I came to the various First books late, mostly after they went under, and have varying levels of interest and knowledge in the various books. I'd see this series around a lot in looking for back issues over the years, with the snazzy painted Steve Rude covers, but rarely all five at once or at a cheap enough price to pull the trigger on a purchase. Finally happened a while ago, but then I never got around to reading them. So now that I was re-reading all of NEXUS in order, I decided to finally pull them out around the time the series came out in that publishing chronology (decided to slot it in around NEXUS #47, dated the same as CROSSROADS #2).
It's a mixed bag. I was expecting more of an ongoing plot across the series, but only the slightest nod is made towards that. Pretty much each issue could have been two regular issues of the two or three relevant books.
#1 features Whisper and Jon Sable, written by Whisper creator Steven Grant and drawn by Cynthia Martin. These are the two features I'm least familiar with, read maybe a half-dozen issues of each over the years, and this doesn't convince me to change that. Whisper is a ninja, Sable is a bounty hunter, they cross paths and neither seems to be too effective at their chosen field.
#2 follows Sable on his next case, this one crossing him over with Badger. Written by Badger creator Mike Baron and drawn by Angel Medina with Rod Whigham. I'm a bit more familiar with Badger, having about half of the issues of the run. This is pretty much a typical Badger story, one of the less humourous ones. Sable is pretty superfluous to the plot. A two page epilogue is the only thing that ties it to the next issues.
#3 continues with Badger, this time meeting Luthor Ironheart, a robot character from American Flagg. Written by Roger Salick and drawn by Joe Staton with Jeff Albrecht and Paul Abrams. This is more like one of the better Badger stories, a lot funnier and more imaginative. I'm pretty sparse on American Flagg knowledge, having read the early issues a long time ago and a few middle issues due to an Alan Moore back-up story. Not really required for this book. Ironheart is a robot brought back in time by magic for some plot contrivance. Decent enough issue.
#4 jumps way to the future, with Judah Macabee, a major supporting character from Nexus, teaming up with Grimjack (with a vague connection to Ironheart from the previous issue I'm not sure I understood), with a plot that seems to have some major things to advance an on-going plot from Nexus. I'll have to see if that's referred to in upcoming issues. Anyway, this is by Roger Salick and Shawn McManus, and McManus definitely does the best looking artwork of the series. I'm at about the same level of knowledge of Grimjack as I am with Badger, big fan of the early run of the book, although my collection is a bit spotty around the time this was published. Nexus is the First comic I'm most familiar with, having read all of the main series and most of the spinoffs. Overall a pretty good issue, if a little confusing at times (I'm still trying to figure out of Judah and Grimjack knowing each other is from a story I missed, or something between the panels. I know they do meet again in GRIMJACK #52, published just after this, which I'm looking forward to re-reading).
#5 continues with Grimjack, this time meeting the star of Nexus in a story involving the star of a third book, Vanth Dreadstar. Written by Mike Baron, drawn by Luke McDonnell with Val Mayerik. I'm familiar with the earlier adventures of Jim Starlin's Dreadstar, from when the character was published by Epic, but never read the later stuff leading up to the status quo by the time of this book. I'll admit, it made me curious, to the point that I'll probably re-read the stuff I have and if it holds up maybe actively look for the issues I'm missing, pick them up if a reprint project for the book ever gets that far (doesn't look like any has so far). Definitely my favourite issue of this odd series, has me looking forward to continuing on with Nexus and moved both Grimjack and Dreadstar up the re-reading list for the future.
So the book definitely gets better as it goes on. Since there's no real plotline through the series, you can read each separately, I'd probably recommend #4 and #5 highly if you're familiar or curious about any of the characters, #3 with some reservations. #1 and #2 I'd probably say skip, except some of the artwork is pretty good in them if it's not too expensive.
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