Nova Perez and Loveness' interview

>Let’s start with the big development of your initial issues: Richard Rider is back, but clearly there’s something wrong with him because of his time in the Cancerverse. Is having Rich back among the living sort of a “be careful what you wish for” situation?

Ramon Perez: Yeah, I would definitely say that’s right. He was stuck in the Cancerverse. He did this thing to save the universe and his friends, he was then trapped in there. Now, he’s in this vicious circle and wants to get out. That’s something we’ll explore more in issues #5-7.

Jeff Loveness: Exactly. Death is such an open door in comic books, but we want to show that resurrection isn’t always a gift, especially when it comes to the Cancerverse.

>One aspect of Rich that you seem to be examining is his sheer force of will, because as we saw in issue #3, it looks like he’s holding back something monstrous about himself.

Perez: Oh, yeah! This is a guy who’s done it all, and I think it’s through that force of will that he kept it together when he did things like sacrificing his life in the Cancerverse. That’s the staple of a true hero and a true warrior, so it’s something we’re exploring. It also sets a sort of precedent for Sam to look up to. He doesn’t have a father figure around, and Rich is a guy who’s willing to go all the way for the greater good even at his own peril.

Loveness: It’s a bit of a double-edged sword too. Rich is also a guy who HATES asking for help. With this older generation of tough guys, realizing that something is wrong is like acknowledging that you’re weak… or that you can’t cut it. It’s a vicious, poisonous personal cycle… and it’s going to blow up in Rich’s face. It never helps to bottle something up forever.

>Sam is a good and pretty strong kid, but this is the second time he’s found someone who can assist him with and he can talk with about his life as Nova and this person is not exactly who they appear to be. So I imagine he’ll be pretty devastated when he first learns about Rich’s condition, correct?

Perez: Yeah, he’s not going to be too happy that’s for sure. [Laughs] This is something that’s going to come up in the next few issues and I don’t want to spoil it, but you’re right, this is something Sam has dealt with before. People have mislead and lied to him. That’s definitely going to take it’s toll. Rich is someone he came to trust.

Sam even had the Champions run their tests to make sure Rich was the real deal, and he still fell sway to the whole situation. So it’s not just a matter of having that trust shattered, but also rebuilding it. This begs the question of how much can you take and still trust people outright?

Loveness: Broken trust is so shattering when you’re a teenager. The first break-up destroys you. Divorce can rip you apart. Every emotion is dialed to 11… and Sam’s been burned badly before so… yeah. It may or may not go well.

>In the short time they’ve been working together, Rich has become very important to Sam. He’s not just a partner, but almost sort of a big brother.

Perez: Totally. I almost think it’s kind of a reverse mentorship. Sam is a big brother, but he’s also a kid who is so pure and good and just trying his best even though he screws up every so often. That’s kind of a nice thing for Rich to see as well. He’s a guy who sacrificed himself to save the universe, comes back, and the universe has moved on. A few people remember him, but many don’t. The landscape has changed, and many of the individuals are different. It’s a two tier system with these two characters.

Loveness: Yup. I love how they both play on each other. Each guy gets their chance to shine, but we also get to showcase their frailties and hang-ups. It’s fun to write a buddy-cop adventure in space. Ramon’s art pops on every page. I really loved that movie “The Nice Guys” from last year. That style of fun and banter was something I wanted to emulate in a comic book.

In “Nova” #4, you bring Richard Rider’s ex-girlfriend, Gamora of the Guardians of the Galaxy, back into his life. What was it like writing her?

Perez: It’s interesting, because she’s often portrayed as an angry, killing machine. She’s a killing machine with other feelings too, though, and she did fall in love with Rich Rider at one point — and then lost him. She expressed that love to Peter Quill when they talked about what happened in the Cancerverse. To have someone you loved so much and believed to be dead suddenly return is going to mean a lot on so many different levels. We’re barely scraping the surface with her return.

There’s so much between those two characters that has gone on for so many years. I think we’re just putting the building blocks back into place. Their relationship is something that will be developed over time, but this is definitely going to be an important encounter between the two.

Loveness: Yeah, he nailed it. I’m glad we’re going a touch more sensitive with Gamora. Old wounds never quite close, and it was interesting to dive into the comic book equivalent of “running into your college girlfriend,” who you may or may not still be in love with… at all… I’m totally not. I don’t stalk her on Instagram at all. I’m fine.

>[Laughs] Why do you think Gamora and Rich became so important to each other? At first glance, they seem like an unlikely pairing.

Perez: They met during a time of war and chaos. Plus, opposites attract. You have Rich, who was a leader and a true hero and sometimes a person like that sees potential in people that others might disregard. She was raised to be a killer, she rose above that, and in his absence has become an even greater hero in her own right, even though her methods may not always be pretty. [Laughs]

I think he may have seen something in her that offset people’s perceptions about her, and maybe he compliments her dark side as well. He understands what she went through.

Loveness: Yeah, there are certain people you meet at a certain point in your life, where you are both perfect and exactly what the other needs. Maybe it doesn’t last, but maybe it doesn’t have to. I see Rich and Gamora that way. Who knows if they’ll actually be good in the long term, but it’s nice to wish for that.

>Gamora isn’t the only woman in your Novas’ lives — Sam also has a big crush on a classmate named Lena. Going forward, will we see more of Sam’s interaction with her? And how important is it to you to show Sam’s life on Earth with his friends, family and classmates?

Perez: It’s very important. Sam is a teenager, and this stuff has been touched on very briefly in some previous runs, but we really wanted to go out of our way to present his high school years, his first crush, his first love, and his first break up.

We also want to present more of his family. Coming from a Latino background myself, I know that Latino families are very close. We wanted to bring in some aspects that hadn’t been touched before in previous runs, like cousins and grandparents, and really show the unique family culture that Sam has.

That also illustrates how Sam and Rich compliment each other. Rich’s father passed away and his brother is missing. It’s just him and his mom. So that’s another dynamic where they can play off of each other.

We definitely want to explore things like families and Earth life, but we also want to keep a balance. Rich and Sam are Cosmic heroes. We don’t want to keep them trapped in Arizona or New York. They should be hopping galaxies, which is something we’ve gone out of our way to do.

Loveness: I’m very excited for issue 4. Issue 3 had insane action, but we slow-down a bit in issue 4 to really show the heart of these guys, both of them trying to figure things out — with women and themselves.

There’s a moment that’s very important to me, as a nervous teenager. I always had/have/will have trouble being confident around women, and it was cathartic to put Sam through those paces too… but find himself at the end. There’s a monumental moment in your young life when you finally find someone who you connect with, someone who brings out the best in you. It was emotional to write that, and I could learn a lot from that fictional space-helmet boy. He’s doing way better than I am, at the moment.

I always responded to Cyclops in that way. He’s a monster and a repressed loser — but he found someone who brought out the best in him, and they flourished together. (This is my contractually obligated, shoehorned Cyclops reference. I get one per interview)

>With this older generation of tough guys, realizing that something is wrong is like acknowledging that you’re weak… or that you can’t cut it.
Wait, how old is Rich supposed to be?

>Will we also see some more of Rich trying to reconnect with Earth?

Perez: Definitely. It’s his home. It’s where he grew up. No matter how long you’re away home is always home. That’s something we’re going to develop. We wanted to focus on Sam at the beginning, but we’re trying to give both characters equal exposure. So we’ll switch back and forth depending on the storyline.

Loveness: I’m so glad the fans resonated with Rich’s isolation in issue 2. We’re definitely gonna keep exploring that.

>It looks like issue #5 kicks off a new arc that sheds some light on Rich’s return. Is this an arc that’s firmly set in the present? Or will we get some flashbacks to what happened to Rich in the Cancerverse as well?

Perez: Actually issue #5 ends our first arc and segue ways into issues #6-7, which will focus on Rich’s return and how things came to pass. So there will be flashbacks to his time in the Cancerverse; what drove and allowed him to come back to Earth, and how he brought this Cancerverse entity with him.

Loveness: Yup. Things go pretty south in issue 5, and issues 6 & 7 finally answer every fan’s question about what happened to Rich Rider. It was gut-wrenching to write, but I hope everybody likes it — it’s gonna be rough.

>One fun element of the Cancerverse was its twisted and horrific incarnations of Marvel characters. Are we going to see some of those characters in “Nova” #6-7?

Perez: Yes, you will. I’m actually going to be taking a break from those two issues to finish up some other obligations, so Scott Hepburn, who was the artist on “Drax,” is going to be tackling the art on those two issues. He’s going to have a good time rendering some dead versions of Marvel heroes.

>his first crush, his first love, and his first break up.
But will he score?

>Finally, with Sam and Rich having a foot on both Earth and outer space, and some authority as intergalactic law enforcers will we see them interacting with characters that also run in those circles like Captain Marvel and the new director of S.H.I.E.L.D., Steve Rogers?

Perez: There’s going to be a lot of stuff happening outside of Earth in the Marvel Universe in the coming year. So, yes, we’re definitely going to be encountering and relating to those characters and their jurisdictions if you will.

Following the Rich centric arc of issues #6-7 issue #8 will actually start a whole new adventure for our two Novas where we’ll definitely be playing off of Captain Marvel and a little bit of S.H.I.E.L.D. We’ll look at Captain Marvel and her crew and how Sam and Rich relate to Earth and the legacy that is the Nova Corps. Because essentially Sam is wearing a stolen helmet. [Laughs] It was his father’s, but no one really gave him the permission to use this thing other than a raccoon and Gamora. So that will open up some interesting storylines in the future.

Loveness: This story is about Rich and Sam, and the people in their lives. It’s about finding your confidence as a young man and regaining your hope as an old man. It’s about taking that first step into yourself and finding yourself again. I’ve been so happy that the fans are responding to it. We’re gonna go big in the next couple issues. Hope people like it.

Twenty five at most.

At least it's not cancelled after 6 issues

Oh wonderful, we're going to get one more arc with 8 then cancelled at 10. That's better than getting the Ghost Rider treatment at least.

He was 20 when Annihilation happened (Peter called him a kid) and Thanos Imperative was 3 years after that and last issue Gamora told him he was gone for years which means Thanos Imperative happened awhile ago.

He should be in his mid twenties or starting to get into his late twenties although physically he should be 23 still.

>Gamora told him he was gone for years
I must have missed that, but I guess it makes sense. The end of Thanos Imperative to Secret Wars 2015 was probably a year, and ANAD starts 8 months after SW ends.

>and his brother is missing.
Whatever happened to him after Thanos Imperative?

Nobody at Marvel read the end of Thanos Imperative and saw that he was on Earth, so they weren't sure what to do with him.
Same thing with Namorita

>Things go pretty south in issue 5, and issues 6 & 7 finally answer every fan’s question about what happened to Rich Rider. It was gut-wrenching to write, but I hope everybody likes it — it’s gonna be rough.

Oh fuck is it going to be the Revengers torturing Rich isn't it? Just by reading Thanos Imperative the Necropsy ritual and Cancer Wanda being resigned to a horrible fate were two of the most disturbing things they did plus the way all the Cancerverse creatures looked.

>>One fun element of the Cancerverse was its twisted and horrific incarnations of Marvel characters. Are we going to see some of those characters in “Nova” #6-7?

>Perez: Yes, you will. I’m actually going to be taking a break from those two issues to finish up some other obligations, so Scott Hepburn, who was the artist on “Drax,” is going to be tackling the art on those two issues. He’s going to have a good time rendering some dead versions of Marvel heroes.

Fuck they aren't dead, they are the opposite of dead, hopefully Loveness read Imperative.

That said as long as Hepburn can do body horror that's really all you need to do for the Cancerverse.

That said I'm looking forward to this.

>Fuck they aren't dead, they are the opposite of dead, hopefully Loveness read Imperative.
Honestly, so far it's come across as him having only read the epilogue.

>Fuck they aren't dead, they are the opposite of dead, hopefully Loveness read Imperative.
well, they might be dead after the Deathwave

Then they shouldn't be Cancerverse creatures.

If anything Death leaving back to her universe is the most plausible explanation for them coming back.

Duggan's Nova post Black Vortex has Sam bringing Rich's helmet to his parents and they ask him if he knows were Robbie has been because he is missing.

Robbie should have been back on Earth with Project Pegasus since that was the last time we saw him but yeah no one fucking bothered to read the comics they were in.

I mean Loveness is continuing Rich/Gamora which whatever OK I don't care but not adressong Nita who Rich was on love with before he died is kind of shit and shows he didn't read Thanos Imperative.

especially because the main point of the Deathwave was dealing damage to the Many-Angled Ones- the fate of their minions and the mutated universe is irrelevant

breevort said namorita coming back was a mistake and isnt canon.

Why does he hate it so much, but approve shit like Gwenpool?

Cause Breevort is a sad lonely man.

You forgot fat.

It's implied.

>segue ways
>segue
>[sey-gwey, seg-wey]
>verb (used without object), segued, segueing.
I wish Americans would learn their own language.

He said that the universe being called 616 isn't a thinf anymore yet the writers ignore him on that so I don't think anyone gives a fuck about what he says.

Some of this stuff they're saying sounds like they'd actually want to keep writing this for longer than a year.
This now depresses me even further as this book will still get cancelled within the year.

>no mention of Peter Quill
It's like they're avoiding it in purpose.

I think Zdarsky wants to do it in Star-Lord, or maybe Bendis will do it in his finale.
Is he still on gotg right now?

So far it's looking like he can't or doesn't want to hard retcon all of Bendis' shenanigans concerning Rich and Thanos Imperative.
So of course it looks like his understanding of the continuity is patchy. Because right now the continuity itself is patchy.
This upcomming story will have to reconcile things. Up until then it seems impossible to call what Loveness may or may not know.

Two main things that make me think he only read the epilogue are Rich talking about never being on the Avengers and being in love with Gamora.
Plus, he seems to think Rich is powered by his helmet.

>or maybe Bendis will do it in his finale.
DON'T EVEN FUCKING JOKE ABOUT THAT.

The interviewer? I mean I think he piled him up with the question about Rich meeting up again with other characters who know him.

As for the writers I don't think anyone in Marvel is interested in that relationship which kind of sucks, especially since the Peter and Rich reunion is the one everyone wants to see (although I don't know how it's going to change their dynamic because Peter is a different person).

I mean Chip had Diamondhead in Star-Lord as a plot point to lead to Peter meeting Black Cat but he didn't do anything interesting with that character.

I'm bringing this up because Diamondhead is a long time c-list enemy of Rich when he was a teen, he kicked Rich's ass a couple of times until Rich managed to kick his and later when he got the Nova Prime upgrade he was too powerful for Diamondhead.

But Diamondhead really hates Rich so much that if he knows he's back on Earth he'll look him up for a fight and he even antagonized Sam because he was a Nova.

It would have been interesting to see Diamondhead at least bring Rich up in the conversation when he was talking about his achievements and see Peter react to that because for all he knows Rich is still dead and he does end up going to save Diamondhead.

Then there's also the fact that Rich is avoiding everyone he used to know because he doesn't want them to see him all fucked up so unless Gamora tells Peter about Rich he won't know.

#4 got good digital sales (dunno about the #4 floppies) and my lcs has had more people asking for Nova and some putting them on their pull list because it gets good reviews so there is still some hope.

>Then there's also the fact that Rich is avoiding everyone he used to know because he doesn't want them to see him all fucked up
Which doesn't make sense since that the kind of shit Rich would tell Peter, the old Peter at least. It also makes me wonder why he isn't asking himself if either Pete, Drax or Thanos were also corrupted, but that may have to do more with how Richard came back so he just assumes everyibe who traveled through doorman is fine.

Ughh I don't want Bendis to do it but there is a possibility because he acknowledged Rich in the Dr Seuss Groot issue and he wants to make a scandalous mega final issue and said he was going to have as much GotG and Cosmic characters as possible in it.

He also loves drama and big dramatic moments, Peter seeing Rich would be a big one.

That said I hope the reunion happens in either Star-Lord or Nova or in a crossover between the two once Nova goes into space.

>Rich talking about never being on the Avengers
That would be a very minor oversight at best and you could even argue that it was still correct on some level as far as Rich was concerned.
>being in love with Gamora
Bendis established this. Just an instance of continuity conflicting. Also it's not outside the power of a writer to just insert past feelings into a character.
>Plus, he seems to think Rich is powered by his helmet.
There is no definitive evidence of this yet.

As I said earlier, we'll just need to wait and see.

>Rich talking about never being on the Avengers
I feel this was more with the intent of showing how different the world is from when Rich was alive.

I don't think I've seen sales of a Marvel title improve between issues in the past few years. Everything has always been going pretty straight downhill the entire time.
Look, I'm just trying to keep my hopes down.

Rich was on the Avengers literally right before Thanos Imperative. Yeah, it was short lived, but it's stupid that he forgot so quickly.
The Gamora thing I can let slide, since I do like the pairing, but it's infuriating how he went through all that shit for Namorita and moves on from her.
In the epilogue to TI, the reason I think Rich is afraid of his infinite respawns is because he doesn't want to lose his helmet, even though Quill pulled a gun out his ass. Bendis could very likely think that Rich is powered by his helmet, given how little research he bothered doing.
In #3, Rich immediately lost his uniform after taking off his helmet, even though that was never a thing. If Loveness is getting most of what he knows from those issues, that would explain why he thinks that.

>I always responded to Cyclops in that way. He’s a monster and a repressed loser

What's his beef with Scott?

>Secret Avengers
kek

I remember some anons mention Loveness loves Scott.

Read the interview, the parts were they talk about the Cancerverse, specifically

Loveness is going to touch on the time between Rich's doorman sacrifice and him getting out. He also said it was goimg to be gut wrenching and hard and seeing how now you can't die in the Cancerverse again and what they did to Cancerverse Wanda and all the other awful shit we see them do (Torture, necropsy ritual, Cancerverse Wasp wanting to lay her eggs on people) and Perez kind of confirming the Revengers I bet they did something awful to Rich.

Consider this are also eldritch abominations who now have Rich at their mercy and with Lord Mar-Vell's plan gone they are probably bored out of their minds, so torture galore, and them toying with him in the worst ways and him being unable to die there...

Seriously him not acting like his usual self makes sense it also makes sense why he would go to his mother and and why he's avoiding everyone the guy is trying to recover.

I am surprised he's not more fucked up.

>Rich was on the Avengers literally right before Thanos Imperative
For one mission where he acted as an advanced scout, instantly got mind-controlled upon reaching his destination, and proceeding to be a liability the whole mission. Then when that mission ended, immediately left the team to take part in Thanos Imperative.

All the while, this wasn't the "Avengers" it was the "Secret Avengers" a team that no one was supposed to know about. I'd hardly consider that being part of the Avengers and clearly Rich doesn't either.

If the helmet thing bothers people they can just inform Loveness and Perez on twitter they answer to things and are pretty cool about it.

I read the interview. There's no need to redirect me to it. Thanks.

Unlike Gamora, Robbie or the New Warriors Peter knows what kind of shit went down in the Cancerverse, better yet he fucking lived through it, he understands it and wouldn't freak out if Rich tells him he's dripping off Cancerverse after he came back. There's no need to go into detail unless it's absolutely necessary to find a fix, so he can keep his traumas for himself if he wanted. Richard should know Quill the best suited person to start helping him, or at least pre-synergy Quill would be. Personally I think It's dumb to have "he's a big proud man who needs no help because that's what his gen is like!" as the sole reason of him not looking for help.

I get it's unrealistic having characters do all the right decisions right off the bat, but the fact he never considers because he has angst of what his friends will think of him is just baffling.

Obviously Quill would help although there's the problem that this Quill is not the same as the one we came to like.

Face it all these characters are different now, including Rich, the fact that no one really bothered to read Thanos Imperative and the way the act aboit Robbie and Namorita is a big enough clue to it.

>although there's the problem that this Quill is not the same as the one we came to like
Something Richard doesn't know. Or anyone else in-universe for that matter. But I guess I'm forced agree, expecting these characters to behave "normally" or "correctly" within the sense of the Annihilation-Thanos Imperative continuity would be deluding myself.

Pretty sure someone who has gone through trauma and is still reeling from it does not act rationally.

I've seen war vets shut themselves and avoid talking about their problems it's not irrational to think Rich is going through the same shit.

I don't agree about the him being too proud thing, maybe teen Rich but not post Annihilation Rich.

Heck even Abnett wrote Quill differently when he had him in Guardians 3000.

He's been through trauma before and didn't shut down from everybody else, in fact, he started working with Drax and Quasar to defeat the wave.

Post Annihilation Rich got the cosmic powerhouses to fight back the cancerverse, not to mention the time he lost his powers in earth and relied in an ambiguously evil scientist to help him. So I'm still calling bullshit on that.

Admittedly that Peter Quill was an alt version.

I've pretty much only read Annihilation and the current ongoing

what are some essential stories for Dick Rider

He declined Eve's offer and smashed the vial they were offering him, but he immediately took the bands when Wendell asked him if he wanted them
Rich declined AIM because of his ethical issues, not because he thought it'd make him weak.

Nova Vol 1, Nova Vol 4, and Thanos Imperative

No, not King Peter he has the current Peter Quill in his comic and aside from acknowledging his past work he wrote him differently.

Of course it kind of felt like him acknowledging they weren't the samw Guardians he wrote with Andy especially when he has Vance criticizing Peter for wanting to ask the Avengers for help.

But he didn't get tortured by Cancerverse creatures and physically fucked up into an abomination who sees zombies.

Pretty sure King Peter acted more like the actual DnA Peter Quill than his version of the current Bendis Peter Quill.

Hinestly I wouldn't have minded if he found a way to make King Peter and anomaly pre-Thanos imperative Peter Quill.

>But he didn't get tortured by Cancerverse creatures
>taking anons specula as facts

No you're right they probably made him tea

.>dna guardians
Literally ignored in the post Imperative continuity. Way to embarrass yourself, retard.

>being a trollgag
Wew OK not gonna bite, bye

>i can't prove him wrong so i'll just call him a troll
From the Bendis retcons to Namorita being completely ignored is obvious Loveness isn't looking back at the DnA Guardians to write his book. So far he's been loosely referencing the Annihilation Wave and what happened in Imperative while acknowledging in full what Bendis wrote in the Original Sin tie-in, so assuming he's going lift up anything from Guardians vol 2 is fucking dumb, not to mention the only "references" to the whole torture plot are speculation posts in this very thread, fucking retard.

>being this autistic

Good try, m8.

Dude you were using DnA Nova shit to support your arguments and now you're crying that DnA is not valid, lmao fuck off and stay butthurt.

I guess you're gay now

>Dude you were using DnA Nova shit to support your arguments and now you're crying that DnA is not valid, lmao fuck off and stay butthurt.
kek this was my first reply to you , you fucking retard.

Suuure.

Also you're the one that's butthurt it steams from your posts.

>"suuuure u-u maaad!!!! ;_;"
>implying i care what (you) believe
As I said before you're a fucking retard.

Got a few nitpicks but this was a good interview

You care enough to keep replying to them, faggot, you're both retards.