Nextwave: Agents of H.A.T.E., Vol. 1: This Is What They Want (#1-6)

Book, 1969

Status

Available

Call number

741.5973

Collection

Publication

Publisher Unknown (1969)

Description

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 H.A.T.E. and Beyond are terrorist cells themselves, they get rather angry. So they make things explode. Lots of things.

User reviews

LibraryThing member Terpsichoreus
Most of the times, 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,
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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 of the contradictions inherent to heroism in a world where battles often level cities is particularly poignant.

Like Watchmen, 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. In the end, however, Ellis must bow respectfully to the men who came before him, and he duly admits that he could not purposefully be as ridiculous as they were by happy accident.
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LibraryThing member megantron
I like Warren Ellis and I've heard good things about Nextwave, but it was just one of those titles I never got into. When I saw this at the library, I decided to finally pick this one up. I usually forget to add comic books to my goodreads account (maybe cus I feel like it's cheating...) but this
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one was so good that I had to review it.

Nextwave is a rogue group that broke off from H.A.T.E., an ostensibly anti-terrorism group, after the discovery that H.A.T.E. is actually being funded by the terrorist cell BEYOND. The Nextwave agents include Marvel D-listers Monica Rambeau (who, as she is constantly reminding us, was once Captain Marvel and the former leader of the Avengers), Tabitha Smith (mixing valley girl speak and AIM chat slang, does anyone else on earth talk like her?), Elsa Bloodstone (English monster hunter extraordinare who gets on Monica and Tabitha's nerves), and Aaron Stack (of the "kill all humans" Bender-type-of-robot variety). The Captain, a new character created for the series, rounds off the group. His origin story: he was given superpowers by aliens, who he promptly repaid by smashing them over the heads with a beer bottle and then vomiting on them. But to be fair, he was completely wasted at the time and thought they were leprechauns. yup, so it's that kind of comic. The Nextwave agents are constantly thwarting H.A.T.E's efforts, much to the chagrin of their former boss, Director Dirk Anger, a guy who appears to have dangerously high blood-pressure and has some deep-seated mommy issues to boot.

nothing deep here. it's pure entertainment, smartly written with bold art that's really fun to look at. it's extremely irreverent and zany (look for the lyrics for a Nextwave team theme song at the back!) and the gender distribution in the team is a huge positive as well.

and did I mention it's really fucking funny? The flashbacks had me in stitches: The Captain proclaiming he dislikes teddy bears (flashback to his childhood where his mother hangs his Special Bear), Monica reminiscing about her time with the Avengers and how "normal" it was (flashback to Captain America telling her to not fight and to instead go home to the Mansion to prepare dinner for the team). if you have two hours to kill, read this instead of spending $12 to see any of the superhero blockbusters Marvel/DC is putting out these days. you'll have twice the amount of fun and you won't have to sit through yet another rehashing of spiderman's origin story.
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LibraryThing member wealhtheowwylfing
Tagline: "Saving the world by beating people up."
Hilarous send-up of superhero comics tropes. Art is vibrant and colorful, and delivers emotion and physical actions very well. I cackled out loud on pretty much every page. Definitely a must-read if you're well-read in comics--probably not quite as
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funny if you're not.
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