would have been more like Peter and he probably would have figured out all the Nova powers that Doctor Sun told the unconscious Nova he had that he could have used to defeat Doctor Sun’s force field ( Probably the Syfon Warrior’s energy absorbing abilities Nova Corps members have ) [ The Man Called Nova#23 ( January 1979 ) ]. I wonder, had Robbie been given the powers instead of his jock older brother would the Nova series lasted longer?
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If I recall, Robbie eventually getting Nova powers didn’t end well.
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I just read everything that happened to Robbie at Marvel fandom ( He, Toro & Bucky can attend the same meeting on Super-Heroes being brainwashed and the guilt they feel about the things they did ), but had he been picked to be Nova in Nova#1, none of that would have happened. Rich didn’t even try to find out what happened to Rhomann Dey in Nova#1 or find his ship ( Which had he shown any curiosity he probably would have learned a lot about his powers from the ship’s computers and had a cool huge headquarters ). Do we even know for certain Rhomann Dey is dead? He just disappeared with Zorr.
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Do something really interesting: give the powers to someone who is a Track & Cross Country type , , , , The type of kid who gets girls’ phone numbers by hanging out at the public library after practice on school conference days and helps them do research for papers . . .. the kind of kid you know will grow up to be Det. Sgt. Arthur Dietrich . . . .
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Closest Marvel character to that back when he was in school would be Walter Langkowski ( Sasquatch ), who both an scientist & football player ( so in school he would have played football and been good or great in science ). He probably got girls’ phone numbers and they probably asked him to help with their research papers whether they needed his help or not. Walter is probably one of the few comic book characters who was in the middle ( Athlete & Scientist ) and not on the opposite ends ( Either an Athlete or just a Scientist ).
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“In Richard Rider’s case it is what if Flash Thompson was Spider-Man instead of Peter Parker.”
I never thought so. I thought FIRESTORM was “What if the jock was the hero and his nemesis was a nerdy brain,” but Rich’s bete noire was Mike Burley, who was very, very Flash Thompson. Rich was more “ordinary” than Peter, but he wasn’t the Flash Thompson BMOC type, just a fairly normal teenager.
“I wonder, had Robbie been given the powers instead of his jock older brother would the Nova series lasted longer?”
I doubt it. Robbie was, what, 12-13? I don’t think Marvel readers of the 70s wanted a pre-adolescent hero — they wanted someone who could have girl trouble and school trouble and villain trouble. They were pretty much getting that with Spider-Man, which may be why NOVA didn’t work while FIRESTORM (in its second try) lasted a good long time. DC didn’t have a Spider-Man; Marvel already had one in multiple books.
Also, while Robbie might have figured out more about the Nova powers, I don’t think that would necessarily have translated to higher sales. Superman was really, really on top of what his powers could do by then, but his sales were fading, while readers of the time were more interested in emotionally compelling leads like Spider-Man, Conan and the Hulk.
I liked NOVA a lot, as a high schooler myself. I just didn’t think the switch to Infantino art served it well — Carmine didn’t bring the personality like Sal (and John before him) did. But if he was available and Sal wasn’t, so it goes.
I liked Andru’s version a lot, too.
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Yeah, you are right. Rich is an in-between kid ( in-between the Stranger Things kids and the guys who picked on them ) — more like my friends in school and home ( I had 2 friends middle school who collected comics books, one was a short tough guy. In fact he wasn’t the only short tough guy in my grade ). I just distracted by the fact Rich wasn’t like his brother Robbie or Peter Parker when it came to science but more like Flash Thompson and completely forgot about the in-between kids. Me, science, art and gym class were my favourites and in middle school my classmates or grade-mates during recess would take a soccer ball out on the pitch we went fall, winter ( nothing like getting hit in the face with a soccer ball during face freezing weather ) and spring ( granted we kind of changed the rules a lot — lot of hands on the ball and pile ups — got an elbow to the jaw during one of those trying to get the ball ).
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Clearly, this guy has to fight Monica Rambeau over the right to use the name.
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Sorry. Only Genis-Vel gets to steal Monica’s codenames.
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As I remember the sequence of events, first Mar-Vell’s son Genis-Vell (where’s he now?) convinces Monica to yield up the Captain Marvel name to him. Later, he swipes her Photon name without even a by-your-leave, and it’s surprising that all she does is yell at him.
Hey, it’s funnier than anything in THE MARVELS.
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What, you didn’t like THE MARVEL? I bought the DVD and enjoyed it, then again I tolerate the Marvel Movies ( To me they are like the 1998 Godzilla movie that robbed Godzilla of his radioactive flame and invulnerability to conventional weapons of the military. Sure Cap, Panther & Winter Soldier got a Super-Strength upgrade, but Scarlet Witch got different powers, Thor’s hammer got robbed of a number of abilities, Hulk ( got robbed of his healing ability — in Endgame I kept waiting for him to regenerate his arm. Plus does anyone thing Hulk dumbest one in the world from the comics wouldn’t have gotten angry enough to match Thanos using the Power Stone in Avengers Infinity War? ) or Star-Lord ( doesn’t he in comics have the ability to survive unprotected in the vacuum of space? ) or Thanos missing a number of powers ( Telepathy, Energy Projection, Rearranging Matter & Teleportation ( If in the movies Thanos wasn’t using an Infinity Gem or technology to do that ) ) and wimpy Infinity Gems ( In the Infinity Gauntlet Thanos created life ( His girlfriend because Death refuse to talk to him ) with those gems so no way they can’t bring back the dead ).
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