Nova #28
John Rogers, the Kung Fu Monkey, uses the phrase "competence porn" to describe people's reactions to the briefing scenes on his show "Leverage." People apparently enjoy watching characters who know what they're doing.
While Richard Rider is often brash and headstrong, he actually does know what he's doing most of the time, and is now in the odd position of being the Nova Prime. Abnett and Lanning (along with Keith Giffen) have quietly taken him from being that guy on the New Warriors who went in first and got decked first to a wise, experienced superhero and space cop.