This article is a speculation of potential Nova keys issues that you can buy for cheap and make some solid profits.

Nova (Richard Rider) seems almost to be a sure bet on spearheading his solo movie.  I recommended his first appearance almost 2 years ago when a 9.8 is about $500. It is now a $1k book and I wouldn’t recommend buying it at this price. It might go up to $1.5k but I don’t want any readers to take that kind of risk.

Instead, I am going to recommend some supporting characters who might make a better risk reward investment choice. Most of them should be in a dollar bins so they make excellent comic books to speculate on.

Nova Vol 4 #18 and #19

The best run of Nova has to be his volume 4 where he became Nova Prime. It was a solid run filled with nail biting stories and lots of action. Most of the time, Richard Rider was pretty alone but there was some new characters whom popped up. In issue 18, a whole bunch of them showed up and remained with Richard for most of the remaining issue. Below is how they look like

It is a pretty interesting cast, with a diverse look and feel. They remind me of Rocket and Groot in Guardians of the Galaxy as well as Korg from Thor #3. I am betting maybe some of them will resonate with the audience and be more than a once off character.

Issue 18 contains a last page cameo of the whole team which you can see below:

If you consider this to be their first appearance, then the following book is the one you should be hunting for.

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This book has a sales number of 38k according to comichron so it is not a high supply book. Interestingly it has a variant but I can’t find the info on what is the distribution ratio. Below is what it looks like

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You might also want to consider issue 19 as this is the team’s full appearance and features them on the cover as well. This issue has no variant and has a sales number of 28k. I don’t know why there is such a big drop in numbers but #19 has lessor copies available than #18.

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Nova vol 4 #4

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In the same series, there was another character which was introduced called Ko-Rel. She started off pretty promising but something happened to her at the later part of the series. Every movie needs a female lead and she might be it. Another choice is of course Namorita, which Richard Rider has a relationship with but introducing her will be pretty complicated.

Marvel Point One

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One direction the MCU can take is to use a buddy cop angle and include the latest Nova Sam Alexandar into the mix. He first appeared in Marvel Point One. There are 3 versions of this book: regular, Bradshaw variant and the 1:100 Bradshaw Black and White variant. The first 2 are pretty cheap due to their large supply while the third is already a pricey book. I would recommend picking up the Bradshaw variant as it is less common than the regular cover but still very affordable compared to the 1:100.

Nova Vol 1 #6

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Every hero needs a good villain and the best for Nova has to be the Sphinx. He appeared in this issue but sadly was not featured on the cover. The only thing that concerned me is that he is not a strong villain in the vol 4 series, which is what I think the movie will be based on. Nevertheless, the book is cheap and will not cost you much even if things don’t pan out.

Darkhawk #1

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Darkhawk was a close friend of Richard Rider during the volume 4 series. I will not be surprise if he was introduced in the Nova’s movie or the sequel. Darkhawk #1 has been seeing good sales volume on Ebay. I am sure a confirmed appearance in the MCU will spike the interest pretty high. If you want to take a risk on this character, go for the newsstand version.

There is also his preview appearance in Marvel Age #97. This preview book was published before Darkhawk #1 and some think this is his first appearance.

Conclusion

I wasn’t a big fan of Nova before reading his 4th volume. Once I did, I realised the potential of this character and started buying his books since 2016. I am still picking up copies of the books I mentioned above, which I believe have lots of room to grow.