Mitch Brown
Feb 18, 2005, 01:49 am
<img src="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/columns/diversecurrents/DCWildstorm.jpg" border=1 align=left>By Mitch Brown, ComiX-Fan DC Correspondent
While WildStorm Productions currently resides under the banner of DC Comics, the story of DC’s progressive superhero imprint dates back to 1992 and DC’s chief rival, the self-styled "House of Ideas" Marvel Comics. Back in the early 90s, Marvel Comics dominated the industry sales charts, in part due to the popularity of a handful of young artists that had captured the hearts of fandom. Todd MacFarlane was making huge waves on the adjective-less Spider-Man, Marc Silvestri was tearing it up on Wolverine, New Mutants/X-Force was riding high on the back of the now infamous Rob Liefeld, while Jim Lee and Whilce Portacio’s pencils were doing big business for Marvel on X-Men and its elder brother, Uncanny. Also thrown into the mix were the considerable talents of artists such as Erik Larsen, Dale Keown and Jim Valentino.
The popularity of these artists, along with the mainstream media attention comic books were receiving from events like DC’s "Death of Superman", had ignited a huge boom in the industry. Sales were right up and everyone seemed to be doing big business on "funnybooks". But while Marvel was laughing all the way to the bank, its superstar creators were less than amused by the lack of creator control offered by Marvel and its principal competitors at that time. While Rob Liefeld could create a hugely popular character like Cable, or MacFarlane give birth to his notorious creation, Venom – the artists felt frustration at the lack of ownership they had over those characters. Motivated by their aggravation, and eyes-wide for a bigger slice of the industry pie, Marvel’s superstars walked away from the company and set their sights on building their own publishing empire – Image Comics.
Image Comics was founded upon the ideals of creator rights, and was formed by a loose association of the artists and their respective studios. One such studio was Jim Lee, Joe Chiodo, While Portacio and Scott Williams’ Homage Studios. Following the creation of Image, Homage Studios became known as WildStorm Productions, and set about producing their own line of superhero comic books under Image Comics, driven by the name recognition and fanbase of Jim Lee. Also associated with WildStorm was Marc Silvestri, whose company Top Cow was based at WildStorm’s San Diego studio.
<a href="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/columns/diversecurrents/wildstorm/wildcats1.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/columns/diversecurrents/wildstorm/wildcats1T.jpg" alt="WildC.A.T.s #1" align=right></a>When Image Comics launched its first titles in 1992, its initital offerings – Spawn (MacFarlane), Cyberforce (Silvestri), Youngblood (Liefeld), Shadowhawk (Valentino), The Savage Dragon (Larsen), Pitt (Keown) and WildStorm’s flagship title WildC.A.T.s - made a huge impact, was readers and the inflated speculator market clambering for these superstar artists’ new #1’s. Unfortunately late shipping and sub-par writing on much of Image’s core products began damaging their fledgling fanbase. While Spawn continued to maintain a strong presence amongst the top tiers of the Diamond sales charts, many of Image’s other titles began to quickly slip. Besides Spawn the most consistent and commercial successful titles would prove to be those from the WildStorm Universe, built upon the success and popularity of WildC.A.T.s.
The initial premise of WildC.A.T.s was solid, if not entirely ground-breaking. Assembed by an immortal dwarf name Jacob Marlowe (aka Lord Emp), the Wild Covert Action Teams were established as Earth’s final line of defense against a warlike alien race known as the Daemonites. The Daemonites had warred with another, somewhat more benevolent race known as the Kherubim for millennia, spilling over and onto our own planet in the distant past. The WildC.A.T.s were comprised of Kherubim/human hybrids and others metahumans dedicated to thwarting the Daemonites. The team bore more than a passing resemblance to Marvel’s own X-Men, embracing the violent and gritty aesthetic that had entered into that book years before.
<a href="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/columns/diversecurrents/wildstorm/zealot.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/columns/diversecurrents/wildstorm/zealotT.jpg" alt="Zealot of WildC.A.T.s" align=left></a>The WildC.A.T.s characters held a strong appeal for fans, particularly those who had come to the book following Jim Lee’s X-Men run. The original WildC.A.T.s were comprised of the previously mentioned Lord Emp; the Grifter – a masked, roguish soldier with a mysterious past; Spartan – a powerful android and field leader of the team; Zealot – a Psylocke-style, scantily clad assassin; Maul – the team’s resident strong man, fusing characters such as Colossus and the Hulk; Warblade – a ferocious warrior whose hands could form into wicked metallic weaponry; Voodoo – the newest member of the team, and exotic dancer who becomes embroiled in the Kheran/Daemonite war after discovering her true heritage; and Void – Emp’s right hand woman, a Russian cosmonaut turned cold, cosmic fusion of human woman and alien elemental.
WildC.A.T.s was originally a four issue mini-series by Lee and writer Brandon Choi, meant to test the waters for the new team and mythos. With considerably fan and retailer support, the WildC.A.T.s would soon return sa an ongoing series starting with #5, as well as Brandon Choi and Dafydd Wyn’s mini-series the WildC.A.T.s Trilogy, featuring art by Jae Lee (Marvel’s Namor and X-Factor). At this time, Jim Lee began a talent search to draw new artists to his burgeoning studio. Lee’s search turned up talented youngsters such as Brett Booth, Travis Charest and J. Scott Campbell, leading to the launch of the highly successful teen hero series (with art by Campbell) Gen 13 - WildStorm’s greatest success outside of WildC.A.T.s in those early years.
<a href="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/columns/diversecurrents/wildstorm/gen13-12.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/columns/diversecurrents/wildstorm/gen13-12T.jpg" alt="Gen 13 #12" align=right></a>Gen 13 was a teen book, focused on a team of metahuman misfits – Burnout, Fairchild, Freefall, Grunge and Rainmaker. The group - products of the Project Genesis program - were a motley crew of super-powered fugitives from the government agency I/O (International Operations). A postmodern, hip and sexy version of the Teen Titans for the 90s, Gen 13 (originally intended to be called Gen-X, until Marvel’s intervention) was a tremendous hit for its creators upon its 1994 release and propelled artist J. Scott Campbell to artistic stardom.
Joining Gen 13 and WildC.A.T.s in the fledgling WildStorm Universe was the pivotal title, Stormwatch. Stormwatch centered around the United Nations’ Crisis Intervention Team, an organization that operated out of an orbiting space station codenamed Skywatch, and was empowered to deal with metahuman threats. The team was run by the shady ex-black op agent Henry Bendix, who took on the title of "The Weatherman". Stormwatch itself was broken into several strike teams, including Stormwatch Prime, Stormwatch Red and Stormwatch Black. Stormwatch introduced characters such as Batallion (Jackson King), Nautika (Maya Royko) and Grifter’s former ally Backlash.
<a href="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/columns/diversecurrents/wildstorm/stormwatch1.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/columns/diversecurrents/wildstorm/stormwatch1T.jpg" alt="Stormwatch #1" align=left></a>Gen13 and Stormwatch, along with Deathblow and Whilce Portacio’s Wetworks built upon the foundations laid by WildC.A.T.s, expanding on the back-story of the WildStorm mythos which focused heavily upon secret governmental organizations such as I/O (International Operations) and their elite task forces (TEAMs One through Seven, which linked together many of the WildStorm characters such as Backlash and the Grifter), and the previously mentioned Project Genesis. The WildStorm Universe developed a strong focus on covert operations and military conspiracies, painting a far dirty and edgier universe than those occupied by Marvel and DC’s superhero stables.
For all the potential that lay within the gritty world of WildStorm, all of the company’s initial offerings were art-driven books, with the larger-than-life artwork of Jim Lee and J. Scott Campbell taking precedence. While it would be inaccurate to say that WildStorm’s initial offerings were badly written, those titles did suffer quite heavily in terms of characterization and reader empathy. Many of the characters, as appealing as their designs may have been, failed to connect with many of WildStorm’s readers and began to blend in with each other in the thick paramilitary, "grim-&-gritty" milieu. Already armed with some of the best superhero artwork on the shelves, in 1995 WildStorm began to attract the notice of both the rising stars of the writing world, and also some of the industry’s elder statesmen.
<a href="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/columns/diversecurrents/wildstorm/astrocity1.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/columns/diversecurrents/wildstorm/astrocity1T.jpg" alt="Kurt Busiek's Astro City #1" align=right></a>Homage Comics was started in 1995 as a sub-imprint of the WildStorm brand, and focused on writer-driven serials, including Kurt Busiek’s acclaimed and highly successful Astro City and Jeff Mariotte’s Desperadoes. This would lead to further expansion into a creator-owned line of independent books known as Cliffhanger!, publishing such titles as Crimson (Humberto Ramos) and Steampunk (Chris Bachalo). Homage and Cliffhanger! would later go onto attract the recent Warren Ellis hits Red, Tokyo Storm Warning and Two-Step. This very same year would also see some major changes to WildStorm’s mainstream product line, generating a profound impact that still reverberates through the industry today.
During 1997, WildStorm significantly scaled back its output, streamlining several of their more directionless series down into three key books – a second series of WildC.A.T.s, Stormwatch and the new title DV8, steered forward by high-profile writers such as Warren Ellis, Alan Moore, Joe Casey and Scott Lobdell. Casey, Moore and Ellis’ contributions to the WildStorm Universe in particular, attracted critical and retail success, revitalizing their ailing mainstream line by injecting a freshness and enthusiasm lacking from the books, and allowing those creators to run amok with wild sci-fi ideas and complex storylines.
<a href="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/columns/diversecurrents/wildstorm/authority1.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/columns/diversecurrents/wildstorm/authority1T.jpg" alt="The Authority #1" align=left></a>The re-energized WildStorm line would attract considerable industry interest, particularly from DC Comics who would acquire the company in 1998, entering into a deal with Jim Lee to publish and distributed WildStorm Productions product as an imprint of DC Comics. This long-term allegiance stood to benefit both WildStorm in terms of greater brand recognition, as well as opening up the possibility of DCU-Wildstorm talent and property crossovers. The deal would attract many new creators to WildStorm and would later lead to WildStorm creators, such as Jim Lee himself taking on projects within the DC Universe and the recent crossover of WildStorm characters such as Mr. Majestic into DC's Superman titles. The very same year would prove to be an extremely auspicious year for WildStorm, which saw the release of the brand's most successful title to date - a little book by the name of The Authority.
The Authority has been called “the last great movement of the superhero genre” by its creator Warren Ellis. The book’s original run was a fast-paced, violent and revolutionary look at the superhero team taken to its logical conclusion as an authoritarian force of global change, willing to do whatever’s necessary to "fix the world". Written by Ellis and lavishly illustrated by Bryan Hitch (Ultimates), the first twelve-issues are a unique fusion of Silver Age wonder, Hollywood-style action sequences and a cynical real world view.
The Authority spun out of Warren Ellis’ eleven issue run on Stormwatch, which culminated in the deaths of the majority of the cast, except for the members of Stormwatch Black – the super-secretive, black ops wing of Stormwatch, comprised of the long-lived, electricity-wielding “Spirit of the Twentieth Century” Jenny Sparks; the God of the Cities Jack Hawksmoor and the winged warrior Swift. Joining the members of Stormwatch Black were the shamanic hero the Doctor, the woman/machine hybrid Engineer and the comic world’s most prominent gay couple – the Superman/Batman analogues Apollo and the Midnighter.
The Authority was a huge success from #1 onwards. Ellis would provide a year’s worth of full throttle stories before handing the title over to his hand-picked successor, Mark Millar with issue #13. Millar would continue the book’s success, teaming with Frank Quitely to continue the team’s adventures. The Authority, from its original run up until its current incarnation in the Ed Brubaker-penned The Authority: Revolution maxi-series, Garth Ennis The Authority: Kev, and the recently completed run by Robbie Morrison and Dwayne Turner, has remained WildStorm’s greatest success, and would spawn the moderately successful spin-offs The Monarchy and The Establishment.
<a href="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/columns/diversecurrents/wildstorm/planetary1.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/columns/diversecurrents/wildstorm/planetary1T.jpg" alt="Planetary #1" align=right></a>The move to DC also saw the arrival of Ellis’ second major WildStorm hit, teaming up with I Am Legion and Astonishing X-Men artist, John Cassady to deliver Planetary. Despite itself troubled, lagging publishing schedule, Planetary has been yet another critical and commercial success for WildStorm and Ellis, bringing the same cinematic production values, pioneering cover design and brain-bursting sci-fi energy of The Authority to bear. Planetary, now nearing its inevitable conclusion, follows the story of a team of “Archaelogists of the Impossible”, led by the mysterious Fourth Man. The team delve deep into the hidden history of the WildStorm universe, of hidden wonders, strange beasts – Ellis’ homage to the Silver Age of superhero comic books and pop culture.
While Ellis was re-defining the superhero action comic, writer Joe Casey was putting WildC.A.T.s through a metamorphosis of its own. In earlier issues written by Alan Moore, the series’ original premise of the Kherubim/Daemonite War was tied up following the C.A.T.s’ visit to the planet Khera, where they discovered that the war had in fact been over for many years. Moore then turned the war’s original “good vs. evil” premise on its head, with the Kherubim now being portrayed as ruthlessly despotic and were responsible for creating an Apartheid-style divide between the Kherans and the subjugated Daemonites. Upon their eventual return to earth, the team fell apart, defeated by their traitorous “ally”, Tao.
<a href="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/columns/diversecurrents/wildstorm/wildcats301.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/columns/diversecurrents/wildstorm/wildcats301T.jpg" alt="Wildcats 3.0 #1" align=left></a>WildC.A.T.s was revived by Scott Lobdell following WildStorm’s acquisition by DC. The book was relaunched minus the acronym C.A.T.s, simply becoming Wildcats and become a more character-driven book, exploring the lives of the ex-C.A.T.s. Lobdell departed the series with #7, handing the book over to Casey. Casey completely revamped the book’s premise, creatinga new team comprised of Spartan, Grifter, lord Emp, Void, Maul, Ladytron, Voodoo, Noir, Wax and Mohr. During his run on the second series, Emp “ascended” to another plane, leaving his corporate and financial resources to Spartan (who had fused with Void). The series was relaunched again as Wildcats 3.0 with Spartan taking on the name Jack Marlowe and assuming control of Emp’s corporation HALO Inc, with the vision of improving the world via a proactive approach of distributing beneficial technologies and alternative power sources. This iteration of WildC.A.T.s became the first instance of “board room superheroics”, that Casey would utilize again in his recent run on Uncanny X-Men, and would pave the way for Brian K. Vaughan’s current hit series, Ex Machina.
Wildcats 3.0 was a cult hit, continuing for 24 issues before its controversial cancellation in August last year. The book had a following of loyal fans and had won the hearts of critics, but sadly suffered from low sales and lack of marketing. Wildcats 3.0 was a book truly ahead of its time, that unfortunately suffered from its own forward-thinking and unique approach. In the mind of many fans however, the series was a high point in the genre, and one that’s influence will surely continue throughout the years to come.
Over the next few years, WildStorm's line would expand and diversify further with the acquisition of key licensed properties such as Thundercats, Speed Racer and Robotech and the introduction of titles such as Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillip's acclaimed series Sleeper and the now defunct Stormwatch: Team Achilles. The Cliffhanger! and Homage Comics imprints would also be consolidated in the WildStorm Signature Series line - a sub-imprint dedicated to publishing creator-owned books such as Warren Ellis' highly successful Global Frequency.
<a href="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/columns/diversecurrents/wildstorm/loeg1.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/columns/diversecurrents/wildstorm/loeg1T.jpg" alt="League of Extraordinary Gentlemen #1" align=right></a>Also joining the WildStorm line-up is another sub-imprint, Alan Moore's America' Best Comics. ABC is a line of wildly imaginative books spawned from the brimming mind of industry legend Alan Moore. America’s Best Comics thrusts readers into a mythic world of scientific adventure and pulp superheroics. Prominent ABC books include Alan Moore and Kevin O’Neill’s League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. The book is set in a fictional 1898 where characters from Victorian literature, such as Dr. Jekyll, Captain Nemo and Allan Quartermain all exist together in a technologically advanced, steampunk-style setting. The two series of LOEG were so successful that they attracted Hollywood interest, resulting in a feature film (of debatable quality). Joining LOEG in ABC’s line-up are Top Ten and its spin-off Smax which follow the adventures of a superpowered police force; the adventures of the Doc Savage-inspired science hero Tom Strong in his own self-titled series and spin-off series such as Terra Obscura; and Alan Moore and J.H. Williams’ recently concluded experimental comic book series meets occult instruction manual Promethea.
WILDSTORM TODAY
From their beginnings as an upstart coalition of artists, to its current place as a challenging, ultra-contemporary comic book publisher, WildStorm has been through many changes and permutations. Today, WildStorm is one of the most respected names in the comic book medium and going into 2005, boasts a strong line-up in both their core Universe titles, and their sub-imprints such as the WildStorm Signature Series.
<a href="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/previews/dc/1204/TheAuthorityRevolution3.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/previews/dc/1204/TheAuthorityRevolution3t.jpg" align=left alt="Authority: Revolution #4"></a>The saga of The Authority continues in Ed Brubaker and Dustin Nguyen’s twelve issue The Authority: Revolution. Following on from last year’s "Coup de Tat" crossover story, the Authority has assumed political control of the United States as its benevolently-intentioned dictators. In Revolution, the team must face the consequences of their actions as a mysterious figure launches an attack upon them, inspiring a long-retired superhero group - Paul Revere and the Sons of Liberty - to lead a revolt against the Authority’s rule. Meanwhile, internal strife is threatening to tear the team apart as the Midnighter and Hawksmoor come to blows over the Authority’s totalitarian direction.
<a href="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/previews/dc/0105/SleeperSeasonTwoCv8.jpg" target="_blank>"<img src="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/previews/dc/0105/SleeperSeasonTwoCv8T.jpg" align=right alt="Sleeper Season Two #8"></a>Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips’ Sleeper recently returned with a new lease on life in the twelve issue Sleeper Season Two. Sleeper is a dark and conspiracy-laden espionage book focusing on Holden Carver – a superpowered, deep cover agent, hiding amongst some of the worst criminals the WildStorm Universe has to offer, specifically a criminal organization run by Wildcat traitor, Tao. Carver, having gone deep into his cover story, is now one of Tao’s top agents. Complicating this further is that Tao knows that Carver is a double agent, working for Black Ops’ John Lynch. Sleeper digs in the sinister underbelly of the WildStorm Universe, filled with superpowered spies and deep conspiracies that blur the lines of morality.
Warren Ellis and John Cassady's Planetary continues to impress readers with its lavish interiors, intelligent plotlines and intriguing characters. The next issue coming up, #23 focuses on the often-neglected character of the Drummer as he investigates Elijah Snow's clandestine actions. Despite John Cassady's new gig on Marvel's Astonishing X-Men, the book seems to be settling into something of a regular schedule at last, despite long delays between previous issues.
Former Wildcat Majestic recently made his return to the WildStorm Universe after a stint in the "parallel dimension" of the DC Universe, jumping into his own series - simply titled Majestic - under the guidance of Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning. Majestic originally made his appearance early in the first WildC.A.T.s series. Majestic, like Lord Emp is a superpowered Kheran Lord now residing on Earth, posessed of similar powers to DC's Superman, but with a much less compassionate attitude.
<a href="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/previews/dc/0505/IntimatesCv7.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/previews/dc/0505/IntimatesCv7T.jpg" alt="The Intimates #7 Preview" align=left></a>Following the demise of Wildcats 3.0, writer Joe Casey teamed up with WildStorm founder Jim Lee to create a whole new set of characters for the WildStorm Universe in The Intimates. The pair have masterminded another teenage superhero book, focusing on a metahuman high school (similar to the Xavier School from X-Men). The Intimates casts a humorous eye over the dysfunctional and often bizarre students at the academy, smothered with the punk stylings of Casey. With nary a supervillain in sight, the series, with art by Guiseppe Camuncoli (Hellblazer), has garnered rave reviews for its hip and clever revamp of the teen hero genre, and is sure to become another Joe Casey classic.
<a href="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/previews/dc/0505/ExMachinaCv11.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/previews/dc/0505/ExMachinaCv11T.jpg" alt="Ex Machina #11 Preview" align=right></a>Turning over to Wildstorm's Signature Series line, Brian K. Vaughan's creator-owned series Ex Machina leads the pack in sales. Ex Machina builds on the boardroom superheroics concept started back in Wildcats 3.0, placing a retired superhero in the position of New York mayor. Mitchell Hundred, formerly the costumed hero known as the Great Machine, no longer battles crime on the streets of New York, but instead must face the rigors of running a city, its services and infrastructure while avoiding the politicial backstabbing and machinations attracted by such a position. Bubbling beneath the surface, Hundred's former vigilante life threatens to interfere in his new life as mayor, creating an exciting and gripping narrative, steered forward by Vaughan's impeccable characterization and the superior artwork of Starman's Tony Harris.
Other titles rounding out the Wildstorm stable include Warren Ellis' Ocean mini-series, and his upcoming longform serial Desolation Jones; Jimmy Palmiotti & Justin Gray's Twilight Experiment; the Howard Chaykin-helmed Legend and City of Tomorrow and Devin Grayson and Brian Stelfreeze's upcoming Matador.
<br><br><br>
While WildStorm Productions currently resides under the banner of DC Comics, the story of DC’s progressive superhero imprint dates back to 1992 and DC’s chief rival, the self-styled "House of Ideas" Marvel Comics. Back in the early 90s, Marvel Comics dominated the industry sales charts, in part due to the popularity of a handful of young artists that had captured the hearts of fandom. Todd MacFarlane was making huge waves on the adjective-less Spider-Man, Marc Silvestri was tearing it up on Wolverine, New Mutants/X-Force was riding high on the back of the now infamous Rob Liefeld, while Jim Lee and Whilce Portacio’s pencils were doing big business for Marvel on X-Men and its elder brother, Uncanny. Also thrown into the mix were the considerable talents of artists such as Erik Larsen, Dale Keown and Jim Valentino.
The popularity of these artists, along with the mainstream media attention comic books were receiving from events like DC’s "Death of Superman", had ignited a huge boom in the industry. Sales were right up and everyone seemed to be doing big business on "funnybooks". But while Marvel was laughing all the way to the bank, its superstar creators were less than amused by the lack of creator control offered by Marvel and its principal competitors at that time. While Rob Liefeld could create a hugely popular character like Cable, or MacFarlane give birth to his notorious creation, Venom – the artists felt frustration at the lack of ownership they had over those characters. Motivated by their aggravation, and eyes-wide for a bigger slice of the industry pie, Marvel’s superstars walked away from the company and set their sights on building their own publishing empire – Image Comics.
Image Comics was founded upon the ideals of creator rights, and was formed by a loose association of the artists and their respective studios. One such studio was Jim Lee, Joe Chiodo, While Portacio and Scott Williams’ Homage Studios. Following the creation of Image, Homage Studios became known as WildStorm Productions, and set about producing their own line of superhero comic books under Image Comics, driven by the name recognition and fanbase of Jim Lee. Also associated with WildStorm was Marc Silvestri, whose company Top Cow was based at WildStorm’s San Diego studio.
<a href="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/columns/diversecurrents/wildstorm/wildcats1.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/columns/diversecurrents/wildstorm/wildcats1T.jpg" alt="WildC.A.T.s #1" align=right></a>When Image Comics launched its first titles in 1992, its initital offerings – Spawn (MacFarlane), Cyberforce (Silvestri), Youngblood (Liefeld), Shadowhawk (Valentino), The Savage Dragon (Larsen), Pitt (Keown) and WildStorm’s flagship title WildC.A.T.s - made a huge impact, was readers and the inflated speculator market clambering for these superstar artists’ new #1’s. Unfortunately late shipping and sub-par writing on much of Image’s core products began damaging their fledgling fanbase. While Spawn continued to maintain a strong presence amongst the top tiers of the Diamond sales charts, many of Image’s other titles began to quickly slip. Besides Spawn the most consistent and commercial successful titles would prove to be those from the WildStorm Universe, built upon the success and popularity of WildC.A.T.s.
The initial premise of WildC.A.T.s was solid, if not entirely ground-breaking. Assembed by an immortal dwarf name Jacob Marlowe (aka Lord Emp), the Wild Covert Action Teams were established as Earth’s final line of defense against a warlike alien race known as the Daemonites. The Daemonites had warred with another, somewhat more benevolent race known as the Kherubim for millennia, spilling over and onto our own planet in the distant past. The WildC.A.T.s were comprised of Kherubim/human hybrids and others metahumans dedicated to thwarting the Daemonites. The team bore more than a passing resemblance to Marvel’s own X-Men, embracing the violent and gritty aesthetic that had entered into that book years before.
<a href="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/columns/diversecurrents/wildstorm/zealot.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/columns/diversecurrents/wildstorm/zealotT.jpg" alt="Zealot of WildC.A.T.s" align=left></a>The WildC.A.T.s characters held a strong appeal for fans, particularly those who had come to the book following Jim Lee’s X-Men run. The original WildC.A.T.s were comprised of the previously mentioned Lord Emp; the Grifter – a masked, roguish soldier with a mysterious past; Spartan – a powerful android and field leader of the team; Zealot – a Psylocke-style, scantily clad assassin; Maul – the team’s resident strong man, fusing characters such as Colossus and the Hulk; Warblade – a ferocious warrior whose hands could form into wicked metallic weaponry; Voodoo – the newest member of the team, and exotic dancer who becomes embroiled in the Kheran/Daemonite war after discovering her true heritage; and Void – Emp’s right hand woman, a Russian cosmonaut turned cold, cosmic fusion of human woman and alien elemental.
WildC.A.T.s was originally a four issue mini-series by Lee and writer Brandon Choi, meant to test the waters for the new team and mythos. With considerably fan and retailer support, the WildC.A.T.s would soon return sa an ongoing series starting with #5, as well as Brandon Choi and Dafydd Wyn’s mini-series the WildC.A.T.s Trilogy, featuring art by Jae Lee (Marvel’s Namor and X-Factor). At this time, Jim Lee began a talent search to draw new artists to his burgeoning studio. Lee’s search turned up talented youngsters such as Brett Booth, Travis Charest and J. Scott Campbell, leading to the launch of the highly successful teen hero series (with art by Campbell) Gen 13 - WildStorm’s greatest success outside of WildC.A.T.s in those early years.
<a href="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/columns/diversecurrents/wildstorm/gen13-12.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/columns/diversecurrents/wildstorm/gen13-12T.jpg" alt="Gen 13 #12" align=right></a>Gen 13 was a teen book, focused on a team of metahuman misfits – Burnout, Fairchild, Freefall, Grunge and Rainmaker. The group - products of the Project Genesis program - were a motley crew of super-powered fugitives from the government agency I/O (International Operations). A postmodern, hip and sexy version of the Teen Titans for the 90s, Gen 13 (originally intended to be called Gen-X, until Marvel’s intervention) was a tremendous hit for its creators upon its 1994 release and propelled artist J. Scott Campbell to artistic stardom.
Joining Gen 13 and WildC.A.T.s in the fledgling WildStorm Universe was the pivotal title, Stormwatch. Stormwatch centered around the United Nations’ Crisis Intervention Team, an organization that operated out of an orbiting space station codenamed Skywatch, and was empowered to deal with metahuman threats. The team was run by the shady ex-black op agent Henry Bendix, who took on the title of "The Weatherman". Stormwatch itself was broken into several strike teams, including Stormwatch Prime, Stormwatch Red and Stormwatch Black. Stormwatch introduced characters such as Batallion (Jackson King), Nautika (Maya Royko) and Grifter’s former ally Backlash.
<a href="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/columns/diversecurrents/wildstorm/stormwatch1.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/columns/diversecurrents/wildstorm/stormwatch1T.jpg" alt="Stormwatch #1" align=left></a>Gen13 and Stormwatch, along with Deathblow and Whilce Portacio’s Wetworks built upon the foundations laid by WildC.A.T.s, expanding on the back-story of the WildStorm mythos which focused heavily upon secret governmental organizations such as I/O (International Operations) and their elite task forces (TEAMs One through Seven, which linked together many of the WildStorm characters such as Backlash and the Grifter), and the previously mentioned Project Genesis. The WildStorm Universe developed a strong focus on covert operations and military conspiracies, painting a far dirty and edgier universe than those occupied by Marvel and DC’s superhero stables.
For all the potential that lay within the gritty world of WildStorm, all of the company’s initial offerings were art-driven books, with the larger-than-life artwork of Jim Lee and J. Scott Campbell taking precedence. While it would be inaccurate to say that WildStorm’s initial offerings were badly written, those titles did suffer quite heavily in terms of characterization and reader empathy. Many of the characters, as appealing as their designs may have been, failed to connect with many of WildStorm’s readers and began to blend in with each other in the thick paramilitary, "grim-&-gritty" milieu. Already armed with some of the best superhero artwork on the shelves, in 1995 WildStorm began to attract the notice of both the rising stars of the writing world, and also some of the industry’s elder statesmen.
<a href="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/columns/diversecurrents/wildstorm/astrocity1.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/columns/diversecurrents/wildstorm/astrocity1T.jpg" alt="Kurt Busiek's Astro City #1" align=right></a>Homage Comics was started in 1995 as a sub-imprint of the WildStorm brand, and focused on writer-driven serials, including Kurt Busiek’s acclaimed and highly successful Astro City and Jeff Mariotte’s Desperadoes. This would lead to further expansion into a creator-owned line of independent books known as Cliffhanger!, publishing such titles as Crimson (Humberto Ramos) and Steampunk (Chris Bachalo). Homage and Cliffhanger! would later go onto attract the recent Warren Ellis hits Red, Tokyo Storm Warning and Two-Step. This very same year would also see some major changes to WildStorm’s mainstream product line, generating a profound impact that still reverberates through the industry today.
During 1997, WildStorm significantly scaled back its output, streamlining several of their more directionless series down into three key books – a second series of WildC.A.T.s, Stormwatch and the new title DV8, steered forward by high-profile writers such as Warren Ellis, Alan Moore, Joe Casey and Scott Lobdell. Casey, Moore and Ellis’ contributions to the WildStorm Universe in particular, attracted critical and retail success, revitalizing their ailing mainstream line by injecting a freshness and enthusiasm lacking from the books, and allowing those creators to run amok with wild sci-fi ideas and complex storylines.
<a href="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/columns/diversecurrents/wildstorm/authority1.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/columns/diversecurrents/wildstorm/authority1T.jpg" alt="The Authority #1" align=left></a>The re-energized WildStorm line would attract considerable industry interest, particularly from DC Comics who would acquire the company in 1998, entering into a deal with Jim Lee to publish and distributed WildStorm Productions product as an imprint of DC Comics. This long-term allegiance stood to benefit both WildStorm in terms of greater brand recognition, as well as opening up the possibility of DCU-Wildstorm talent and property crossovers. The deal would attract many new creators to WildStorm and would later lead to WildStorm creators, such as Jim Lee himself taking on projects within the DC Universe and the recent crossover of WildStorm characters such as Mr. Majestic into DC's Superman titles. The very same year would prove to be an extremely auspicious year for WildStorm, which saw the release of the brand's most successful title to date - a little book by the name of The Authority.
The Authority has been called “the last great movement of the superhero genre” by its creator Warren Ellis. The book’s original run was a fast-paced, violent and revolutionary look at the superhero team taken to its logical conclusion as an authoritarian force of global change, willing to do whatever’s necessary to "fix the world". Written by Ellis and lavishly illustrated by Bryan Hitch (Ultimates), the first twelve-issues are a unique fusion of Silver Age wonder, Hollywood-style action sequences and a cynical real world view.
The Authority spun out of Warren Ellis’ eleven issue run on Stormwatch, which culminated in the deaths of the majority of the cast, except for the members of Stormwatch Black – the super-secretive, black ops wing of Stormwatch, comprised of the long-lived, electricity-wielding “Spirit of the Twentieth Century” Jenny Sparks; the God of the Cities Jack Hawksmoor and the winged warrior Swift. Joining the members of Stormwatch Black were the shamanic hero the Doctor, the woman/machine hybrid Engineer and the comic world’s most prominent gay couple – the Superman/Batman analogues Apollo and the Midnighter.
The Authority was a huge success from #1 onwards. Ellis would provide a year’s worth of full throttle stories before handing the title over to his hand-picked successor, Mark Millar with issue #13. Millar would continue the book’s success, teaming with Frank Quitely to continue the team’s adventures. The Authority, from its original run up until its current incarnation in the Ed Brubaker-penned The Authority: Revolution maxi-series, Garth Ennis The Authority: Kev, and the recently completed run by Robbie Morrison and Dwayne Turner, has remained WildStorm’s greatest success, and would spawn the moderately successful spin-offs The Monarchy and The Establishment.
<a href="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/columns/diversecurrents/wildstorm/planetary1.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/columns/diversecurrents/wildstorm/planetary1T.jpg" alt="Planetary #1" align=right></a>The move to DC also saw the arrival of Ellis’ second major WildStorm hit, teaming up with I Am Legion and Astonishing X-Men artist, John Cassady to deliver Planetary. Despite itself troubled, lagging publishing schedule, Planetary has been yet another critical and commercial success for WildStorm and Ellis, bringing the same cinematic production values, pioneering cover design and brain-bursting sci-fi energy of The Authority to bear. Planetary, now nearing its inevitable conclusion, follows the story of a team of “Archaelogists of the Impossible”, led by the mysterious Fourth Man. The team delve deep into the hidden history of the WildStorm universe, of hidden wonders, strange beasts – Ellis’ homage to the Silver Age of superhero comic books and pop culture.
While Ellis was re-defining the superhero action comic, writer Joe Casey was putting WildC.A.T.s through a metamorphosis of its own. In earlier issues written by Alan Moore, the series’ original premise of the Kherubim/Daemonite War was tied up following the C.A.T.s’ visit to the planet Khera, where they discovered that the war had in fact been over for many years. Moore then turned the war’s original “good vs. evil” premise on its head, with the Kherubim now being portrayed as ruthlessly despotic and were responsible for creating an Apartheid-style divide between the Kherans and the subjugated Daemonites. Upon their eventual return to earth, the team fell apart, defeated by their traitorous “ally”, Tao.
<a href="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/columns/diversecurrents/wildstorm/wildcats301.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/columns/diversecurrents/wildstorm/wildcats301T.jpg" alt="Wildcats 3.0 #1" align=left></a>WildC.A.T.s was revived by Scott Lobdell following WildStorm’s acquisition by DC. The book was relaunched minus the acronym C.A.T.s, simply becoming Wildcats and become a more character-driven book, exploring the lives of the ex-C.A.T.s. Lobdell departed the series with #7, handing the book over to Casey. Casey completely revamped the book’s premise, creatinga new team comprised of Spartan, Grifter, lord Emp, Void, Maul, Ladytron, Voodoo, Noir, Wax and Mohr. During his run on the second series, Emp “ascended” to another plane, leaving his corporate and financial resources to Spartan (who had fused with Void). The series was relaunched again as Wildcats 3.0 with Spartan taking on the name Jack Marlowe and assuming control of Emp’s corporation HALO Inc, with the vision of improving the world via a proactive approach of distributing beneficial technologies and alternative power sources. This iteration of WildC.A.T.s became the first instance of “board room superheroics”, that Casey would utilize again in his recent run on Uncanny X-Men, and would pave the way for Brian K. Vaughan’s current hit series, Ex Machina.
Wildcats 3.0 was a cult hit, continuing for 24 issues before its controversial cancellation in August last year. The book had a following of loyal fans and had won the hearts of critics, but sadly suffered from low sales and lack of marketing. Wildcats 3.0 was a book truly ahead of its time, that unfortunately suffered from its own forward-thinking and unique approach. In the mind of many fans however, the series was a high point in the genre, and one that’s influence will surely continue throughout the years to come.
Over the next few years, WildStorm's line would expand and diversify further with the acquisition of key licensed properties such as Thundercats, Speed Racer and Robotech and the introduction of titles such as Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillip's acclaimed series Sleeper and the now defunct Stormwatch: Team Achilles. The Cliffhanger! and Homage Comics imprints would also be consolidated in the WildStorm Signature Series line - a sub-imprint dedicated to publishing creator-owned books such as Warren Ellis' highly successful Global Frequency.
<a href="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/columns/diversecurrents/wildstorm/loeg1.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/columns/diversecurrents/wildstorm/loeg1T.jpg" alt="League of Extraordinary Gentlemen #1" align=right></a>Also joining the WildStorm line-up is another sub-imprint, Alan Moore's America' Best Comics. ABC is a line of wildly imaginative books spawned from the brimming mind of industry legend Alan Moore. America’s Best Comics thrusts readers into a mythic world of scientific adventure and pulp superheroics. Prominent ABC books include Alan Moore and Kevin O’Neill’s League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. The book is set in a fictional 1898 where characters from Victorian literature, such as Dr. Jekyll, Captain Nemo and Allan Quartermain all exist together in a technologically advanced, steampunk-style setting. The two series of LOEG were so successful that they attracted Hollywood interest, resulting in a feature film (of debatable quality). Joining LOEG in ABC’s line-up are Top Ten and its spin-off Smax which follow the adventures of a superpowered police force; the adventures of the Doc Savage-inspired science hero Tom Strong in his own self-titled series and spin-off series such as Terra Obscura; and Alan Moore and J.H. Williams’ recently concluded experimental comic book series meets occult instruction manual Promethea.
WILDSTORM TODAY
From their beginnings as an upstart coalition of artists, to its current place as a challenging, ultra-contemporary comic book publisher, WildStorm has been through many changes and permutations. Today, WildStorm is one of the most respected names in the comic book medium and going into 2005, boasts a strong line-up in both their core Universe titles, and their sub-imprints such as the WildStorm Signature Series.
<a href="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/previews/dc/1204/TheAuthorityRevolution3.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/previews/dc/1204/TheAuthorityRevolution3t.jpg" align=left alt="Authority: Revolution #4"></a>The saga of The Authority continues in Ed Brubaker and Dustin Nguyen’s twelve issue The Authority: Revolution. Following on from last year’s "Coup de Tat" crossover story, the Authority has assumed political control of the United States as its benevolently-intentioned dictators. In Revolution, the team must face the consequences of their actions as a mysterious figure launches an attack upon them, inspiring a long-retired superhero group - Paul Revere and the Sons of Liberty - to lead a revolt against the Authority’s rule. Meanwhile, internal strife is threatening to tear the team apart as the Midnighter and Hawksmoor come to blows over the Authority’s totalitarian direction.
<a href="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/previews/dc/0105/SleeperSeasonTwoCv8.jpg" target="_blank>"<img src="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/previews/dc/0105/SleeperSeasonTwoCv8T.jpg" align=right alt="Sleeper Season Two #8"></a>Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips’ Sleeper recently returned with a new lease on life in the twelve issue Sleeper Season Two. Sleeper is a dark and conspiracy-laden espionage book focusing on Holden Carver – a superpowered, deep cover agent, hiding amongst some of the worst criminals the WildStorm Universe has to offer, specifically a criminal organization run by Wildcat traitor, Tao. Carver, having gone deep into his cover story, is now one of Tao’s top agents. Complicating this further is that Tao knows that Carver is a double agent, working for Black Ops’ John Lynch. Sleeper digs in the sinister underbelly of the WildStorm Universe, filled with superpowered spies and deep conspiracies that blur the lines of morality.
Warren Ellis and John Cassady's Planetary continues to impress readers with its lavish interiors, intelligent plotlines and intriguing characters. The next issue coming up, #23 focuses on the often-neglected character of the Drummer as he investigates Elijah Snow's clandestine actions. Despite John Cassady's new gig on Marvel's Astonishing X-Men, the book seems to be settling into something of a regular schedule at last, despite long delays between previous issues.
Former Wildcat Majestic recently made his return to the WildStorm Universe after a stint in the "parallel dimension" of the DC Universe, jumping into his own series - simply titled Majestic - under the guidance of Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning. Majestic originally made his appearance early in the first WildC.A.T.s series. Majestic, like Lord Emp is a superpowered Kheran Lord now residing on Earth, posessed of similar powers to DC's Superman, but with a much less compassionate attitude.
<a href="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/previews/dc/0505/IntimatesCv7.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/previews/dc/0505/IntimatesCv7T.jpg" alt="The Intimates #7 Preview" align=left></a>Following the demise of Wildcats 3.0, writer Joe Casey teamed up with WildStorm founder Jim Lee to create a whole new set of characters for the WildStorm Universe in The Intimates. The pair have masterminded another teenage superhero book, focusing on a metahuman high school (similar to the Xavier School from X-Men). The Intimates casts a humorous eye over the dysfunctional and often bizarre students at the academy, smothered with the punk stylings of Casey. With nary a supervillain in sight, the series, with art by Guiseppe Camuncoli (Hellblazer), has garnered rave reviews for its hip and clever revamp of the teen hero genre, and is sure to become another Joe Casey classic.
<a href="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/previews/dc/0505/ExMachinaCv11.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/previews/dc/0505/ExMachinaCv11T.jpg" alt="Ex Machina #11 Preview" align=right></a>Turning over to Wildstorm's Signature Series line, Brian K. Vaughan's creator-owned series Ex Machina leads the pack in sales. Ex Machina builds on the boardroom superheroics concept started back in Wildcats 3.0, placing a retired superhero in the position of New York mayor. Mitchell Hundred, formerly the costumed hero known as the Great Machine, no longer battles crime on the streets of New York, but instead must face the rigors of running a city, its services and infrastructure while avoiding the politicial backstabbing and machinations attracted by such a position. Bubbling beneath the surface, Hundred's former vigilante life threatens to interfere in his new life as mayor, creating an exciting and gripping narrative, steered forward by Vaughan's impeccable characterization and the superior artwork of Starman's Tony Harris.
Other titles rounding out the Wildstorm stable include Warren Ellis' Ocean mini-series, and his upcoming longform serial Desolation Jones; Jimmy Palmiotti & Justin Gray's Twilight Experiment; the Howard Chaykin-helmed Legend and City of Tomorrow and Devin Grayson and Brian Stelfreeze's upcoming Matador.
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