History YMMV / NOVA

* AuthorsSavingThrow: Volume 7 focusing on both Sam ''and'' Richard has been well received, and a nice compromise for their respective fanbases (not counting Sam's infamous Hate Dumb that consider themselves die-hard Richard fans, who notoriously never let their hate go and are sometimes pinned, to varying degrees, for Volume 7's premature cancellation). In fact, quite a few people are wondering why Marvel didn't just do this in the first place, aside from potential logistical or story structural reasons[[note]]Sam's creation and Rich's departure happen far enough away and by different writers that they are unrelated to one another, misblames aside; Jeff Loeb is thought to have said part of Sam's creation and original use is due to not wanting to sully Rich's sacrifice; or perhaps the simple fact that the stories that wanted to be told where those that dealt with Sam and his status as thought-of LastOfHisKind, as a TeenHero, and as a LegacyCharacter in general, like with Miles and Kamala, for example, which wouldn't really work with Rich.[[/note]] and Sam needing to beef up his character due to being new at the time.

* BaseBreakingCharacter: Sam Alexander, especially around the time of his inception (and for his linger Hate Dumb beyond). While some fans have been willing to give him a chance and many have been won over to Sam's character throughout his various runs, others don't want anything to do with him.

* EnsembleDarkhorse: Cosmo, who debuted in two issues of Nova's fourth series and was so popular he became a regular character in ''ComicBook/GuardiansOfTheGalaxy''.

* FandomBerserkButton: Calling Richard Rider ''Ryder''.

** Being Sam is suffering, A general fan response to Sam Alexander's insanely bad luck, lack of respect, and the general trauma he experiences even compared to other younger heroes.

** BaseBreaker-ness aside and also only for a small subset, but Anwen Bakian managed to impress a number of readers with her story and her family's struggles during the second Secret Wars event. There have even been a few calls to see her and her family again post-Secret Wars.

*** He makes loads of enemies and only a handful of friends in his hero career, with only a few of the latter treating him like a loyal friend consistently and all of the former out for his guts, sometimes actively. He had to go up against an inverted Hulk, ''twice'', getting beat-up by said Hulk, ''twice'', before barely scrapping a win, a win that left him concussed and scarred emotionally. He had to suffer the wrath of the recently reverted Carnage who went after Sam's family due to the honest but amateurish mistake of telling his name to Cletus Kassidy while Kassidy was inverted good. [[spoiler:He finds his father after a long search, spends months with him as a reunited family, [[YankTheDogsChain only to discover]] that his "father" was a Chitauri clone and spy, at which point the trail of the real Jesse Alexander had long since gone cold.]] Contrasting Sam's growing list of feats and moments where he saved the world and the universe, he becomes TheUnfavorite, beginning to suffer doubts about his worth, and later beginning to feel anxiety over others' lack of respect or even acknowledgement of all he's done and does as a hero. He gets a big break and joins the Avengers, but suffers from being TheUnfavorite not long after, along with the bad luck of Civil War II causing him to decide to quit the straying Avengers; also during this time, the fact that he's the only one between himself, Miles, and Kamala who doesn't have an explicit mentor-figure weighs heavily on him. Sam finally gets his explicit mentor-figure when he reunites with a long-thought-dead Richard Rider -- the two hit it off, but it is short-lived, as Loveness and Perez's Volume detailing this is CutShort after only 7 issues; meta-wise and extending from that Volume's cancellation, Sam almost completely drops from contemporary Marvel Universe post-Secret Empire, with only his role in the ''[[ComicBook/Champions2016 Champions]]'' saving him from ComicBookLimbo outright. Speaking of Champions, under Jim Zub's pen, Sam's Woobie-feats continue, as he ends up having his Nova Helmet ''confiscated'' from him (with seemingly no way of getting it back) and has to go powerless from them on; afterwards, all of his anger, frustration, and anxiety over being TheUnfavorite resurface in full-force, he gets stuck in a form of LotusEaterMachine were an ArcVillain leads Sam to think he has an encouraging father, superpowers once more, and purpose, validation, and acknowledgement, only for that little bubble to burst back to reality. Most recently, he's trying to make himself useful to the team's expanded roster as the pilot of their home base, only to suffer TheUnfavorite treatment ''again'' amongst his team veterans, become the ButtMonkey during an exercise with the more newer members, and become the target of a revenge-obsessed villain from his past, where he has no way of defending himself. His fan's didn't give Sam the epithet "Being Sam Alexander [and a fan, by extension] is suffering" for nothing...

*** He makes loads of enemies and only a handful of friends in his hero career, with only a few of the latter treating him like a loyal friend consistently and all of the former out for his guts, sometimes actively. He had to go up against an inverted Hulk, ''twice'', getting beat-up by said Hulk, ''twice'', before barely scrapping a win, a win that left him concussed and scarred emotionally. He had to suffer the wrath of the recently reverted Carnage who went after Sam's family due to the honest but amateurish mistake of telling his name to Cletus Kassidy while Kassidy was inverted good. [[spoiler:He finds his father after a long search, spends months with him as a reunited family, [[YankTheDogsChain only to discover]] that his "father" was a Chitauri clone and spy, at which point the trail of the real Jesse Alexander had long since gone cold.]] Contrasting Sam's growing list of feats and moments where he saved the world and the universe, he becomes TheUnfavorite, beginning to suffer doubts about his worth, and later beginning to feel anxiety over others' lack of respect or even acknowledgement of all he's done and does as a hero. He gets a big break and joins the Avengers, but suffers from being TheUnfavorite not long after, along with the bad luck of Civil War II causing him to decide to quit the straying Avengers; also during this time, the fact that he's the only one between himself, Miles, and Kamala who doesn't have an explicit mentor-figure weighs heavily on him. Also partly meta, but Sam finally gets his explicit mentor-figure when he reunites with a long-thought-dead Richard Rider -- the two hit it off, but it is short-lived, as Loveness and Perez's Volume detailing this is CutShort after only 7 issues; extending from that Volume's cancellation, Sam almost completely drops from contemporary Marvel Universe post-Secret Empire, with only his role in the ''[[ComicBook/Champions2016 Champions]]'' saving him from ComicBookLimbo outright. Speaking of Champions, under Jim Zub's pen, Sam's Woobie-feats continue, as he ends up having his Nova Helmet ''confiscated'' from him (with seemingly no way of getting it back) and has to go powerless from them on; afterwards, all of his anger, frustration, and anxiety over being TheUnfavorite resurface in full-force, he gets stuck in a form of LotusEaterMachine were an ArcVillain leads Sam to think he has an encouraging father, superpowers once more, and purpose, validation, and acknowledgement, only for that little bubble to burst back to reality. Most recently, he's trying to make himself useful to the team's expanded roster as the pilot of their home base, only to suffer TheUnfavorite treatment ''again'' amongst his team veterans, become the ButtMonkey during an exercise with the more newer members, and become the target of a revenge-obsessed villain from his past, where he has no way of defending himself. His fan's didn't give Sam the epithet "Being Sam Alexander [and a fan, by extension] is suffering" for nothing...

*** He makes loads of enemies and only a handful of friends in his hero career, with only a few of the latter treating him like a loyal friend consistently and all of the former out for his guts, sometimes actively. He had to go up against an inverted Hulk, ''twice'', getting beat-up by said Hulk, ''twice'', before barely scrapping a win, a win that left him concussed and scarred emotionally. He had to suffer the wrath of the recently reverted Carnage who went after Sam's family due to the honest but amateurish mistake of telling his name to Cletus Kassidy while Kassidy was inverted good. [[spoiler:He finds his father after a long search, spends months with him as a reunited family, [[YankTheDogsChain only to discover]] that his "father" was a Chitauri clone and spy, at which point the trail of the real Jesse Alexander had long since gone cold. Contrasting Sam's growing list of feats and moments where he saved the world and the universe, he becomes TheUnfavorite, beginning to suffer doubts about his worth, and later beginning to feel anxiety over others' lack of respect or even acknowledgement of all he's done and does as a hero. He gets a big break and joins the Avengers, but suffers from being TheUnfavorite not long after, along with the bad luck of Civil War II causing him to decide to quit the straying Avengers; also during this time, the fact that he's the only one between himself, Miles, and Kamala who doesn't have an explicit mentor-figure weighs heavily on him. Also partly meta, but Sam finally gets his explicit mentor-figure when he reunites with a long-thought-dead Richard Rider -- the two hit it off, but it is short-lived, as Loveness and Perez's Volume detailing this is CutShort after only 7 issues; extending from that Volume's cancellation, Sam almost completely drops from contemporary Marvel Universe post-Secret Empire, with only his role in the ''[[ComicBook/Champions2016 Champions]]'' saving him from ComicBookLimbo outright. Speaking of Champions, under Jim Zub's pen, Sam's Woobie-feats continue, as he ends up having his Nova Helmet ''confiscated'' from him (with seemingly no way of getting it back) and has to go powerless from them on; afterwards, all of his anger, frustration, and anxiety over being TheUnfavorite resurface in full-force, he gets stuck in a form of LotusEaterMachine were an ArcVillain leads Sam to think he has an encouraging father, superpowers once more, and purpose, validation, and acknowledgement, only for that little bubble to burst back to reality. Most recently, he's trying to make himself useful to the team's expanded roster as the pilot of their home base, only to suffer TheUnfavorite treatment ''again'' amongst his team veterans, become the ButtMonkey during an exercise with the more newer members, and become the target of a revenge-obsessed villain from his past, where he has no way of defending himself. His fan's didn't give Sam the epithet "Being Sam Alexander [and a fan, by extension] is suffering" for nothing...

* AuthorsSavingThrow: Volume 7 focusing on both Sam ''and'' Richard has been well received, and a nice compromise for their respective fanbases. In fact, quite a few people are wondering why Marvel didn't just do this in the first place.

* BaseBreakingCharacter: Sam Alexander. While some fans have been willing to give him a chance, others don't want anything to do with him.
** Anwen Bakian's appearance is one too, especially the fact that Richard Rider will not be coming back for Secret Wars.

** Sam Alexander vs. Richard Rider. It's pretty much the Hal Jordan vs. Kyle Rayner of Marvel. Tough with the both of them teaming up and bonding in Volume 7, this rivalry has subsided quite a bit.
** Anwen Bakian; a fresh take on Nova through being a minority or Marvel's refusal to bring back Richard Rider and an attempt to look as PC as possible.
* EpilepticTrees: Many theories had be created on the fate of Richard Rider, how Sam Alexander was able to use the Nova Force despite it being gone in the 616 universe, and possibility of Jesse Alexander (Sam's dad) being a HumanoidAlien.

** Some fans thinks Sam's series started to get good once Gerry Duggan started writing.
** Volume 7 has generally been seen as a ''huge'' step up for Sam, giving him a good dynamic with Rich and making him more of an engaging, fun character, playing him up as being a hard-headed but good-hearted dumbass to complement Rich's more mellow, experienced hero.

** In the first issue of Sam Alexander's series, he did not express his distaste for his father in front of Kaelynn who was concerned whether their father would be recalled to the Novas.
** In fifth issue, [[spoiler: Jesse Alexander returned to Earth in Nova form just in time to see Sam Alexander's birth. It also cleared Eva's doubt on Jesse's career as Nova when he decided to retire to raise a family.]]
** Volume 5, issue 30: [[spoiler: Sam's reunion with his father after many months of disappearance.]]
*** The same happened in next issue, [[spoiler: Jesse Alexander finally reunited with his family]]
** Volume 6, issue 11: [[spoiler: Worldmind confirms Sam's real father is still alive. Then Richard Rider's mind temporarily takes over and the two have serious talk that inspires Sam to patch up things with his mother and tell his friends he is Nova.]]
** Volume 7, issue 2: After seeing that Earth is just as screwed up now as it was the last time he visited (shortly after the original Civil War event), and disgusted that the heroes had another pointless conflict with each other in the wake of a universe ending event, Rich heads to Knowwhere with Sam to clear their minds. While in a bar seeing everyone on Knowwhere remember the Annihilation Wave and the Cancerverse almost literally brings a tear to Rich's eye as they all raise a glass in his honor.
** Pretty much any time Richard tries to act as a surrogate big brother towards Sam.
** Volume 7 ends with a heartfelt send off to both characters in the wake of the series' cancellation showing Sam hanging out with his friends from school, Richard finally catching up with his old New Warriors buddies, and finally the both of them flying off into space together.

** Richard's "I hate everything about that sentence." response to [[ComicBook/AllNewXMen Teen Cyclops]] explaining the state Earth is in and all of the changes that occurred since Richard's apparent death.

* {{Narm}}: Volume 5, [[http://www.novaprimepage.com/previews/p1Nova/nova29page2.jpg Issue 29]]; [[spoiler: the splash page on Sam's announcing Richard Rider's demise falls flat due to Baldeon's drawing on Sam Alexander's Nova form.]]

** When Sam [[spoiler:follows Richard into the Cancerverse, he arrives too late and witnesses Richard merging with the Cancerverse corrupted Worldmind. transforming him into a massive BodyHorror]].
*** [[spoiler:Cancerverse Worldmind in general. It had grown so dangerous that he managed to take control over the Cancerverse version of '''THANOS''' and use him as a host while further mutating his body into a twisted abomination.]]
* ReplacementScrappy: Some more ardent Richard Rider fans consider Sam Alexander to be one.
* RescuedFromTheScrappyHeap: Though it's still a BrokenBase, Sam's appearance in New Warriors and Gerry Duggan's writings were somewhat an improvement over Jeph Loeb's writings, though even the first issues of comic was an improvement from the [[{{Jerkass}} portrayal]] in WesternAnimation/UltimateSpiderMan.
** Volume 7 seems to have pulled him out of the hole even more as fans of Richard Rider stopped complaining about him being a ReplacementScrappy. Many even note the two Nova's bonding creates a great dynamic.

* TooGoodToLast: Volume 7 was seen as a fantastic series by fans of Richard and Sam alike[[note]]With a couple of exceptions, most notably the editor of Cosmic Book News, who has been known to ban people from CBN's forums for ''not hating Sam enough'', amongst others.[[/note]]...but sold so badly that it's been cancelled after only ''seven issues''.

* TheWoobie: Jesse Alexander. Sure, he used to be a Centurion and a member of [[EliteArmy Supernovas]] but his sudden retirement from Nova Corps meant that he failed to [[ShellShockedVeteran adjust his life on Earth due to his experiences from his work]] and later led him to TheAlcoholic. Due to these failures and alcoholism, his son Sam began to questioned his story until he became the new Nova. [[spoiler: Later, the [[DirtyCop former members]] of Adomax's Supernovas caught him and sold him as a slave to Chitauri.]]

** Richard Rider himself for the Marvel Universe in general. He was originally a C-list version of GreenLantern before Keith Giffen and the duo Creator/DanAbnett and Andy Lanning turned him into a major character in the cosmic side of the Marvel Universe and gained a cult following among Marvel fans.

* {{Heartwarming Moments}}:

** Volume 6, issue 11: [[spoiler: Worldmind confirms Sam's real father is still alive. Then Richard Rider's mind temporairly takes over and the two have serious talk that inspires Sam to patch up things with his mother and tell his friends he is Nova.]]

** Richard's "resurrection" in volume 7. [[spoiler:He's still linked to the Cancerverse in some form, frequently has nightmarish visions of death at random, and sometimes accodently leaks monstrosities from the Cancerverse into his reality whenever he exerts his powers too much. Whenever Tidus threatens him stating he should have stayed dead, Richard's response implies that his condition doesn't make him truly "alive".]]

* BetterThanSource: An {{Inversion}}, 616 Sam Alexander was considered as an improvement from the DesignatedHero version from WesternAnimation/UltimateSpiderMan.

* BetterThanCanon: An {{Inversion}}, 616 Sam Alexander was considered as an improvement from the DesignatedHero version from WesternAnimation/UltimateSpiderMan.

* TooGoodToLast: Volume 7 was seen as a fantastic series by fans of Richard and Sam alike[[note]]With a couple of exceptions, most notably the editor of Cosmic Book News, who has been known to ban people from CBN's forums for ''not hating Sam enough'', amongst others.[[/note]]... but sold so badly that it's been cancelled after only ''seven issues''.

* TooGoodToLast: Volume 7 was seen as a fantastic series by fans of Richard and Sam alike[[note]]With a couple of exceptions, most notably the editor of Cosmic Book News, who has been known to ban people from CBN's forums for ''not hating Sam enough'', as well as by average comic readers and reviewers.[[/note]]... but sold so badly that it's been cancelled after only ''seven issues''.

* TooGoodToLast: Volume 7 was seen as a fantastic series by fans of Richard and Sam alike[[note]]With a couple of exceptions, most notably the editor of Cosmic Book News, who has been known to ban people from CBN's forums for ''not hating Sam enough''.[[/note]]... but sold so badly that it's been cancelled after only ''seven issues''.

** Volume 7 ends with a heartfelt send off to both characters in the wake of the series' cancellation showing Sam hanging out with his friends, Richard finally catching up with his old New Warriors buddies, and finally the both of them flying off into space together.

* MartyStu: Some Rider fans accused Sam Alexander of this simply for existing despite the fact that by all logic he couldn't have his powers, since most of the Nova Force went missing with Richard Rider, along with the fact that his father was part of a super-secret bunch of special ops Novas that conveniently have never been mentioned or hinted at before. Others level this accusation because they perceive Rider's continued absence in favor of a rookie who [[CreatorsPet just happens to be named after the deceased son of]] [[Creator/JephLoeb the writer]] [[CreatorsPet who created him]] to be an abuse of said writer's privilege as a figure with a significant amount of pull within the Marvel publishing hierarchy.

* TooGoodToLast: Volume 7 was seen as a fantastic series by fans of Richard and Sam alike... but sold so badly that it's been cancelled after only ''seven issues''.

** Nova was generally a decently-liked but unremarkable character until he TookALevelInBadass as the main hero of ''ComicBook/Annihilation''.

* GrowingTheBeard: Some fans thinks Sam's series is starting to get good thanks to Gerry Duggan's writing.