NextWave #1 Review - Spoilers, Quite Possibly
NextWave #1 was not the greatest English-language comic book ever published. That being said, it was, however, an incredibly fun read. Warren Ellis is seriously immersing himself in the silly here, and it is very enjoyable. The concept mirrors in some superficial ways Robert Kirkman's current Marvel Team-Up "League of Losers" storyline, but takes it to another, more hyper-weird, level. Ellis has deliberately chosen characters that he would feel free to desecrate. The highest profile team member is the former Captain Marvel, a character who I had a certain fondness for during her tenure with the Avengers, but I can't honestly say I've thought about her in the past 10 or so years. Which makes her perfect for Ellis' purposes.Stuart Immonen, who I first discovered when he joined the line-up on my favorite run of the Legion of Superheroes (the 5 years Later series), has modified his art style to such an extent that it as if the comic is drawn by a neophyte artist who just happens to share Immomen's name. His former, almost Adam Hughes-ian style has been warped into a cleanline animation-inspired technique. whatever he's doing, it's quite good, and serves the story perfectly.
In fact, what NextWave reminds me of is nothing so much as the old Freakazoid cartoon. It's a very random, very anarchic Saturday morning cartoon of a comic, with more that enough jabs at Marvel continuity to satisfy the "Zombie" consumers. I don't really have quite so much familiarity with old Marvel comics, but I enjoyed the book all the same.Between this and X-Factor, I'm starting to be slightly impressed with Marvel's current output. You have to ignore anything that ties in with a current or upcoming crossover, but there are quality books to be read.
This is a book tailor-made to satisfy the Comic Blogging crowd. And it does so with style and energy.
Oh, I liked the running away song. Sue me.
posted by Jhunt at 12:43 PM
3 Comments:
Apparently the Marvel Zombies are hating nextwave because it violates continuity. Pshaw.
I didn't care for they puppy scene. But probably wouldn't have minded as much if it was Tabitha or someone else who had done it.
I'm not continuity's biggest advocate, but I will say that the comic was doing pretty good up til that point when I was knocked out of the story back to the real world with thoughts like, "I didn't know she had powers when she was a kid" and "she'd do that?".
If it wasn't for the reality check at that moment I would have been too immersed in Ellis' weird world.
Kinda like how Ring Two played out to me. In that movie, the supernatural and otherwise unbelievable aspects of the film were done very nicely. Well enough that it could have been a great flick.
However, with unbelievable everyday actions, like entering an ambulance and spending a lot of time in it without getting caught or actually getting to talk to someone in police custody that easily... Those things snapped me back to reality long enough to not enjoy the overall story.
I'll be getting #2 but I hope Ellis tries to not try so hard this time.
It's certainly true that any continuity gaffes in this series probably fail to register with me because of my reduced awareness of Marvel minutia.
If it helps, it seems to me that NextWave is set more in an animated cartoon version of the MU, as opposed to the MU proper. That's probably not the case, but it might make swallowing some continuity clashes a little easier.
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