With its provocative slogan, Science is the new rock n roll, the Eric Stephenson/Nate Bellegrade Image Comics series Nowhere Men is filled with charismatic lead characters and wild and clever ideas and visuals that would make for an excellent television series on premium cable. The series focuses on four of the brightest (fictitious) minds in science in Dade Ellis, Simon Grimshaw, Emerson Strange and Thomas Walker, and the foundation and subsequent dissolution of their company, World Corp. Through their inventive story, Stephenson and Bellegrade focus on such broad and relateable ideas such as how achieving celebrity status can change a person, corporate greed and espionage, and the age old trope of how scientific discovery and curiosity has as many potential detriments to society as it does benefits. In the midst of Nowhere Mens philosophizing, there is also a zany scifi story about a crew of World Corp. employees who have been infected with a virus while working on a secret project on the International Space Station. While the story takes place in an alternative universe, the scenes showing the early stages of World Corp. undoubtedly sport a 1960s/counter culture vibe to it, which tonally mirrors some of the later seasons of AMCs Mad Men. But thats about all Nowhere Men shares in common with other shows currently on television. If the comic is ever adapted for the small screen, it would be one of the most original and unique premises on television.
Mark is a professional writer living in Brooklyn and is the founder of the Chasing Amazing Blog, which documents his quest to collect every issue of Amazing Spider-Man, and the Superior Spider-Talk podcast. He also pens the "Gimmick or Good?" column at Comics Should Be Good blog.
