When I was 12 years old, I was just getting in to comic books (I had been into Marvel for years, since I was raised in the era of the excellent FOX X-Men, Spider-Man and Iron Man cartoons). My dad gave me his box of Nova comics to read. They weren’t worth enough money to sell, and he wanted me to have them to enjoy instead. They were the only 70’s era comics I had read, but I read them all and loved them. I even made a custom Nova action figure out of a Magneto helmet and an X-Man action figure (nothing like the ones I’ve seen online, but I was happy with it).
Neither of us knew about the 1994 Nova run, so we thought it was just a ‘dead’ franchise from the 70’s. I was startled when I saw Nova The Human Rocket #1 at the bookstore a few years later, and immediately bought 2 copies. I collected the rest of the all-too-short run. Almost a decade later, I was thrilled when Annihilation took my favorite hero and propelled him to a place of honor in-comic and a place of commercial viability in-real-life. I bought almost the entire post-annihilation run in TPB (still trying to get hold of Volume 6), including TTI.
Like many of you, I was miffed when Nova showed up on TV and in the comics a few years later with a new look and a new name. I bought the new Nova #1, but haven’t bought another since. Unlike some, I don’t hate the Sam character, and I’m very much on the fence about whether to buy them in TPB (they’re on sale on Amazon right now, too…).
I’ve been a Nova fan since 1998, and in spirit since 1976. And in my opinion, there are at least 6 reasons why this is one of the best times to be a fan.
1. The Nova Corps was in a movie! A real movie!
I put this one first because I can’t place enough emphasis on how awesome this is. A few weeks ago I didn’t know another person IRL who knew who the Nova Corps were, or recognized the names Xandar or Rhomann Dey. Now that GotG has been released to critical acclaim and commercial success, those names are everywhere. Yes, some people take issue with how they were portrayed in the movie; I’m sure fans of Ronan can commiserate. But for me, it’s pretty awesome seeing something I’ve loved since I was a kid on screen, even if it’s a different version than what I’m used to. Watching GotG last week was like watching the first X-Men when it hit theatres, when I first thought to myself, “wow, it’s a great time to be geek!”
The other thing that’s important here is that these were the Nova characters we wanted. No, we didn’t get a Richard Rider post-credits scene. But we got characters named Dey, Rael, Saal. We got Knowhere and Cosmo and Xandar. We got places and ideas and characters from the Richard Rider/Nova mythos, that had originally appeared in our Nova comics. What didn’t we get? We didn’t get Black Ops Novas, or characters named Jess or Titus or Sam. We didn’t get Nova’s powered by their helmets. We didn’t get a post-credits scene in Carefree, Arizona. If a version of Nova makes it to the big screen, it’s still a toss-up (as far as I can tell) as to which Nova it is; and now, not only is Rich still in the game, he actually has a leg up.
2. Guardians of the Galaxy is great AND made money!
That’s great news for two reasons. First, I know a lot of Nova fans who are also GotG fans, and as a GotG fan myself it was and is pure joy to hear the rest of the world talking about Starlord, Rocket Raccoon, Gamora, Drax and Groot. Groot, people! I know some purists were unhappy with the movie, and I’m sorry about that; I know some people have felt the same way about Iron Man, Thor, etc. But overall, this is a GOOD thing for Marvel cosmic fans, and for fans of the post-Annihilation era in particular. Who knows, GotG 2 may drift even closer to the source material, and we may even see a certain bucket-headed human rocket before it’s all over.
And that’s the second reason this is so awesome for us; the only way a Nova movie will EVER get made is if people prove they would be willing to pay money to see it. Marvel just announced that they have the MCU planned out from now until my kids are both teenagers, and I’d put the odds of one of those being The Man Called Nova at about 0. Or O%. Or however you do “odds” (it’s a ratio, right?). Maybe you guys know better, but for me, a Nova movie is still firmly in the ‘keep dreaming’ category. But if the GotG movies keep making money, absolutely anything could happen.
3. It’s OK that James Gunn isn’t a Nova fan.
Yes, he said that thing about not like Nova’s helmet and it made us all sad. But as many other people have pointed out, he’s not the right guy to direct a Nova movie anyway. If Marvel plans for Nova to become a major motion picture character, then it’s going to happen, and it’s going to happen in GotG first. But if Nova gets his own movie, it’s going to need to be a much more serious film, and there are directors out there more suited for it (even though I thought GotG was awesome).
4. We got a really good Nova Prime Marvel Legends figure.
I know this is switching gears, but I am REALLY excited about this. We got a decent Nova Prime figure with the Marvel Universe line last year, but this 6” scale figure really adds something special to my Nova collection. I bought two, because the little Nova is one of my 2 year old daughter’s favorite toys and I’d like to keep at least one of the big figures in some sort of display condition. Add to this the fact that the figure out-sold all the other figures in the series, and you really have an opportunity for us to show Marvel that we are willing to reward them financially when they honor our favorite hero.
5. Nova Prime is featured in Guardians of the Galaxy #18-21.
Speaking of which, I know we’ll all be purchasing the upcoming Original Sin tie-in that finally tells us what happened in the Cancer-Verse, even if it’s just to complete our collections (maybe once and for all). It will be interesting to see how much of a jump in sales that book gets over the next 3 months. To me, this is the big one. I know that there’s a difference of opinion here, but I am not dreading these comics at all. First, I really do believe there’s a good chance that Rich is going to be coming back, in one form or another. I know a lot of Nova fans just don’t trust Marvel enough to let themselves be optimistic here, and maybe that’s wiser; but I have a hard time believing that they would keep dropping hints about Rich, bringing him up in the new comics, and then finally feature him in a 3-part story-line (on the cover with THANOS, no less) just to pour salt on our wounds.
Maybe I’m wrong, maybe Marvel really, REALLY dislikes us because of how vocally critical parts of our community have been of NINO and the creative team and marketing push behind him. Maybe they are happy without us buying their comic books with our stupid money and want to stick it to us. If that’s the case, I’d honestly STILL prefer to see my character’s fate and get some closure, than just have him ignored and pushed to the side. NOTHING is more infuriating than obtuse silence, in my opinion. The fact that they haven’t been pretending Richard Rider never existed is, IMO, a very good sign.
If Rich does come back (and I mean, really come back), then this is GREAT timing, especially considering the release of the movie and a new action figure and everything else that is going on. Altogether, it would be a like a 3-month long Nova gift package from Marvel to us. A gift of reconciliation, perhaps? If that best-case scenario does happen, some of us are still going to gripe about how it all went down. But I’m hoping that most of us can just be happy. Whether they planned this all along and we got ‘punked’ majorly, or if this is just a big company thinking about the bottom line and finally deciding not to alienate a group of long-time readers, the end results will be good news for us, and I’ll reward them for it. If they do bring him back, I’ve got all of the new Nova TPB’s on hold; I’d like to have those in my collection as well, if Rich makes it through this.
6. Nova is going to be a playable character in Marvel Heroes!
This is the minor one for me, because I don’t play the game, but I think it’s worth pointing out. Based on what I read, they aren’t just releasing the Sam character with an alternative costume; there’s actually going to be a new build, new voice acting; everything. I don’t honestly know enough about the game to add anything here, but from what I’ve read it sounds like the timing of this release was important, and is coming right in the midst of the Original Sin GotG tie-in.
Granted, some of the fans on the game’s forums think this was added mainly because of public demand. But that’s good, too; it means part of Marvel is willing to listen to fans. If they DO get rid of Rich in the comics (“for good”), I may have to start playing Marvel Heroes.
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