‘Deadpool’ Writer Gerry Duggan Joins ‘Nova’ Ongoing

Marvel confirmed Monday afternoon that current Deadpool co-writer Gerry Duggan will fly solo on Nova, the publisher's space opera comic starring Sam Alexander, a fifteen-year-old member of the intergalactic police force known as the Nova Corps. Artist Paco Medina will remain with the title, which welcomes Duggan in the form of a backup for issue #10 -- which will be renumbered as Nova #100, marking the one-hundredth issue of Nova since the original series' launched in 1976.

Edited by Stephan Wacker and Ellie Pyle, the current Nova series began in February as part of the Marvel NOW! initiative, and was written by Jeph Loeb and drawn by Ed McGuinness. The adventure series introduced the young Sam Alexander as a child raised on Earth but whose father was part of the Nova Corps. Loeb and McGuinness concluded their inaugural story arc with Nova #5, after which Zeb Wells and Paco Medina came in to begin what's been confirmed is another five-issue stretch. Duggan joins the book in issue #10, making him the third writer Nova has seen in just ten issues.

Existing Nova readers shouldn't be too shaken by the shake-up, as Duggan explained in an interview for Marvel.com:

"They gave me pretty simple guidelines about what they were looking for. It was high adventure starring a young kid in the old Marvel style. I think people can expect to see a lot of big fun in outer space and we’re going to give him a lot of real world problems. I’ll be continuing some of those themes that [Jeph] Loeb and Zeb began.

The writer also described the style of his first arc:

First issue and first arc, you’re going to see some big adventure in space and then a little bit of a mystery. We won’t be rebooting the Nova Corps, but Sam will be learning about the Corps through old Nova helmets that he’ll be recovering. He’ll be learning about how the wearer was killed. It’s not quite a black box, but he’ll gleam new ways to use his powers and how to really get a head’s up on some threats. That’ll be a fun little “Indiana Jones” type adventure for him to check out. In that, we’re going to experience a lot of the corners of the cosmic Marvel Universe. I’m not sure if this all approved so I’ll put it like this: Look for some big and fun guest stars. If you like big and scary looking heroes that look like horses, you might be thrilled at one of the guest stars in the first arc.

I think one of the first times you see Sam, he’s in orbit with a ball bat whacking at space junk. He’s stationary and all the trash is moving at 17,000 miles an hour. Those are the sorts of things where I try to remember what kind of kid I was. I broke some windows. Sam will break some windows too, but when he breaks a window it’s usually of some sort of galactic importance.

Co-written with Brian Posehn, Deadpool is one of Marvel's best books at the moment, so that Duggan will be writing another book for the line is very good news indeed. His first work appears in a back-up in the Nova #100 anniversary issue in November. Duggan and Medina's first full issue as the new creative team is December's Nova #11.