Issue: #1 (#31)
Release: December 2010
Writer and Artist: John Byrne
Store: Earth Prime Comics (Burlington, Vermont)
I was first introduced to John Byrne's work with his series Cold War, an espionage adventure tale. I only made it through two issues of that story. This one seems a lot more promising to me. This issue is a continuation of Byrne's series of the same name from the early '90s. The relaunch explains the double-numbering. It's the 31st issue overall but just the first of the new era.
The story is, I have to admit, very confusing. Since I never read the originals, I can already see that I've got some catching up to do. Often, such a situation might turn me off but there's that certain something here that makes me want to learn more. Reading up a bit on the history, the Next Men are, predictably, a bit of a spoof on the X-Men but with a far more interesting back story. The first issue of the relaunch begins with a direct play on the X-Men idea but then heads in other directions. By the end of the issue, the characters are still very confused as to what's happening to them and I'm quite curious myself. I'm going back to the beginning for this one.
My scavenger hunt was pretty straight-forward: find single-issue comic books off the rack with titles starting from A-Z. Go check out the rest of the participants in this year's A-Z challenge. The official site is here.
I never jumped into the relaunch. I collected the original because it was the 90s and it was Byrne.
ReplyDeleteI was impressed by this one. I instantly recognized the artistic style from the Cold War series, which you had recommended to us.
DeleteI am such an X-men fan I'm not sure if I could get into these. But I might try to give them a go.
ReplyDeleteI like the X-Men but am not an expert by any stretch. I was glad to know enough to understand the allusions in the Next Men.
DeleteYou were first introduced to John Byrne by way of an obscure series rather than, say, his superhero work? Though I suppose that's a bit like anyone who caught the Christopher Nolan buzz with Memento rather than Batman...
ReplyDeleteWell you see, Tony, I'm kind of new to the comics thing. I didn't read them as a kid. A few years ago, Mock (real life friend) got me interested and started sending boxes my way. So, in Byrne's heyday, I didn't know any of this stuff.
DeleteSo yes, I came to Byrne - and plenty of others - through unusual avenues.
I like Byrne. He's done some great work and may be the best writer/artist in comics. Maybe.
ReplyDeleteBut
I never really got into Next Men. I own all of the early stuff, but it just never grabbed me.
The earlier collection is on my to-read list. We shall see.
DeleteThe cover reminds me of something done by Escher.
ReplyDeleteYes, I can see that, especially the way the chess board and the title graphic blend into one another.
DeleteInteresting. I mainly know Byrne from his 1986-ish relaunch of Superman -- the art was iconic (some say Kirby-esque, but without being too much of an imitator) and the writing was well done. Some of his innovations, like Lex Luthor as a business mogul instead of a mad scientist, caught on to the point where people now chuckle at what came before.
ReplyDeleteI loved Byrne's story where Luthor's supercomputers figured out that Clark Kent was Superman, but he refused to believe it, since (to him) someone with that kind of power must use it 24/7 and would never self-identify as such a nebbish. :-)
That is cool about the Lex Luthor evolution. After having recently read more about his history in "Men of Tomorrow," I'm going to start the Superman story from the beginning. Chronicles, Vol. 1 is currently on its way from Amazon.
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