tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10506214.post1322185356865906150..comments2024-01-23T13:41:41.463-05:00Comments on The Forager Blog: Nextwave: Agents of H.A.T.E. Volume 1: This Is What They Want by Warren Ellis, Stuart Immonen, and Wade von GrawbadgerJon Hastingshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01030406521787423155noreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10506214.post-20023984677172361302010-02-02T11:42:16.405-05:002010-02-02T11:42:16.405-05:00Interesting article you got here. It would be grea...Interesting article you got here. It would be great to read more about this matter. Thank you for sharing that material.<br />Joan Stepsen<br /><a href="http://cyprusescortagencies.com/" rel="nofollow">Escort Cyprus</a>Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10506214.post-86842968512114068482008-10-09T03:38:00.000-04:002008-10-09T03:38:00.000-04:00David Wynne, I'm curious as to how many of those n...David Wynne, I'm curious as to how many of those non-superhero works of Ellis you've read.<BR/><BR/>The man was one of the greats in the genre, then lost his way.<BR/><BR/>His non-superhero work, aside from the first year of Transmet, is mostly dire. They're usually the same cliches arranged a smartphone with a newer set of features and some new horror googled off the net. Crecy is, of course, a wonderful exception.<BR/><BR/>Twenty years from now, he'll be remembered for the brilliance of Stormwatch/The Authority, the slow-burn flameout of Planetary (if it ever finishes), and probably still for revolutionizing the net presence of comics creators.<BR/><BR/>As for Nextwave, yes, it's little inside baseball (nevermind the comics references, there are several jokes you need to know Ellis's net history for), but it's hilarious and Immonen's art is gorgeous. The height of the book (the Mindless Ones do Westside Story) is in volume one IIRC, but the second volume is no slouch either, particularly the revelation about who ran the Beyond Corporation.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10506214.post-24135430592232833172008-10-02T21:52:00.000-04:002008-10-02T21:52:00.000-04:00David, I haven't read widely of Ellis's work, but ...David, I haven't read widely of Ellis's work, but I've read half of <I>Transmetropolitan</I>, which, at least several years ago, was regarded as his magnum opus, half of <I>Planetary</I>, <I>Orbiter</I>, and this sixteen page thing about a bad cop doing bad things to worse people.<BR/><BR/>What I see in Ellis's writing, at least his allegedly serious writing, is a lot of shallow depictions of the brutality of the human condition, and shallow depictions of moral courage. <BR/><BR/>It's quite possible that there's a level of heartbreaking lyricism and shattering timelessness to Ellis's other works, but I confess this would come as a surprise to me. To me, he seems to be a writer of a very limited emotional range. But I'd gladly take recommendations.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10506214.post-57881065742558856002008-10-02T15:28:00.000-04:002008-10-02T15:28:00.000-04:00Is there some kind of cute name for The One, Maxim...<I>Is there some kind of cute name for The One, Maximortal, and Brat Pack? The Veitchverse? Please let me know.</I><BR/><BR/>At one point Veitch was referring to his weird superhero works as "King Hell Heroica" (after his then active self-publishing imprint).Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10506214.post-84851698047340179632008-10-01T06:27:00.000-04:002008-10-01T06:27:00.000-04:00David -Maybe I should have said "completely grok" ...David -<BR/><BR/>Maybe I should have said "completely grok" instead of "really grok".Jon Hastingshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01030406521787423155noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10506214.post-18522462377052664762008-09-30T23:16:00.000-04:002008-09-30T23:16:00.000-04:00Completely new to this blog, followed the link fro...Completely new to this blog, followed the link from Journalista, because I just happened to re-read Nextwave over the weekend.<BR/><BR/>Two things, though-<BR/><BR/>Firstly, in response to your assertion that Nextwave requires a certain level of knowledge of comics history- I really don't think that's the case. Sure, there's a whole bunch of jokes in there for those of us who <I>do</I> know that stuff, but my partner read it and thought it was hilarious, and she's hardly read any comics at all. The characters and situations are funny, full stop. The fact they all derive, either directly or indirectly, from existing comic books just adds a bit of extra tang for us geeks, but it's not the point of the book.<BR/><BR/>Other than that, while I definitely enjoyed it a lot more than you did, I can't disagree with anything in your review, really.<BR/><BR/>My second point is actually in response to the other comment-<BR/><BR/>I'm very curious to know how much of Ellis's work the commenter has actually <I>read</I>, and if <I>any</I> of it was non-Marvel/DC stuff? Because to say that he's writing for 14 year old boys seems to suggest a serious lack of familiarity with the work, as does the Frank Miller comparison (which <I>does</I> kind of work for Nextwave, since Miller has produced plenty of material like this, but Ellis <I>hasn't</I>; most of his work is grand-scale socio-SF).<BR/><BR/>I heartily reccomend pretty much anything Ellis has done outside of the spandex genre, if you haven't read it. His WFH superhero work is solid and workmanlike, and does the job it sets out to do. But it's obvious that his heart isn't in it. Freakangels is the best place to start right now.David Wynnehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06983869093643610450noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10506214.post-44970195451799614872008-09-29T20:32:00.000-04:002008-09-29T20:32:00.000-04:00Although I haven't read Nextwave, "Frank Miller-li...Although I haven't read <I>Nextwave</I>, "Frank Miller-lite" is probably the most succinct description of Ellis's style I've come across.<BR/><BR/>I find Ellis to be a very entertaining critic (in the Knows-Better style), but one of the curses of Knowing Better is that when you sit down to create something it really ought to be extraordinary. <BR/><BR/>Part of it might simply be that Ellis is writing for 14 year old boys, and doing an excellent job of it. But Ellis's "serious" work really doesn't strike me as much more sophisticated.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com