The thing that bothers me is that the Old NOVA was never a bomb, especially in light of the lack of promotion the article talks about, he actually had decent sales which slowly dwindled into a zone where cancellation was actually very premature (in fact the book was described to be on hiatus, not cancelled)
What should have happened was the usual that happens to a decent book in need of a spark:
-Creative Team change
-cool hero guest star
-Spotlight with a major event/team (heck being featured in a cartoon)
-possible duty on a major team (Avengers or Defenders)
Some of these actually happened..in that NOVA was featured on Secret Avengers. While this book sold well, it was a horrible showing for NOVA who was insulted in this appearance.
I do think it is "neat" to have Mark Waid writin a nova tale, but after all it's one story.
Nova fans have seen this before with Erik Larsen, and nothing needs to be said about that run.
Personally, I think the story of Annihilation should have been considered for a feature film. Virtually all the characters are available (save SS and Galactus).
Certainly the cosmic setting would equal a decent budget, but when Marvel is sending Wanted and Kick Ass to the theaters....why not consider this for the silver screen.
DnA's NOVA series was the longest running volume the character had - lasting 3 full years before the era of double-shipping. It did launch on the heels of ANNIHILATION, but virtually all ongoing series launch off an event these days. I honestly think the death blow for NOVA's sales was the surge of $3.99 priced books. Before that, NOVA's sales were rock solid, never falling below I think 25k for an entire year. But after more and more $3.99 books started to force shops and fans to spend more to read the "important" books, NOVA started to drop. When the bigger books (i.e. the Top 40 books) cost more to buy, most retailers and fans compensate by culling the smaller books. I've seen people dump AVENGERS ACADEMY for similar reasons.
In hindsight, linking the space books to SECRET INVASION would have made sense, but I wasn't looking forward to the idea of Bendis writing Nova and/or the space characters. Then again, if back in 2007 someone told me Ed Brubaker would write Nova in an Avengers book of his own and it'd suck, I'd not have believed them. Yes, the appearance in SECRET AVENGERS wasn't flattering, to say the least.
I don't think a live action ANNIHILATION film could work with certain characters off limits, but an animated DTV could be glorious. It would involve a lot of characters and condensed origins, though.
I'd take anything to pimp Nova...looks like Loeb is calling the shots now though.
I predict an earth based Nova series featuring this new guy with hardly a mention of the last crew and "retcons a plenty."
We'll never find out what was up with Garthen Saal and Tarcel dammit!
That is a shame, and I share your prediction. Loeb hasn't been a boon to any story or franchise for years now. The reason is tragic, but I grow weary of his "therapy" being mangling franchises which up until then were doing fine without him. I feel he's more about meeting deadlines and pleasing the focus groups then having a soul to anything he works on anymore, and while that may be a boon in working on TV, it's not usually enough for actual quality stories.
And that's the heart break really. Even if they weren't going to continue their run, DnA left plenty of threads for new creative teams to pick up on and spin their own tale.
Saal, Tarcel, the Blastaar-Nova animosity, Namorita's return...a lot of material for them to build on.
****, without even referencing I remember the closing credit of #36 was NEVER THE END!
Already Marvel is undoing that.
Yes, there is a wealth of material left over. But, so long as it's still there, someone can revisit it someday. I mean, INVINCIBLE is all written by Robert Kirkman and even HE takes 2-5 years to follow up some subplots.
