Nth Man #1-2

[ozaline]

Alfie O'Meagan is a hyper-human; he has the power to reshape matter itself with his mind. He sought to use that power to save humanity once and for all from the threat of thermnonuclear annihilation. The Powers of Doctor Manhattan, the aims of Ozymandias, the foresight of neither. Weeks after all Nuclear material, every bomb, every reactor, was rendered inert the third World War began.

An American task force containing a unit of Green Berets, and an aging dentist who is also a ninja storm Moscow in a suicidal attempt to rescue one man: John Doe, the elite agent code named: Nth Man.




























John has indeed been ordered to terminate Alfie, but he wants out of the Assassination businesses.

Comments

[lucean]

This might be the most Larry Hama thing I've ever read. There are so many things here that are bafflingly awesome I don't even know where to start:

-The assumption that the removal of nuclear weapons will instantly cause World War 3
-Of course John Doe was Alfie's orphanage friend in addition to be a kick-ass ninja
-Why wouldn't that Soviet officer dress like that? It is practical after all.
-Why would Doe wear a shirt? It is practical after all.
-Holy exposition there, Alfie

[cainofdreaming]

-Of course John Doe was Alfie's orphanage friend in addition to be a kick-ass ninja

There were hints, if not outright statements, that one of those followed from the other.

[ozaline]

Yeah, he was brought to the Skunk Farm to be a calming influence for Alfie, and while he was there... well might as well do something useful with him.

[cainofdreaming]

I kinda remember it having been hinted that Alfie had something to do with that, which was what I was going for back there.

[ozaline]

Oh could be! I've never read this before aside from one of the later issues, just got a bunch on sale for 25 cents each at the LCS, including the first four, but I still need more to complete the series.

[ozaline]

I don't think that's a totally unreasonable assumption; the fact that MAD kept the Cold War from getting Hot is pretty evident. I'm not sure if this was meant as a direct rebuttal to Watchmen but it kind of reads like it; I do think Larry Hama has a firmer grasp on World Politics (and certainly the military) than Alan Moore does.

[richardak]

Now there's a low bar if ever there was one.

[lilacsigil]

This was such a bizarre and amazing series.

[starwolf_oakley]

Larry Hama is edging close to "People have wars because that's what people do" in the final posted page, which bugs me. Mainly when I see it on the various Star Trek series, especially TOS and TNG. The World Wars happened because Europe and Asia couldn't think of anything better to do with their time or couldn't control their "human emotions."

[ozaline]

I can see how it might be taken that way, but I don't think that's what he's saying at all. Just that advances in weapons aren't the cause of violence. If anything the first World War did a lot to kill the romantic image of war, and it was much harder for a leader to organize a war for frivolous reasons. I think Larry Hama understands the political forces behind war and his greater body of work shows that. But we had war before we had tanks and guns, the face of war would change if they were taken away but that would not end war.

I also (though I don't know for sure) think he's pretty pro-second amendment rights, I have seen that he is pretty passionate about firearms (both in his facebook posts, and in his writing) having been a munitions expert during 'Nam... and he might be commenting on that a bit, as he did here.

[stolisomancer]

Priest has a lot of funny Larry Hama stories. Apparently Hama spent the '80s living in New York, walking around every day with a licensed, legal Uzi in his briefcase.

[ozaline]

If every gun owner knew as much about guns as he does; I'd feel a lot better.

There's a hilarious part in Larry's vampire novel, "the Stranger," where a kid tries to turn off the safety on a handgun while being stared down by a vampire, and never having handled one before instead ejects the magazine.

[richardak]

I remember this comic from when it came out. Thanks for posting it. It was great.

[featheredserpent]

Oooh yeah, me too. This was G.I.Joe with all the brakes off.