And Then I Read: JOHN BYRNE'S NEXT MEN 4

Images © John Byrne.

This issue Byrne kicks things into a new gear, finally bringing some great new material to the storyline and adding more levels of intrigue and mystery. Jumps in time, jumps in perspective, some cool science, and this title has just jumped up my interest. The story begins at some unspecified time that seems like the near future. Several team members, including some we've seen being tortured in the past few, are visiting a super-collider project on Long Island that is about to go online. What happens when it does is startling and horrifying, and the focus is on Bethany as she slides into disaster and unconsciousness. Long cut to a much later time when the indestructible body of Bethany is being awakened in another lab after being imprisoned and immobilized underground for several hundred years. Needless to say, this has done very bad things to her state of mind. At the end of the issue, new clues appear about the mysterious black-robot-clad figure from issue 3.

Byrne's art is terrific on this series, with solid, artful inking and great drawing. Really there's nothing now to complain about in either story or art, and I'm looking forward to more. Recommended!