Take a photo of a barcode or cover
misterjt 's review for:
NextWave: Agents of H.A.T.E., Vol. 1: This is What They Want
by Warren Ellis
The Comics Should Be Good! blog has spent 2009 covering a year of cool comic book moments — three of which, so far, have come from nextwave.I didn’t know anything about nextwave but I know amusing when I see it and this bit from issue #9 which mocks a key moment from Ultimate Avengers is amusing. So, I decided to try it out.
I’m not a Warren Ellis uber-fan. I think he’s a good writer and have enjoyed some of his runs on more traditional super hero books (his Ultimate Fantastic Four work was really enjoyable, for example) and I really dug The Global Frequency but I’m not a fan boy so there’s lots of his stuff I haven’t read. I don’t know his specific pecadillos and tropes. And, also, while I’ve been a fan of comic books most of my life (even as I couldn’t afford to maintain the book buying habit in the 90s), I don’t keep up with the conventional wisdom of comics fans of the day. I buy what I like (which, generally, are relatively smart or familiar super hero books, and writers or characters I enjoy) and leave all the hemming and hawing about the downfall of the funny papers to other folks.
So, what I learned while reading this initial volume of nextwave is this: comics satire is good — in small doses which is probably the point of the whole thing. Nextwave is about the gratuitious spectacle that makes up the Marvel and DC lines these days. Explosions, death, giant boobs, expletives. This is what makes “cool” in the mainstream of the medium right now. It’s what sells. It’s what gets promoted. It’s what they know how to do. It’s the Blockbuster Economy as Jeff Jarvis calls such markets in What Would Google Do?. So Ellis and Immonen give us an overwhelming amount of it in non-stop fashion. It’s ludicrous and absurd and, at times, quite funny.
It’s also beautifully drawn.
What it isn’t, at least for me, is a quick read or a page turner. I usually bang through trade paperbacks in a day or two when they are really good. It’s the entire benefit of a collection. I don’t have to wait a month for the next chapter. It took me well over a week to read this volume and it’s not very long. I just couldn’t stay in that world of shoot ‘em ups and crass jokes. While I get the point being made, it’s not why I read comics and not what I enjoy most about them.
I’d only recommend for the fan boys that will appreciate the inside jokes or those interested in really good art. It’s got that in spades.
I’m not a Warren Ellis uber-fan. I think he’s a good writer and have enjoyed some of his runs on more traditional super hero books (his Ultimate Fantastic Four work was really enjoyable, for example) and I really dug The Global Frequency but I’m not a fan boy so there’s lots of his stuff I haven’t read. I don’t know his specific pecadillos and tropes. And, also, while I’ve been a fan of comic books most of my life (even as I couldn’t afford to maintain the book buying habit in the 90s), I don’t keep up with the conventional wisdom of comics fans of the day. I buy what I like (which, generally, are relatively smart or familiar super hero books, and writers or characters I enjoy) and leave all the hemming and hawing about the downfall of the funny papers to other folks.
So, what I learned while reading this initial volume of nextwave is this: comics satire is good — in small doses which is probably the point of the whole thing. Nextwave is about the gratuitious spectacle that makes up the Marvel and DC lines these days. Explosions, death, giant boobs, expletives. This is what makes “cool” in the mainstream of the medium right now. It’s what sells. It’s what gets promoted. It’s what they know how to do. It’s the Blockbuster Economy as Jeff Jarvis calls such markets in What Would Google Do?. So Ellis and Immonen give us an overwhelming amount of it in non-stop fashion. It’s ludicrous and absurd and, at times, quite funny.
It’s also beautifully drawn.
What it isn’t, at least for me, is a quick read or a page turner. I usually bang through trade paperbacks in a day or two when they are really good. It’s the entire benefit of a collection. I don’t have to wait a month for the next chapter. It took me well over a week to read this volume and it’s not very long. I just couldn’t stay in that world of shoot ‘em ups and crass jokes. While I get the point being made, it’s not why I read comics and not what I enjoy most about them.
I’d only recommend for the fan boys that will appreciate the inside jokes or those interested in really good art. It’s got that in spades.