User blog comment:Hawkeye2701/Review4U: Sam Alexander the Newest Nova/@comment-4652104-20131201093112/@comment-4652104-20131202073749

Look, it's not like they were popular characters in comics, so they decided to put them in the cartoon. Although it is possible, that they needed characters for the cartoon so they decided to pick some teenage B-listers from the comics, but it's more likely that they were designed for the cartoon (cause it needed teenage characters) and put in the comic books at the same time for marketing reasons. Notice that they only made a more significant appearance (not just a walk-on part) in comic books recently.

This is especially convincing for Nova. White Tiger is minor character, but Sam replaces a well established character and it was really only in the last issue that the fact that he is Nova (and not Power Kid 9000 or whatever) plays any significant plot role (and the plot could still well do without it). And that is really my main objection. Up till now, Sam could have functioned just as well as an entirely new character. And it seemed that the only reason he is Nova is because Marvel is not in the business of establishing new titles. We'll see how it develops, but I'm afraid that to me his connection to Nova and his circle will always feel like an afterthought.