Warren Ellis's NEXTWAVE: subverting the underwear perverts

"Nextwave: Agents of H.A.T.E.: This is What They Want" is the first volume of collected Nextwave comics from savage funnybooks genius Warren Ellis. Ellis — creator of the seminal Transmetropolitan — is known for his scorching attacks on "underwear pervert" comics featuring caped crusaders with super-powers fighting the bad guys.

Nexwave does a thoroughgoing job of subverting the underwear pervert genre. Ellis takes a handful of Z-list Marvel superheroes and turns them into wisecracking, angry rogues who are stuck fighting their handler, who has sold out their war on terror to a group of Halliburton-esque profiteers. They curse, they screw up, they trade angry barbs, and they fight the most ridiculous super-monsters you've ever seen.

I laughed aloud a dozen times while reading these first six issues (the total run will be twelve issues long) and when I closed the book, I immediately wished for volume two.

MONICA RAMBEAU used to be known as Captain Marvel. She once ran the Avengers. She will tell you this. A lot. An unlikely veteran of superhero combat, wanting to do her bit for her country, she found herself leading this team. AARON STACK used to be called Machine Man, but his name is Aaron Stack, and it's none of your business that he's wired his robot brain to be affected by alcohol. ELSA BLOODSTONE is the daughter of near-immortal monster hunter Ulysses Bloodstone, wears the same creepy gem that makes her superhumanly resistant to harm, works in the family business and tends to come off like Lara Croft's evil twin sister. THE CAPTAIN claims not to remember his real name — his chequered career has seen him basically be every crap Marvel character called Captain something. TABITHA SMITH used to be Boom Boom in the New Mutants and Meltdown in X-Force, and she's a terrible kleptomaniac, and it's because of her light fingers that The Next Wave Squad discovered that…

…well, it seems that H.A.T.E. isn't fighting the same war on terrorism as everyone else.

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See also:
Warren Ellis' graphic novel FELL #1 online for free
Warren Ellis's Desolation Jones – Savage noir spy comic
Warren Ellis's Mek and Reload omnibus edition
Complete Warren Ellis comic online
Transmetropolitan #1 as a free download
I come to praise Transmetropolitan