Drink and Draw
Our next D&D will be on November 14th at the same bat-time (8:00) same bat-channel (Goodsons on Beaver.) Pretty simple concept, grab a drink and then sit and draw. No, you don’t have to be an artist to attend. Everyone is welcome.
Unity Release Party
On Wednesday November 13th, we will be having a release party for Valiant’s new team book Unity. We will be having sales, specials and prizes. …oh, and free beer too!
We have some great ordering incentives on this book and we are going to do as we’ve done with some of the Marvel or Dark Horse release parties of the past. I figure, if you have a big book and you send me cool stuff to try and promote it …and give me an excuse to drink at work… yeah, I’ll throw a release party for you.
So, what is Unity? It is the most ambitious release for Valiant since their restart a few years ago. The book will be written by Matt Kindt and drawn by Doug Braithwaite. I’ll have more on the event next week, but here is what Valiant has to say about the book:
On November 13th, find out why Valiant is the must-read publisher of 2013 when UNITY #1 launches the most dangerous, most ruthless, most volatile team of heroes ever united against a foe unlike any other – X-O Manowar!
To kill a king…he has created an army. The world’s most dangerous man, Toyo Harada, has been struck by the one thing he never thought possible – fear. Halfway across the globe, a new power threatens to topple modern civilization and, to preempt the cataclysm that is to come. Harada will unite the most unforgiving team the world has ever known – UNITY. Their mission: defeat the threat responsible for the destruction of MI-6, the decimation of an alien world, and the occupation of Eastern Europe… Unseat the warrior king armed with the universe’s most powerful weapon… Kill X-O Manowar!
More next week.
I’m way behind on getting stuff done for this week’s shipment (let alone finishing the monthly order do this week too) so, you will not be getting much this week. Here is Kyle’s retro review:
John Byrne’s Next Men Retro Review
I continue my non-Marvel or DC superhero comics streak this week with John Byrne’s Next Men. Since I mentioned Hellboy’s first widely released appearance in Next Men #21 in my last review (it was his 2nd appearance total, 1st being SDCC Comics #2 in 1993) I figured, why not go back and re-read this great series?
If you’ve been following my Retro Reviews regularly at all, it should be pretty obvious that I have nothing but respect and love for John Byrne’s work, and honestly believe he is one of the greatest story tellers of all time. I believe that his Fantastic Four run (the subject of my first Retro Review) represents the greatest Superhero Comics ever published, and I think his Next Men series from the early 1990’s represents some of the best independent non-traditional super-powered people (I hesitate to use “Superhero” as these are much more sci-fi based) comics published at the time and it still holds that title today.
Byrne’s Next Men actually made its first appearance, as what can best be described as a prototype concept, in the History of the DC Universe Portfolio that came out in 1986 during the initial wave of the post-Crisis era of DC. At this point, this project was called Freaks, and the litho plate featured protagonist Jasmine or “Jazz,” and series antagonist Aldus Hilltop. After leaving DC due to frustration with editorial interference (hey imagine that!) he returned to working at Marvel for a few years, writing and drawing such titles as Sensational She-Hulk, Namor, and West Coast Avengers. It was 1991 when the Next Men world first kicked into high gear at Dark Horse, with the release of Byrne’s 2112 Graphic Novel. This story serves as the launching point for Next Men, as the 2112 villain Sathanas returns to Earth’s past in 1955, to set in place acts that create the Next Men. The 2112 graphic novel stands alone was an amazing piece of literature that can be both enjoyed with or without the background knowledge of the Next Men series, and the Next Men series in turn enjoyed without reading 2112.
The Next Men, like so many other great concepts from Dark Horse in the 90’s (and now again today) first made their published appearance in Dark Horse Presents issues #54-57, these stories were later collected in Next Men #0. From there, the series exploded into what would be a 30 issue ongoing that really pushed the boundaries of what a comic book could be.
The series is initiated by a huge South Pole explosion discovered by scientists stationed in Antarctica. The scientists investigate, and all save for one, Fleming Jorgenson, are killed by Sathanas, who we last saw detonating a bomb contained in his armor back in the 2112 graphic novel. The bomb ripped apart the fabric of time itself, sending Sathanas traveling back to 1955, and bringing with him, the mutated corpses of his legion of Mutates. From there, Jorgenson, with the help of his politician friend Senator Aldus Hilltop, get Sathanas’ battered body back to the US for repair and safekeeping. With Sathanas’ help and knowledge of genetics and the future, he aids Jorgenson and Hilltop in creating a secret government program to create genetically superior super beings, all the while furthering Hilltop’s political career.
And so after years of failure with Project Next Men, finally they have success, as a team of five youngsters, grown in a lab, kept in a coma-like state where their minds are programmed with selective information, to be used as weapons, awake fully viable and in control of amazing powers. The five young protagonists are Nathan, who has supervision in a way that he can see through a variety of wavelengths, making literally everything to him visible; Bethany who has impenetrable and indestructible skin; Jack, who has super strength capable of lifting 70 tons; Jasmine aka Jazz who has superhuman like agility and acrobatic ability; and finally Danny, who has the power of super speed, and unknown to his fellow teammates, also houses the personality and soul of his twin sister, who had apparently died early on in her development.
Unknown to the scientists and masterminds of the project, the Next Men became aware of each other, and interact with each other mentally in a virtual reality type realm they created for themselves. This allows the team to work together upon awakening, drawing on their pre-established relationships to survive in this strange new world they find themselves in. Some government corruption, leaked information, and a full federal investigation later, and we find the Next Men awake in the world, and escaping from the facility, with a triggered explosion of the lab supposedly covering their tracks.
As the series progresses, we see the 5 main characters grow apart, as others grow closer together, as everything they knew inside their artificially created world (referred to as “The Greenery”) is turned upside down in this ambiguous, twisted world they’ve found themselves in, and socially unprepared for. From there on is an all-out non-stop action packed series.
The team heads to Russia encountering a super being with incredible mental powers, they become stars of their own comic book series, stand trial and are convicted of mass murder, escape from prison and encounter a race of underground city dwellers and discover religion. Along the way there are a number of twists and turns, as these Next Men have a profound effect on the people around them, who they in turn affect physically, activating the mutant or meta-gene in those they have intimate physical contact with.
Byrne explores a number of taboo and hot social topics of the 90’s, all through the eyes of these superhumans grown in a lab, with no social graces programmed into them. The children are very much a product of selective education, and they arise from their programming the most powerful beings on the planet, but completely naïve and ignorant to the social delicacies of the world around them. Byrne uses this perfectly as a commentary of the social issues hotly debated in the early to mid-90’s.
The series really has some great social context and some amazing characterization, something that was seriously lacking in other books being published at the time by say, Image, that were aimed at mature audiences and supposed to be a more realistic or adult take on super powered beings in our world. However where all of those titles failed, Byrne’s Next Men succeeds and excels, making this series actually relevant, in a time where the market ignored storytelling in favor of over the top flashy “heroes” punching other “heroes” in awkward poses and bright color outfits in situations that don’t make any sense.
Which brings me to the next great part of this series….the Letter’s Column. I love old letter columns in general and along with the ads; they serve as a great window to culture of America at the time and serve as a nice piece of art and social relevance unto themselves. In Byrne’s Next Men series, he would run a monthly column, titled a “Flame This High,” which were just Byrne’s thoughts on a number of things, whether it was cruel testing on animals, to the total garbage that passes as art these days (he’s looking at you 1990’s Image), and they really are magnificent, well expressed pieces. He talks at length about how the speculator market is awful, short sighted, and will lead to major issues for the comic market (Imagine that, 20 years later and he’s still spot on). He talks about how ignorant it is to be shelling out 2-3 times more than cover price for an issue that is 2-3 weeks old and that has already sold hundreds of thousands of copies. He explains that buying 2-3 copies of something everyone else already owns multiple copies of doesn’t make it valuable, it makes you a sheep and talks about how these issues are undoubtedly doomed to plague 25 cent bins.
He’s really like the Nostradamus of the comic market, it’s almost comical how spot on he is with his prediction of Image comics from the 90’s, which now can’t even bring 25 cents a book in most cases, when they were selling for over $40 at one time. I can’t help but see the similarities here with all of those people out there who paid $70 for a copy of Joker’s Daughter with a 3D cover, and are now seeing that same book sell for less than $20. I can only imagine that in 5 years that book won’t be worth its cover price. Byrne doesn’t shy away from the hateful letters that range from calling him jealous of the “hot creators” like Liefeld, to telling him to off himself, and of course his responses are comical.
Each issue offers a very enjoyable read, and serves as a great watermark for measuring where our society and the comic book industry was at the time. I really recommend you try to track down these original issues, they’re all going to be pretty affordable, except for #21 which features Hellboy (that one may cost you $30-50) unless you’re lucky and snag the entire run, including #21, for $30 total like I did about 6 months ago.
Otherwise if you can’t track down the original issues, or prefer the readability that the collected editions have to offer, you can track these down in two great formats from IDW.
The Compleat Next Men collects all of the issues in black and white format. Volume 1 collects 2112 as well as Next Men #0-12 and the first five M-4 Back-Up stories, Volume 2 collects issues #13-30 and the M4 back-up stories.
Otherwise, they are available in color, under 3 volumes of the Premiere Collection, with Volume 1 collecting #0-10, Volume 2 #11-20, and Volume 3 #21-30.
Definitely worth a shot, go give these a read.