Wednesday, December 23, 2015

Review: Nowhere Men, Vol. 1: Fates Worse Than Death

Nowhere Men, Vol. 1: Fates Worse Than Death Nowhere Men, Vol. 1: Fates Worse Than Death by Eric Stephenson
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

"Nowhere Men" surprised me with how good it was, especially since I knew very little about it. It feels like a very smart sci-fi deconstruction of the traditional superhero book - a bunch of people on a space station fall ill with a variety of bizarre effects, effectively giving them superpowers, but the focus is on the technology, culture, and socio-corporate mega-factions that impact the world.

The people on the aforementioned space station all work for Emerson Strange, who in the 70s was part of a group of four men (Dade Ellis, Emerson Strange, Simon Grimshaw, and Thomas Walker) who led a company (and apparently the world) in technological advancement. Their group efforts, which come across as a kind of fusion of the Beatles with early 90s tech start-ups, made science the equivalent of rock and roll. (The authors have said that they were directly inspired by both the Beatles and the story of Apple's origin.) Scientists are profiled in pop magazines, there are groups of punk science enthusiasts roaming the world, and peoples' pop heroes are scientists. One of those four men, Thomas Walker is now missing, considered dead. Dade Ellis is sick, cared for in secret by Strange, and both Strange and Grimshaw are pursuing their own secret projects. Grimshaw might be a little bit evil - he definitely seems like a sociopath.

Given the many threads of the story that follow different groups of people at different time periods, I'm surprised that 1) it was generally clear when and who we were seeing, and 2) there is so much story covered in one volume, and they don't sacrifice setting or character to do it. While I can't remember a single character's name without looking it up, that's just my brain's fault, and I have a very distinct idea of each character's physical characteristics, personality, and relationships. I absolutely adore the fake advertisements and the use of newspaper/magazine article/book excerpt formats to convey both story and world-building elements. So much fun to read, and I can't wait to read more.

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