Chaotic Wooster Remembers the Wildstorm Universe

[Chaotic Wooster]

If you ever do get around to reading the Heroes Reborn/Wildstorm crossover, I'll be curious as to your take on the alt-reality thay gets created there.

It wasn't on my intended buy/read list. I don't have any of it yet. Honestly, I'd forgotten all about it. But I might look for it once I've got more of the WS books I want.

I think this series portrays the main problem with a lot of the early Wildstorm stuff. The characters are portrayed as if they have a rich history, but to the readers, they don’t. There’s like an assumed weight that they’re meant to have, but they lack the familiarity of characters like the X-Men and they aren’t portrayed in a way that shows that weight.

They just want you to accept that these characters are badass and important, but they don’t put in any of the work.

Yeah. Marvel had 30+ years for establish it's heroes and villains before Wildstorm entered the field in the highly competitive boom/bust '90's. And it didn't get great writers working on it's books consistently until a few years after it was underway. I also expanded into a far bigger shared universe than Lee expected, as other creators seemed to want to add their work to his established setting rather than existing as floating parts of the Image non-universe.

All this means, a lot of characters weren't as strong as they could have been. The WildC.A.T.S were always archetypes rather than distinct characters until Alan Moore's run. The potential was there, but the stong storylines and character moments were not. And while a crossover with the X-Men seemed to make sense, it does highlight where the 'cats are too similiar to the X-Men, especially in this Modern Age storyline.

On top of that, they keep layering characters - introducing new characters that their established characters are in awe of or scared of, in order to make you get the unearned feeling that these are even better. It's a pyramid scheme.

Very much yes. Throw shit at the wall and see what sticks seemed to be the order of the day. Take Mr. Majestic, he first appears in an early WildC.A.T.S story, and is a mid-tier Superman clone. Later, he'd feature in the awesome "Majestic at the End of Time" spotlight by Alan Moore, get his time as the replacement team's powehouse, and no less than three volumes of his own book. "Majestic Class" became WS shorthand for top-tier superman-type. He completely overtook the place of Union, who was around far earlier but didn't catch on the same way, basically because Alan Moore got to nail Majestic's characterization and other writers, wisely, picked it up from there.

 

[Chaotic Wooster]

WildC.A.T.S/X-Men - The Dark Age
First Published: January '98

So here we are, the end of the crossover.

Drawing on events from WildC.A.T.S volume one, the Daemonites on Earth discover that their species long ago lost the war with Khera, and their homeworld was burned to a cinder. This drives them to vengeful madness, and they cease to possess human bodies, instead grafting their decaying alien forms onto Sentinel frames. so now they are all insane, fifteen feet tall murder-machines...

Finally, the Daemonites team up with something and win. Kinda. But yeah, by the distant future of 2019(?), the Daemonite-Sentinels have overrun the Earth. Not to rebuild, nor to launch a new campaign of war across the stars, just so they can torture and mutilate the survivors until there's no-one else left alive.

Boy, you can tell Warren Ellis wrote this...

So Professor X, Cyclops and most of the other X-Men are dead, or presumed so. Same goes for Spartan, Maul, and most of the Wildstorm heroes. The survivors are kept around for amusement. They have squirmy little parasites living in them that inhibit the powers of mutants and hybrids alike. They are kept in Manhattan, the heart of the D-S empire on Earth.

-

So this is fucking bleak. The art, accompanied by a lot of dark and ruined backgrounds, is Matt Broome making everyone look haunted, miserable and angry. The surviving heroes slink through the ruins of New York, trying to put in motion the only plan that might put an end to all this, while barely being able to co-operate with each other anymore. They're all so traumatized, bitter and miserable that you know early on they'd rather die fighting than go on living in this hell.

Did I mention Warren Ellis wrote this?

-

The plan, when it comes together, is for Emp to fatally stab Warblade (he's fine with this), killing the parasite, and giving Warblade enough time to surgically slice out everyone elses parasites. Then the remnants of both teams can free the handful of others being kept imprisoned for endless torture!

So the remaining X-Men are Kitty Pryde, Storm, Jean Grey and Cable. While the WildC.A.T.S are Savant, Zealot, Majestic, Emp and Voodoo. The rest of the plan? Psychically combine most of these heroes together, while the fighty types keep the D-S's off them long enough to find a point in time that will 100% ensure either the Daemonites or Sentinels never come to be. Then make sure that happens.

As it turns out the only truly viable option is to kill all the WildC.A.T.S, destroying the Kheran ship that first came to earth a thousand years before, erasing the WildC.A.T.S from the history of Earth. Majestic points out that the 'cats have always been soldiers and dying is part of the job. The rest agree and Emp's energy powers are channelled through time to do it.

We see the WildC.A.T.S team erased from history, the other stories in the mini-series removed, and the story ends happily, with the Marvel Universe seemingly restored. Wolverine and Kitty Pryde at Xavier's school.

OVERALL:
So this is a dark, dark final chapter. And Ellis gets to have his characters bicker, snipe, and generally be shitty to each other. But I feel like the world is so grim and hopeless there isn't much humour to be found in that.

I didn't mention it earlier, but Grifter and Wolverine are alive, slowly sneaking towards Manhattan so they can blow it up with a bomb. Their story cuts into the main one, but it's utterly inconsequential, and seems to only exist for Cash and Logan to get into a fight with the mutilated remnants of DV8/Gen 13/Gen-X and argue like an old married couple. They could be dropped entirely, except it's the '90's and Wolverine (to a lesser degree Grifter) has to be in everything!

Generally though, I like the story. I mostly wish that the Modern Age crossover led into this one. Since this miniseries took a full year from start to finish, I feel like it lost significance over time. Hell, despite having two alternate covers in the gallery at the end of the book, I don't believe either was ever released.

Still, while I debate that ALL the WildC.A.T.S count as soldiers willing to die (Voodoo and Savant specifically weren't warriors at all), the ending really works for me. I don't doubt for a second that Majestic would sacrifice himself to put a stop to the Daemonites, and I could see most of the other 'cats going along with that if they must.

I don't believe the TeamX/Team 7 crossover fits this timeline at all, but I'll give it a re-read at some point and see if it could fit.

 

[Tulpa Girl]

Still more optimistic than the Ruins mini-series Ellis did for Marvel.

 

[hawkeyefan]

Yeah, when Ellis goes dark, it can get pretty bleak. But the whole "awful future we need to prevent" is a staple for the X-Men, so I suppose it makes sense for this story.

 

[Chaotic Wooster]

Still more optimistic than the Ruins mini-series Ellis did for Marvel.

Somehow, yes... But that felt like misery tourism so completely, it's a farce. While this is more like him riffing on the crisis' the X-Men seemed to face every couple of years.

Yeah, when Ellis goes dark, it can get pretty bleak. But the whole "awful future we need to prevent" is a staple for the X-Men, so I suppose it makes sense for this story.

It absolutely is. And this is his take on it. In a way, I'm sort of pleased he wrote this, because he seems to like the WildC.A.T.S in the books he writes, and they come across pretty well in this. The X-Men don't really feel like the X-Men, because they're so lost and hopeless and so few in number.

I get the feeling his early drafts were worse. Knowing his style, and with what makes it into dialogue but not on-panel, I suspect a lot of the Daemonite-Sentinel's cruelty had to be only spoken of and not seen.

 

[Tulpa Girl]

Crossposting this from the DC Comics thread...

WildC.A.T.S #12 wraps up the current series. The Superman subplot from earlier in the series doesn't really go anywhere, and the Batman one only does so on a technicality via an appearance by the Justice League.. but the main storyline does conclude in a satisfying manner. Most of the characters are given a form of resolution, but are also left open enough that they can easily show back up in the future. A little uneven in spots, especially early on, but overall I'd say it was worth the ride.

Outsiders #1 is very much attempting to be Planetary for the DC universe, and completely leans into it. Besides having a female Drummer, the main plot of the first issue centers around the Carrier, there's a reference to Century Babies, and the last panel shows one of the characters holding what looks like the collected omnibus edition of the Ellis /Cassaday run of Planetary. Wasn't bad, but I don't know how I feel about this.

 

[hawkeyefan]

Edited: I put my reply in the other thread as it feels more related there.

Chaotic Wooster any chance you can get your thoughts on WS going again for this thread?

 

[Chaotic Wooster]

Crossposting this from the DC Comics thread...

WildC.A.T.S #12 wraps up the current series. The Superman subplot from earlier in the series doesn't really go anywhere, and the Batman one only does so on a technicality via an appearance by the Justice League.. but the main storyline does conclude in a satisfying manner. Most of the characters are given a form of resolution, but are also left open enough that they can easily show back up in the future. A little uneven in spots, especially early on, but overall I'd say it was worth the ride.

Outsiders #1 is very much attempting to be Planetary for the DC universe, and completely leans into it. Besides having a female Drummer, the main plot of the first issue centers around the Carrier, there's a reference to Century Babies, and the last panel shows one of the characters holding what looks like the collected omnibus edition of the Ellis /Cassaday run of Planetary. Wasn't bad, but I don't know how I feel about this.

I ultimately deciding against reading it. At least for now. I'm in the UK, so it's not like my purchase would count towards it's success or failure anyway, hehe. I'll still probably pick the trade up... Eventually. Finding the missing issues of the original stuff is more a priority for me.

Edited: I put my reply in the other thread as it feels more related there.

Chaotic Wooster any chance you can get your thoughts on WS going again for this thread?

Yes. I've been meaning to for a while.

Any requests?

 

[hawkeyefan]

Yes. I've been meaning to for a while.

Any requests?

The Images of Tomorrow stuff would be cool. Where they published issue 25 like a year ahead of schedule and then the issues worked their way up to that. I remember that being a cool gimmick that they actually incorporated into the story via time travel. I don't think that all the elements were really clear (like the Time Traveler guy... who the hell was he?), but it was really cool how they stuck to the events that transpired.

 

[Chaotic Wooster]

The Images of Tomorrow stuff would be cool. Where they published issue 25 like a year ahead of schedule and then the issues worked their way up to that. I remember that being a cool gimmick that they actually incorporated into the story via time travel. I don't think that all the elements were really clear (like the Time Traveler guy... who the hell was he?), but it was really cool how they stuck to the events that transpired.

The only Images of Tomorrow issue specifically set in the Wildstorm Universe was Stormwatch. The other three were Brigade, Bloodstrike and Supreme, which were all Liefield titles. Honestly, I'm not sure why Stormwatch was tied in with those in any way...

I have the Stormwatch one though, I'll dig it out.

 

[hawkeyefan]

The only Images of Tomorrow issue specifically set in the Wildstorm Universe was Stormwatch. The other three were Brigade, Bloodstrike and Supreme, which were all Liefield titles. Honestly, I'm not sure why Stormwatch was tied in with those in any way...

I have the Stormwatch one though, I'll dig it out.

Yeah, I only meant that era of Stormwatch. I have no interest in the Liefield books, other than if they actually made it to the flash forward book. I feel like some didn’t, but since I’d dropped all those books at that point, I’m just going off memory.

 

[Chaotic Wooster]

The two squabbling time traveller's you're on about are Traveller and Timespan. Traveller was the chick in purple with the silly helmet, Timespan was the dork in gold. They both appeared just a couple of times in the early WSU books. They both seemed concerned with preserving the timeline, but differed on which version of it was better.

 

[Chaotic Wooster]

WHAT'S THE WILDSTORM UNIVERSE?:
Created by Jim Lee when he left Marvel Comics for the greener pastures of the Image Comics, which he co-founded. Each co-founder established their own studio and their own titles. Jim Lee's Wildstorm universe was created in collaberation with writer Brandon Choi, and later expanded on by many other creative hands.

Wildstorm had a strong foundation, with most of it's titles tied to the secretive I.O. agency, and to it's special operations force Team 7. This history would be revealed over time, with the men (and their children) of that ill-fated team involved in all the key events of Wildstorm's early years.

IN CASE YOU'RE JUST JOINING US...:
Stormwatch was one of the two "core" Wildstorm titles, though never as prominent as WildC.A.T.S. It tells the story of an international team of U.N. sanctioned superhumans and their overseer The Weatherman.

STORMWATCH #25
First Published: May '94, but dated as June '95.



Stormwatch #25 was part of a company-wide concept, where we saw one year into the future of four different books. Rob Liefeld's Bloodstrike, Brigade and Supreme, and Jim Lee's Stormwatch. Guess which one actually got to issue #25? Trick question, astonishingly, Supreme did actually get that far and went on a lot longer too! Even more astonishingly, the notoriously late shipping of Image titles didn't affect Stormwatch. Issue #26 actually did come out more or less when issue #25 promised it would, a year beforehand.

Stormwatch had primarily dealt with villain-of-the-week foes and the ongoing threat of The Mercs, a superhuman terrorist team, the leader of whom (Deathtrap) has a hell of a grudge against the leader of Stormwatch (Jackson King, Battalion). However, at the end of issue #9, Battallion is whisked into the future by a mysterious time traveller (Timespan).

-

We begin with Timespan being evasive about his reasons and Battalion quickly fed up with being jerked around. They witness the immense Skywatch space station plummet from orbit and crash into Death Valley. Battalion ditches Timespan and charges towards the crash site to search for survivors.

He sees the Stormwatch team survived, only it's not the team he knows. Familiar faces replaced by newcomers, and they are horrified to see him since the Battalion they know is months dead! Timespan floats down to explain he brought the Battalion of the past here, now, to help them. They find the new team leader, Spartan! Yep, the robot field leader of the WildC.A.T.S.

Battalion takes a look at the sorry state of the team and at the screwed-up Spartan they're following, correctly guessing things have been going badly for some time. Spartan's priority was to build mental dampers, which he quickly hands out. He's able to console Battalion that his other self died in the line of duty, then he shuts down. Synergy and Battalion bicker, with him still being slow on the catch-up. She's Weatherman now, and she's in charge, and she says they've gotta get away from the crash site. Battalion demands answers, mostly about where the rest of Stormwatch are! Told you he was slow.

Then the Warguard dive in for the attack! The Warguard were the team that pre-date Stormwatch, given immense powers by a comet, but driven to madness by what they had become. They were kept cryogenically frozen in case of dire need, included among them was Jackson's own father. Stormwatch and the Warguard clash over a few pages of action.

Battalion is frustrated that despite him seeming to know exactly what's going on, exactly what's at stake, Timespan won't lift a finger to help. Then, Battalion comes face to face with... Strafe. His younger brother (Malcolm King), who he tried so desparately to keep away from the dangers of Stormwatch. Believing Malcolm to be possessed by a Daemonite, Battalion tries to subdue him, but his brother continues to taunt him until he's knocked out.

Then Despot (Isaiah King) makes his presence known. The immensely powerful psychic madman, leader of the Warguard, father of Jackson and Malcolm, and would-be tyrant. He's free of his supposedly inescapable prison, and is accompanied by the mutilated half-living body of Diva, one of Battalion's loyal Stormwatch team members. Despot speaks through her, trying to win Battalion over to his side. He points to the corruption of those they followed, and of the bigotry they faced as a black family trying to live a peaceful life in the South.

Despot tries to prove his point by gruesomely tearing Diva in two, finally letting her die. He says that turning everyone into mindless puppets will free them of fear and hate. But Battalion isn't having any of it. He knows his father has become inhuman and monstrous. When reason fails, Despot attempts to overtake his son's mind completely. While Jackson tries to find some emotional good in his father while they are still connected, but there's nothing.

-

Then Battalion is gone, whisked back to his own time, and Despot furiously blames Timespan. He's correct, Timespan engineered this entire scheme, but Despot can't figure out why. Timespan insists it isn't the change what has happened/will happen. Despot suspects he is simply tormenting Battalion for some reason of his own. Timespan simply fades away, saying he got what he wanted.

Though frustrated, Despot has a world to take over, and turns his attention to that...

Only to be sent flying and struck down by an immensely powerful energy blast from a newly arrived and shadowed figure. The attacker's identity remains a mystery, but his words are; "You may have beaten Battalion, but you don't stand a chance against me, old man."

To Be Continued in Stormwatch #26 on sale July 1995

OVERALL:

Okay, so, it's a busy issue with a lot going on and very little explained. I can't really criticize that, given the gimmick involved. However... The art (by Scott Clark and Trevor Scott) is only average for the era. Not good, not bad, just passable. Given how significant this issue was supposed to be, I expected something flashier. Given how momentous these events are, they lack the impact it needs. The writing (by Steven T. Seagle) likewise lacks the weight to really draw you in. Sure, it's functional. But that's it. I get that they can't reveal too much, and had to hedge bets against possibly changes between issue #25 and issue #26, but it's still weak.

Weaker, in fact, than it's repercussions would be. The emergence of Despot would take place after the big crossover "Wildstorm Rising" that would finally see the WildC.A.T.S and Stormwatch tangle and team-up for the first time. Spartan would indeed become field leader of Stormwatch, Battalion would die, etc. They would follow up on Battalion's awareness of the dark future to come throughout the next year, and he agonizes over what to do about Diva in particular. Most of his Stormwatch operatives are supposed to die, but her fate is worse than anyones. (Way back up thread, I did say she'd not last long enough to change from her skimpy swimsuit look... This is why).

So the issue itself is a little weak, but they made the gimmick work! It was published between issues #9 and #10, and it fits pretty tidily into it's correct numerical spot.

As part of the ongoing story that is another-day-in-the-miserable-life of Jackson King, it pays off. I just wish it could've been stronger in it's own right. But in the Image era of endless delays, missed opportunities, cancelled titles, etc. Stormwatch promised and delivered. We just had to wait a year to see it.

 

[urbwar]

speaking of Wildstorm....

There's a big DC sale on Comixology, which includes alot of the Wildstorm stuff. I snagged the first trade of Stormwatch (I Had the second already), and some of the Authority/Kev stuff (as I have most of the Authority regular titles, except for World's End and the Lost Year).

 

[chuckdee]

speaking of Wildstorm....

There's a big DC sale on Comixology, which includes alot of the Wildstorm stuff. I snagged the first trade of Stormwatch (I Had the second already), and some of the Authority/Kev stuff (as I have most of the Authority regular titles, except for World's End and the Lost Year).

Argh! Thanks ... maybe. I just spent $50 on books. Grrr. But they were priced so well!

 

[hawkeyefan]

WHAT'S THE WILDSTORM UNIVERSE?:
Created by Jim Lee when he left Marvel Comics for the greener pastures of the Image Comics, which he co-founded. Each co-founder established their own studio and their own titles. Jim Lee's Wildstorm universe was created in collaberation with writer Brandon Choi, and later expanded on by many other creative hands.

Wildstorm had a strong foundation, with most of it's titles tied to the secretive I.O. agency, and to it's special operations force Team 7. This history would be revealed over time, with the men (and their children) of that ill-fated team involved in all the key events of Wildstorm's early years.

IN CASE YOU'RE JUST JOINING US...:
Stormwatch was one of the two "core" Wildstorm titles, though never as prominent as WildC.A.T.S. It tells the story of an international team of U.N. sanctioned superhumans and their overseer The Weatherman.

STORMWATCH #25
First Published: May '94, but dated as June '95.

View attachment 71758

Stormwatch #25 was part of a company-wide concept, where we saw one year into the future of four different books. Rob Liefeld's Bloodstrike, Brigade and Supreme, and Jim Lee's Stormwatch. Guess which one actually got to issue #25? Trick question, astonishingly, Supreme did actually get that far and went on a lot longer too! Even more astonishingly, the notoriously late shipping of Image titles didn't affect Stormwatch. Issue #26 actually did come out more or less when issue #25 promised it would, a year beforehand.

Stormwatch had primarily dealt with villain-of-the-week foes and the ongoing threat of The Mercs, a superhuman terrorist team, the leader of whom (Deathtrap) has a hell of a grudge against the leader of Stormwatch (Jackson King, Battalion). However, at the end of issue #9, Battallion is whisked into the future by a mysterious time traveller (Timespan).

-

We begin with Timespan being evasive about his reasons and Battalion quickly fed up with being jerked around. They witness the immense Skywatch space station plummet from orbit and crash into Death Valley. Battalion ditches Timespan and charges towards the crash site to search for survivors.

He sees the Stormwatch team survived, only it's not the team he knows. Familiar faces replaced by newcomers, and they are horrified to see him since the Battalion they know is months dead! Timespan floats down to explain he brought the Battalion of the past here, now, to help them. They find the new team leader, Spartan! Yep, the robot field leader of the WildC.A.T.S.

Battalion takes a look at the sorry state of the team and at the screwed-up Spartan they're following, correctly guessing things have been going badly for some time. Spartan's priority was to build mental dampers, which he quickly hands out. He's able to console Battalion that his other self died in the line of duty, then he shuts down. Synergy and Battalion bicker, with him still being slow on the catch-up. She's Weatherman now, and she's in charge, and she says they've gotta get away from the crash site. Battalion demands answers, mostly about where the rest of Stormwatch are! Told you he was slow.

Then the Warguard dive in for the attack! The Warguard were the team that pre-date Stormwatch, given immense powers by a comet, but driven to madness by what they had become. They were kept cryogenically frozen in case of dire need, included among them was Jackson's own father. Stormwatch and the Warguard clash over a few pages of action.

Battalion is frustrated that despite him seeming to know exactly what's going on, exactly what's at stake, Timespan won't lift a finger to help. Then, Battalion comes face to face with... Strafe. His younger brother (Malcolm King), who he tried so desparately to keep away from the dangers of Stormwatch. Believing Malcolm to be possessed by a Daemonite, Battalion tries to subdue him, but his brother continues to taunt him until he's knocked out.

Then Despot (Isaiah King) makes his presence known. The immensely powerful psychic madman, leader of the Warguard, father of Jackson and Malcolm, and would-be tyrant. He's free of his supposedly inescapable prison, and is accompanied by the mutilated half-living body of Diva, one of Battalion's loyal Stormwatch team members. Despot speaks through her, trying to win Battalion over to his side. He points to the corruption of those they followed, and of the bigotry they faced as a black family trying to live a peaceful life in the South.

Despot tries to prove his point by gruesomely tearing Diva in two, finally letting her die. He says that turning everyone into mindless puppets will free them of fear and hate. But Battalion isn't having any of it. He knows his father has become inhuman and monstrous. When reason fails, Despot attempts to overtake his son's mind completely. While Jackson tries to find some emotional good in his father while they are still connected, but there's nothing.

-

Then Battalion is gone, whisked back to his own time, and Despot furiously blames Timespan. He's correct, Timespan engineered this entire scheme, but Despot can't figure out why. Timespan insists it isn't the change what has happened/will happen. Despot suspects he is simply tormenting Battalion for some reason of his own. Timespan simply fades away, saying he got what he wanted.

Though frustrated, Despot has a world to take over, and turns his attention to that...

Only to be sent flying and struck down by an immensely powerful energy blast from a newly arrived and shadowed figure. The attacker's identity remains a mystery, but his words are; "You may have beaten Battalion, but you don't stand a chance against me, old man."

To Be Continued in Stormwatch #26 on sale July 1995

OVERALL:

Okay, so, it's a busy issue with a lot going on and very little explained. I can't really criticize that, given the gimmick involved. However... The art (by Scott Clark and Trevor Scott) is only average for the era. Not good, not bad, just passable. Given how significant this issue was supposed to be, I expected something flashier. Given how momentous these events are, they lack the impact it needs. The writing (by Steven T. Seagle) likewise lacks the weight to really draw you in. Sure, it's functional. But that's it. I get that they can't reveal too much, and had to hedge bets against possibly changes between issue #25 and issue #26, but it's still weak.

Weaker, in fact, than it's repercussions would be. The emergence of Despot would take place after the big crossover "Wildstorm Rising" that would finally see the WildC.A.T.S and Stormwatch tangle and team-up for the first time. Spartan would indeed become field leader of Stormwatch, Battalion would die, etc. They would follow up on Battalion's awareness of the dark future to come throughout the next year, and he agonizes over what to do about Diva in particular. Most of his Stormwatch operatives are supposed to die, but her fate is worse than anyones. (Way back up thread, I did say she'd not last long enough to change from her skimpy swimsuit look... This is why).

So the issue itself is a little weak, but they made the gimmick work! It was published between issues #9 and #10, and it fits pretty tidily into it's correct numerical spot.

As part of the ongoing story that is another-day-in-the-miserable-life of Jackson King, it pays off. I just wish it could've been stronger in it's own right. But in the Image era of endless delays, missed opportunities, cancelled titles, etc. Stormwatch promised and delivered. We just had to wait a year to see it.

I feel like the most impressive thing about this storyline was the gimmick in its execution. It made reading the issues that came out after the jump ahead to 25… issues 10-24… more dynamic.

Like without the tension that glimpse of the future created, the comic was mediocre at best. As you’ve pointed out, with the exception of Battalion, the majority of the characters were really shallow and one-note. Some of that would change once Battalion “died” (issue 16, I think?), especially for Synergy.

It’s not a gimmick I can really recall that’s been tried again. I’m curious if someone could do something more with it these days.

I remember issue 26 wrapping up most of the dangling threads. Though I don’t remember Timespan’s story ever really being satisfactorily resolved. Although it may have been… the issues that followed were below the standard that had been set so far, so I may have simply forgotten the stuff prior to issue 37.

Thinking about it now, and looking at your earlier recaps, it seems like Jim Lee and his team wanted very much to be working with an established lore. Like they took the storytelling from existing books with decades of history to draw upon, and then approached this new universe with that style in mind. Context is just assumed. These Merc guys are bad, this Timespan guy wants to preserve the timestream because of course he does.

I think that’s a big part of what made issue 37 and Ellis’s arrival so interesting. He clearly had new ideas, new takes, that weren’t just rehashed X-Men stories. That’s how it seems now, anyway.

 

[urbwar]

Argh! Thanks ... maybe. I just spent $50 on books. Grrr. But they were priced so well!

One of the Gen 13 series I don't have is priced at .99 per issue, so about 30+ for the whole series. I was tempted, but as I just bought tickets for two comedy shows and a concert next year (t around 500 or so dollars), the 20 or so I spent on comics was my limit this time around

 

[chuckdee]

One of the Gen 13 series I don't have is priced at .99 per issue, so about 30+ for the whole series. I was tempted, but as I just bought tickets for two comedy shows and a concert next year (t around 500 or so dollars), the 20 or so I spent on comics was my limit this time around

Yeah, I just got the ones where the collected TPBs were going for $1.99 or $2.99. But that's a lot of series!

 

[urbwar]

Yeah, I just got the ones where the collected TPBs were going for $1.99 or $2.99. But that's a lot of series!

It definitely is!

 

[Chaotic Wooster]

WHAT'S THE WILDSTORM UNIVERSE?:
Created by Jim Lee when he left Marvel Comics for the greener pastures of the Image Comics, which he co-founded. Each co-founder established their own studio and their own titles. Jim Lee's Wildstorm universe was created in collaberation with writer Brandon Choi, and later expanded on by many other creative hands.

Wildstorm had a strong foundation, with most of it's titles tied to the secretive I.O. agency, and to it's special operations force Team 7. This history would be revealed over time, with the men (and their children) of that ill-fated team involved in all the key events of Wildstorm's early years.

IN CASE YOU'RE JUST JOINING US...:
The WildC.A.T.S liberated the nation of Yurgovia, supposedly killing Destine, the Coda Assassin running the nation... Guess it didn't take, because the bitch is back!

VOODOO / ZEALOT: SKIN TRADE
First Published: August '95.



I've previously mentioned Skin Trade as the low bar by which all other Wildstorm books can be favourably compared. And finally, I'm bored enough to expand on that. This book is wretched! I'll save the discussion after going over the events quickly.

-

Zealot is showing off her ass while beating up Voodoo and calling it training. To recap, Zealot is the 1,000 year old genetically perfect warrior woman from space, Voodoo is a stripper. So the rest of the 'Cats chew out Zealot for being shitty, she storms off. She is confronted by Providence, the spooky kid with psychic powers, formerly employed by the WildC.A.T.S. enemies, The Cabal, but now seemingly a free agent.

Providence says that Zealot's hitherto unknown child is in Yurgovia, and needs saving. So Zealot drags Voodoo along on this rescue mission. Providence is lying, though I don't know why. Destine has survived being shot to death and is trying to retake the country. She's also trying to start a new cult of Coda Assassins, and having the country's young girls kidnapped to do it. Providence is rather opposed to other kids being used this way, and somehow... Feels like she had to lie to the WildC.A.T.S. to get them to go back in and kick Destine's head in again.

The bulk of the issue is an attempt by Destine to capture a bunch of kids being taken out of the country, while Zealot and Voodoo try to save them. Destine's also, somehow, got one of those orb fragments that seemingly litter the Wildstorm Universe. Zealot destroys it and Destine with it, which pisses off Providence. She and the WildC.A.T.S' member Void are both made up of the energy of these orbs, so it probably isn't great for either of them to destroy it. Though for once Void doesn't have one of her useless prophetic dreams to alert anyone else on the team.

Zealot challenges Providence about using this notion of her lost child, since none of the refugee children are half-alien, and Providence says that her missing kid is right there with them. Stormwatch had just arrived to save the kids, and Zealot sees Winter, who shares her white hair.

There's some wrap-up short stories about Zealot and Voodoo going to Greece for a holiday. That's the cover the used when going to Yurgovia, so might as well enjoy some actual downtime. Another sees Zealot testing Voodoo further by ambushing her to see if she will respond with her training or not. Meh.

OVERALL:

Okay, let's rip this to shreds.

Firstly, it's barely a story, and it's mostly pin-up art aseembled to vaguely flow like a story. I'm not kidding. And I don't mind some cheesecake in my comics, but this is both lazy and suffers from rapidly declining quality as it goes along. For a book that includes discussion of sexual assault and child slavery, it's exploitative and sleazy to the point it cannot possibly be taken seriously.



it was written by Steven T. Seagle (creator of Ben 10), pencilled by Michael Lopez and inked by no less than 8 different inkers! And if you ever wondered how much difference inking makes to comic art, Skin Trade is all the evidence you need. The ink and colour is hilariously inconsistent, but then again so is the art. Baroness Destine doesn't look anything like she did previously, and the child we're led to believe is Zealot's because of her white hair... Is shown to have black hair throughout! Talk about quality control.

There is no doubt in my mind that this is a 'Greg Land Special'. For the uninitiated that's a comic where the female characters were traced from porn. Land is notorious for this shortcut, and I challenge anyone to read this book and not think the same trick was used here. Again, I'm not against sexy comics, sleazy comics, etc. But this book... Fuck.



The truly annoying thing about Skin Trade is that it isn't entirely a throwaway book. It's not a 'Gen 13 and whichever Marvel team they join up with this month' one-shot. It is tied into events of WildC.A.T.S Special #1 and issues #10-13. It also leads us to think there'll be a book called WildC.A.T.S: Ground Zero, that presumably would be built on story points from this and Special #1, but Ground Zero never happened.

I haven't mentioned much about Winter yet, but for many Stormwatch fans, he's sort of a sleeper favourite. He began as stereotypical Russian guy, but his powers to absorb and then manipulate energy where actually used pretty well. And as the title went on, Winter was one of the original Stormwatch heroes who got to stick around and show some character growth. His being half-Kheran is easy enough to accept, since Zealot did have a(t least one) child with a human father and did give that child to a Russian couple. It's just weird that no-one in Stormwatch ever picked up on it. The rest are given powers by genetic changes casued by a passing comet, and all require activation. He's a hybrid... So... Uh, didn't anyone ever wonder?

This is not a good book. It's not even good enough to be a bad book. It's truly awful. Poorly-scripted exploitative junk, and it doesn't even have the good sense to go with the sleaziness and be fun! Other Wildstorm books will be more boring or even more meaningless than Skin Trade, but none of them will be as tone deaf or as miserable a read. The story is bad, the art rapidly declines from okay-but-embarressing to total shit. And yet, this crap pile still ties into the overall events of the Wildstorm Universe's ongoing events.



My last thought is just how radical a change Wildstorm's female characters would go through in a very short space of time. We go from Skin Trade's eye-candy mudwrestling to far, far better portrayals in Wildcats Volume 2, Stormwatch Volume 2, The Authority, etc. Hell, even Gen 13 quit being cheesecake.

 

[Chaotic Wooster]

I feel like the most impressive thing about this storyline was the gimmick in its execution. It made reading the issues that came out after the jump ahead to 25… issues 10-24… more dynamic.

Like without the tension that glimpse of the future created, the comic was mediocre at best. As you’ve pointed out, with the exception of Battalion, the majority of the characters were really shallow and one-note. Some of that would change once Battalion “died” (issue 16, I think?), especially for Synergy.

It’s not a gimmick I can really recall that’s been tried again. I’m curious if someone could do something more with it these days.

I remember issue 26 wrapping up most of the dangling threads. Though I don’t remember Timespan’s story ever really being satisfactorily resolved. Although it may have been… the issues that followed were below the standard that had been set so far, so I may have simply forgotten the stuff prior to issue 37.

Thinking about it now, and looking at your earlier recaps, it seems like Jim Lee and his team wanted very much to be working with an established lore. Like they took the storytelling from existing books with decades of history to draw upon, and then approached this new universe with that style in mind. Context is just assumed. These Merc guys are bad, this Timespan guy wants to preserve the timestream because of course he does.

I think that’s a big part of what made issue 37 and Ellis’s arrival so interesting. He clearly had new ideas, new takes, that weren’t just rehashed X-Men stories. That’s how it seems now, anyway.

I can't immediately think of any other publisher doing an Images of the Future type gimmick like this, and these days it'd be pointless. How many creative teams or titles even last long enough to allow for it? Hell, Stormwatch was the ONLY book to reach the promised issue and actually do anything with it. Supreme DID last long enough, but just shrugged off the gimmick book.

I'm still unsure if Timespan actually belonged to the WSU proper or not. Honestly, the amount of forgetable/disposable Image characters from these early years is staggering. Who knows if he belonged to Wildstorm, Extreme or one of the other studios. They might as well have used a Providence, Doctor Who or a time-travelling cheese sandwich for all the difference it made.

I think Lee knew the type of books he wanted to work on. Choi knew he wanted to come up with a cohesive continuity from the start. It's the one positive of starting your own comic book universe after the Silver Age, right? You get to create the continuity, the history, the timeline and how all the characters interconnect. Sadly, Lee was slow getting his art out and Choi wasn't good at actually plotting or writing...

Ellis' highjacking of the WSU, making HIS Stormwatch, Authority and Planetary the new core, pretty much wipes all Choi's work out. Maybe not explicitly, but simply by never referring to any of it again.

 

[Tulpa Girl]

Huh, I never knew Winter had appeared prior to Stormwatch.