There comes a time in a boy’s life where he learns about heartbreak. It can be from anything really, all it has to do is hit you hard enough. I’ve had my share of heartbreak over the years but this would be the first time I would feel this way with a comic book. Everytime I read this trade…..EVERY TIME…..I think to myself:

‘Why oh why can’t Warren Ellis bring back Nextwave?’

Now I’m a huge fan of Ellis, and while he could care less about what I have to say I’ll just go right out and say it anyways. Nextwave might be the best thing he’s ever written. I’ll even go far as to say this may be the best comic I’ve read period.

Everything about this book; from the characters, to the writing, to the fantastic artwork (more on that in a bit) is just absolute prefection. There is no page wasted and there isn’t a groan worthy moment in this book. I literally can’t think of anything bad to say about this book. Other then what I mentioned earlier about how it’s an injustice that Ellis and/or/both Marvel can’t seem to get this series off an running again.

Following a group of Z list heroes just argue and get into bizarre situations works perfectly well with Ellis style. Whether it’s with Fing Fang Foom or a group of dancing Mindless Ones; Ellis makes every situation funny as hell to read. I’ve grown to love Machine Man because of this series (and also Marvel Zombies 3), the girl Captain Marvel is a great leader, and the newbie The Captain is also fun to read. It also helps we have a wonderful villain in this who reminds me of Nick Fury but with a weird fetish of pills and women’s clothing. You can really tell that by the time the book ends, Ellis had to rush to get an ending out of this. But it doesn’t really matter as he takes what he can get and make something wonderful out of it.

Then we have Stuart Immonen…..Oh my lord we have Stuart Immonen. Before this book I only saw his work in Ultimate Spider-Man. He was fantastic in this book, but little did I realize just how amazing he can be. The fighting, the expression on the characters faces, the panel layouts, and the pacing of the fights in here are absolutely perfect. Immonen is able to make Ellis’s twisted ideas turn into pure gold. Whether it’s Nextwave fighting Avengers wannabes, or the Captain vomiting on little green men; it’s all fantastic to look at. When we get towards the end and we get that phenominal series of splash pages of Nextwave fighting….I literally couldn’t believe what I saw. I’m not doing it justice to say how beautiful this book looks. You have to see it for yourself.

Speaking of which: Why haven’t you read this book yet!? Seriously this could be one of the best series Marvel had ever produced. Hyperbole be damned with that sentence! This is a fun, funny, and gorgeous looking book. I plead for Marvel to somehow get Ellis and Immonen to do this series again in some capacity. I just have to see it again in all of it’s glory.