The first issue of Nowhere Men, written by Image publisher Erik Stephenson and with Nate Bellegarde and Jordie Bellaire on art, was something different to come out at the end of a year of different comics released by Image. At least the first issue was.
The first issue is one of the most information rich comics I've read in a long time. It has article excerpts to introduce us to the 4 heads of World Corp. It has an interview with the most erratic of the founders. In the 4 pages that they cover you get a full breakdown of the four most important cast members and you get to see exactly why three of them couldn't keep the fourth on. And that's without getting into the coal gorilla or the space virus.
The second issue does just as much. In fact it does too much. In it we find out that this is all set up for yet another independent take on The Fantastic Four. Let me run this by you and see if any of it sounds familiar A group of scientists are in space and no one knows that they've left the earth. While there they're exposed to something that makes radical changes in their physical make up. On turns to vapor. One grows thick callouses all over his skin but keeps his good disposition One begins shooting a ray from himself with destructive powers. We got three of the four in the second issue. And they're all super geniuses which is Reed Richards real power anyway.
And its all so disappointing. The first issue had so much more potential than just being a Fantastic Four clone. And it could still be. Stephenson might have plans beyond Marvel's First Family and its just me reading too much into the powers shown in the second issue. After all there's more than 4 people with the transformative virus. Here's hoping issue 3 brings something else to the table. Because I want this one to be something different.
