I love Warren Ellis. If he was a beautiful woman, or if I were gay, I’d kiss him. Even though he’s English.
Of course, given that neither of the above conditions apply, we’ll just have to say, “it’s the thought that counts.”
Ellis has brought some real merit to the world of comics. Transmetropolitan more than lives up to all the hype you’ve heard. This is the guy who turned Image’s dreadful superhero comic Stormwatch into the loud, obnoxious, borderline-fascist and utterly exhilirating Authority that we all came to know and love. He’s also responsible for Planetary, which may be one of the greatest and most emotionally affecting things written for the genre since Alan Moore’s Watchmen.
Ellis is a strong writer, with an ear for both a great story and snappy dialogue. He’s got a wicked sense of humor, though it’s usually quite subtle.
Well, not here. Nextwave is just as loud and brash, and just as much stuff explodes as in any issue of The Authority, but the difference here is that it’s all immediate and up-front.
Nextwave is the (so far) the story of a team of C-list superheroes who defect from their jobs at an organization called H.A.T.E. (“Highest Anti-Terrorist Effort”) and set out to wreck their employer’s plans for world domination. Or something. Lots of stuff blows up real good, and the wise-cracking and asides never stop.
Monica Rimbeau leads the team. She was one of the multitude of characters that called themselves “Captain Marvel” over the years, and she was an Avenger for awhile…something about which she never gets tired of reminiscing.
Aaron Stack was a one-off 1970’s creation of Jack Kirby called the Machine Man. Ellis has updated his character and changed his origin story, as you can see.
Then there’s Elsa Bloodstone. Apparently, her father was an immortal vampire hunter or some such thing. That doesn’t matter. What matters is that she carries guns and likes to stomp unpleasant things into oblivion. After all, that’s what this is all about, isn’t it?
Like Ellis, she’s British.
Rounding out the team are a second-tier former X-Man named Tabitha, whose powers include “blowing things up and stealing all your stuff.”
Then there’s the Captain. Just “the Captain.” Apparently, he went by the name “Captain $*%^,” but that didn’t work. Most of the other “Captain _____” names he tried ended up in litigation, so now he’s just the Captain.
I have no idea what character he’s based on, but like Kyle Rainer, he got his powers from benevolent aliens he met in a dark alley. Unlike Kyle Rainer, he did not become the Green Lantern.
This is a heck of a fun book, and it’s a nice break from all the doom-and-gloom stuff the industry seems to be peddling these days. In another writer’s hands, it could have gone all wrong, but Ellis can keep a story moving, and his dialogue is sharp enough to shave with.
You can download the theme song(!) as well.