Warren Ellis is well known for his superb writing style, blending wit and non-sequiters with intruiging story-lines. Nextwave has been described by him as a "pure" comic: no plot, no character development, no issues involving nothing but standing around; a comic that both satarises comic-book clichés and conventions, while simultaneously celebrating them; in short, a comic with lots of explosions. And it's true. And glorious.

The main plot (yes, there is one, despite what I said earlier) revolves around four of Marvel's most neglected heroes of recent years: Monica Rambeau, aka Photon, Captain Marvel and others, an ex-member and ex-leader of the Avengers; Aaron Stack, aka Machine Man, who is an ex-Avengers reservist and met the Celestials; Tabitha Smith, aka Time Bomb, Boom-Boom and LOTS of others, a mutant thief with the power to blow things up; and Elsa Bloodstone, an English monster-hunter. The story also includes two new characters: The Captain, aka every codename with "Captain" in it (sans Captain Rectitude), who has what he describes as "generic" super-powers; and Dirk Anger, head of H.A.T.E. (Highest Anti-Terrorism Effort), and nemesis of Nextwave.

The plot is as follows: the members of the Nextwave squad (Monica, The Captain, Aaron, Tabitha and Elsa) discover that H.A.T.E. is funded by the Beyond Corporation, which was formed from the ashes of the terrorist cell S.I.L.E.N.T., and that H.A.T.E. is actually going to test out the Beyond Corporation's Unusual Weapons of Mass Destruction on the American people. They steal the Marketing Plan, which tells them when and where each test will take place, and the Shockwave Rider, an experimental craft with an interior larger than its exterior, and vow to stop H.A.T.E. and Beyond.

And that's the plot. That's what they do. For twelve glorious issues. They defeat B-string enemy after B-string enemy, finally facing the person in charge of S.I.L.E.N.T., Beyond and H.A.T.E. and defeating him.

The artwork is absolutely wonderful, consisting of wave motifs based on the Japanese picture of the same name, which contrast with the angular nature of nearly everyone in the comic. Everything is drawn with incredible skill by Stuart Immonen, and inked and coloured wonderfully.

The story and dialogue is inspired, with witty comments, snarky insults and sparkling non-sequitars. Unlike Ellis's older Transmetropolitan, the humour is as open as possible, while still maintaining some air of irreverance.

Overall, the comic shines. Everything from Fin Fang Foom to the super-villain teams The Vestry and The Surgery (The Homosexuality were at a Gay Pride parade in San Fransisco) is a work of a mad genius.

I mentioned earlier that Ellis described it as a "pure" comic book. These are his exact words:

It's an absolute distillation of the superhero genre. No plot lines, characters, emotions, nothing whatsoever. It's people posing in the street for no good reason. It is people getting kicked, and then exploding. It is a pure comic book, and I will fight anyone who says otherwise. And afterwards, they will explode.

That should speak volumes about this comic. If the above doesn't make you smile, then this comic is not for you. Otherwise, buy it. You'll be glad you did.