Access a version of the below that includes illustrations on my blog.

After her original appearance, Elsa Bloodstone was reinvented in the pages of Nextwave, Agents of H.A.T.E., a farcical maxiseries about a team of D-list characters who find out that the anti-terrorism organization they work for, the Beyond Corporation, is actually run by terrorists and testing its WMDs on Americans. You might think this would be a very dramatic thing, but it actually happens before issue #1. This is because Nextwave is not about stuff like characters or themes, it's about leaning into two things: 1) violence is a fundamental tenet of superhero comics, and 2) superhero comics are full of dumb shit.

The main characters are largely has-beens or forgotten: Elsa, of course; but also Jack Kirby's Machine Man, from his weird 2001: A Space Odyssey tie-in; Tabitha Smith, an X-Man named "Boom-Boom" with the powers to explode things; and Monica Rambeau, recently on the big screen but then kind of irrelevant and without a home, as a former Captain Marvel, then Photon, then Pulsar. Add to all these the original character "the Captain," who answers the question, "what if the worst person alive got the power of Captain America... and also he never figured out the answer to 'Captain What?'"

Ellis delights in making them all pretty awful. Tabitha is basically Paris Hilton with superpowers (very topical in 2006), Machine Man is always drunk and ranting about "fleshy ones," Monica rattles on about when she was in the Avengers but now doesn't give a shit, Elsa just likes to kill monsters. Each two-issue story sees them turn up somewhere and then dismantle a Beyond Corporation plan in as violent and gratuitous and stupid a way as possible.

Elsa Bloodstone: « Previous in sequence | Next in sequence »

Fun! Horrible! Fun! ( )

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 funny if you're not. ( )

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 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. ( )

It is indeed. ( )