Nextwave, Agents of HATE volume 1

NextWave: Agents of H.A.T.E., Volume 1: This is What They Want by Warren Ellis
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Nextwave, Agents of HATE, an anti-terrorist group of super heroes, discovers that HATE and it's parent company, the Beyond Corporation, are actually terrorists. Nextwave decides to make things right by blowing lots of shit up.

I've been hearing about Nextwave for years and it sounded right up my alley but I never got around to reading it. Thanks to some free time and my Marvel Unlimited subscription, I've now remedied that.

The Nextwave cast is a lot of second and third string Marvel characters that hadn't been seen much in recent years (at the time this was created) so Warren Ellis had a lot of leeway. Also, it's not in continuity anway. Monica Rambeau, Boom-Boom, Elsa Bloodstone, Machine Man, and a new character called The Captain make up the cast. Together, they battle the Beyond Corporation, plant-based robots, Fin Fang Foom, Dirk Anger: Director of HATE, a giant robot, carnivorous kowalas, men in pterodactyl suits, and other weird shit.

Stuart Immomen and Wade Von Grawbadger put out a gorgeous book. Whatever it is. I kid. Basically, Nextwave is a parody/distillation of everything good and bad about comics starring a version of The Authority featuring C-list Marvel characters. It may have very well started off as a different story and had the Marvel characters bolted on later.

Anyway, Nextwave clearly isn't meant to be taken seriously. It's a hilarious romp, full of jokes and explosions. Aaron Stack, the former Machine Man, is easily my favorite character. The battle with Fin Fang Foom was the best part of the volume.

While I found it hilarious and entertaining, it feels like a lot of the backstory is missing. The story starts with the heroes already on the run from HATE. It also suffers a bit from "throw everything at the wall and see what sticks" syndrome at times. Other than that, I don't have many complaints about it.

Nextwave, Agents of HATE, is Hot Fuzz set in the Marvel Universe. I look forward to reading the second half. 3.5 out of 5 stars.

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