Pipeline #1072: The Wild Storm Returns
This New Wild StormIt would only make sense that after writing last week's review of the book that [...]
This New Wild Storm
It would only make sense that after writing last week's review of the book that celebrated WildStorm's 25th anniversary, I'd follow up this week with a review of Warren Ellis' rewrite of the universe.
The first trade of "The Wild Storm" is out now, collecting the first six issues of the series. This is Jim Lee handing Ellis the keys to his old universe and giving him carte blanche. In return, Ellis is taking a lot of the core characters and concepts and twisting them slightly around to feel more "relevant" or, at least, modern.
Change, Always Change
That was part of the attraction of the Image guys in the first place, wasn't it? They came into a Marvel that was still stuck in the old ways of thinking and doing things, and they questioned them. Splashier images, grittier characters, longer stories, pouches galore....
When they came up with Image, they challenged more assumptions, from coloring production to paper quality to creator ownership and more.
Now, it's on Ellis to update the story elements of Wildstorm, a universe which has suffered from too many attempts to rejuvenate it in the last 15 years. I'd almost want to argue that the Wildstorm Universe should have ended when Ellis last left it. Or, if you want to be generous, we'll let the Mark Millar run on "The Authority" stand. But once that and Joe Casey's run on "Wildcats" was over, I can't think of too many highlights.
So, here we have Ellis starting from scratch with just a bunch of legacy names and concepts. His job is to update them and add twists on all the classic characters from Wildstorm. This is the Ultimate Universe edition of Wildstorm.
For example, Halo Corp from Joe Casey's "Wildcats" is now Halolife, and is led by Jacob Marlowe (previously known as Lord Emp) as an Elon Musk type of character looking to change the world as fast as possible with advanced tech.
International Operations and StormWatch are both still things, but they're running on a very fragile treaty that this story is starting to break apart.
As someone who watched the Wildstorm Universe pop up in print in the early to mid-90s, the fun of this book is in recognizing characters from the past and remembering who they were and what they did. I particularly love that Savant is back for this book, though she has a new look and attitude now. (I loved the "Savant Garde" series that Ryan Odagawa drew from Barb Kesel's scripts.)
She's probably as deep as this first trade goes in mining the material. Most of the characters here were major stars of those early books, particularly from WildC.A.T.s and StormWatch. Voodoo, Void, Zealot, Grifter, Miles Craven, Deathblow, Emp, etc. There are lots of big names still unaccounted for, but Ellis has a two or three year plan. I'm sure we'll get to more of them.
I'm grateful to have remembered most everyone, and glad that Ellis is spinning it off its traditional center so much. There's a lot going on in this book, and I'll have to reread it before reading volume 2 later this year, but I think it'll be worth it.
Everyone in this book does talk like a Warren Ellis character, though. By the time the new Jenny Sparks shows up, it finally feels comfortable, but that's because it's how we expect her to talk. It's like a lot of the other people in the book are speaking with accents. That said, I wouldn't want Ellis to write any other way...
The Art of The Wild Storm
Jon Davis-Hunt brings a very naturalistic approach to the art. He's shooting for something more grounded and realistic in his character designs and storytelling. There are a lot of nine panel grids in this book, and his people dress like real people, where only hints of their old costumes and superheroic appearances show up.
I like his attention to background details. Those don't waver over these first six issues, including a few nice cityscapes in the first issue and some detailed rooms as the series goes on.
He also draws some great action sequences over the course of these first six issues. There's some imaginative angles and panel work at play. They're not splashy, but they do amplify the moments and present interesting angles on what's going on. I like them a lot.
To me, that's a big part of what the Wildstorm line of titles was all about. They had big splashy memorable action scenes, much like this book almost slips in. Seeing Grifter work with both guns blazing a la a Hong Kong action movie is cool.
There are occasional anatomy issues, with a head just a bit too small or large, or hands that attach oddly or are slightly out of scale. Those are minor issues, though.
Recommended?
Yes. Look, we're never going to have the confluence of events again that made the original Wildstorm Universe. This is still a project that exists in its own little pocket off to the side. I hope it's successful enough that DC sees it through to its planned completion. I think it deserves that much, at the least.
The trade edition has some sketchbook material in the back, along with a few text pages from Ellis laying out his angle on the series and how this relaunch of Wildstorm is going to proceed. Wait until after you've read the story to read that, but it'll give you a few good teases of things to look forward to.
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