No Hero (comics)
No Hero is a superhero comic book created by writer Warren Ellis and Juan Jose Ryp.[1]
| No Hero | |
|---|---|
 Variant cover by Juan José Ryp, based on the cover to The Amazing Spider-Man #129 | |
| Publication information | |
| Publisher | Avatar Press |
| Schedule | Monthly |
| Format | Limited series |
| Genre | |
| Publication date | July 2008 – September 2009 |
| No. of issues | 8 |
| Creative team | |
| Created by | Warren Ellis Juan Jose Ryp |
| Written by | Warren Ellis |
| Artist(s) | Juan Jose Ryp |
| Colorist(s) | Greg Waller Digikore Studios |
| Editor(s) | William A. Christensen |
| Collected editions | |
| Limited edition hardcover | ISBN 1-59291-085-8 |
Plot summary
No Hero takes place in a world where superheroes have existed since the 1960s and came about as a reaction to increasingly violent police reactions to the American counter-culture movement as well as violent street crime. The original heroes of the 1960s called themselves "The Levellers" after the popular movement that came out of the English Civil War. The Levellers eventually evolved into "The Front Line" who derive their superpowers from a drug called FX 7 that have side-effects as dangerous as the powers they gain. The exact makeup of FX 7 is a tightly guarded secret, with many government groups having tried to emulate its effects with disastrous consequences. The story focuses on a man named Joshua Carver who comes to Front Line's attention after performing several minor acts of vigilantism in his hometown, and is offered the chance to use FX 7 to become a superhero by Carrick Masterson, the original inventor of FX 7 and founder of Front Line, who is immortal and ageless from the use of the drug. Joshua takes the pill, and gains incredible powers but with a horrifying side-effect; during the period of physical adjustment to the drug, Joshuas skin, teeth and genitals rot off, leaving him monstrously disfigured. Despite this, he's welcomed into the group and given a costume to cover up his disfigurements.
However, after Joshua saves a crashing jet liner, two other members of Front Lines reveal that they had engineered the crash by killing the pilots to allow Joshua to gain positive PR. Throughout the first half of the story, the reader is also shown that Front Line has been using its metahuman forces to control world events through actions such as assassinating Boris Yeltsin, destroying the Iran oilfields, dissolving South Africa, and preventing France from developing nuclear weapons, in the name of world stability. Meanwhile, someone has been targeting Front Line members with weapons capable of killing superhumans, with clues hinting at any number of governments angered at Front Line's past actions. However, it's not until the climax of the story where the truth is revealed; Joshua Carver is a secret FBI operative raised since childhood by the agency after his parents were murdered by a serial killer who taught him his skills and turned him into a sociopath. Using his manipulation skills, Carver gains the trust of his targets, then assassinates them when they let him close. The destruction of Front Line is a joint effort by the world's governments wanting to be rid of their interference. Carver manages to destroy the Front Line compound, and flies the immortal Carrick into space before dying, but the final pages reveal that without the stabilizing influence of Front Line, the world is already beginning to descend into international chaos.
Collected editions
The series has been collected into an individual volume:
- No Hero (192 pages, Avatar, January 2010, softcover, ISBN 1-59291-084-X, limited edition hardcover, ISBN 1-59291-085-8)
Notes
- Furey, Emmett (May 23, 2008). "Leveling the Playing Field: Ellis talks "No Hero"". Comic Book Resources. Retrieved July 26, 2010.
References
- No Hero at the Grand Comics Database
- No Hero at the Comic Book DB (archived from the original)