Death and sex in comics - John Byrne's <i>Next Men</i>

Yes, it's time for another weird stroll through a catalogue of death and sex in comics! IDW recently released the second big volume of Next Men by John Byrne (originally released by Dark Horse in the early 1990s), and it's time to check out who dies and who gets lucky! Yes, there's quite a bit of both in Next Men (and I should point out that there's a scan of someone's naked butt below the jump, if you care).

I should remind you that this post will contain big-time SPOILERS, because it tells you who dies. It's inherent in the nature of the post! And I should also point out that this is NOT a review. I like Next Men quite a bit, but I'm not reviewing it here. Keep in mind that at some points in the book, characters reference how many people have died in previous episodes. I will note those, but I'm not counting them. These posts examine who we actually see die (or at least get injured enough to die later, off-panel). As for sex, well, that's a bit trickier, because we rarely see sex on-panel. But there are plenty of references to sex in the book, and so I'll count that when it comes up. So let's check it out!

DEATH in Next Men.

2112 (the "prequel" graphic novel that introduces Sathanas, the big villain): Agent Red ("David Tannen" is his real name) shoots a punk in the face when he busts the minisaur fight. He shoots another punk, and it appears he shoots three more, although I can't be sure. At Apollyon, Ravak kills the two pilots bringing the prisoner. Sathanas kills the newcomer who doesn't accept his rule. Two of Sathanas's minions are killed in Brazil when Tannen's ship lands on them. Tannen then kills the third member of the team sabotaging the oxygen processor. Sathanas kills Alexi Gargarin when the trainees and Tannen attack the Antarctic ozone generator. Kirkland kills the halfling underneath the structure who comes out of the wall. Sathanas kills Tannen. Sathanas and his halflings are captured, but he blows himself up rather than let them be captured. We learn later that he survived (of course), but 78 of his minions died (we get that number from issue #6).

Deaths in this issue: 89 (I'm not counting the three punks Tannen appears to shoot, because it's too unclear). Total deaths: 89.

Next Men #0: During their escape, Jack kills two guards by punching them in the face. He's really strong.

Deaths in this issue: 2. Total deaths: 91.

Next Men #1: Aldus Hilltop shoots Dr. Bremmer in the head. He then blows up the installation. Many people die (128, as we'll learn later), but remember - this is who we see die. His secretary blows up first. We see five other people caught in the explosion.

Deaths in this issue: 7 (+122 we don't see). Total deaths: 98.

Next Men #2: Nobody dies. How disappointing.

Deaths in this issue: 0. Total deaths: 98.

Next Men #3: Bethany rips half of Hoagy's face off, then punches her hand right through his body (because she's hard-core!). He was trying to rape her, of course, something that didn't come out at their trial later. Jack snaps Dwight's neck when he wakes up from his sedated sleep. The vice-president's plane explodes, and we learn in the next issue that he's dead.

Deaths in this issue: 4 (the vice-president and his pilot - we don't see anyone else on the plane). Total deaths: 102.

Next Men #4: There's a big fire at Hoagy's Hog Heaven, the bar where Bethany was almost raped. The men tried to set her on fire, but she can't burn, so they accidentally torch the bar. At the Next Men's trial, nobody mentions if anyone died in the fire - they just mention Hoagy. So I'm not going to count it.

Deaths in this issue: 0. Total deaths: 102.

Next Men #5: David blows up the underground lair and kills himself.

Deaths in this issue: 1. Total deaths: 103.

Next Men #6: Sathanas kills Carter when the team finds him in Antarctica. He rips the leg off of another scientist (probably Klein). Eventually, we learn that nine of the ten scientists at the site have been killed (Jorgenson allies himself with Sathanas). I'm not going to count them, because we don't see it. Hilltop allows Sathanas to drain his wife's life force. We don't see it, but I'm going to count it (I make the damned rules around here!). He also gives Rhonda to Sathanas, another death I'm going to count even though we don't see it.

Deaths in this issue: 4 (+7 off-panel scientists). Total deaths: 108.

Next Men #7: No one dies. Anna Watson thinks about killing Hilltop, though. Too bad she didn't.

Deaths in this issue: 0. Total deaths: 108.

Next Men #8: The Russian liaison gets chopped in two. So sad!

Deaths in this issue: 1. Total deaths: 109.

Next Men #9: Nobody dies! Yay!