Amit Bhopi Bhopi itibaren Latdag, Jharkhand 822113, India itibaren Latdag, Jharkhand 822113, India

Containing issues 21-30 of John Byrne's Next Men, this book concludes the first part of the series (which Byrne only returned to a few months ago). Like the first two books in this series, I hadn't read these stories since they were originally published, but they still hold up. While it's still very much a science fiction series, things take a turn for the more superheroic here, with some visually spectacular battles above the streets of New York. Some major plotlines are wrapped up, some mysteries are explained, but Byrne also sets new pieces into play as well. Byrne talks in his introduction about how a need to recharge his creative batteries is what led to the hiatus in the series following these stories, and to a certain extent, it shows. There's a little feeling of choppiness in places, as some new characters suddenly appear with little introduction, while others just vanish without a trace. For the most part, though, it holds together as a single work, each group of chapters telling longer stories, which add up to be part of the overall whole. The art still tells the story in a clear, distinct, and exciting way. The characters are still distinct individuals, although some of the more fantastic elements in these stories lets Byrne do some more traditional superhero comic book designs. This book also boasts a few pages guest-drawn by Mike Mignola, featuring his signature character, Hellboy. Completists take note! John Byrne's Next Men is one of my favorite comics of all time, so it's nice to see it reprinted in such a nice format. It's a shame that all three volumes aren't a uniform size, and it's a bigger shame that IDW didn't see fit to reprint the prologue comic, 2112, in these volumes. (It is included, in black and white, in the first volume of IDW's Compleat Next Men.) But those are minor quibbles, and I highly recommend this series.