A Beginner’s Guide to ‘Nowhere Men’

Nick Ford |

Jan 24, 2016

Imagine during the 1960s that scientists were treated like celebrities on the level of The Beatles.A Group of four young scientists, Dade Ellis, Simon Grimshaw, Emerson Strange, and Thomas Walker become superstars in such a way making science “the new rock ‘n’ roll”.Together they formed World Corp., a corporation dedicated to “making the world a better place”.

Now, stop me if you’ve heard this before, but eventually their experiments at World Corp. get a little out of control. In addition, as time goes on, disagreements about philosophy occur and some of the members of World Corp. leave. Walker leaves because many feel his head is in the clouds due to the number of drugs he’s experimenting with. Grimshaw eventually leaves because he feels too restricted in his ability to experiment for his own goals. And farther into the future, Ellis falls into a coma.This leaves an elderly Strange to try and manage World Corp. on his own.

While Ellis is in a coma, Strange decides it is a good idea to test an experimental formula devised by Grimshaw. The formula had previously been used by Grimshaw leading to a gigantic, mutated gorilla killing a few of World Corp.’s employees. Nevertheless, Strange decides to buy the International Space Station in an attempt to further experiment with the formula.

The experiment involves quarantining subjects on the International Space Stations without any resources. They are left to die. Upon coming to this realization one of the test subjects, Daniel, manages to create a teleporter. Unfortunately, the teleporter needs to siphon power from the station itself to be powered. So it becomes a race against time to get out of the space station before it loses all of its power and crashes.

Some of the test subjects are able to get out, but not before one of them decides that they will be rescued. He prevents a handful of people from leaving before the space station explodes, killing the remaining test subjects. The explosion sends parts of the space station crashing to Earth along with the highly contagious virus from Grimshaw’s formula.And not only is the virus contagious, but a handful of people have already been exposed to it. This forces the creation of quarantine zones within the US and elsewhere around the world.

Strange and a newly awakened Ellis are left to clean up the mess. However, Ellis has already been infected with the virus and it has granted him powers. It’s explained that at one point, Grimshaw was holding a vial that contained his own blood mixed with the formula. During a fight with Grimshaw the experimental virus spilled on Ellis.

Thanks to these powers, Ellis is able to quickly understand what’s happened while he’s been unconscious and he and Strange set off to find the surviving subjects.

Their pursuit of the surviving test subjects leads them to Grimshaw Holdings. They are able to recapture them from Grimshaw and his employees before they were taken away.Unfortunately, during the retrieval Strange is injured. This forces Ellis and company to use a teleporter to take them to a hospital as the building comes crashing down around them. Grimshaw is left trapped underneath the building that just so happens to be the same one where the original experiment on the gorilla was performed. And that’s the story up to issue seven.

There are a ton of characters in [easyazon_link identifier=”1607066912″ locale=”US” tag=”bounintocomi-20″]Nowhere Men[/easyazon_link] and in order for you to keep track of who is who I have put together a handy summary of the founders of World Corp. and the living tests subjects.

World Corp. Members:

Dade Ellis is the “integrity” behind World Corp; he’s always trying to do the right thing.
Emerson Strange is the “practical” one within World Corp; always mediating conflicts.
Simon Grimshaw is the “commerce driven” one within World Corp; always trying to enrich himself, even at the costs of others.
Thomas Walker is the “truth seeker” within World Corp; always maximizing his chances of seeking what he sees as truth, even if the results aren’t pleasant for others.

Living Test Subjects:

Daniel “Abnormal” Pierce is the pale man who is cold but rational.
Madan Adra has the ability to make things “not work.”
Kurt McManus is a doctor whose been transformed into a mutant with super-strength.
Peake Jackson has the ability to speed up or slow down objects at his whim.
Karen Reynolds powers have so far been somewhat of a mystery, but she seems to have mental powers.
Susan Queen has been transformed into a black liquid and is currently being kept in a containment box; it’s uncertain whether she’s still alive.