Legion World Forums LEGION COMPANION Dr. Gym'll's Cultural Rarities Stormwatch

The Wildstorm universe recently got a reboot relaunching many of their titles. Unlike Crisis the changes were in the universe were mild. Some little retcon here or there.

Well three former dead SW members came back this issue. Hellstrike and Fuji!!! They don't know who brought them back someone who bent time/space.

They show the Anti-Monitor in shadows!?!?! whoa!

UJ, you're my hero!

This is a great book on it's own, and with the recent hints between here and ION, folks should be giving the Wildstorm books more than a glance.

lol, thanks CJ. I've always liked the Wildstorm stuff. Love the new stuff as well. It's a great universe.

Bump for the new issue out this week. Gage is really building the WildStorm universe to be something wild and exciting again.

Just put the first trade on my order list with DCBS based on CJ's enthusiasm.

Latest issue rocked! The naked girl! The villains attacking the police hq! cool villains btw! The traitor? Oh and the cops seems like they are going to kick tail.

What did you think UJ? John and his Boys Blue showed Defile why you don't mess with guys with guns. I liked how the PHD each used their own special talents to extricate themselves from their situation.

And Jackson King's manipulation of Farenheit is exactly what makes the WSU different from the DCU. And why I enjoy it.

And now- Stormwatch Prime!

CJ, i loved the latest issue. Some good old fashioned comic book superhero violence. It was pretty action packed.

You think Farenheit bought the lie that she was being brainwashed? Yeah if that was a DC or Marvel book it would've been a huge deal. PHD forgives(/manipulates) their traitor members.

Can't wait for next issue. Fuji and Winter are the guys I think about when I think of SW. (it's winter right?)

Yeah, Farenhiet has that naive superhero idolization thing still. Her freakout over Paris' past was a bit much.

Never been a big Fuji fan, but Winter has to be my favourite WSU character. Throw in Hellstrike, and these three can take on DC's Trinity.

To show you how much I know of Stormwatch...I get Winter and Hellstrike confused. Hellstrike is the one I meant. The guy that glows blue energy.

I also never was a big fan of Fuji but he ain't bad. He's no Blok though.

I loved the old Brian Hitch Stromwatch and got all their trade paperbacks. The last one had just about everyone die in the "Aliens" crossover.

So, today, I picked up issue # 8 of the new Stormwatch book and all the people who died in the old series are right here. I haven't gotten issues 1 - 7 so I have no idea if this was explained. Can anyone enlighten me?

Thanks!

I dredged this up from wikipedia:

"Several dead characters are back for this series, thanks to the events of Captain Atom: Armageddon, in which the Wildstorm universe underwent a "soft reboot" with minor changes in continuity. In this new series, Stormwatch has been reconstituted as the UN's superteam, but a branch office has been set up in New York. Entitled Stormwatch: P.H.D. (Post Human Division), they are underfunded and overworked, their mission is to find "cost-effective" methods of saving the day. The series follows the branch office as their leader, former Weatherman Jackson King, tries to defeat superhuman menaces and balance the tight budget. The team consists of King, NYPD officer John Doran, a depowered Fahrenheit, a former Stormforce soldier codenamed Paris, a master manipulator and former moll to supervillains called Gorgeous, a former sorcerer's apprentice named Black Betty, a shape-shifting ex-supervillain and forensics expert named Dr. Mordecai Shaw a.k.a the Monstrosity, and an ex-supervillain and technology expert called the Machinist.

The comics are being collected into trade paperbacks:

* Volume 1 (160 pages, July 2007, ISBN 1401215009)"

Think I'll get the trade too. Looked up some reviews to answer Hunt Drouin's question on the new Stormwatch and found many glowing recommendations. Apart from Sleeper, I had found the old Wildstorm universe kind of bogging down story-wise.

Thanks Cramer!

Hunt, it's a pretty good series. There was even a DC Monitor involved. So Wildstorm is one of the 52 worlds of DC.

Cool. I think I'll pick up the TPB when it's at my shop.

STORMWATCH # 1

There is a WHOLE lot going on in this book!

I tried to get into THE AUTHORITY once apon a time... came into the book late, got a couple of issues and had NO idea what was going on or who anyone was.

This issue does not have that problem... intros, roles and such are done rather clearly.

I find it rather weird that there is a team that sort-of outranks the Justice League. I'm not sure how well this is going to go over in the DCU as a whole.

For what it is worth, I enjoyed this issue more than JL # 1. The threat is looking like something out of Morrison's JLA.

Artwork reminds me of Mike McKone.

Looks like I'm getting # 2...

There are a lot of characters here and not a lot of explanation about what's going on. There was some exposition, but I still found myself unclear about the dialogue at the beginning and who a lot of these people were. I wonder if DC thinks of Stormwatch as a much larger "Challengers of the Unknown" type of book - it's part of the DCU, but mostly operates outside of it. None of the characters so far seem interesting to me as there wasn't much room to get to know any of them in any way.

I might get #2, but if it seems like they're going to be too focused on fighting the moon as opposed to exploring character, then I won't be back.

I'm on board for issue #2... I did feel to an extent as though I was joining a show already in progress, but that sense seemed to go well with the mysterious nature of the team... looking forward to seeing the relationship develop between Midnighter and Apollo...

Until now I have only had the briefest, most passing familiarity with Stormwatch. I’d read some of the original Warren Ellis issues prior to the series becoming the Authority but besides that, I only know them from articles and interviews. For some reason though I was curious about how they’d play into the new DCU, which was probably helped by wanting to see Martian Manhunter’s role, as well as a long time curiosity about Jack Hawksmoor, the Engineer, Apollo & Midnighter. So in an usual turn of events with the DC 52 for me, I’m actually a brand new reader for one of these series.

With very low expectations, I have to say that I found the first issue of the new series to be quite interesting! There was certainly an edge to it and a complexity (in terms of plot, as well as character motivations) that differentiated it from everything else DC is putting out thus far. The characters are all distinct and interesting in their own way, even if one or two of them left me scratching my head about who the hell they are (just who is that Adam dude?). I know some reviewers online gave it more negative reviews, feeling it was a DC-watered down version of the Stormwatch that fans grew to love in the late 90’s; but I thought it did a good job about maintaining a hard “we’re not superheroes” edge since it obviously will not head into the Authority territory (that shit just won’t happen in a universe with Superman and Batman).

Paul Cornell is a writer who, quite honestly, I’ve found very disappointing this last few months. Like Tony Daniel on Detective Comics, he seems to have really stepped his game up here. He paced it perfectly well so each sequence kept me interested in what is happening next and he gave each character a distinct voice. The “evil moon” idea is also very grandiose and over the top which fits into what I was hoping for with this title.

Miguel Sepulveda does a fantastic job on the art as well. The story has a darker tone to help separate it from ‘superhero’ comics but the tone is taken too far afield. He also draws an eerie Martian Manhunter that makes me want to see more of what J’onn will be like here. And perhaps the creepiest thing in comics—Jack Hawksmoor’s weird ass feet (and now hands)—remains as creepy as I remember it.

The curiosity I’ve felt for some of the characters is only more heightened so Cornell did his job in that respect. I’m wondering if the Eminence of Blades was a character prior to this if he was introduced here for the first time?

I also enjoyed the connection to Demon Knights being established immensely. It’s a brief, easter egg continuity moment and that is how I feel all continuity should be for the DCnU for its first 12 months. I see some strong similarities between this new Stormwatch and Marvel’s recent SHIELD in terms of their long history over past centuries and that’s a positive.

Cobie Comparison: Did I enjoy it more than Justice League #1? Yes, I did a bit. It didn’t blow JL out of the water like Action Comics did, but I liked it more.

I really liked Stormwatch #2. The over-the-top ideas and personalities are all very exciting and have me curious to learn more about them. I’m so curious as to whether Adam and Harry are brand new characters. I’ve never heard of either before.

Martian Manhunter is done very well and Cornell wisely gives us only teases of his awesomeness. It’s well played, as is his teases towards the Apollo / Midnighter romance for fans that are dying to see that develop.

Michael Sepulveda & Al Barrioneuevo are really impressive here as well. I could almost sense a George Perez 1980’s influence in the composition and that was a very welcome feeling. The scenes were characters are just talking to each other felt exciting and full of tension, which is largely due to the fine delivery here.

Wow! I loved issue #1 & issue #2 was 100 times better! Great book!!

hmm Issue #3 was pretty allright but as someone who used to follow the Authority ... I think it's been done before in the Authority but bigger and better. and that was many years ago.

What the Authority did (IMHO) was pushed the boundaries. and Stormwatch is not pushin' nuthin' (IMHO)

(Not to mention Squadron Supreme, and Marvel's Ultimates)

Everything is pretty well done, but i find the concept stale.

Martian Manhunter is refreshingly written, and I'm actually a fan of how he's been written in the past two decades. This is the 'Martian War' Martian Manhunter we haven't got to see in a while.

I'm no fan of the media woman ... for lots of reasons ... us in the real world being inundated with nonsense and misinformation being one of them ... and I think UNWRITTEN's take on media is more charming.

Not sure if i'm in for #4.

I have mixed feelings on Stormwatch #3... still feels like I'm joining a show already in progress, which I wouldn't mind so much if the story were more compelling... I'm going to stick around for next issue, hoping things take a turn for the better...

2 fins up