It’s never easy to introduce a new character, and one with a bullethead is probably even harder. In this issue, we get a fairly standard origin: Richard Rider is a high school loser, never made it with the ladies, ’til a Nova Centurian cruises by Earth in pursuit of a dude who blew up the Centurian’s home planet and, with his last dying breath, gives Rich the Nova powers.
It’s kind of a Green Lantern/Superman/Spider-Man/Sha-Zam origin all tied together.
The villain of the issue is the alien who killed the nova centurian from whom Richard got his powers, Zorr the Conqueror.
Also, the letters page offers headshots as a handy guide to the large supporting cast.
This is among the top 10 John Buscema comics of all time.