This week NOVA #1 blasts into the Marvel Now with a new hero under the helmet. Jeph Loeb charts the Human Rocket’s course and shares why cosmic heroes are important to Marvel’s future on Marvel.com.
“Ed McGuinness and I are huge Nova fans, particularly of the Nova Corps. When we read Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning’s Thanos Imperative, it was amazing and heartbreaking. It was the end of Nova. We rose up for the Nova fans, who know are legion, and came up with an idea that we brought to editor Steve Wacker, who championed our cause, and Sam Alexander was born.”
“We’ve seen where Sam is present day in AvX and Point One. He’s the only Nova that he knows about. We’ve seen the responsibilities of taking on the helmet and being Nova. The legacy of Rich Rider will hang a heavy shadow.”
“We’re going to go back six months to where Sam was an ordinary kid living in a small town in Arizona, never believing there was anything beyond his backyard. Now his backyard is the entire universe.”
Loeb likens the new NOVA to another teen hero with great power and responsibility:
“If we’re lucky, we’re taking on the type of stuff Peter Parker did in the earliest Spider-Man stories trying to be a super hero and a normal kid.”
“That story of Sam Alexander being 16 years old and already having given up is something I think people can relate to. But in the Marvel Universe, when we’re at our worst, that’s when the hero comes forward.”
Marvel is betting big on their space-faring heroes. Guardians of the Galaxy will be a movie and new series by Brian Michael Bendis and Steve McNiven.
“The relationship between Nova and the Guardians of the Galaxy is very important to where we’re going. Brian Bendis and I have talked about it since the beginning. It’s on the first page of the first issue. It’s really cool to see Ed drawing the Guardians.”
“It will be a little bit of a surprise who Sam is up against in this first arc, but it’s very much in the world of Nova, yet a bit next level. By the end of the second issue you’ll know what’s at stake, who the villains are and what will be threatening all of Earth.”
You could call Richard Rider (the original Nova) Marvel’s eternal teenager until recently. Loeb explains the difference between Rich and Sam:
“What would you do if you found Iron Man’s armor and Tony Stark wasn’t around to explain how it worked? After Thanos Imperative, there is no Worldmind, there is no Nova Corps and there is no Rich Rider.”
“We’re telling the story of a 16 year old kid. You can tell a very dark and adult story about that, but that’s not the story we’re telling. From the beginning, Nova was a fun character. Rich Rider loved being Nova. We want to keep to the spirit of that character. You don’t get to be a rocket and not smile about it at some point.”
NOVA #1 by Jeph Loeb and Ed McGuinness launches this week!
For the entire liveblog here’s the Marvel.com link.
By Editor