JOHN BYRNE'S NEXT MEN Five boys escape from a mysterious secret base in the United States. They are hunted like animals and follow them wherever they go death and destruction. Testimonials come from a great, safe and sanitized. They call it the "real world" and are convinced that we are living in a horrible nightmare. Only five guys seem frightened, but who are they really? What is the origin of their extraordinary powers? Can not answer them first, and those few who know the truth have no intention of leaving leaked ...
Straight from reprinting American volume,
John Byrne's Complete Next Men , back in Italy, thanks to 001 editions, superheroes deconstructionists John Byrne, in a series of volumes in black and white that recreate the saga in full.
John Byrne Next Men was published in our country only partially in the early nineties, before the magazine anthology
Hyperion, and later on
Star Magazine, all Star Comics. Reread today
Next Men is to discover once more how the superhero revisionism which held bank in recent years has been nourished by powerful ideas sown in works daughters of the previous decades, have not yet been channeled into business trends, and then often forgotten by the vast public. With
Next Men, in 1991, John Byrne introduced the first elements of what would be defined below the "adult tone" of the story of superheroes, such as the conspiratorial plot and a good part of sadism in the representation of violence , once fully stylized in the stories of heroes in the suit. Yet in
Next Men, if possible, it goes even further, and you can see different archetypes of an imaginary fantasy that touches the past and the future without missing time for his brilliant insights. If the boys carefree and naive that we meet at the beginning of the series may remember the Eloi of
Time Machine by HG Wells (innocent creatures and apathetic, in fact, a food reserve for the terrible Morlock), virtual reality in which they have always lived anticipates, in some ways, the concept behind the film Matrix
.
The awakening to the harsh and violent reality therefore seems a metaphor for the fall from grace. The end of a blissful ignorance that throws the human (or post-human, in this case) in dark and painful existence.
For John Byrne, the ultimate superhero saga begins. With the loss of Eden and a breathless race for survival. The conspiracy context giving rise to the players, now might seem in some ways taken for granted. But in the figures of villains, yet sharp three-dimensional, you may find personal reinterpretations of Lex Luthor and Brainiac, the two main opponents of Superman, here already undergone a modern facelift which has visibly influenced many subsequent readings, including television, of these characters. Placing it in the historical moment that produced it, namely the early nineties,
Next Men is definitely a milestone in the long process of deconstruction and reconstruction of the myth of the superhero. A sci-fi approach that redefines tough and ruthless elements of the classical age of heroes with powers, fundamental archetypes recur, but essentially leaving room for a choral narrative. It is no coincidence that the pronunciation of English letter X resembles the word "next". In the saga of Byrne, however, the mutants were created by man and is not at all certain that it was a good idea. John Byrne suggests a basic evil in the genesis of those who might become the gods of tomorrow. A miracle genetic buggy by a diabolical project (as we fly over the main villain of all too stereotypical) and the total exclusion of free will. The superheroes of Byrne are the result of a scenario antiutopistico, and more than devote himself to the salvation of mankind have their work cut out to rescue themselves.
edition of 001 presents the historical cycle of
Next Men preceded by the 2112 graphic novel
. A miniseries that John Byrne is telling the world of
Next Men in a futuristic context, where post-humans are now a reality conclamata e dove si consumano nuovi sanguinari conflitti. Di fatto concepito come un seguito,
2112 si presta comunque a un’ottima funzione di prologo. La presentazione di eventi posteriori all’avventura principale e di una scenario cupo ed enigmatico, introduce il lettore all’esordio dei protagonisti con un carico non indifferente di domande. Domande che riceveranno una risposta solo con l’evolversi della trama, arricchendo di interesse i capitoli successivi, letti in una prospettiva chiarificatrice che allargherà sempre più l’affresco fantastico ideato da John Byrne.
La scelta della pubblicazione in bianco e nero può lasciare perplessi (ma è una prassi abituale per i volumi Essential American), but the very detailed tables of John Byrne defended themselves very well for themselves, showing off their well known style, pleasingly classic and recognizable.
Next Men by John Byrne could be called a comic edge, that represents the connective tissue between the standard superhero of the past and current guidelines in the development of the genre.
Naive as its protagonist. As cruel reality.
[Article by Philip Messina ]
