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inferiorwit's review
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Gun violence, and Violence
Minor: Abandonment
murderbot42's review
4.0
This comic is good for what it is, and that is complete nonsense. Now, I can't bring myself to give it five stars even though I can see that's what it's aiming for with all the silliness. But for whatever else you think of Ellis, he is a white dude, and white dudes do tend to be very cis-het centric in their thinking. This leads to a lot of stuff like finding humor in the main baddie's quirk of wearing dresses. And while, yes, that main baddie is hilarious and he is not just on the verge, but going through a severe mental breakdown RIGHT NOW, that doesn't mean that just slapping a dress on him and having all the main characters laugh at it makes it 100x funnier.
However.
This book was written in the early 2000s so I give it leeway for that. If Warren Ellis tried writing that crap in the here and now I would decry it with all I've got. But he didn't, he wrote it more than 10 years ago, so I think a little leeway is deserved, since he most likely did not intend for his work to be offensive.
So. Setting all that aside, if you take the book at face value, for what it was meant to be, an insanely hilarious oddball comedy where all the main characters and even the villains have at least one screw loose (probably actually 50), and LOTS of EXPLOSIONS!, then you can sit back and enjoy, because it's a helluva ride.
However.
This book was written in the early 2000s so I give it leeway for that. If Warren Ellis tried writing that crap in the here and now I would decry it with all I've got. But he didn't, he wrote it more than 10 years ago, so I think a little leeway is deserved, since he most likely did not intend for his work to be offensive.
So. Setting all that aside, if you take the book at face value, for what it was meant to be, an insanely hilarious oddball comedy where all the main characters and even the villains have at least one screw loose (probably actually 50), and LOTS of EXPLOSIONS!, then you can sit back and enjoy, because it's a helluva ride.
wealhtheow's review
3.0
The superteam of the Captain, Tabby, Monica Rambeau, Aaron Stack, and Elsa Bloodstone return to take down their former parent company, H.A.T.E. It's lighthearted superviolence. The art continues to be excellent; it's very good at conveying action and emotion. I never worried about the characters or the world, and the dialog was initially fun but is such a consistent schtick that it got a little old by the end. I'd still like to see more of this team, especially Captain Marvel/Photon and Tabby/Meltdown.
jgkeely's review
3.0
Most of the time, comics do not benefit from deep and patient consideration. The vast majority owe their popularity to a world of powerless men trapped in a work-a-day world that provides them little pride and less edification. Readers of history often fantasize about living in another age, readers of travelogues imagine impossibly pricey vacations, and fans of Romance want an 'unbound pillar of desire', which I think is a piece by Rodin.
Likewise, many comic readers have been happy for little more than sexy, fast-paced excitement. This demand has been met by a bevy of innumerable authors over the years, but usually with the same old band of familiar heroes. This preponderance has lead to a wealth of stories and histories for each character, often contradictory ones. However, none of that mattered until some of the more leisure-gifted fans tried to make sense of it.
The ever-blossoming result of these hundred thousand monkeys can be at turns humbling, nonsensical, horrifying, and depressing. If you are the sort who teases tigers at the zoo, then perhaps you'll enjoy the effect of whispering the word 'continuity' amongst a band of the faithful. You'll have to be careful, of course, as breathing the word at ComicCon is liable to end in broken marriages, sundered friendships, oceans of tears, and rivers of blood.
It was not always so dire. Alan Moore carelessly sauntered over from England and after writing two or three things, made it okay to take comic books seriously. His dangerous artistry spawned a generation of new writers, who all, to one degree or another, have come to consider comics to be Art.
These writers have been trying to 'fix' continuity since about when I was born. They write year-long series called "Secret Countdown to Final Infinite Earth Civil War Crisis: Zombie Zero Hour", just so you know that they mean business and once they're done, you can finally get along with the escapist power fantasies in peace.
Warren Ellis is one of those literary writer guys inspired by Moore to use things like 'tropes' and 'metaphors' in his 'tales of existential exploration'. It's all quite serious. In this particular philosophical exegesis, Ellis takes on a common theme of artsy writers, namely: what would the lives of superheroes really be like, if they were real people.
He chooses a group of heroes to represent, each chosen for being forgotten and mishandled by the 'continuity gestapo'. He then imagines what it would be like to live in a world where giant dragons in purple underwear threaten the peace of the world on a daily basis. His exploration (exploitation?) of the contradictions inherent to heroism in a world where battles often level cities is particularly poignant.
Like [b:Watchmen|472331|Watchmen|Alan Moore|http://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1327866860s/472331.jpg|4358649], Nextwave holds a wink and a nod up to the genre, stomping thoughtlessly on the already blurry line between the ideals of right and wrong, the point of inescapable gray where the serious cannot escape the ludicrous, and the ludicrous cannot escape Warren Ellis. But unlike Watchmen, this is a satire which attempts to maintain the absurdity of its genre. In the end, however, Ellis must bow respectfully to the men who came before him, and he duly admits that he could not be as ridiculous on purpose as they were by happy accident.
My Suggested Reading In Comics
Likewise, many comic readers have been happy for little more than sexy, fast-paced excitement. This demand has been met by a bevy of innumerable authors over the years, but usually with the same old band of familiar heroes. This preponderance has lead to a wealth of stories and histories for each character, often contradictory ones. However, none of that mattered until some of the more leisure-gifted fans tried to make sense of it.
The ever-blossoming result of these hundred thousand monkeys can be at turns humbling, nonsensical, horrifying, and depressing. If you are the sort who teases tigers at the zoo, then perhaps you'll enjoy the effect of whispering the word 'continuity' amongst a band of the faithful. You'll have to be careful, of course, as breathing the word at ComicCon is liable to end in broken marriages, sundered friendships, oceans of tears, and rivers of blood.
It was not always so dire. Alan Moore carelessly sauntered over from England and after writing two or three things, made it okay to take comic books seriously. His dangerous artistry spawned a generation of new writers, who all, to one degree or another, have come to consider comics to be Art.
These writers have been trying to 'fix' continuity since about when I was born. They write year-long series called "Secret Countdown to Final Infinite Earth Civil War Crisis: Zombie Zero Hour", just so you know that they mean business and once they're done, you can finally get along with the escapist power fantasies in peace.
Warren Ellis is one of those literary writer guys inspired by Moore to use things like 'tropes' and 'metaphors' in his 'tales of existential exploration'. It's all quite serious. In this particular philosophical exegesis, Ellis takes on a common theme of artsy writers, namely: what would the lives of superheroes really be like, if they were real people.
He chooses a group of heroes to represent, each chosen for being forgotten and mishandled by the 'continuity gestapo'. He then imagines what it would be like to live in a world where giant dragons in purple underwear threaten the peace of the world on a daily basis. His exploration (exploitation?) of the contradictions inherent to heroism in a world where battles often level cities is particularly poignant.
Like [b:Watchmen|472331|Watchmen|Alan Moore|http://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1327866860s/472331.jpg|4358649], Nextwave holds a wink and a nod up to the genre, stomping thoughtlessly on the already blurry line between the ideals of right and wrong, the point of inescapable gray where the serious cannot escape the ludicrous, and the ludicrous cannot escape Warren Ellis. But unlike Watchmen, this is a satire which attempts to maintain the absurdity of its genre. In the end, however, Ellis must bow respectfully to the men who came before him, and he duly admits that he could not be as ridiculous on purpose as they were by happy accident.
My Suggested Reading In Comics
causticbryn's review
3.0
3.5 stars. Laugh-out-loud funny at times, but the narrative turned into a slapstick wet noodle at several points. Worth reading for the gritty reboot of Forbush Man .
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