Chaotic Wooster Remembers the Wildstorm Universe

[Chaotic Wooster]

Since DC is publishing a new WildC.A.T.S, I had the urge to re-read the original. And since you really don't see much about Wildstorm these days, I thought I'd give it a sort of retrospective review.

WildC.A.T.S Covert Action Teams (Volume One, Issues #0-4)

Released between August '92 and March '93, with the #0 issue confusingly released in June '93. This four part story marks the start of the Wildstorm Universe (by publication date, not chronology) and was one of the early Image Comics titles (alongside Spawn, Youngblood, etc.).

It is also rife with the worst excesses of it's decade, if not to the extent of Rob Liefeld's books. I'll say upfront, the first WildC.A.T.S story is a badly written and derivitive mess! It suggests none of the intrigue and excellence to come, and stands purely on the strength of it's art and the bubbling enthusiasm of those involved.



Issue #1 starts confusingly, with a flashback to the discovery of a mysterious orb in the wreckage of a Soviet space station that's crashed in Antarctica. The scientists who discover it are momentarity interrupted by a woman teleporting in with a cryptic warning, then vanishing.

Next, we see a flashforward, the aftermath of an explosion being discussed by two intelligence operatives. They're blaming C.A.T.S (rogue superhuman teams) for the destruction, declaring there to be no survivors. The mystery woman warps in again for a moment, lamenting her failure, then she's gone again.

-

The mystery woman is Void (real name Adrianna Tereshkova), she was a cosmonaut on Mir, and she died when it crashed. Only, she didn't. The strange orb kept her mentally intact and she recreated a humanoid body from it's energy. She has a wide range of powers, chiefly teleportation and energy control, as well as rockin' a sexy Silver Surfer look. She's a team mainstay for almost all of volume one.

-

Onto the present... Almost. We see a a homeless dwarf get mugged for sleeping in the wrong alley. He momentarily stuns his attackers with a burst of energy that shocks him as much as them, but it's not enough to prevent the attack, which includes a nasty off-panel stabbing. Void teleports in (again!) and saves the man, named Jacob Marlowe. Offering to change his life forever...

Then we finally get to the actual present (August '92, anyway) and Marlowe wakes up in another alley, stumbles through traffic, and into the ground floor of a skyscraper. By the time he's reached the penthouse floor, his staff have him shaved and cleaned up and looking like a million dollars. He's worth billions. Void's powers to see into the past and future, while vague, were enough to raise a fortune in only two years. Marlowe's Halo Corporation is a big success, apparently.

-

Jacob Marlowe is Emp, or Lord Emp. Actually he's had a bunch of names over the millennia, he's just forgotten most of them. He's an alien, he's been here a long time. He's materialistic, lecherous, sarcastic and doesn't have much faith in Void's visions despite the riches they have brought him. Mostly because he doesn't think he's anything special and can't see himself as a hero. Emp is a major player through volume one.

-

Void warns Emp that her visions warn that whatever crisis is to come will be soon. They review their preperations. They've got a snazzy jet, woo. They've also got Spartan, a human-looking super-robot!

-

Spartan was very clearly based on Cyclops. He's the team's field leader, he shoots energy, he's not terribly interesting right now. There's lots more to Spartan, especially in later volumes, but right now just know he's a blasty robot guy in a blue and white costume.

-

Spartan talks about how well their two "Gifted Ones" recruits are doing in trainig, only for the pair to come smashing out of the the combat training room (definitely NOT the danger room) and breaking stuff. Emp laments that maybe he could afford some Youngblood (Rob Liefeld's team) instead.

-

The "Gifted Ones" are humans with alien ancestry, in this case MAUL (Jeremy Stone) a scientist who turns in a big dumb hulk. Bigger he gets, the stronger he gets, the dumber he gets. He also turns purple and grows two big horns from his shoulderblades... Not a bad look other than he's got a yellow 'M' on his costume's forehead, which makes it look like he's shilling for McDonalds. Maul is a background player for a long time, but comes into his own in later volumes.

His sparring partner is Warblade (Reno Bryce). He's liquid metal Wolverine! And yet... He's very, very boring. They clearly intended for him to be "cool", in the way Wolverine was deemed cool in the 90's. But his look is too busy, and his only goal is vengeance, and his background is really inconstent (even before the WSU splits off from the rest of Image). Honestly, he'll never really matter... Though he did get two solo mini-series.

-

Alright, now we meet the villains. The Cabal. They've got a giant high-tech submarine, with a fancy dining room. Sweet! The Cabal is made up of human ne'erdowells and led by Helspont. He's a demonic-looking, flame headed alien. He proves his zero-tolerence policy for bullshit by having his henchman (another gifted one called Pike) murder a guy by drowning him in his dinner. The foolish fellow has sold out the Cabal and now he's dead.

Alongside Pike, Helspont's got a Coda assassin (imagine if Wonder Woman's Amazons were all sexy ninjas) called Devin and a creepy girl called Providence who shares Void's powers.

They talk about Helspont's master plan of "Reunification" and of the gifted one who poses the greatest threat to it, one with "The Sight".



-

The Cabal... Are pretty stock villains. Helspont looks awesome. Providence is eerie. But Devin doesn't matter and Pike will wind up mattering a lot more in an entirely different book (Backlash). They're evil. They've got a master plan.

-



Issue #0 sort of fits here. Void dreams and relives the crash that killed her. We also learn that Marlowe's got a sketchy contact with information on another gifted one. Yep, the same one Helspont's after. We also see Spartan, Maul and Warblade in the training simulator again, this time not goofing it up... Until Warblade snaps at Maul and gets pounded into the floor by the suddenly giant brute. Oops.

We witness the Cabal turncoat's betrayal, trading the information Marlowe's sketchy contact, another dwarf called... Ahem, The Gnome. He's got a Coda assassin working for him too. This meeting is interrupted by the arrival of Zealot and Grifter.

-

Zealot (real name Zannah) is yet-another Coda assassin... Actually, she's THE Coda assassin. She's an alien, same species as Emp, only from a warrior caste. She came to Earth with him and started up her own cult of assassins, using human women. But now they all hate her for reasons. Grifter (real name Cole Cash) is a looot of things and actually turned out to be the breakout character of the book. For now, just know he's a gunslinger and was trained by Zealot despite being a bloke. They were a thing, but now they're not.

Zealot's look is... Almost good. She wears a costume that rides so far up her arse I'm surprised she's not cut in half, but otherwise isn't bad. Grifter's got a cool mask and a trenchcoat. Can't go wrong with a trenchcoat.



-

Grifter and Zealot fight The Gnome's assorted superhuman henchmen. Zealot throws Grifter out of the fight so he can go find the gifted one while she fights The Gnome's forces alone like the crazy bitch that she is. Coda are like that... Especially Zealot.

-

So we finally have everyone converging at the same location... A downtown strip club. Because this has aged well...

The gifted one (our last character for a while, I promise) is Voodoo (stripper name, real name is Priscilla Kitaen). She mesmerizes the crowd, but Grifter sees some guys in trenchcoats, so he knows it's going to kick off. Voodoo sees them for what they really are... Demons! Or rather, Daemonites, the aliens that make up much of the Cabal and possess humans to walk among us.

They try to snatch Voodoo. Grifter starts shooting. Devin kicks the shit out of him, he blows out her stomach with a derringer... Doesn't really slow her down much. The WildC.A.T.S arrive in glorious fashion and mop up the Cabal's goons. Zealot arrives to save Emp (by throwing a fucking bladedboomering through a guy's skull!) and finally the team is all together. Yay!

Then the still-not-dead-yet Coda sets off a suicide bomb and blows everything up, bringing us back to where issue #1 started.

Oh, and we see than Dan Quayle is also possessed by a Daemonite when he and Helspont are gloating over the WildC.A.T.S. death. Because of course he is.

-



Issue #2 begins in a I.O. facility (I.O. is the big bad intelligence agency of the WSU, very high-tech), where we see that this version of Void teleported the team away just before the explosion, having witnessed it already and reacting just slightly faster. Sadly, their arrival accidentally kills an I.O. psychic, putting the agency on the warpath.

They 'port away, but I.O. tracks them to their safehouse. So as the WildC.A.T.S regroup and explain to Voodoo the world of shit she's stuck in, an I.O. kill team (Black Razors) is dispatched. Voodoo sees Quayle on tv and tells everyone he's an alien!

Meanwhile, Helspont visits a big facility to see the progress on his Reunification project. We discover that one of the scientists who found the orb in Antarctica is a Daemonite too (but seemingly wasn't then). The reunification plan involves using U.S. government and NASA to open a dimensional gate so Helspont's forces can invade. How original.

The Black Razors attack! And they wipe the floor with all the rookie WildC.A.T.S, with only Grifter and Zealot able to hold their own. Things look bleak.

Only The I.O. spook we've been seeing (like Clint Eastwood with a scarred up face and a glass eye) knows both Grifter AND Emp. The fight ends, and Lynch (the spymaster) reveals he knows something about the infiltration of the government, about the secret project, but he can't act against it. So he directs the WildC.A.T.S to Helspont's facility, and all of a sudden we're heading towards the final act!

We get to laugh at Daemonite-Quayle punking out Pike for his lackey status, then the WildC.A.T.S attack! Half the team having been sent to confront Quayle so Voodoo can exorcise the Daemonite from him...

Then Rob Liefeld shows up. I mean, Rob Liefeld's team, Youngblood, shows up. Yep, we're not done with the Wild.C.A.T.S first story and we've got a whole other team from another title to deal with... Sigh. Actually, we've had a few name-drops of other Image characters throughout, but the entire third issue is pretty much WildC.A.T.S versus Youngblood.

Who are Youngblood? It doesn't matter. They're a redesign of the Teen Titans from Rob Liefeld's aborted pitch to work on that title. Essentially, they're super-hero celebrities, fully in league with the U.S. government. Rob was actually on the ball with this idea. But it's still Image-era Liefeld... So guns, pouches, awful names, terrible dialogue, insane muscles, you know the drill.

-



By the start of issue #3, only Maul is left standing (getting bigger and more mindless all the time) and the Youngblood heavy-hitters finally drop him.

We see the other half of the WildC.A.T.S are still infiltrating the facility, intent on shutting the whole thing down before Helspont can open his end-of-the-world gateway. But so is The Gnome and his minions. See, he wants the orb... It destroyed the Mir, it created Void and Providence, it's powering the gate, and he wants it. It's precious to him, gollum-gollum!

Youngblood finally wake up to Quayle being evil (when he shoots their leader in the head... they're not bright) and Voodoo is able to drives the Daemonite out of him. Too late though, the gate is open and Helspont is doing his villain laugh.

-



Issue #4 sees the entirety of Youngblood take on Helspont. He laughs at them and dismantles them in a couple of panels. See, he's a veeery powerful Daemonite lord possessing a veeery powerful alien body. No-one here is on his level.

Marlowe activates the wreckage of Spartan, and our brave robot blows himself up to take out the facility power. Warblade goes full berserker on Helspont, actually landing a few hits before being reminded that you don't bring claws to a cosmic energy fight.

Helspont flees to the chamber holding the orb, since with it he can destroy all the heroes and concoct some new plan to conquer Earth. The WildC.A.T.S follow...

Only to find that The Gnome has taken the orb. He blasts Helspont (seemingly killing him) and sets his minions onto the team. More panels of action ensue. When The Gnome attempts to escape, Emp confronts him and confirms his "not a hero" status by shooting Gnomes' arm off, so he drops the orb and follows it down into the depths of the facility. Everything blows up!

Later...

Searching the debris, Youngblood find Spartan's robo-corpse and wonder about the rest, guessing they must've survived somehow. Youngblood unaware that Void, once again, teleported the team to safety.

The WildC.A.T.S fly away, with Voodoo lamenting Spartan's death, only to be shown they're already downloading his memories into a new body.

The day is saved, the team is now assembled, Helspont and the Gnome are both (falsely presumed) dead and Dan Quayle is exposed as an alien in the newspapers.

-

Wildcats #0-4 is a mess. Too many characters to introduce, especially when an entire issue is pretty much devoted to Youngblood! The flashback/flashfoward stuff confuses matters and the Gnome is entirely redundent, might as well have have the Cabal traitor just pass on secrets to Emp and drop the Gnome entirely.

But... But...

I still sort of love these dawn-of-Image era comics. The enthusiasm for what the group was doing is right there on the page. Jim Lee's art IS goddamn amazing, and the pages can barely contain everything he's squeezing into them.

The real weakness is Brandon Choi as a writer. Now, he did actually come up with a very internally consistent identity for the WSU's early years (ignoring the intrusions by other Image characters), with interwoven backstories and a compelling history to it. He laid a strong groundwork for what had come before and was to come. But... His issue-by-issue plotting, dialogue and characterization are all pretty bad.

Fascinating to me is the persistent religious elements. Emp and Zealot are Kherubim (later called Kherans), aliens mistaken for angels. Emp's company is Halo. Helspont and the Daemonites... Even the issue titles... Revelations, Resurrection Day, etc. And it continued through Choi's other Wildstorm books too. Deathblow's storyline is completely overtaken with religious themes and characters. Gen 13 began with Project: Genesis, etc. Odd.

But there it is, Wild.C.A.T.S taking it's baby steps. The Wildstorm Universe's first storyline. Certainly not it's finest.

Anyone want to read about another? Maybe something more coherent (or less?). Thanks to some nostalgic collecting, I've got most of the Wildstorm books, and I'm still filling in the gaps.

 

[Sharrow]

Well, you've given me flashbacks. A friend had pretty much all of Stormwatch, so I binge-read them. Some were quite decent, many were terrible.

 

[Silverlion]

Man, I forgot how terribad that was in many ways. (Not entirely, just in parts.)

 

[Tulpa Girl]

The first year of Deathblow was better than it had any right to be.

The run on WildCATS by Alan Moore, while certainly not his best work, was a fun read.

Ellis's run on Stormwatch, and especially on Planetary, was amazing stuff.

 

[Chaotic Wooster]

Well, you've given me flashbacks. A friend had pretty much all of Stormwatch, so I binge-read them. Some were quite decent, many were terrible.

Stormwatch was never as big a deal as WildC.A.T.S., despite being pivotal to the early years of the WSU overall. Only when they entirely gave up on it and let Ellis do whatever he felt like did it really become the title it always should have been. And then he turned it into The Authority... Which really did turn the WSU on it's head.

I find early Stormwatch harder to read than early WildC.A.T.S. It's got most of the same flaws, but doesn't have the same frenetic energy. It's not without it's merits though. I do actually like some of the team.

The first year of Deathblow was better than it had any right to be.

The run on WildCATS by Alan Moore, while certainly not his best work, was a fun read.

Ellis's run on Stormwatch, and especially on Planetary, was amazing stuff.

I didn't read Deathblow until much later, so I expected more Team 7, gung-ho guns and glory. What we got was angels of death, church conspiracies and a reborn messiah... All with art openly intended as homage to Frank Miller. It's not bad... But it's very strange.

Yeah, even half-arsed Moore is better than most writers on their best days. The silver foil issue of WildC.A.T.S. (with Majestic/Savant's team on it) was the first WS issue I ever bought.

Ellis (unfortunately now in exile) really did shake things up in the best way possible. Stormwatch, WildC.A.T.S/Aliens, Planetary and Authority... It's somewhat forgotten now, but it did really shake up the landscape of comics (for better and worse, as is always the case) for a while there. As I mentioned in another thread, I also enjoyed his run on DV8.

Has anyone read the new DC WildC.A.T.S?

 

[Tulpa Girl]

Has anyone read the new DC WildC.A.T.S?

It's... okay. While it has some interesting bits in it - most notably the idea that there are actually two 'Cat teams, one public-facing for PR purposes, and the real team that does the actual work - it suffers from being in the DC universe, where they're just one of many superteams out there. It doesn't help that four issues in out of a five-issue mini-series it feels more like just the set-up for an actual ongoing series that they're hoping they can make.

 

[Chaotic Wooster]

It's... okay. While it has some interesting bits in it - most notably the idea that there are actually two 'Cat teams, one public-facing for PR purposes, and the real team that does the actual work - it suffers from being in the DC universe, where they're just one of many superteams out there. It doesn't help that four issues in out of a five-issue mini-series it feels more like just the set-up for an actual ongoing series that they're hoping they can make.

Hmmm... Doesn't really sell me.

I know the argument is "buy WildC.A.T.S. so DC do more Wildstorm books.", but I'm still entirely unconvinced that they're a good fit there. Jim Lee could push for it, but that would (accurately) come across as favouring his own stuff, which I don't think is his style.

I don't think the Wildstorm characters need to be the equal/better than the DC heroes. I saw the panels of Superman easily handling Majestic and the WS old guard didn't respond well in the comments, hehe. But the Wildstorm characters do need space to do their thing, and the DCU is sooo packed with agencies, teams and individuals of tremendous power.

We've seen it done poorly (New 52... The Harvest/The Ravagers... Shudder!), and potentially promising but cut off at the knees (Ellis' The Wild Storm). So here we go again, and I just don't know how much the WildC.A.T.S. matter in a superhero universe as broad and deep as DC.

 

[chuckdee]

Too many characters to introduce

And too many pouches to introduce. And high riding tights are not just for Zealot, but for every woman in the comic.

Top tier Liefield in all of his terrible glory.

Cyberforce fits in there too, doesn't it? And they also had a mid-game Kickstarter to release some stuff for that title.

 

[TristramEvans]

coincidentally, Secret Galaxy covered the WildC.A.T.S animated series this week...

 

[Chaotic Wooster]

Yeah, the one book I'm not going to bother collecting unless I see it for pennies is the WildC.A.T.S adventures tie-in to the cartoon...

 

[urbwar]

Stormwatch was never as big a deal as WildC.A.T.S., despite being pivotal to the early years of the WSU overall. Only when they entirely gave up on it and let Ellis do whatever he felt like did it really become the title it always should have been. And then he turned it into The Authority... Which really did turn the WSU on it's head.

I find early Stormwatch harder to read than early WildC.A.T.S. It's got most of the same flaws, but doesn't have the same frenetic energy. It's not without it's merits though. I do actually like some of the team.

Yeah, Stormwatch didn't really get good until the time The High showed up. Which basically set up The Authority.

 

[Tulpa Girl]

coincidentally, Secret Galaxy covered the WildC.A.T.S animated series this week...

Yeah, the one book I'm not going to bother collecting unless I see it for pennies is the WildC.A.T.S adventures tie-in to the cartoon...

"We're heroes! Not zeroes!"

 

[hawkeyefan]

Yeah, Stormwatch didn't really get good until the time The High showed up. Which basically set up The Authority.

I remember there being some decent stuff through the first 15 issues, though there was also a lot of the excess of the time. And they had the “Images of Tomorrow” gimmick where they released issue 25 after issue 12, which showed what things would be like in the future. It was an interesting gimmick and Stormwatch was the only title that kept a close enough schedule to actually make it work. Then it was resolved in issue 26.

After that, the comic became absolute garbage until Eillis and Raney took over in issue 37. That’s when it really became something worthwhile. The High and the Changers showed up in 48, though he may have appeared on panel once or twice before that. Change or Die in issues 48 to 50 was great.

 

[Chaotic Wooster]

Stormwatch was sorta the underdog early on. Jim Lee's idea, but he only ever worked on it many years later, and he was far more focused on WildC.A.T.S. Stormwatch really seemed to suffer in the villain department. It's no wonder that the very first thing Ellis did was make Weatherman Henry Bendix into the real villain of the peice. The Mercs sucked by being really boring and disposable.

However, Stormwatch did manage to tease and more or less deliver on long running plotlines. The Warguard weren't very interesting either, but they presented an interesting looming threat. The eventual crossover with the WildC.A.T.S was set-up well, and the issue #25 gimmick did work out better here. As you say, Stormwatch at least kept to a decent schedule.

I did like some of the team, and most got development over time. Even the assholes like Flashpoint went somewhere eventually. Still, Ellis turned it from a directionless title into essential reading, if only more readers had known it and bought it at the time. I remember him joking that the readership was dreadful, but the Wildstorm/Homage crew loved what he was doing with the book so kept it going long after it ought to have been cancelled. Then he threw Aliens at it (in one of, if not the, only worthwhile crossover between superheroes and Aliens) and turned it into the Authority.

Then people started to take notice.

Y'know, I think I might dig out the first Stormwatch arc, see how it holds up after all these years.

 

[hawkeyefan]

Yeah, I agree with a lot of that. The Warguard were a good looming threat, but once introduced they were all single-note throwaways, except perhaps for Despot because of his history with the team and because he was Battalion’s father. The rest of the villaons were just all bland knockoffs who never really got any development.

There was just enough about that book to keep me buying it at the time. I was much more generous then than I am now. But luckily, I stuck around and made it to the good stuff.

I remember the opening scene of one of the early Ellis issues focused on Bendix, with like a two page sequence that was more compelling than the entire series had been before that. That was great stuff.

 

[Chaotic Wooster]

Yeah, I know he's persona non grata these days, but even more than Alan Moore, Ellis really took the Wildstorm stuff into a new direction. One I think most would agree was a positive one.

I don't recall the whole run, but much like WildC.A.T.S., it sits in my memory of having a lot of unrealized potential until a writer with a strong idea came on board. 'C.A.T.S. under Moore was good. A much-needed change. Stormwatch under Ellis was just amazing. Bendix as the mastermind slowly going insane, the Changers, Stormwatch Prime, Stormwatch Black, etc. All such solid additions.

DV8, Stormwatch, WildC.A.T.S./Aliens, The Authority, Planetary, etc. He wrote good stuff.

It's jumping ahead a long way, but did anyone read Stormwatch: Team Achillis? I know it's writer, Micah Wright also ended up on the shit list. But the book itself was one I really enjoyed.

 

[hawkeyefan]

Yeah, Team Achilles was solid. Didn’t Wright claim to have a special forces operative or something? But he totally wasn’t?

They followed that up with another, similar take called Stormwatch: Post Human Division. It was similar in that it was regular people dealing with super-powered opponents, but it was more based on established Stormwatch lore.

 

[Chaotic Wooster]

Yeah, Team Achilles was solid. Didn’t Wright claim to have a special forces operative or something? But he totally wasn’t?

They followed that up with another, similar take called Stormwatch: Post Human Division. It was similar in that it was regular people dealing with super-powered opponents, but it was more based on established Stormwatch lore.

Stormwatch P.H.D. (later Post Earth Division) were good in their own right, but I liked Team Achillis' political angle, it reminded me of Ellis' run.

And yes, Wright claimed to have been a U.S. Army Ranger when he'd been an Army ROTC. He later apologized and discussed it all online ( recovered here: https://web.archive.org/web/20060327093532/http://www.micahwright.com/ranger-3.htm ). Now, I like his stuff, including his remixed war propaganda books, but there was no way he was going to finish his run on Stormwatch once this came out. Sales stunk anyway, despite my personal view that it was a damn good book.

EDIT: No longer available on the Wayback Machine pages are Wright's final Team Achilles scripts and his really awesome pitch documents for a new DV8 title, which he scripted the first issue for. I think I've still got those on file somewhere.

 

[Chaotic Wooster]

I've been too busy to read and write about anything lately, but an obscure little Stormwatch story popped into my head tonight and I dug it out.

Stormwatch (Wildstorm Rarities)

Released in December '93, this contained a collection of stories from the various Image studios. I haven't picked up this book, but the story, "Urban Storm" was collected in a second anthology Wildstorm Rarities in December '94, which I do have.



Chronologically, Urban Storm is the earliest Stormwatch story. By my reckoning, that makes it the first story of the Wildstorm Universe's timeline (ignoring flashbacks and historically set books like Team 7).

It's notable for being pencilled and co-written by Jim Lee, who almost never worked on Stormwatch despite conceptualizing it. Also for being tied to the '92 L.A. Riots. Real world events rarely impacted the WSU.

It's only four pages, covering Stormwatch's attempts to rescue trapped civilians and support fire rescue. The real point of it is to confront the team's (African-American) leader, Battalion, with the chaos of the riots and the cause of them.



Some of the better writing in Stormwatch's ealy years was done in an effort to make Jackson King a compelling and troubled leader, and this does so very efficiently.

When a rioter injures a firefighter with a thrown brick, King has Hellstrike (former Scottish police officer Nigel Keane) provide fire support, but realizes the brick was thrown by an angry kid and calls the blaster off. The two discuss it and then get back on with saving lives.

So I'm neither black nor American, and fully aware my opinion matters not one jot, but I liked this short story. Jackson King's background is built on racial intolerance. He had the KKK burning crosses on the family lawn as a child. So seeing him deal with a racially-charged event, injustice borne of injustice, and try to walk the narrow middle path worked for me.

It's also nice to see Stormwatch just doing the hero thing, rather than squabbling with their foes or each other. Though I forgot just how dreadful Hellstrike's original costume was. Yuck! Battalion's is... Typically '90's bad, but Hellstrike's is ugly as hell.



Still, I hope mention of this little obscure story amuses someone. I don't believe it was included in the collected volumes back in the day, and I've no idea if DC has made it available digitally. It shares page-count in Wildstorm Rarities with "Deadly Tidings", another early Stormwatch short story with pencil and co-writing credit given to Jim Lee. That's set later and unrelated, so I didn't bring it up otherwise.

 

[TristramEvans]

Which was the one where everyone was gold? I thought that was Stormwatch, but it doesn't sound like it

 

[Silverlion]

Which was the one where everyone was gold? I thought that was Stormwatch, but it doesn't sound like it

Wetworks. They fought vampires

 

[TristramEvans]

Wetworks. They fought vampires

right. I never even saw an issue but I had the "data book", it was a bit like the OHOTMU

 

[Chaotic Wooster]

Yeah, Wetworks was Whilce Portacio's book, one that honestly was only part of the WSU because it was linked to Team 7 (as were, basically, all the early books) and never seemed remotely related to it again until years later.

Not that I disliked Wetworks. It was pretty cool sci-fi/military/supernatural with all the vampires and werewolves, etc. And if you're gonna go all-in on symbiotic soldiers, this was not a bad way to do it. I first picked up issue #7, because look at that damned cover! Joe Chiodo on top form.

 

[Chaotic Wooster]

right. I never even saw an issue but I had the "data book", it was a bit like the OHOTMU

This?

The Wetworks sourcebook, which has a powergrid style ratings system for all the key characters and much of their equipment. It's the only Wildstorm book (that I know of) that did that, sadly. Sorta gave them stats and skills.

 

[Andrew J. Luther]

I unabashedly loved the Wildstorm universe back when they were first being published. WildCATS, Stormwatch, Wetworks and Gen13 kicked it off for me, followed later by The Authority and DV-8.

DV-8 was the first, and only, comic book I ever sent a fan letter in for, and it got published. I also got an honourable mention when they asked fans to write a “what’s happening” summary to show up at the beginning of one issue.

It was all ridiculously over-the-top but I couldn’t help but find all the crazy enthusiasm charming in a way. They revelled in the stories and artwork in a way that was missing from most of the Marvel and DC stuff at the time.

I have such fond memories of those books that I’m afraid to go back and reread them, worried that it’ll taint my fondness for them if they haven’t aged well (which I fully expect is the case).

 

[TristramEvans]

View attachment 57856

This?

The Wetworks sourcebook, which has a powergrid style ratings system for all the key characters and much of their equipment. It's the only Wildstorm book (that I know of) that did that, sadly. Sorta gave them stats and skills.

Yeah, I always loved those kinds of comics supplementary material.

 

[chuckdee]

So they had all of these teams which were similar to, but different from each other. I don't get the relationship between WildCATS, Cyberforce and Wetworks. Is there one?

 

[TristramEvans]

So they had all of these teams which were similar to, but different from each other. I don't get the relationship between WildCATS, Cyberforce and Wetworks. Is there one?

none of them are the X-men?

 

[JAMUMU]

All I remember about this comics universe from back in the day was my mate remarking that most of the titles (Wildcats, Deathblow, Stormwatch White, Stormmwatch Black, Grifter, The High) all sounded like varieties of hash you'd get from a really well-supplied dealer.

 

[Chaotic Wooster]

I unabashedly loved the Wildstorm universe back when they were first being published. WildCATS, Stormwatch, Wetworks and Gen13 kicked it off for me, followed later by The Authority and DV-8.

DV-8 was the first, and only, comic book I ever sent a fan letter in for, and it got published. I also got an honourable mention when they asked fans to write a “what’s happening” summary to show up at the beginning of one issue.

It was all ridiculously over-the-top but I couldn’t help but find all the crazy enthusiasm charming in a way. They revelled in the stories and artwork in a way that was missing from most of the Marvel and DC stuff at the time.

I have such fond memories of those books that I’m afraid to go back and reread them, worried that it’ll taint my fondness for them if they haven’t aged well (which I fully expect is the case).

I've re-read Ellis first eight issues of DV8, and aside from the Humberto Ramos' pencilled issues, they hold up fine. They're small stories, letting Ellis expore that team of nasty little shits as they each start to figure out where their moral line is. WildC.A.T.S #0-4 is, as I say above, a bit of a mess, but still a lot more fun to read than most modern books, you can feel the enthusiasm of the creators in every panel.

You can really describe the Wildstorm books by the phase the studio was in. The first couple of years has a well-conceived and tightly-linked continuity, but spotty stories and (eventually pointless) crossovers with the characters from the other Image studios, which hurt that continuity.

So they had all of these teams which were similar to, but different from each other. I don't get the relationship between WildCATS, Cyberforce and Wetworks. Is there one?

Cyberforce were from Top Cow, another studio in Image. They were "X-Men... But also cyborgs".

WildC.A.T.S. was "X-Men, but half-alien/angels", at first. It gets weird.
Wetworks was "Special forces w/symbiotes fighting vampires".
Stormwatch was "Supercops for the U.N."
Gen 13 was "Gen-X but waaay more cheesecake/beefcake."
DV8 was "Gen-X but all little psychos."
The Authority was "JLA but with some goddamn balls."

All the creators who defected from Marvel created their own studio imprint and title;
Jim Liefled created (of course) EXTREME studios. He's responsible for Youngblood (superhero celebrity team).
Marc Silvestri created Top Cow, which published Witchblade, The Darkness and Cyberforce.
Todd McFarlane created McFarlane studios/toys and engaged in decades-long-feuds with everyone he ever met. He also published Spawn.
Erik Larson created Highbrow Studios and quietly got on with writing Savage Dragon, pretty much by himself, just... Forever.
Jim Velento created Shadowline Inc. and published Shadow Hawk.

Jim Lee's Wildstorm Universe was always the biggest in terms of books published. Whilce Portacio's Wetworks is a part of that universe, but mabe if he'd launched the book when Image started instead of years later, it would have been under his own studio too. By the time Wetworks came out, it was clear that the WSU was the one that was going to last and have any consistency. Though Wetworks could have fit into Top Cow's universe too, since that had symbiotes and supernatural stuff too.

The WSU split off from the other Image books over time, finalized in the Splitting Image and Shattered Image crossover events.

 

[urbwar]

I remember Wildstorm crossing over with Heroes Reborn too. I remember seeing Spartan and a few others in one storyline. Maybe it was Heroes Return, but yeah, they were there.

I once had an idea to run an rpg adventure set in an alternate WSU called "A Lesser Authority", with Jenny Sparks recruiting other heroes for The Authority than the ones who ended up in it. I was going to use characters from Stormwatch, but I think Zealot was also going to be a member

 

[chuckdee]

I once had an idea to run an rpg adventure set in an alternate WSU called "A Lesser Authority", with Jenny Sparks recruiting other heroes for The Authority than the ones who ended up in it. I was going to use characters from Stormwatch, but I think Zealot was also going to be a member

We actually ran a campaign with that idea- had zero from the comics in it. We used Aberrant because that's what the GM wanted to use, but I really wanted to just use The Authority.

 

[urbwar]

We actually ran a campaign with that idea- had zero from the comics in it. We used Aberrant because that's what the GM wanted to use, but I really wanted to just use The Authority.

Yeah, I was going to use The Authority rpg for my idea. Not sure I would if I did it today, but at the time, that was the plan

 

[chuckdee]

Yeah, I was going to use The Authority rpg for my idea. Not sure I would if I did it today, but at the time, that was the plan

McKinnon aside, I really like the Tri Stat System.

 

[urbwar]

McKinnon aside, I really like the Tri Stat System.

Yeah. What's funny is I met him at Origins one year, when BESM 1st edition was out. He was pretty nice, and playing a couple of demos sold me on the game. I really want to pick up Absolute Power, but am waiting until I can get it second hand for a reasonable price.

As for Wildstorm itself: I picked up a lot of Image comics on the cheap once the market. I liked Stormwatch better than WILDcats myself, but it wasn't until later on that it got good (right before they started moving towards creating Authority). I liked Gen 13, Union and Monarchy too, as well as the Majestic solo comics. I kind of wish they'd do a Majestic movie, but I know they likely won't, given Superman is around.

 

[Chaotic Wooster]

Y'know, it was was finally spotting The Authority rpg and picking it up a couple of yours ago that spurred me on to re-collect the Wildstorm books. I'd hung on to very little, having moved a number of times between the early '00's and now. But a lot of the early Image-era stuff is still easy to get hold of. It's getting hold of the World's End titles that'll likely force me to order from U.S. stores and eat the major postage costs.

I remember Wildstorm crossing over with Heroes Reborn too. I remember seeing Spartan and a few others in one storyline. Maybe it was Heroes Return, but yeah, they were there.

I once had an idea to run an rpg adventure set in an alternate WSU called "A Lesser Authority", with Jenny Sparks recruiting other heroes for The Authority than the ones who ended up in it. I was going to use characters from Stormwatch, but I think Zealot was also going to be a member

I only read a couple of the Heroes Reborn issues, and don't recall any crossovers or cameos. Not saying they weren't there, just never noticed. I didn't read much of them.

We actually ran a campaign with that idea- had zero from the comics in it. We used Aberrant because that's what the GM wanted to use, but I really wanted to just use The Authority.

I've no idea if I'd use The Authority Tri-Stat, but I did consider using the WSU as a campaign setting. Once you brush off the other Image crossover elements, it's a more cohesive universe than Marvel or DC, being both younger and smaller overall. It also has distinct eras of play. Wildstorm Rising/Fire from Heaven/New Horizons for the Image books, Eye of the Storm/Coup D'etat/Armageddon/World's End for the DC published books.

Sure, some stuff just didn't work out or wouldn't be useful, but having a clear beginning and (open) ending makes it a tempting setting to play in. It's not top of my To-Ref' list though. I will get around to another superhero campaign in the next couple of years, because after horror it's a favourite genre of mine.

By then, I ought to have come close to collecting the comics, heh.

 

[Tulpa Girl]

I only read a couple of the Heroes Reborn issues, and don't recall any crossovers or cameos. Not saying they weren't there, just never noticed. I didn't read much of them.

It was a four-part storyline near the end of the HR run, with one issue in each title, before the Marvel characters got sent back to Earth-616. The heroes were part if a losing war effort fighting off a combined Skrull/Daemonite invasion. I think the main thing I remember from it was that in this reality Scarlet Witch had hooked up with Spartan.

 

[Chaotic Wooster]

It was a four-part storyline near the end of the HR run, with one issue in each title, before the Marvel characters got sent back to Earth-616. The heroes were part if a losing war effort fighting off a combined Skrull/Daemonite invasion. I think the main thing I remember from it was that in this reality Scarlet Witch had hooked up with Spartan.

Ah, that is definitely long after I stopped checking those books out. Scarlet Witch and Spartan? Ro-bro gets all the girls!

Only vaguely related, but I don't yet have the WildC.A.T.S/X-Men crossovers. Waiting for a bargain price on the set, hehe. But that had some fun Marvel/Wildstorm pairings. Zealot and Wolverine's golden age story looked fantastic (thank you Travis Charest), and I remember liking the pairing of Grifter and Marvel Girl for the silver age book.

 

[chuckdee]

I've no idea if I'd use The Authority Tri-Stat, but I did consider using the WSU as a campaign setting. Once you brush off the other Image crossover elements, it's a more cohesive universe than Marvel or DC, being both younger and smaller overall. It also has distinct eras of play. Wildstorm Rising/Fire from Heaven/New Horizons for the Image books, Eye of the Storm/Coup D'etat/Armageddon/World's End for the DC published books.

Sure, some stuff just didn't work out or wouldn't be useful, but having a clear beginning and (open) ending makes it a tempting setting to play in. It's not top of my To-Ref' list though. I will get around to another superhero campaign in the next couple of years, because after horror it's a favourite genre of mine.

The site for our campaign is here -

Wildstorms Reborn

Excuse the 90s design... I tried to get the GM to make it more modern, but that didn't go over well, so I just let them run with it and gave them the space.

 

[remial]

I think the main thing I remember from it was that in this reality Scarlet Witch had hooked up with Spartan.

so she has a type?