Article by:  BnB

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Nova

Nova Fan Fiction

Part 2

Novaverse 615 by Darren B. and Bill M.  http://groups.yahoo.com/group/NTNA/

     I suppose my motivation for writing these stories can be traced back to the original The Man Called Nova series of the late 1970’s when I began to become frustrated with Marvel for not writing the type of stories for Nova that best suited the character – that being cosmic stories of course.  I had to wait 30 years; but Marvel finally realized the character’s cosmic potential with the Annihilation series of 2006. 

    During that 30 year waiting period, I had speculated quite a bit about all things Nova – the nature of the Nova Force, the history of Xandar, the nature of the “Living Computers of Xandar” (now called “The Worldmind”), the similarities between Xandar and Rome, what had Richard Rider done during the “lost years” on Xandar during the Second Xandar-Skrull War, etc. – and had even debated fellow fans at the Nova blog sites about these selfsame topics.  I had also been frustrated with Richard Rider’s seeming failure to mature despite having incredible experiences that tend to mature even young individuals – like participating in a great war.  I suppose that’s one of the pitfalls of mainstream comics – find a formula that works and stick to it.

    However, as an avid fan and regular comics reader, I find it frustrating for the characters to never mature over time and change with experience – in Richard’s case being stuck in perpetual adolescent rebellion mode.  So - I thought, why not just pick up a pen and write the kind of Nova stories I’d like to read? 

   Well, that’s easier said than done.  It’s really hard to write a good story and I never got around to any serious effort beyond a daydream or two until about two years ago when my friend and fellow Nova fan, Darren, invited me to participate in a fan-fic project he was organizing.  Darren was already well along in story development and writing; and his work inspired me to put some of my daydreams on paper.  We quickly developed a good working rapport; and from our exchange of ideas and concepts grew what we came to call the 615 Universe.

   Now, all Marvel fans know that the Marvel Universe is made up of an infinite number of quantum realities; with the 616 Universe being the one that contains the continuity of our favorite Marvel heroes. The 615 Universe is right next door to the 616 Universe as the name implies.  Also implied by the name are large areas of overlap with the 616 Universe.  However, there are large areas of difference as well. The 615 Universe has pretty much the same continuity as the 616 Universe up to the end of the first Annihilation War. After the Annihilation War, a major divergence occurs in that in the 615 Universe, no Civil War occurred, there was no Conquest, and there was no Secret Invasion. The reasons these events did not occur will be explained in our stories.

     The stories themselves will cover a 2500 year period of time; with flashbacks to ancient Xandar and ancient Earth – as well as flash forwards to future Xandar. Richard Rider’s arc will cover a 60 year period where he will grow and mature and change over time. We will address the construction of the Worldmind, the similarities of Xandar to Rome, and the nature of the Nova Force. We will fill in the “lost years” from the Second Xandar-Skrull War era as well as the era between the Third Fall of Xandar and the beginning of the Annihilation series.  Ambitious you say?  Yes – but we’ve already got 12 stories in various stages of completion. Some are just outlines, others are partially written, still others are finished and undergoing editing.

    Darren has threatened to hop on a plane, fly to the US, and strangle me bare- handed if I give too much away; so let me just say what we have in mind in general terms; and then give a specific example. First off, the 615 Universe is quite a bit grittier than the 616.  Our military science-fiction take on Nova is going to be adult oriented – and as such, our characters will not be perfect.  Some will be heroes, some will be anti-heroes, and some will be complex villains.  Like real people, our characters will make mistakes and misjudgments.  They will also do things adults do such as drink and curse and argue and have sex. Since they are soldiers, they will kill when necessary. Some of you may think we’re going into forbidden territory here, but we’re endeavoring to make Richard a more three-dimensional “real” character than the comics have ever portrayed -   and the same applies to the plethora of new original characters that Darren and I have created for our supporting cast! So please note that some of our stories will have parental guidance warnings for when they get a bit too “hot,” rocket style!

    We kick things off with a story called ThirdFall. This story expands on events occurring on Xandar as depicted briefly in the Annihilation Prologue, as well as showing what Richard was up to back on Earth prior to his recall back to the Verge System One.

   Following ThirdFall, we will be focusing on filling in the “lost year” leading up to events depicted in the Annihilation series in two story arcs: The Guerilla War and The United Front. Here, we’ll tell the story of how Richard Rider became the Supreme Commander of the United Front - leaving Annihilation continuity mostly intact (oh I don’t know Bill, I’m sure I can think of a few more continuity divergences here and there!! - Darren).

     After the end of the two year long Annihilation War, we reach the major divergence point between the 615 and 616 in a story called There’s No Place Like Home. The next story, written solely by Darren, is an epic called Starscream that is hands down the best Nova story I’ve ever read. Following Starscream, we have what we’re referring to as the Thirdrise arc – and you can guess what that’s about. Following the Thirdrise arc; we jump forward to an arc referred to as Nova: The Next Generation focusing on Rich’s progeny!  All of these story arcs are connected in a grand arc spanning 2500 years and culminating at the end of the Next Generation arc in a story called, appropriately enough, The Last Nova Story. In addition, we have two stand-alone stories that I’m very excited about which focus on Rich’s “lost years” during the Second Xandar-Skrull War. The Line explains the mysterious Epyrus 7 event from Nova lore. The Liberation of Adanac is a sequel to The Line and chronicles the turning point in The Second Xandar-Skrull War.

     Now, to give you a taste of our collaboration (so you can start debating it in the forums!) we have a little sneak preview from Third Fall.  Enjoy – and look for the first part of our upcoming serialized novella published exclusively at Cosmicbooknews over the next few months.

• Preview Third Fall •

  

  

  

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