Archive for the ‘nextwave’ Category
Or – “This Is The End, Beautiful Friend… The End.”
I admit it. I initially only bought this title because of the presence of X-51, aka Mr. Machine, Sir MacHinery, Machine Man, and Aaron Stack. One of Kirby’s lesser-known creations, the big purple guy with the taillights for eyes first bowed in the 2001: A Space Odyssey series in 1978, and has never actually had a run that lasted more than 12 issues consecutively. His “Space Odyssey” run was three issues, his first book, titled Machine Man, ran 19 issues, but there was a break of almost a year between the two halves. The 1984 limited series was four issues, and his run as X-51 (part of Marvel’s ill-fated M-Tech line) was only 12 issues. So it’s kind of fitting that Nextwave didn’t break the dozen mark either. Honestly, though, they’ve made a pretty awesome quilt out of some torn, Liefeld stained, and f-ed up chunks of Marvel cloth. Hopefully Nextwave will show up in the future and stay this cool. I have hope…
Or – “Saving America By Entertaining The $#!+ Out Of Us…”
I mentioned yesterday that I can’t believe that a book with the quality of art and story seen in “Birds Of Prey” wasn’t DC’s top selling comic. On the Marvel side of the fence, that same disbelief occurs about Nextwave. I share the same delusion as many Americans, that my opinion is the only correct and justifiable one, and that everyone else will eventually come around to see things “the right way.” The right way, in this case, is to love Nextwave, and nearly everyone I’ve recommended it to has come away laughing, and usually adds it to their pull list. Sadly, even that isn’t going to be enough to keep it on the stands, though Marvel brass has promised limited series treatment down the road. Issue #11 is the penultimate issue of the run, and they’ve tossed in everything but the kitchen sink to get your blood pumping… Does it work?
Or – “You’ll Never Have This Much Fun With A Liefeld Character Again…”
One of the great things about the Marvel Universe is that everybody has a story. Even someone who’s appeared as seldom as the Texas Twister or Stingray has backstory, family, friends and continuity. The cast of this book, f’rinstance, has ties to The X-Men, X-Force, The Avengers, The Defenders, Spider-Man, the awesome but completely forgotten “Lost Generation” miniseries, and, if this issue is to be taken literally, The frickin’ Micronauts. Last issue, the nextwave five were faced with no fewer than three different evil superteams bent on their utter destruction… With temporary cancellation looming, can our heroes pull it together long enough to fight somebody OTHER than their teammates?
Or “Warren Ellis Is Either A Genius or Bug*#&@ Crazy. Possibly Both.”
It is with an uncharacteristic sense of foreboding (for both me and for NextWave) that I start reviewing this book. Reports out of Marvel indicate that issue 12 will be the last regular issue of NextWave, but that it may continue as a series of miniseries in the future. That’s too bad, because this book is the most all-out fun I’ve had with a Marvel title since they cancelled the first volume of New Warriors, waaay back in the late 90’s. (And we’ve all seen how well THAT book is regarded these days…) Read the rest of this entry »
Loading ...