Nowhere Men #1

Dade Ellis. Simon Grimshaw. Emerson Strange. Thomas Walker. Four brilliant scientists working together as a team to better the present & the future of mankind. These extraordinary individuals exchange ideas and create inventions as pillars of the scientific community. Years later the same great minds do not see eye to eye, which causes a rift in their partnership and will leave their supergroup World Corp on shaky ground.

The Team

Written by Eric Stephenson (Fantastic Four : The World’s greates Comics Magazine HC), illustrated by Nate Bellegarde (Brit Vol. 2 : AWOL, Loaded Bible : Book 1) & Jordie Bellaire. Cover by Nate Bellaire & Fonografiks. Published by Image Comics.

The Pros & Cons

You know a week can’t go by without Image spitting out yet another new series, but I’m getting a good vibe from this one. I just hope it doesn’t follow in the footsteps of another similar series from Image, entitled The Manhattan Projects. Like this series, The Manhattan Projects is about a group of brilliant scientists and the wacky and sometimes “out of this world” discoveries they encounter. The problem with TMP is that it started off strong with fascinating characters (Einstein himself) and strange devices like portals, but soon enough the series got very boring very quickly as nothing really happened and soon enough it lost me completely. Since this is only the first issue, I’m giving it the benefit of the doubt. The scientists are interesting enough in both past & present time. The third act is where it’s at. It features a handful of nerdy scientists who have been quarantined because of strange illnesses in a scientific research facility in an unknown location. The pressure starts to build for these individuals and the paranoia & cabin fever sets in, as they desperately look for a cure. How the 4 main scientists from the beginning fit into this part is unclear at this time, but I have no doubt it will eventually be explained in future issues.

I can’t really say that I’ve heard of writer Eric Stephenson, but he knows how to carefully craft a story and set up the characters. Illustrator Nate Bellegarde is also a name I’ve never heard of, but the proof is in the pudding, as his style of drawing shines a bright light on every page, panel & detailed face in this comic.

The Outcome

This comic intrigued me more than it entertained me. Will it change your geeky comic book collecting life? No. Is it worth purchasing this first issue and perhaps the second & third? I think so.