John Byrne's Next Men pickup

IMJ · Post by **IMJ** » Sat Aug 04, 2007 6:25 pm

Recently I've been hunting down a lot of key first appearance issues. Hellboy was one of those that I thought were good grabs at the moment. While looking for one, I came across a complete set of Next Men, which a friend of mine from the the A.I. boards has been talking about for some time (he's a big Byrne fan).

Needless to say, I picked up the complete run, including the first Hellboy. When you average the price out across the books, I more or less paid bargain bin prices for them (including the first Hellboy and I'd say that the run averages VF+).

I was told to start reading 2112 before the series, but I've got to say that it was so boring I couldn't make my way through it. I'm going to move on to Next Men #0 and hopefully the rest of the series will grab me enough to come back to 2112.

Anyone ever get into this series at all?

Brother J · Post by **Brother J** » Sat Aug 04, 2007 7:53 pm

I collected it for a while when it was new, but grew bored with it after a while. Not much about the book stands out in my mind.

stone384 · Post by **stone384** » Sat Aug 04, 2007 7:56 pm

I did. I never read 2112 and throughly enjoyed the series. I was disappointed when the series ended. This was also about the same time he published Babe and Danger Unlimited. I would recommend Danger Unlimited and if you like humor (in the vein of the Sensational She-Hulk series) the two Babe series were good just not my cup of tea.

m

cobra_commander · Post by **cobra_commander** » Sat Aug 04, 2007 8:42 pm

I picked up like issue 1-20 of Next Men for around 10 bucks. Read the first 10. Thought it was really good

A bit like a more modern version of X-men. If the Silver age of comics began in 1990...if that makes sense

Daniel Jackson · Post by **Daniel Jackson** » Sat Aug 04, 2007 10:34 pm

I bought the first few issues when it came out, but I didn't really get into the series that much.

betterthanezra · Post by **betterthanezra** » Sun Aug 05, 2007 1:02 am

I liked it, I was buying it when I was collecting the Byrne Fantastic Four issues....thats one reason I was hunting them down.

-Brian

Ryan · Post by **Ryan** » Sun Aug 05, 2007 2:07 am

I thought it was good. I got into it late then picked up the last few mini-series when they were new. I never read 2112 either. The only disappointment is that it ends without any ending, but I think it's worth reading. I've tried to read Byrne stuff after this but nothing has really come close to Next Men in my mind.

Cyberstrike · Post by **Cyberstrike** » Sun Aug 05, 2007 2:18 pm

I read John Bryne's Next Men it's a very mature take on super-heroes and deals with a lot issues head on (teenage sex, pregnancy, abortion, abuse, religion, and very graphic violence) it also has Bryne's opinions on Image Comics and comics in 90s in general.
There is a crossover or retcon (I'm not sure which is the best way to describe it) with The Whipping Boy a then out of print (I'm not sure if it's been reprinted since then) prose novel written by Bryne years before he began working on John Bryne's Next Men.
Lucky for me I bought a copy of it at a used book store about 6 months before the whole retcon/crossover was started.

I would say it is along with Superman/Batman: Generations trilogy is the only work that John Bryne has done in last 15-20 years that didn't suck.

IMJ · Post by **IMJ** » Sun Aug 05, 2007 7:07 pm

I just read issue 0 and 1 a short while ago and thought that those were pretty decent. Decent enough at least that I'm a little jazzed to read the rest of the series. I probably won't come back to the 2112 book at all unless I see how it fits as I read the rest of Next Men.

Heath · Post by **Heath** » Sun Aug 05, 2007 9:35 pm

This is one of my favorite books from the 90s and I recommend it to anybody who's looking for a bit more mature take on super heroes. I got the first 10 issues signed by Byrne at Dragon Con many years ago.

The letter's column and Byrne's editorials are real fun too, even when I disagreed with his take on things. I picked up the phrase "justifiable homicide" from him - he used it to describe abortion but I use it to describe capital punishment.

Don't worry about 2112, though. I read it once about midway through the run of Next Men and also found it boring and I don't even really recall how it tied into Next Men.

It's really a shame that this was pretty much the last good thing he produced. I wish he would return to the series some day.

Cyberstrike · Post by **Cyberstrike** » Mon Aug 06, 2007 5:15 pm

2112 is a prequel (and in some ways a sequel) to John Byrne's Next Men that explains part of the Cyborg villain's origin and why he is secretly running the Next Men project at the start of the series.

IMJ · Post by **IMJ** » Mon Aug 06, 2007 7:39 pm

Thanks for filling me in on that. I'm on issue 4 now, so maybe after the first arc with that villain, I'll go back and read the 2112 one shot then. The Next Men series proper is pretty good so far...

x-omatic · Post by **x-omatic** » Mon Aug 06, 2007 11:18 pm

In case you didn't know, the first few issues had a coupon in them that you needed to send in for the #0 issue.

IMJ · Post by **IMJ** » Tue Aug 07, 2007 1:44 pm

x-omatic wrote:In case you didn't know, the first few issues had a coupon in them that you needed to send in for the #0 issue.

All of my issues have the coupon, and when I glanced at it, I recall the coupon was redeemable for a card set, not a #0 issue, no? I could be wrong....

Heath · Post by **Heath** » Tue Aug 07, 2007 10:15 pm

Yeah, it was for a card set. Which I have.

x-omatic · Post by **x-omatic** » Wed Aug 08, 2007 8:33 pm

IMJ wrote:
x-omatic wrote:In case you didn't know, the first few issues had a coupon in them that you needed to send in for the #0 issue.
All of my issues have the coupon, and when I glanced at it, I recall the coupon was redeemable for a card set, not a #0 issue, no? I could be wrong....

My mistake. No I remember because I never did receive the card set for the coupons I mailed. *SQUEE* me off to the point I stopped buying the book. I had forgotten all about it until just now.

I did like the series though.

Heath · Post by **Heath** » Wed Aug 08, 2007 10:01 pm

I didn't send the coupons in. A friend of mine picked up the set at a convention and gave it to me.

Knightt · Post by **Knightt** » Wed Aug 08, 2007 11:15 pm

IMJ wrote:Recently I've been hunting down a lot of key first appearance issues. Hellboy was one of those that I thought were good grabs at the moment. While looking for one, I came across a complete set of Next Men, which a friend of mine from the the A.I. boards has been talking about for some time (he's a big Byrne fan).

Needless to say, I picked up the complete run, including the first Hellboy. When you average the price out across the books, I more or less paid bargain bin prices for them (including the first Hellboy and I'd say that the run averages VF+).

I was told to start reading 2112 before the series, but I've got to say that it was so boring I couldn't make my way through it. I'm going to move on to Next Men #0 and hopefully the rest of the series will grab me enough to come back to 2112.

Anyone ever get into this series at all?

I am VERY into it but am not complete yet... need... help... completing... Next.... Mennnnnn..... (faints) I mean (passes out)

Knightt · Post by **Knightt** » Thu Aug 09, 2007 6:30 am

If I post my small list of 'needs' is there anyone here who can help me complete this great set of books ?

myron · Post by **myron** » Thu Aug 09, 2007 8:21 am

I liked the first 15 or so, but never had the gumption to pick up more...

depluto · Post by **depluto** » Thu Aug 09, 2007 9:56 am

I thought this series was some of Byrne's best work ... too bad it had to end. Even the letter columns were interesting.

Danger Unlimited had a lot of potential, too. I think I remember him saying it was his take on a FF-like team. Babe wasn't that great, IMO.

And I can't say I feel sorry for the *SQUEE* who paid $100 for NM 21 when the Hellboy movie was coming out.

Knightt · Post by **Knightt** » Thu Aug 09, 2007 11:21 am

What are those HB books going for now... $10 bucks on the bay ?

IMJ · Post by **IMJ** » Fri Aug 10, 2007 8:57 am

depluto wrote:And I can't say I feel sorry for the *SQUEE* who paid $100 for NM 21 when the Hellboy movie was coming out.

If that happens again with the Hellboy sequel, let me know and I'll have this book up in two seconds.

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John Byrne's Next Men pickup

John Byrne's Next Men pickup

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