Amara and Davis bring their surreal super-heroes and villains back to life in a surprisingly accessible new limited series. As was the case with previous Nevermen tales, the storytelling boasts a disjointed quality that's in keeping with the bizarre tone of the characters. This book is more about atmosphere and design than plot, really, and that's fine. The end result is an entertaining and inventive comic book, and readers can't ask for much more than that.
It's been years since the Nevermen's climactic and destructive encounter with Clockwock, and Midnight City has finally rebuilt and recovered. In fact, things have improved in the wake of the disaster. The streets are safer, having been rid of the weird criminals that once plagued the city. The three remaining Nevermen find themselves resigned to lives spent carrying out ordinary jobs, but each one has a sense of unease, a sense of dread. Appropriately so, since a new misshapen mastermind has arisen within the Midnight City underworld... and he has something in common with the Nevermen.
The greatest strength of this property is the eye for weird design that Guy Davis brings to the project. Winterbone's gangly body is monstrous in appearnce, but it's his thin, wide toothy grin that makes him an intimidating figure. I was pleased to see the return of the Murderist as well, as the anti-hero's twisted form -- a merging of organic and mechanical elements -- was one of the visually -- and conceptually -- striking ingredients of the first series.
It's been quite a while since I thumbed through a Nevermen comic book, and given the mysterious, vague tone of the property, I was worried that I'd be lost as I read of their return. But Amara has done an excellent job of giving the reader the information s/he needs in order to appreciate the story. I was also surprised at the strong character-driven notion at the center of this issue -- how the Nevermen, without a menace to oppose, feel lost and little in a Midnight City that no longer seems to need them.
The Nevermen is a lot like Dick Tracy... you know, if Chester Gould dropped a lot of acid while coming up with his ideas. Amara and Davis have crafted a new kind of genre here, it seems. It's super-hero horror, and it boasts the same sense of wonder that drew us to super-heroes when we were kids, but then it's got a dark side that shows that single-minded determination, superhuman powers and technological enhancement isn't the colorful parade of adventure it used to be.
