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Reimagining the Wildstorm Universe

I just finished reading the excellent interview on Newsarama with Scott Dunbier, Executive Editor at Wildstorm. Many people growing up remember Spider-man or Superman as their hero of choice. The character they grew up reading and therefore finding a great attachement to.

Growing up Spider-man was the LAMEST character on the planet and Superman wasn’t as fun since they brought him back from the dead (although the before and after stories were good). I’m an Image boy through and through and more specifically a Wildstorm Universe guy. When everyone else had a few ‘hot’ artists on their crap books, I was reading Alan Moore and Travis Charest on Wildcats. I was soaking in Jim Lee’s Divine Right and devouring Warren Ellis’s Stormwatch with Tom Raney.

I’ve literally dropped like 5 names there that produced some of their greatest work for any publisher (except for Moore of course, everything he’s ever done is golden). The point is this was where the energy was. This is where the hot books, the great colouring and the brilliant characters all lived. The company was never scared of taking chances. Since they were brought out by DC Comics, they’ve actually had their fangs taken away from them. Originally DC took their colourists because at the time the DC people didn’t have a clue what they were doing. They were trying but they seriously sucked in every manner of the word. Wildstorm FX came in and sorted and taught a lot of people how to do things. Talent was stolen on a regular basis to feed the engine that is the DC Universe and so it went.

You can think of the Wildstorm Universe as following it’s writing stars. They’re not afraid to put some faith in their writers. First they had Brandon Choi (who was/is I dunno what’s going on there) Jim Lee’s buddy mapping out a great deal of the early stages of the Universe. As time went on, people like James Robinson stepped in for a little while writing a few things, before Alan Moore came aboard and wrote the best books the WSU had seen, ever. This effectively gave Moore the clout to do other things, and he followed this work up with the ABC Comics line, which is one of the best comic book lines ever published.

The future of the Wildstorm Universe was to continue in the hands of another Brit with a very different voice. Warren Ellis stepped up to the plate and made Stormwatch (the longest running WS book at the time) matter. He killed the first volume and launched the second volume with Oscar Something (I forget his name since he only lasted like 5 issues). Bryan Hitch came aboard and Warren seemed to find his energy again. He killed off Stormwatch in a spectacular way, and relaunched the series as The Authority.

This was the biggest book for Wildstorm since Gen13 by J Scott Campbell. So Ellis defined the WSU for a few years before my man Ed Brubaker came in and brought back the links. Brought back a cohersive whole.

The next man inline to take the WSU in a new direction is Grant Morrison, which I think is a fantastic coup for the WS guys. His stuff is always completely insane and if they don’t fuck around with his vision (which I think they’re less likely to than Marvel did with his X-men run) we’re all in for a serious treat. So what about the other BOMBSHELL announcements that Scott decided to lay on us during that interview? Right lets take stock people:

Wetworks
Let me see, Whilice Portacio, who remains to this day as one of my favourite artists is going old skool on this series. This is the series he created and he’s loving every second of it. He’s had ages to draw this puppy, so hopefully it won’t be a 5 issue thing and then a fill in? Mike Carey writing this? I’m so there it’s not even funny. This is bound to be a quality book any which way you see it. If you think Whilice’s art is strong you have know idea the genius that is Whilice. When he’s on fire, he’s one of the most dramatic artists in the business, period.

Deathblow
I’m a massive Azzarello fan. His take on Deathblow during the Deathblow/Batman crossover was superb. He’s accompanied by one of the unsung heroes of the WSU, and that’s Carlos D’anda. I’m equally a big fan of D’anda, even though sometimes his faces are not drawn that great, he’s a great storyteller and his Brass mini series from a few years back was one of the best mecha books I’d seen since the original Brass mini-series was released. Don’t be silly of course I’m buying this book.

Wildcats
Erm, Jim Lee returning to the book that he created and stared the Wildstorm Universe with Grant Morrison as the new architect of the WSU. Hmm yeah I think I’ll pass on this one….yeah right.

Authority
Gene Ha and Grant Morrison. Just when I thought things could not get ANY better, I get this announcement. If you don’t know who Gene Ha is, go right here. He’s easily one of the best artist this side of universe and a supremely nice guy to boot. My only worry is that he won’t be able to meet his deadlines. 6 books a year might not seem like much, but if you’ve ever seen what a Gene Ha page actually looks like, then you’d be singing a different tune. It takes detail to a whole new level. If they can keep the schedule up for 12 issues I’ll be a happy man.

Midnighter
I really like Garth Ennis. Mainly because I enjoyed Preacher as much as I did. I don’t think you can possibly read Preacher and not fall in love with Ennis. However his work since then has left me slightly cold. I want to give him the benefit of the doubt here. Midnighter is a good character and one I’m sure Ennis can do a great deal with if he’s left to his own devices. He’s not your typical superhero. For those in the dark regarding the Midnighter he’s a character from the Authority. He’s effectively a hardcore Batman, only here’s the spin, he’s gay. Oh and his partner is Apollo, who seems to have the same powers as Superman. What makes the Midnighter so hardcore however is his dialogue. He’ll say shit like:

I know what you’re going to do next. I’ve played this fight in my head, a million times, from each and every angle. I won this fight even before you turned up.

Lets see if he can come up with anything similar. Chris Sprouse on the art is like a massive piece of pie, with a cherry on top. Again my only worry is time until they get the standard fill-in artist.

Gen13
This is actually the book I’m least looking forward to. Not based on the writer for I think Gail Simone will do a spectacular job, however I do fear for the artwork by Talent Caldwell, will be slightly sub-par. Compared to the other heavyhitters on this list, his book is bound to be the least impressive of the lot. What cements that in my eyes however is the shoddy looking promo artwork for the series. I dunno it’s just not punchy enough. I’m happy to see the original team out there again, however it’s just not as unique and solid looking as the rest of the books on this list. This one is definitely in the wait and see pile, while every other book is a must buy right now.

August can’t come soon enough.