Return of Nova (Richard Rider)?!

[sandwraith]

Been away for some time but I remember when I was posting on SHH, the DnA run on Nova was some of the best comics I've ever read.

http://www.cosmicbooknews.com/content/marvel-comics-teases-return-richard-rider-nova

With Abnett and Lanning seemingly done with one another and Abnett probably stuck on an exclusive deal with DC, any thoughts on who can bring some major star power to the title? Robert Venditti from X-O Manowar can write cosmic stuff pretty well. And I'd love to see if Mark Waid could grow Richard and the Nova Corps mythos.

Also as a side, I'm wondering with all that reality-shattering stuff and the sorta-kinda reboot Marvel has gone through in Secret Wars, did the events of the first Civil War really take place or was it retconned?

I ask because this could lead to the reintroduction of the New Warriors as a break from all this Avengers fatigue.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

From what I've seen, the universe was recreated at the end of Secret Wars so that everything happened as we saw it happen originally, except for stuff directly in the buildup to Secret Wars itself. So, for example, the original Thor may or may not have actually been killed by the Beyonders in Avengers because that was an event that directly tied into the Incursions and the end of the omniverse; but he was definitely still rendered unworthy, as we saw long ago in Original Sin. Ms. Marvel has shown that its titular character remembers the desperate times at the end of the previous universe, but she thinks the crisis was mysteriously averted, not that the universe actually ended and then got recreated. The only ones who seem to be aware of that are the Ultimates, since they're studying stuff directly related to the new universe, and the Maker (evil Ultimate Reed Richards), who was informed that this is a new universe by a weird demon/god from several universes ago.

It's kind of confusing, so tl;dr: No, Civil War happened as we think it happened, unless something comes along to directly retcon it. Secret Wars itself didn't touch that particular event.

 

[KevanG]

I didn't like him before he went badass in the Annihilation series but I like him now. I hope he stays as badass or at least as much a smartass to the rest of Earths good guys as before.

I loved when he *****ed out Iron Man when he 'may have heard something' about a war in space.

 

[sandwraith]

From what I've seen, the universe was recreated at the end of Secret Wars so that everything happened as we saw it happen originally, except for stuff directly in the buildup to Secret Wars itself. So, for example, the original Thor may or may not have actually been killed by the Beyonders in Avengers because that was an event that directly tied into the Incursions and the end of the omniverse; but he was definitely still rendered unworthy, as we saw long ago in Original Sin. Ms. Marvel has shown that its titular character remembers the desperate times at the end of the previous universe, but she thinks the crisis was mysteriously averted, not that the universe actually ended and then got recreated. The only ones who seem to be aware of that are the Ultimates, since they're studying stuff directly related to the new universe, and the Maker (evil Ultimate Reed Richards), who was informed that this is a new universe by a weird demon/god from several universes ago.

It's kind of confusing, so tl;dr: No, Civil War happened as we think it happened, unless something comes along to directly retcon it. Secret Wars itself didn't touch that particular event.

Thanks. Marvel's continuity is pretty messy at the moment especially post-Marvel Now!

I never understood why they undid all of Speedball's character development from Civil War onwards and cut off a lot of concepts like Avengers: The Initiative at the knees.

Sure, soft continuity makes for easier storytelling but it dilutes the importance of events past.

Also...man I re-read the last few issues of DnA's Nova series and I really feel like they'd left enough potential story threads to rebuild the character. I really hope the new creative team tries to pay homage or work off that run.

So what is the state of Marvel Cosmic anyway?

Are the Inhumans still lording over the Kree? Are Crystal and Ronan still married?

Are the Skrulls back on extinction watch? Is Super-Skrull the new Anti-Hero he became at the end of Annihilation?

Are the Shi'ar still ruled by Gladiator? Is Vulcan still dead or at least in character limbo?

Is Annihilus and Blastaar still in the Positive Matter universe?

So many cool things happened in Marvel Cosmic back in the day. I'm really surprised it ended the way that it did.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

The less said about Speedball's Penance days, the better, as far as I'm concerned. That wasn't development, that was character assassination in service to a poorly executed storyline. I'm more than happy to see that largely forgotten (although it is still technically in-continuity).

The Inhumans left the Kree under Ronan the Accuser's command, I believe. I haven't read much of the current Inhumans stuff, but I know the royal family, including Crystal, is back on Earth and, last I heard, New Attilan is effectively a sovereign nation in US waters, with its doors open to all visitors. That was mainly to deal with the Terrigenesis situation; Black Bolt detonated a Terrigen bomb in Earth's atmosphere, spreading a Terrigen Mist cloud across the world and transforming anyone with Inhuman DNA into powered Inhumans.

Not much has been heard from the Skrulls, at least as far as I'm aware. Marvel may be trying to avoid using them because their movie rights are still tied up with Fox.

The Shi'ar are still ruled by Gladiator, who's poised to declare war on Asgard pretty soon, according to solicitations. Vulcan's still dead, as far as I'm aware, but I don't read a lot of X-Men comics, so I could be wrong.

Annihilus died and came back a couple times. He is most recently in the Negative Zone, marshaling forces for yet another invasion of our universe, in All-New, All-Different Avengers.

Not sure if you know or not, since it was revealed in Guardians of the Galaxy's tie-in to Original Sin, well after the events actually happened: Nova, Star-Lord, and Drax fought Thanos in the Cancerverse after the ending of The Thanos Imperative. They had a Cosmic Cube with them, which could bring them back to their universe, and they fought over it for a while, neither side being able to kill the other permanently because of the nature of the Cancerverse. After a battle in which the Cancerverse's evil Avengers cut off Nova's arm, Nova managed to get the Cosmic Cube and used it, combined with the Worldmind and the Nova Force, to push Star-Lord and Drax back into the main universe. Thanos escaped with them. So basically everyone got to dodge the dire end implied by The Thanos Imperative except for Rich.

But they also just confirmed at Comic-Con that Rich is indeed coming back in a new series, so I guess he finally gets to dodge that end too.

 

[sandwraith]

Not sure if you know or not, since it was revealed in Guardians of the Galaxy's tie-in to Original Sin, well after the events actually happened: Nova, Star-Lord, and Drax fought Thanos in the Cancerverse after the ending of The Thanos Imperative. They had a Cosmic Cube with them, which could bring them back to their universe, and they fought over it for a while, neither side being able to kill the other permanently because of the nature of the Cancerverse. After a battle in which the Cancerverse's evil Avengers cut off Nova's arm, Nova managed to get the Cosmic Cube and used it, combined with the Worldmind and the Nova Force, to push Star-Lord and Drax back into the main universe. Thanos escaped with them. So basically everyone got to dodge the dire end implied by The Thanos Imperative except for Rich.

But they also just confirmed at Comic-Con that Rich is indeed coming back in a new series, so I guess he finally gets to dodge that end too.

I did not know that. Admittedly I get a lot of my Nova related info from Cosmicbooknews.com but that site's..displeasure at the new cosmic (Loeb's Nova, Bendis' GoTG) is pretty hard to read sometimes.

But that scenario cemented something: for some reason Marvel really wanted to push Sam Alexander as the de facto Nova. Thing is, Sam Alexander as Nova has done jack-squat even if he has been shoehorned into several events.

I challenge anyone to pick up the Marvel Essentials Nova vol.1 and compare it to the first couple of Sam Alexander Nova trades. It just boggles my mind to see how character reintroduction has regressed over the years.

Anyway, don't want to turn this into a Sam Alexander bashing post. I understand he is Nova to a new generation, but I am glad to see the OG make a comeback and to hopefully lead Marvel into a new age of cosmic action.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

I like both Sam and Rich. I liked Ko-Rel and all the Nova recruits, too. Nova as a concept is great and there's room for plenty of characters under its umbrella. It was just annoying how they seemed determined to exclude Rich at all costs for the past few years.

 

[Gee]

http://www.cbr.com/marvel-unleashes-first-richard-rider-nova-art/

 

[TheCorpulent1]

Can't wait for Rich to return. I just really hope this isn't some fakeout. They pulled that with Sam's dad at one point, didn't they?