Cave Pictures Publishing; $14.95

They’re the most popular people in the world, and they know it. They have the best-selling toys, the most-watched TV appearances, and they save the day over and over again. The Bastions are the top superhero team in the world, and they’re not going to let anyone forget it.

Only it’s no longer about simply doing good as much as it is about being seen doing good. It’s all about the ratings.

When the team accidentally kills a bystander in one of their fights, rather than take the PR hit, they cover up the indiscretion. These actions land them in a curse, one that apparently cuts to the core of who they are (or at least who they think they are). It makes the world forget who The Bastions are, as if they never existed. They and only they remember their previous fame-driven lives.

Is it a blessing, a curse, or both?

Writer Jim Krueger, who created this series, and artist Well-Bee went on from the six-issue miniseries collected in this volume to the Marvels X miniseries, the prequel to Krueger and Alex Ross’s Earth X saga, but this one stands on its own merits. It investigates the characters’ attitudes and our own about the media-driven age in which we find ourselves.

The No Ones – Volume 1 was released in August 2020, which doesn’t make this Retro Review extremely “retro,” but the fact that so many things fell off the radar during the pandemic certainly makes it fair game.

If you enjoyed Krueger’s work on The Foot Soldiers or Earth X, this one is for you.

– J.C. Vaughn