Stephanie Kay
Oct 13, 2007, 10:17 pm
<a href="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/4images/details.php?image_id=10164"><img src="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/covers/marvel/nextwave09t.jpg" hspace=10 align=left alt="Nextwave: Agents of H.A.T.E. #9"></a>Reviewer: Alan Bergin, alan_bergin@yahoo.com
My money's on the slightly creepy policewoman
Writer: Warren Ellis
Artist: Stuart Immonen
Inker: Wade Von Grawdadger
Colorist: Dave McCraig
Letters: VC’s Joe Caramagna
Assistant Editor: Sean Ryan
Editor: Nick Lowe
Editor In Chief: Joe Quesada
Publisher: Dan Buckley
Published by: Marvel Comics (www.marvel.com)
Oi! You! Lurker! Why didn't you buy Nextwave then!? Well it doesn't really matter now. Last week the inevitable was announced, much to the dismay of the twenties of fans that the title had amassed. To be honest, Nextwave's demise seemed probable almost from the outset. You don't usually associate quirky, off-beat humour with the House of ideas, nor do you casually happen across drunken superheroes puking on alien visitors, cross-dressing arch-villains or news of Photon's sexy romps with the Avengers. So what was the problem then? Would readers have sooner enjoyed a Liefeld-penned adventure where Tabby 'Boom-Boom' Smith tottered around, attempting to balance her own head on her gigantic buxom? Or perhaps the thought of a Nick Fury who didn't take himself too seriously pee'd off a few too many purists? Or maybe it was the fact that Marvel were using a cadre of characters for whom no-one gave a damn, in stories that didn't lend themselves to line-wide money-spinners? Erm... Whatever the reason, Ellis & company provided a (now short-lived) series of events that were just plain funny. So what if the stories and characters had the combined emotional weight of a napkin? They made us laugh, dagnabbit!
Whilst re-reading some of the earlier escapades, I remembered longing for a bit more meat to the stories. Big booms & slap-happy heroes were all well and good, but it might've been nice to have had an adventure or two in which the team did a little more than kick the crap out of whichever threat Dirk Anger threw their way. I remembered asking myself whether I was missing the point of the series. The fact that each issue had me in stitches assured me that I most probably hadn't. I quickly learned that the key to enjoying a book like Nextwave: Agents of H.A.T.E. was that upon reading, you needed to deposit your brain at the door. Tabby Smith was not traditionally thick and Monica Rambeau was never a rampant, Avenging-whore, but for the sake of silencing the nagging little voice that screeched 'continuity', you needed to just go with it.
Yeah, that proved to be tough at times. No more so than here. In this particular issue, Boom-Boom acts like a tool upon discovering the existence of French-Canadians. Ignoring the issue of suspension-disbelief, the scene just isn't funny. Apart from the opening faux-pas, Ellis and Immonen deliver a humorous little jaunt in which we're confronted with a variety of new characters. The issue is interspersed with flashback scenes in which we're introduced to the members of a team that are intended to constitute the book's main threat. The inclusion of a number of other villainous teams point to fun times ahead, even if the nagging little voice returns and this time bemoans the fact that the upcoming issues will more than likely be taken-up with page after page of fight scenes, where the bad guys get their asses handed to them. It'll be enjoyable no-doubt and while there'll be plenty of laughs, casual observers may wonder whether a 12-issue fight scene deserves to be curtailed?
As always, Stuart Immonen is on flying form with his contribution. Few out there can rightfully find fault with pencils that are marked by his hugely innovative sense of style. Stuart has been consistently impressive with his work on each issue of Nextwave: Agents of H.A.T.E. I'm glad that Ellis decided that the opportunity to continue the title without his pencilling cohort wasn't even an option.
Nextwave: Agents of H.A.T.E. will be finishing shortly and for many, its demise will go unnoticed. For those of us who grew accustomed to this jittery, sugar-rush of a title, we'll mourn the loss and look forward to Tabitha's inevitable return in Onslaught: Reborn.
http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/xfull.jpghttp://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/xfull.jpghttp://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/xfull.jpghttp://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/xhalf.jpghttp://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/xnone.jpg
Buy this Nextwave Agents of H.A.T.E. #9 online now from X-WORLD and save! ( http://x-worldcomics.com/yourvirtualstore/shopexd.asp?id=20961)
My money's on the slightly creepy policewoman
Writer: Warren Ellis
Artist: Stuart Immonen
Inker: Wade Von Grawdadger
Colorist: Dave McCraig
Letters: VC’s Joe Caramagna
Assistant Editor: Sean Ryan
Editor: Nick Lowe
Editor In Chief: Joe Quesada
Publisher: Dan Buckley
Published by: Marvel Comics (www.marvel.com)
Oi! You! Lurker! Why didn't you buy Nextwave then!? Well it doesn't really matter now. Last week the inevitable was announced, much to the dismay of the twenties of fans that the title had amassed. To be honest, Nextwave's demise seemed probable almost from the outset. You don't usually associate quirky, off-beat humour with the House of ideas, nor do you casually happen across drunken superheroes puking on alien visitors, cross-dressing arch-villains or news of Photon's sexy romps with the Avengers. So what was the problem then? Would readers have sooner enjoyed a Liefeld-penned adventure where Tabby 'Boom-Boom' Smith tottered around, attempting to balance her own head on her gigantic buxom? Or perhaps the thought of a Nick Fury who didn't take himself too seriously pee'd off a few too many purists? Or maybe it was the fact that Marvel were using a cadre of characters for whom no-one gave a damn, in stories that didn't lend themselves to line-wide money-spinners? Erm... Whatever the reason, Ellis & company provided a (now short-lived) series of events that were just plain funny. So what if the stories and characters had the combined emotional weight of a napkin? They made us laugh, dagnabbit!
Whilst re-reading some of the earlier escapades, I remembered longing for a bit more meat to the stories. Big booms & slap-happy heroes were all well and good, but it might've been nice to have had an adventure or two in which the team did a little more than kick the crap out of whichever threat Dirk Anger threw their way. I remembered asking myself whether I was missing the point of the series. The fact that each issue had me in stitches assured me that I most probably hadn't. I quickly learned that the key to enjoying a book like Nextwave: Agents of H.A.T.E. was that upon reading, you needed to deposit your brain at the door. Tabby Smith was not traditionally thick and Monica Rambeau was never a rampant, Avenging-whore, but for the sake of silencing the nagging little voice that screeched 'continuity', you needed to just go with it.
Yeah, that proved to be tough at times. No more so than here. In this particular issue, Boom-Boom acts like a tool upon discovering the existence of French-Canadians. Ignoring the issue of suspension-disbelief, the scene just isn't funny. Apart from the opening faux-pas, Ellis and Immonen deliver a humorous little jaunt in which we're confronted with a variety of new characters. The issue is interspersed with flashback scenes in which we're introduced to the members of a team that are intended to constitute the book's main threat. The inclusion of a number of other villainous teams point to fun times ahead, even if the nagging little voice returns and this time bemoans the fact that the upcoming issues will more than likely be taken-up with page after page of fight scenes, where the bad guys get their asses handed to them. It'll be enjoyable no-doubt and while there'll be plenty of laughs, casual observers may wonder whether a 12-issue fight scene deserves to be curtailed?
As always, Stuart Immonen is on flying form with his contribution. Few out there can rightfully find fault with pencils that are marked by his hugely innovative sense of style. Stuart has been consistently impressive with his work on each issue of Nextwave: Agents of H.A.T.E. I'm glad that Ellis decided that the opportunity to continue the title without his pencilling cohort wasn't even an option.
Nextwave: Agents of H.A.T.E. will be finishing shortly and for many, its demise will go unnoticed. For those of us who grew accustomed to this jittery, sugar-rush of a title, we'll mourn the loss and look forward to Tabitha's inevitable return in Onslaught: Reborn.
http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/xfull.jpghttp://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/xfull.jpghttp://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/xfull.jpghttp://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/xhalf.jpghttp://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/xnone.jpg
Buy this Nextwave Agents of H.A.T.E. #9 online now from X-WORLD and save! ( http://x-worldcomics.com/yourvirtualstore/shopexd.asp?id=20961)