Stuart Immonen is even better than I thought he was. And I thought he was pretty darned good already. He’s not J.H. Williams, but man, he’s good.
The tenth issue of Nextwave sees the team members re-imagined in Forbush Vision. While Warren Ellis gives them each an alternate reality backstory (with narration inspired by Brendan McCarthy’s issue of Solo), Immonen turns chameleon for each story: Monica’s story is done in the story of Paul Pope, Machine Man’s tale of bureaucracy has a Dan Clowes influence, and Elsa Bloodstone appears in a perfect Mignola homage. I’m not sure who he’s emulating for the Captain’s story, but it’s pretty darned good, too.
I’m really going to miss this book. And I’m torn over whether to follow Immonen to Ultimate Spider-Man. On the one hand, he’s a great artist and I want to see more of his work. On the other, it just feels like he’ll be wasted on a fairly straightforward Bendis book. He should be working with Grant Morrison or Alan Moore on stories that let him spread his considerable artistic wings.
Ah well. Two more issues of Nextwave goodness remain.