Product Description: Action! Excitement! Explosions! The Highest Anti-Terrorism Effort, or H.A.T.E. (a subsidiary of the Beyond Corporation) put Nextwave together to fight Bizarre Weapons of Mass Destruction. When Nextwave discovers that H.A.T.E. and Beyond are terrorist cells themselves, and that the BWMDs were intended to kill them, they are less than pleased. In fact, they are rather angry. So they make things explode. Lots of things. Starring Monica Rambeau (formerly Captain Marvel and Photon), Aaron Stack (Machine Man), Tabitha Smith (X-Force's Meltdown), monster-hunter Elsa Bloodstone and the Captain! Guest-starring Fin Fang Foom! Collects Nextwave: Agents of H.A.T.E. 1-6.
It's like Goethe, but with lots more crunching. Nextwave: Agents of H.A.T.E. is one of the most fun comic series in a long time. It captures absurdity, violence, and humor, puts it all in a paper bag, sets it on the front stoop, rings your doorbell, and lights the bag on fire. With a cast of Marvel second-stringers (if that high up on the ladder!), Nextwave offers the readers a chance to see superheroes doing what they do best: solving problems with violence, making things blow up, and posing afterwards. In the first volume alone, we see a "heart-moving" battle with the underpants-wearing dragon Fin Fang Foom, the razing of a pseudo-robotic broccoli-man breeding farm, and a city menaced by a crazed mech-armored samurai police officer.
Featuring team leader and Avengers cheerleader Monica Rambeau (Captain Marvel/Photon), mutant mallrat and pocket-picker Tabitha Smith (Boom Boom/Boomer/Meltdown), fleshbag-tolerating robotic marvel Aaron Stack (Machine Man), British monster-hunter and Yankee-hater Elsa Bloodstone, and the superpowered dim bulb The Captain, Nextwave takes on all threats to freedom, life, and the world, thrown at them by H.A.T.E. commander Dirk Angery (think a maladjusted Nick Fury on suicide watch). If you miss the absolutely crazy **** that made Golden Age comics so much fun, but would like to see it in a modern setting, you need to pick up Nextwave: Agents of H.A.T.E.!
"Fin Fang Foom put you in his pants!" NextWave: Agents of H.A.T.E. is all about the heroic poses and mindless violence and wonky and terse, darkly humored dialogue. It's also about a rant-happy villain who comes off like Nick Fury's bonkers evil twin. And Nextwave is about five basement-tiered superheroes who've somehow fallen into Warren Ellis's purview just when Ellis was being consumed with a rollicking f*ck-all mood. Consummate artist Stuart Immonen drops by every issue to dazzle us with his clean, fabulous artwork.
For the unknowing: the Nextwave is comprised of Monica Rambeau (the ex-Captain Marvel and Photon, who tends to hearken back to when she led the Avengers), Aaron Stack (Machine Man, mechanical git who likes to call folks "fleshy ones"), Elsa Bloodstone (Brit babe and kick-arse monster slayer), Tabitha Smith (mutant formerly known as Boom-Boom and Meltdown), and the Captain (not really a captain of anything). These five were hired on by H.A.T.E. (Highest Anti-Terrorism Effort) to be its elite antiterrorist arm.
But when the Nextwave members discover that H.A.T.E. is actually a branch of the terrorist cell, the Beyond Corporation, well, they go rogue in a blink. Apparently, Beyond Corp. intended for NextWave to become the test subject for their various Unusual Weapons of Mass Destruction. But Nextwave would firmly beg to differ. Next thing you know, thanks to Tabitha having pilfered the Beyond Corp.'s planning documents, NextWave is popping in at each test site and screwing it but good for the bad guys.
Not much character development here. Barely a storyline. A simple premise. Lots of acronyms. An abundance of silliness (loved the tidbits of hilarious background info on our heroes, as well as the widdle, cuddly koala bears...of death!). Here's a crapload of bizarre enemy agents and weaponry (including Fin Fang Foom and his purple underpants!). And a cornucopia of rending, maiming, smashing, 'sploding, smiting with a guitar, finger shredding, and just a bit of vicious cop kickin'. As breezily written by Ellis, the characters may lack depth and internal musings, but they are a hell of a lot of fun to read about. My favorite character here happens to be the unkempt and not too smart Captain, or Captain **** (expletive unknown, although it's offensive enough that it merited a vicious beatdown from Cap'n America and soap shoved into his mouth). The Captain was specifically created by Ellis and Immonen for the Nextwave series, although he somewhat reminds me of a Kevin Matchstick gone sour.
NEXTWAVE: AGENTS OF H.A.T.E. Vol. 1 (This Is What They Want) collects the first 6 issues, and it's a work of stylish brevity and outrageous, unapologetic action. These amped-up action sequences are where Stuart Immonen truly earns all his big money, his art being that wonderful. As for Ellis, his outrageous narrative style here is as if he got talked into an impromptu tale-swapping contest and he's just kickin' it and cutting loose with the blarney. So, basically, put away all the deep thoughts and notions of a convoluted plot and the search for a meaningful story. It ain't like that here, sir. This is brisk reading and will leave you craving more. Definitely, it sucks that only 12 issues were published before the series was cancelled. But, fret not, Mr. Ellis has vowed to put out more Nextwave adventures, but in a limited series format.
So what makes Nextwave: Agents of H.A.T.E. so much fun to read? In brief, to quote Monica Rambeau: "Monsters to beat up! Things to blow up! It's the best job in America! Nextwave go!"
Graphic SF Reader Ellis invents a couple of characters, and takes a few others that had disappeared, the other Captain Marvel, Boom-Boom, and the daughter of Ulysses Bloodstone and even Machine Man. I didn't even know she existed, so that was a pretty cool find.
Then, they have some humorous, robot, corporation and monster stomping to do, while yelling cross-cultural insults at each other.
It will kick you in the face and you will explode in glee. Nextwave is quite possibly as close as one will ever get to a "pure" comic book. This is what the medium was invented for: posingstreetstransformingcopgonecrazyhomicidecrabsdirkangerindragcrying and so on an so forth.
Alright, in all seriousness, this book is a fantastic read! Forget those serious comics and convoluted continuities that never seem to make sense or seem remotely appealing to wade through (though they can be). This comic does away with that and simply gives us five individuals fighting weird... things... like all the time. That's as deep as it gets. And frankly, that is perfect for those who simply want to laugh at zany storytelling that is one of Warren Ellis' many strengths while being accompanied by great artwork by the inimitable Stuart Immonen.
In short, get Nextwave. You'll laugh your way through the book in no time and you will remember Dirk Anger. Trust me on that.
Serious attitude Warren Ellis writes a strange book, at times. This is one of those. An enormous spoof on comics on the whole, but Marvel comics in particular, Nextwave deals with a group of semi-anti-mostly heroes who had worked for H.A.T.E. - Highest Anti-Terrorism Effort, but learned that HATE was secretly run by super-terrorists. They defected, and now they're on the run from fanatical Dirk Anger (an obvious Nick Fury parody, and perhaps the best character in the book)
Nextwave has a brisk, crisp pace. It hits the ground running and never slows down, and it's that manic energy that fuels the humor and action of the series. The series relentlessly pokes fun at the common superheroic traditions, and Ellis comes up with some truly glorious threats for his team to face.
This book certainly won't fly to well with everyone, as people have different senses of humor. The irreverant take on these characters, many of whom have a long history at Marvel, will annoy many purists. But, if you enjoy that rare summer blockbuster that manages to balance heavy-hitting action with hilarious satire, Nextwave: Agents of H.A.T.E. is definitely the book for you.
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