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The Massive: Ninth Wave

The Massive: Ninth Wave

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In the pages of The Massive, the Ninth Wave was struggling to repair a broken world. But before that, they were the preeminent global environmental-rescue unit, taking on criminals, polluters, politicians, and rogue states. The Massive: Ninth Wave tells these stories in a stylish, high-action, done-in-one format, reuniting the entire creative team from the original series.

Critically acclaimed writer Brian Wood and artist Garry Brown go back to the beginning with the Ninth Wave environmental action unit, sharing stories from the front lines of the eco-war.

Praise for previous volumes of The Massive:
"Brian Wood's The Massive proves that there's room for political comics." -Complex
"In a period where Wood's name seems to pop up all over the industry, this series has emerged as one of his most ambitious and rewarding so far." -IGN
"The Massive is clearly one of the best books of 2012 due to its exquisite ability to meld high concept ideas with real characters as Brian Wood continues to make comics smart." -Comic Book Resources

152 pages, Hardcover

First published September 27, 2016

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98 people want to read

About the author

Brian Wood

1,174 books961 followers
Brian Wood's history of published work includes over fifty volumes of genre-spanning original material.

From the 1500-page future war epic DMZ, the ecological disaster series The Massive, the American crime drama Briggs Land, and the groundbreaking lo-fi dystopia Channel Zero he has a 20-year track record of marrying thoughtful world-building and political commentary with compelling and diverse characters.

His YA novels - Demo, Local, The New York Four, and Mara - have made YALSA and New York Public Library best-of lists. His historical fiction - the viking series Northlanders, the American Revolution-centered Rebels, and the norse-samurai mashup Sword Daughter - are benchmarks in the comic book industry.

He's written some of the biggest franchises in pop culture, including Star Wars, Terminator, RoboCop, Conan The Barbarian, Robotech, and Planet Of The Apes. He’s written number-one-selling series for Marvel Comics. And he’s created and written multiple canonical stories for the Aliens universe, including the Zula Hendricks character.

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5 stars
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Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews
Profile Image for Chad.
10.4k reviews1,061 followers
August 15, 2022
About a team like Green Peace that goes around stopping people from destroying the environment. Wood has created some compelling stand alone stories here. It's actually a prequel to The Massive but you don't need to know anything about the original series to enjoy this on its own. I liked it well enough that I'll be seeking The Massive out.
Profile Image for Adam.
302 reviews46 followers
April 23, 2021
After the rough review I gave the final installment of The Massive, I'm sure people are surprised to see me back writing a review for the follow-up series. Well... when I first got into this series I liked it so much that I just bought all the comics before I ever got to reading the final installment. Had I read the original 30 issues first, I probably would have skipped this six issue series. However, it turns out that I quite liked this series, so I'm glad I just bought everything.

I really wasn't sure what to expect from this series going in. Was this a prequel or was it more of an epilogue of The Massive finding its way through a vastly changed world. I think I sort of would have been interested in both, more because I would wonder if an epilogue series would salvage the story for me. But, this is not an epilogue, instead this is actually a prequel. All of this happens pre-crash, so there really isn't any supernatural nonsense going on at all throughout these issues and, boy, was that a breath of fresh air!

Ninth Wave is merely a collection of adventures pre-crash. This is gives us insight into what Ninth Wave was all about before the crash ever happened. We get to see what they stand for and why Cal is a wanted terrorist by U.S. standards. Each issue had a totally new adventure and I was surprised at how much Wood managed to pack into each issue. I felt that each mission was well told and fairly complete. In fact, everything was really exciting and even some areas where it covered political intrigue. Such as we found out what Bors and Cal locked horns in the main series. Mary and Mag are ever present along with a couple other crew members that we don't see much of, such as Rimona, who I thought was very cool. The stories mainly revolve around these few people, and given the short nature of each tale, it makes sense.

So, if you were highly disappointed in the conclusion of The Massive, but were sucked in at the beginning, I would actually highly recommend these issues. This has much more of the flavor of the beginning of the series and the overall writing is just plain well done. It's not like Wood lost his craft, because he tells great stories in this series.
Profile Image for Lionel.
727 reviews10 followers
July 22, 2016
a lot of good things in this book, i wish there was more of it
64 reviews1 follower
November 7, 2025
Why does this exist at all?

The main story of The Massive was like 30 issues when it should have been 10.

¿Why do we need more backstory? And if we need it why on Earth this issues were not part of the original series when it could have more impact?

The stories here were fine and give you a little more understanding of the Ninth Wave and how they operate but this prequel was written after the main series ended, which made no sense to me at all. This information could have been better at the start of the story, as setup.
Profile Image for Darth Reader.
1,120 reviews
March 15, 2019
The concept behind this was interesting: nonviolent ecoterrorists setting out to save the world one disaster at a time. And I did like how it focused not only on trees and animals, but humanitarian crises as well. But, that said, there was something lacking here. It was, at times, a little confusing and definitely overly preachy. Like, I get it, people are evil and money is the root of all evil, but I found the characters REALLY annoying and uppity and holier than thou. Eh.
Profile Image for Brendan.
1,277 reviews53 followers
February 3, 2021
4.5

I enjoyed the The Massive core series run and I will say it's a shame they never made these while that series was in circulation. Brian Wood has filled in some of the gaps with short stories that help shape the lead characters. The series has been long gone but I've sat on these issues long enough. Wood made an incredible series and it's right up there with DMZ. I recommend reading this between the two library editions as it balances the motivations.
Profile Image for Norman Cook.
1,810 reviews23 followers
January 1, 2018
This is a very satisfying end to the series, presenting prequel stand-alone stories to the main series. The stories flesh out the characters' histories and motivations. This volume presents a variety of takes on the world's ecological, economic, and political problems, but doesn't necessarily show things as black/white, good/evil. The artwork is excellent as it has been throughout the series.
Profile Image for Harley.
Author 24 books1 follower
April 15, 2018
Great art though i didn't enjoy the story line.

Pros
Great art, some of the greatest i have seen.
Cons
Story, it was about a team like special forces or something that was fine but the missions where boring.
In Conclusion
If you want to fall asleep while reading this i recommend it, i thought this was going to be good like zombies or something, but it wasn't.
Profile Image for Andrea.
254 reviews2 followers
December 9, 2023
Svelato il mistero di cosa trattava questo 6 volume, wood è evoluto tornare su the massive per scrivere storie prequel alla storia principale, e se posso dire fa un gran bene, il mondo si stratifica e si capiscono un po' di cose in più che nella storia erano buttare un po' li.

Un prequel di cui la storia ne beneficia.
2,627 reviews52 followers
January 16, 2021
the art and writing are great, a bit preachy, but that's what the main character is. unfortunately the Massive series took a dive in the final collection or two, making this a good lead in to a story not worth finishing.
149 reviews
November 7, 2017
Pretty good, made me want to read the main series.
Profile Image for Laura.
3,886 reviews
November 22, 2020
the eco activism of the ninth wave. I like the characters and the issues enough to want to read more although not as much as I like the Massive series.
Profile Image for Tina Olah.
355 reviews11 followers
February 1, 2021
Not quite as exciting as the main series, though I enjoyed these standalone "prequel" stories. I'd definitely be interested in reading more!
Profile Image for Rick.
3,165 reviews
May 25, 2016
This is a nice collection of vignettes that showcase the characters from the earlier series. The 30-issue run, collected into 5 volumes, of The Massive was a great series with some powerful and topical stories on ecological issues, climate change, the impact of humans on the environment, human responsibility and humanity's place within this biosphere we call home. Brian Wood did a magnificent job on the series and this collection of one-off, or one-and-done, stories is a welcome addition.
299 reviews4 followers
June 26, 2016
I anticipated one-and-done throw-away stories in these six issue "prequel" mini series. I wasn't surprised though when Wood tied them together on a holistic level and added so much more understanding of the characters' "mission" and depth to their portrayal. Recommended reading for Massive fans.
Profile Image for مصطفي سليمان.
Author 2 books2,205 followers
December 2, 2016
مجموعة مهتمة بشئون البيئة تكون فريق لمواجهة التعديات علي البيئة ومساعدات اللاجئين
مملة للغاية و حورات مباشرة وكلام انشائئ كتير قوي مكونة 6 اعداد لكن عادية قوي مفيش اي احداث بتحصل تقريبا
ماشية بدون اي شئ بيحصل ف انا ليه مهتم اعرف ايه اللي هيتم؟
والنهاية رخمة قوي
Profile Image for Albert.
418 reviews7 followers
September 21, 2016
This collection of short stories establishes the characters in a better way than the initial run. Wish I read this first before the 30-issue run.
Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews

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