Nextwave is a Pirate Superhero Comic about five superheroes defending America against a terrorist organisation masquerading as an anti-terror group and may be some of the best twelve issues that Marvel Comics published in the 2000s. Put together by the Warren Ellis/Stewart Immonen dream team that made some of the best Ultimate Universe comics, Nextwave brings together Monica Rambeau, Machine Man, Elsa Bloodstone, Tabitha "Boom Boom" Smith and introduces The Captain, as this ill-formed team punches their way through broccoli-men, exploding koalas and Fin Fang Foom. Despite being silly as all get-out, Nextwave is bitingly smart, thoroughly complex and somehow even more poignant a read in 2026 than it was when I first picked it up. Although clearly a product of Bush-era anti-war protest and resistance, Nextwave's reactions to the trends of the Comic Industry and backlash of fans of perceived slights, it seems truly more prophetic than timely. Tabby's satirical X-Force flashback alone, in which '90s Cable gets a brilliant one-panel roasting, is worthy of highlighting in what is one of the best stories in the run already.
Nextwave, the team, not the book, were put together by Dirk Anger, Director of HATE (the Highest Anti-Terrorism Effort) to help field-test bizarre weapons of mass destruction on America, for profit. It's a take on the American Military-Industrial Complex so thinly-veiled as to make me consider it more varnished, at best, but Dirk's opening speech about the horrible drugs that make him immortal is so amazing that you stay sold on the character for the rest of the run. Hell, Nextwave takes on Police corruption, is pro-sex work and has a thoroughly diverse supporting cast years before those would become points of contention. Nextwave is one of those truly "smart" parodies that people insist that they're trying to do when being offensive, but, like the best parody, it punches up and loves what it's making fun of, the absurdity of comics, especially the Marvel Silver Age. The writing is sharp and even after one reading, you'll be muttering quotes like "Special Bear's dead" and "Come to Hate Mother now!" to yourself for at least a week. Also, every one of the six main characters is available as a Heroclix, just in case you didn't already know.
In case you can't tell, I love Nextwave. It's one of my go-to reads when I need to bring back a little joy into my life, or maybe just had a really bad day. It's silly, irreverent and may not actually be canon, but it is still damn good and has me laughing out loud despite having read it at least a dozen times. Nextwave is exactly the kind of comic I think the industry needs more of, especially as more versions of "even more grim and murdery Batman" fill the racks at your local store. As I write this, one of my friends is collecting a new Carnage series that's adult-rated and only coloured in black, white and red, it's honestly quite gross at some times, it could really do with an appearance by The Captain and some Broccoli Men farting and blowing up a puppy farm. Hell, get Zombie Dirk Anger on the Thunderbolts, put Elsa on The Avengers and give The New Paramounts their own maxi-series. If you're any kind of comic collector and you don't have both volumes of Nextwave on your shelf, get on it, as this series is brilliant and well worth owning.
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