I made a post about my thoughts a little while back, but I’ve read a bit more (Wetworks #1 to Stormwatch #7 using the Weathering Wildstorm reading order) and boy, do we have a high high, middling middles and very low lows?
Wet Works… I wanted to like it so bad. It looked so cool. Golden symbiote armour clad military dudes fighting vampires? Sounds great, but it makes no sense, and it doesn’t do anything to make me care about anyone except Dane, who was in Team 7.
I realised today though that the symbiote the team wear is functionally useless. It can withstand a lot of force and makes the user functionally bulletproof, until they get hit by too many bullets across the body, which then begins to break through the barrier because the symbiote is spread too thin. Ok, makes sense. We need a weakness so they aren’t just godly. But then in issue 3, Flat Top and Crossbones are killed because turns out the vampires have psychic powers and can turn the symbiote into goo, allowing them to kill the user. The symbiote is worse than just going in with normal skin. It doesn’t seem to give advanced strength (at least from what I remember) it’s just durability. Punches and kicks are probably tougher, but I don’t get the point of it.
Other than that, the characters are all very weak. The idea of the blood queen sitting back and letting wet works sort out her problem for her is cool I guess. I like Portacio, his art is cool, but wet works is the weakest book so far.
What else… oh yeah Wildcats trilogy. Cool little Zealot focused mini. It was decent. In between issues Voodoo got a new suit which is suspiciously similar to Jean Grey’s 90’s suit. Also this is the second time Spartan has been completely destroyed.
Deathblow is burdened by sharing a book with Cybernary. Each issue is only around 10 pages so they have to try cramming stuff in. Overall though I like the idea of Cray resigning himself to death, whether that be by brain tumour or battle.
Stormwatch has been decent. I read the Stormwatch Special, which included two stories. The first has a really unintentionally funny page. Basically the team got to another dimension where Battalion shacks up with a princess. They find a portal to go back home, but Battalion puts an arm around his girl and is like “You’ll have to drag me through that portal kicking and screaming.” HE THROWS AWAY EVERYTHING IN HIS LIFE FOR A GIRL HE’S KNOWN FOR A DAY. How good was the night before? If she hadn’t been killed on the very next page, he would’ve abandoned his brother, mother and stormwatch for some alt dimension princess. The second story showed Diva’s origin story after she bumps into the singing coach she blinded as a child. It’s nice that they’re finally fleshing out the other members of Stormwatch one, but part of me wishes she got to make amends with the guy instead of running off. Fuji also got a throwaway narration box about his past as a sumo wrestler. Hellstrike straight up gets his head crushed during the Gamorra arc, and while I know from the Ellis run that he’s living energy and didn’t die, it’s weird that he just doesn’t show up again and no one seems the slightest bit concerned. Stormwatch Prime being saved was neat, but I don’t know where Sunburst came from. They made it seem before like the original team was just Battalion, Flashpoint, Nautika and Backlash. I hate Backlash for the shit he pulled in Team 7, but he’s sick design and power wise.
NOW WE GET TO THE DIAMOND IN THE ROUGH: UNION.
Holy shit Union was a breath of fresh air after Wetworks. In 5 issues (0-4) we get a well developed, sick looking hero, a whole bunch of history about his species, he finds love, he finds meaning, he makes allies, it’s great. The art was great too, and the covers were superb. Best believe I’m waiting with bated breath for vol 2. I believe Union joins Stormwatch at some point, so I’m psyched for that.
I’ll probably continue with the order tonight. Now I’m on the Wildcats x CyberForce crossover.
So I began my quest to read all of WildStorm recently, using the Weathering WildStorm guide.
So far I’ve read all 3 team 7 series’, issues 1-3 of Stormwatch plus the Urban Storm short story and issues 0-4 of WildC.A.Ts.
My thoughts so far are… god they’re so 90’s! Women breaking their back when they pose, guns like leaf blowers and costumes so overkill they can’t be take seriously at all.
But more seriously, I think what I’ve read so far has been entertaining, but there are a lot of obvious issues already. First off, very weak characterisation. Team 7 was good character wise imo, with each member getting their time to shine and give you an insight on their perspective and pasts. Stormwatch and WildCats tho are a whole other ballpark.
The women get it the worst. Void doesn’t do much in the first arc aside from spout prophecy and teleport. Voodoo is a prophecy piece and again, doesn’t do much other than be saved and save Maul. Zealot is probably the best so far because she kicks ass and doesn’t let anyone put her down, but still, she’s pretty scantily clad, but again, 90’s.
Stormwatch aside from Jackson get the short end of the stick too. They’re just introduced, you see them in fights and nothing else. I get that this was the 90’s and action was the seller, but would it kill to have them get a drink or something and let us learn more about these characters?
Overall tho I’m not hating WildStorm so far. The art is good, the stories are a good level of cheesy and can get laughs out of me, and I’m safe in the knowledge that it’ll get better soon. My favourite characters so far are Lynch from Team 7, Warblade from Wildcats and Christine from Stormwatch. I’m on vacation so I’ve taken a break from WildStorm, but best believe I’ll get right back in when I get back.
Charest was king of the hill
So I’m currently speeding my way through the last books in my physical comic collection, and my plan for after I finish up is to begin reading all of Wildstorm from 1992-2011. Every issue, every annual, every event.
I found a list on LOCG that gives a chronological order of every Wildstorm comic from 92-03, and they’re apparently compiling a part 2. I’ve had fun with a lot of Wildstorm titles, mainly Stormwatch, Authority and what I’ve read so far of Mr Majestic.
I kid you not, the first two issues of Mr Majestic by Casey and Holduin may be my favourite comics ever. I get emotional thinking of them cause they’re just that good.
So am I in for more bad than good? Will this be hellish or will I find a lot of hidden gems?