One of the oddities of the ’90s was the existence of the Zero Issue, a story that predates the first issue. Usually, it’s just flashback nonsense, but in some cases, it’s the actual heart of the story. Such is the case with John Byrne’s Next Man #0.

JOHN BYRNE’S NEXT MEN #0

Writer:  John Byrne
Penciler: John Byrne
Inker: John Byrne
Colorist: Matt Webb
Letterer: John Byrne
Editor: Barbara Kesel
Publisher: Dark Horse Comics
Cover Price: $2.50
Current Near-Mint Pricing: $3.00
Release Date: February 18, 1992

Previously, in John Byrne’s Next Men: An anthology series and the first published comic book from Dark Horse, Dark Horse Presents was often used in the same way Showcase was used during DC’s Silver Age, as a testing ground for new concepts and characters. In the fall of 1991, DHP became a launch point for John Byrne’s big independent comics debut, giving us four chapters that introduced Jasmine, Bethany, Jack, Danny, and Nathan, five children who lived in a strange, paradisiacal world. Next Men #1 came out in January ’92, opening with a big escape, I remember buying and being puzzled by. Fortunately, the next month, we got this issue.

John Byrne’s Next Men #0 opens with Senator Aldus Hilltop, at the catastrophic end of his forty-year-long experiment to create superhuman life, all brought down by the power of government oversight.

His lackey, Doctor Bremmer, laments that with even an extra month, they might have successfully created super-powered teens. Hilltop reminds him that they’ve killed over FIVE HUNDRED children over the years, so he won’t be crying over the last five. They shut down their systems in preparation for the arrival of a government agent, foolishly allowing the monitoring system to get turned off before life support.

The results of that decision are almost immediately seen inside the virtual reality where the subjects of “Project Next Men” reside.

As Nathan’s vision powers manifest, the other kids start to feel the effects themselves, as Jasmine and Jack quickly decide to demonstrate (with Danny’s super-speed making a cameo appearance).

While the Next Men prove themselves to be a successful experiment, the arrival of Agent Toni Murcheson surprises Hilltop. Not only is she a woman, but a woman of color, and she knows enough of his secrets to seek out the hidden chamber where they’ve been torturing children for decades. (The fact that she kicks him in the bollocks in order to do it is just the icing on the cake.)

This series is an interesting inflection point for the art of John Byrne, as the classic style he had been using for nearly two decades was starting to give way to something new. His modern, Kirby-esque, hard-edged lines are in their infancy here, but he uses them to differentiate between the reality inside the pseudo-Matrix and the world outside. After Jack disappears, the other Next Men panic, thinking he has died like their other friends over the years. Soon enough, they also awaken to find the horrific truth.

This side-effect of Bethany’s invulnerability is one of the most interesting parts of her abilities, and an example of Byrne being a pioneer in the “super-powers have a price” themes that came to dominate comics by the time of the crash in 1996. Finally free from captivity, the five children hook up with Toni and make a run for it, trying to get past the base security. Agent Murcheson takes a stray bullet, but thanks to the unexpected powers of her young charges, makes it to her car.

That’s what I call a cliffhanger, Faithful Spoilerites. The concept of the Zero Issue is one that has always grated on me, but at the very least, John Byrne’s Next Men #0 makes sense, collecting and making available the ACTUAL first issue during an era of endless sales gimmicks, earning 4.5 out of 5 stars overall. For my money, John Byrne’s Next Men is one of the best titles of the era, as well as one of the few that actually got to fully execute its premise and come to a natural end (albeit more than twenty years later).

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