Wildcats Version 3.0 #19

March 20, 2004

Quick Rating: Average
Title: The Shot Heard (Coda War Part One)

Zealot faces off against Boba Fett! Um… that is, The Grand Sarin.

Writer: Joe Casey
Pencils: Pascal Ferry
Inks: Sandra Hope
Colors: Randy Mayor & Wendy Broome
Letters: Jared K. Fletcher
Editor: Ben Abernathy
Cover Art: Dustin Nguyen & Rian Hughes
Publisher: DC Comics/Wildstorm

This is going to be a relatively short review, because there isn’t much to say. This issue is basically one extended chase/fight sequence that starts off with an invincible man in black style good and segues into a bloody, nasty fight between Zealot and a man in big, ugly armor that looks mysteriously similar to something out of a George Lucas movie.

While I have no doubt that my appreciation for this issue was stemmed because I haven’t read Wildcats in a long time, this is one of those comics that is simply crippled by inaccessibility. There’s nothing to tell you who any of the characters are, why they’re fighting or why the chase is going on. There’s actually a scene where one character shouts, “Remember me, B—–?” And I just thought, “No. I don’t.”

Unless you’re a religious follower of the book, the only way to appreciate this issue is for the sheer visceral thrill of the chase and fight, and Pascal Ferry handles that pretty well. You get a great sense of speed and adrenalin out of his pencils, as well as some nice splatter effects in scenes where people lose limbs, heads, etc.

This is a comic book that looks good, but doesn’t read well if you haven’t been there before. I guess I’m just going to have to keep singing the same song – if you’re going to make a comic like this, a “previously” page isn’t a luxury, it’s a necessity.

Rating: 5/10

Coup D’etat Afterword #1

March 9, 2004

Quick Rating: Good
Title: Wetworks Volume Two & Sleeper Season Two Preludes

Where does the Wildstorm universe stand after the Coup D’etat? Find out here.

Writers: Mike Carey & Ed Brubaker
Pencils: Whilce Portacio
Inks: Trevor Scott & Sean Philips
Colors: Wendy Broome
Letters: Jared K. Fletcher
Editor: Ben Abernathy, Alex Sinclair & Scott Dunbier
Cover Art: While Portacio
Publisher: DC Comics/Wildstorm

The title of this book is Coup D’etat Afterword, but it could have just as easily been titled Wildstorm Secret Files, because it is in essentially the same format as that DC Universe series of books – two short stories setting up future titles and lots of profile pages on nearly every Wildstorm title.

It’s a good, quick read that helps get you up-to-date on where things stand now that The Authority has set themselves up as defacto rulers of the United States. Lucifer and My Faith in Frankie scribe Mike Carey is poised to resurrect Wetworks, a very different title from what he’s known for, as a techno-thriller with hints of superhero comics and military action. He tells a good set-up story that will lead fans into the new series quite easily.

Whilce Portacio, who created Wetworks for Image comics once upon a time, returns with some great artwork in this issue. Sometimes dismissed as a Jim Lee clone, Portacio proves here that he has a really good style and knows how to tell a comic book story.

The Sleeper story doesn’t feature Holden Carver at all, but instead shows the reawakened John Lynch pondering the fate of his former operative who has “gone native” in a supervillain underground. This story serves as good recap for the first season – if you didn’t read Sleeper before but want to start, this story will tell you everything you know.

While I wasn’t a fan of Sean Philips’ art in this week’s issue of JSA, he does a much better job in this short story. Taking place mostly in a snow-covered cemetery, he creates a very bleak and bitter mood, making Lynch seem like a force to be reckoned with. The real prize in this issue for Sleeper fans, however, comes with the confirmation that Season Two will begin in June.

The profile pages in this book are also a real gem. In addition to showing the current states of Wildcats, Stormwatch, Wetworks and The Authority, the book also includes profiles of each of these teams in their earliest incarnations. The changes each title has undergone are pretty striking when viewed in this fashion, and it makes you realize how long the Wildstorm Universe has really been around.

Rating: 7/10

Somebody’s First Comic Book: Stormwatch (1993 Series) #22

Wondering what Somebody’s First Comic Book is all about? The explanation is on this page!

TITLE: Wildstorm Rising Chapter 9

Story: Ron Marz
Pencils: Renato Arlem
Inks: Robert Jones
Color: Monica Bennett
Letters: Richard Starkings and Comicraft
Cover: Barry Windsor-Smith
Publisher: Image Comics/Wildstorm

PRIOR KNOWLEDGE: Absolutely nothing. Never heard of these guys, and that guy on the cover is going to give my children nightmares.

IMPRESSIONS: As I open up this book, I’m immediately struck by both a positive and a negative. Positive: a “roll call” page. I can tell everybody’s name! Negative:  a woman with an extremely improbable anatomy lunging herself right at me and telling me I’m not going any further. Really, that’s what she says, “You go no further!”

Oh. I guess she’s talking to the skull-mask guy, because on the next page she and a bunch of other “Stormwatchers” are fighting him. Not too bad, so far. Looks like they’re the good guys and Skullface (“Helspont,” somebody calls him) is the bad guy.

Another woman with an improbable anatomy is worried about the situation, and especially about the involvement of someone called “WildC.A.T.S. and Wetworks.” So they’re bad guys too? And the dude with the huge horns… he’s putting obstacles in Helspont’s path. So “Lord Defile” is one of the good guys?

We’ve got a couple of guys in capes and a girl with goggles digging out what is said to be a “crash site.” Oh, and apparently the “WildC.A.T.S.” are here. Bad guys, right? I guess I shouldn’t be too critical of this, seeing as it is “Chapter 9,” but it’s being sold separately. Would it be too much to ask that we get a little hint as to just who all these characters are?

The book ends with everybody digging up a spaceship, but it’s apparently the wrong one. It’s a “Kherubim Ship,” which – based on the really big, bold lettering Goggle Girl uses to announce it, I’m assuming is a bad thing.

I’m totally confused. I don’t know whose these people are, why they’re fighting each other, or what makes the spaceship so important. I mean, sure, in the real world finding a spaceship would be cool. But this is a book full of flying people, a guy with a flaming skull for a head, and girls built like Malibu Barbie. Is a spaceship really that big a deal?

GRADE: D