Global Frequency, Vol. 1: Planet Ablaze (original 2004; edition 2004)

This was great. Six short stand-alone stories involving the "Global Frequency" organization, a group that "offers the last shred of hope when all other options have failed." A superbly wide variety of "collective experience" scattered across the globe, always online via special phones, all connected through Alpeh, and further by Miranda Zero. A wide variety of incidences (from nuclear war to cults to weaponized Ebola) in the various issues collected here, all fast-paced and suspenseful thrillers. The art is well done and enhances the story-lines nicely. ( )

This collects the first six issues of Global Frequency, each of which is a self-contained story. The basic idea is that there is a global network of operatives with different skills who can be called in at a moment's notice to diffuse potentially world-threatening situations. The concept is wicked cool, and it's fun to see Ellis playing with different scenarios; I've often felt that he had a special talent for single-issue stories, and this book supports that. It does end up feeling a bit slight, though, because it's hard to develop emotional attachments to the characters. Each issue is illustrated by a different artist, and in most cases the artist is very well-suited to the story. I found Steve Dillon's work to be a bit static, but honestly, I'm not a huge Steve Dillon fan, despite the fact that he's illustrated many of my favorite comics. ( )

The Global Frequency is a loose association of specialists, put together by a super spook named Miranda Zero and coordinated by a super genius named Aleph.

By using these experts in their particular fields they are able to quickly respond to threats all around the world that normal agencies couldn't even understand, let alone deal with.

Heaven's One Hundred is maybe the best story I have read set in Australia by an American publisher, who are generally completely hopeless at that sort of thing when it comes to comics.

http://graphicsf.blogspot.com/2006/12/global-frequency-planet-ablaze.html ( )

Contemporary cool pitted against contemporary anxieties: parkour-runners vs. weaponized Ebola, black magicians vs. black metal, bisexuals vs. memetic attack from space, etc. Interesting ideas fly fast and loose here, although these micronarratives function more as concentrates of hip zeitgeist than as stories, per se. ( )