Nowhere Men Volume 1: Fates Worse Than Death

I didn't really know what to expect when I read this book, and I was a little uncertain at the start, as the story jumps around a lot in time and has a ton of characters that it took me a while to keep straight. But by the end I was certain I'd read a work of supreme genius.It definitely riffs heavily on both the Beatles and the Fantastic Four, as it deals with both a group of four men who become cultural superstars only to have personal differences tear them apart, and also deals with an expedition to space where tragic failings end with young scientists getting superpowers. But the book goes far beyond a mash-up.The tag-line of the book is "Science is the new Rock and Roll" and the book digs deep into a world where science has become such a cultural force that scientists and engineers completely dominate the gossip magazines the way that rock stars and movie stars do in the real world. Many scientists obviously would love this, but the book shows a lot of the dark side of this, as massive egos and money and power lead to ethical lapses and some tragic results. It shows many sides of this, though: when one character undergoes a transformation like The Thing in the Fantastic Four, becoming a giant, strong monster, in this world where scientific curiosity reigns, instead of moping about his fate, he revels in it. "I've transformed into something way cooler than I was before."The art and design of the book is also amazing. Every character has a clear distinct look, and with a large cast, the clear faces and expressions help tell the story very well. There are also many breathtaking images, like of a giant space station, or a minimalist mansion of a depressed old scientist. Not only that, but the book includes many incredible inserts to expand the world beyond the story. Similar to the articles in each issue of Watchmen, the articles, press releases, magazine polls, movie posters, and company logos that take up full pages in the book require a lot of attention, as they tell a grand story on their own of a world gone mad with science. And yes, I am saying this book is on a level with Watchmen.This book is called "Volume 1," but it seems that Nowhere Men is on permanent hiatus, and I have not heard that any issues past the ones in this book will ever be published. While this volume definitely builds a world and cast of characters that could go on to many more adventures, I think it works great as a stand-alone story. Even if it never returns, the 'Volume 1' is like an intriguing nudge to imagine where this world might go, now that it has the hippest team of superhero scientists ever created.

This book smacks of being a first volume. That's not to say it's bad--it's really quite enjoyable and I'm looking forward to reading more. But I think the pressure of being the establishing stories has handicapped the book a little as a result.The story leaps around in time, from the founding of WorldCorp by the four main (maybe "central" is a better word) characters, to their subsequent falling out, to their present-day conflict, and all of this is sometimes broken up by long prose documents (mainly in-universe magazine articles, a la Watchmen). This can be disorienting, as there's very little signposting for time shifts outside of the central characters' aging.This is what leads to my "first volume" comment. This time shifting is complicated immensely by the sheer number of characters that are introduced. Besides the central four, there's also a number of their underlings, as well as quite a few people who are stuck on a spacestation and exposed to a virus that gives them powers (creating a sort of X-Men feel to the story). Which means some characters feel flat as there's very little time spent on filling them out. There seems to be every indication that they will be filled out at some future date, but for the moment there's so many that they receive only cursory backstories, if that.Nowhere Men obviously has an engaging and ambitious story to tell, and this volume lays the appropriate groundwork to build that story on, but it's clear that it is a foundation, and not the meat and bones of the structure.

Nowhere Men is interesting and takes advantage of the graphic novel format in a way that few have done since Moore's Watchmen. In fact, this book seems to want to do to "Science" what Watchmen did to "Heroes" if by science you mean the kind of paternalism of a TED talk in a corporation with a vague mission. The comparison of science to rock-n-roll goes into the some of the idealization and posits that world that did this to scientists would not necessarily be much better than a current world, although it could be far weirder. The conceit is interesting, and the nuance in character motivations is definitely there. That said, the idealization doesn't feel like the author understands science or media culture to realize enough what it would be like. The media obsession and its effects on motivations are interesting, but not realized enough to be believable to anyone with a strong grasp on either. The use of flash forwards, flash backs,, fact sheets as well as advertisements as elements of the story really is interesting, but again not groundbreaking like it was in the 1980s. There is a lot of promise here, but it isn't realized yet.

I can tell that this series is gona get more interesting. To be honest it was a little boring at times, especially having to read all those newspaper articles and magazine articles but it has a very good story line and lots of pottential. i would have enjoyed it more if it was just in comic book format. But the reason the writer includes all these little extras is to give you character background. There are a couple of other issues that keep this from getting a 5. First off the cover is absolutely misleading, there are no chicks removing there clothes and second, i hate the way (ABSOLUTELY HATE) the mouths on some of these characters. Especially that Simon guy. i dont mean there choice of vocabulary (i cant even remember if there was any profanity) i mean the way the mouths are drawn. idk what it is about Simons mouth but it just pisses me offAnyhow. im looking forward to reading the next installment. I hope its a little more fast paced and has less newspaper/magazine articles to force me to read.

If the Monkees or the Beatles had been inventors rather than a pop group, this is the world that might have come about, and there is an underlying bleakness about this that brings to mind George Martin's Armageddon Rag.The content includes news an magazine cuttings that advance an explain the action, so everything needs to be carefully read rather than skimmed, and is consequently quite immersive.

This is a really dense and complex book which deserves your time to really appreciate it and the length of run to really take full shape.The writing and art complement each other well and the concepts explored, both in the comics story and the text pages, are deep and engaging.Nice one. Bring on Volume 2- and if you haven't looked at it yet- do so now!

Loved this from my first purchase.Initally drawn to it by a sense of mystery (No online previews), got my copy of Issue#2 from a Comic Book Shop.Design is paramount from Clothing,Buildings and Articles from Stephenson's Imaginary Publications,flawlessly illustrated by Bellgarde and coloured subtly by Bellaire. Reminds me of Kubrick's 2001,mixed with Cronenberg's traits in body horror

the art combined with the story telling is what I would put the sheer enjoyment of this book down to. you may need to re-read this book to truly take in the subtleties of the world building on show here. however the ending is a bit flat and is a.let down compared with the rest of the book

The nowhere men has a solid story line, I am liking it for a bit of experimentation, and not trying to be a (spoiler!) typical mutants / freaks story - waiting for further part!