No Hero #6

Written by Warren Ellis
Art by Juan Jose Ryp

This is the penultimate issue of Ellis's latest Avatar series, and a lot gets revealed. The central concept of No Hero has been that there are only a small number of super-humans in the world, and that they are all joined in a common purpose of bettering the world. They emerged in the sixties, and this issue, more than any other, discusses the impact they have had on geo-politics. There is mention of Nixon's single term, the post-bin Laden Taliban, oil fires in Iran, and the Black States. As it turns out, not everything we'd been told about the Front Line is entirely accurate.

It's become common for Ellis to just toss off casual references to things that could probably be the basis for long comic series, as he creates intricate settings for his stories, and then only inhabits small pieces of them. I find that to be a big part of the appeal of his independent work.

The art in this issue is as good as usual, and Ryp must be commended for pulling off the incredibly disturbing last page.