Comic Book Resources

I forgot all about the X-Axis.

I cared about Wildstorm briefly during Gail Simone’s fantastic run on Gen 13. Then she left and so did I.

Maybe it’s just me, but I’m not sure what the point of this article is. You are condemning something you’ve never read based upon a somewhat unrelated publishing history and one single review.

After the Morrison relaunches of Authority and Wildcats bombed, its pretty clear that the WildStorm editors have done their best to pick up the peices and fix their universe. Yes, an apocalypse is a tired cliche, but it did allow them to put all of the Wildstorm proper books (Tranquility, Gen13, Wildcats, Authority, and StormWatch) on the same level to rebuild. Putting solid genre writers (Abnett and Lanning, Gage, etc) at the core of this relaunch is a great move in my opinion.

The problem isn’t going to be that there aren’t good ideas or that Wildstorm has had a shoddy past, its going to be that naysayers are quick to condemn titles that they’ve never read.

I challenge you to pick up the first few issues of the relaunched titles, review them, and then pass judgement. That seems to make a lot more sense than trashing the relaunch without even looking at the books.

There was the whole Captain Atom Armageddon series that ended in like a reboot or something and then… … not much of anything that merits caring about. Whether it was Morrison, his artists, or the powers that be dictating he spend his time elsewhere, the excitement about his Authority and WIldcats and then abandoning of them really killed my interest in the universe. I don’t know why it exists or why people buy Wildstorm comics now. I bought Midnighter but it is canceled and I like Ex Machina but that has nothing to do with Wildstorm. I think there is still some possibilities in the universe simply because it isn’t Marvel or DC but there doesn’t seem to be any real idea of what to do with it though.

They’re now part of the DC Multiverse. If there ever were a good time to quit caring about WildStorm as a line this would be it.

You lost me when you said Wildcats 3.0 was overrated. You obviously read an insignificantly small sample.

Zzzzzzzzzzz.

The point when Wildstorm became irrelevant is when Jim Lee sold the company to DC. As soon as Wildtstorm came under the Time Warner/DC umbrella anything edgy (what Wildstorm had become known for) was neutered.

The multiple reboots haven’t helped either. Two in a year, really?

“Maybe it’s just me, but I’m not sure what the point of this article is.”

I hope it’s just you, because it’s really obvious. The point of the article is for Brad to offer his opinion on what’s currently happening with the Wildstorm line of titles.

Also, I didn’t see anywhere that he condemned the relaunch. You’re getting awfully defensive, and it’s totally unprovoked.

Some good points in this article.

I definitely agree with the assertion that many (if not most) superhero comics fans just aren’t very interested in reading anything outside of the “Big Two” when it comes to getting their spandex jollies. Speculating on why this is so would probably be worth a whole article in itself.

But I think the most important reason, and one that you touched on briefly in the article, contributing to the Wildstorm Universe’s (and its Image Comics Universe predecessor) floundering is the fact that its prior success depended largely on marketing the brand name-recognition strength of its associated creative teams. When I was a young (and somewhat comics-naive) teen during the early 1990s, I didn’t buy WildCATs, Gen13, Wetworks, etc. because I had any inherent interest in the characters or the shared universe they inhabited, I bought the books (and tolerated the writing) because I was a fan of Jim Lee, J. Scott Campbell, and Whilce Portacio. When those guys stopped having any regular and direct involvement in their books, my interest in the characters and universe wasn’t enough to keep me following the titles (although Joe Casey’s WildCATs briefly held me in its thrall, and of course, the Ellis-MIllar Authority books were fun while they lasted). And now that I’m much older and my tastes in art and writing have subsequently changed, having those same creators back on any Wildstorm titles probably isn’t going to be enough to get me back to reading them (I’d be more interested in those creators’ non-Wildstorm work, just because I won’t have to deal with any of the shared multiverse/Earth-50 DC nonsense).

I guess in summary, my prior interest in any Wildstorm Universe titles, with a few exceptions, was largely due to my then-interest in the creators working on the books, and not the actual strengths of the character cast and setting.

21 Down. buy it in back issues if you can find it. it was a ton of fun (and i think the first Palmiotti / Gray collabo). to me, it was books like that (and Sleeper) that made WildStorm so great a few years back. i just think they need to find new ways to push the boundaries of superhero comics. that’s what the imprint has done best in the past. also don’t forget that Scott Dunbier’s gone now, and he was a big part of the whole WildStorm movement.

They’re now part of the DC Multiverse. If there ever were a good time to quit caring about WildStorm as a line this would be it.

Is this really happening? Wow. How long before they end being in a story where they’re marvelling at how inspirational and awesome Batman, Wonder Woman and Superman are?

It already happened. Apollo was in Countdown: Arena. The Bleed has been referenced and seen a number of times.

I don’t care about the “Wildstorm Universe”, but I sure would’ve liked to read the rest of Morrison’s Authority and Wildcats.

The only Wildstorm Universe books I have bought in years have been the Alan Moore collections they released not too long ago and the Captain Atom x-over mini-series. Despite loving just about everything Moore writes, and enjoying Captain Atom as a character, both left me disappointed in the end. If even Alan Moore struggles to find a way of doing something interesting with your properties, then I know you’re in trouble.

Before that, Wildstorm put out some decent books every now and then. Ellis’, and later Millar’s, Authority was my favorite monthly book at the time. Then DC neutered it just as Ennis was set to do some stuff with it (a precursor to the later fate of The Boys at DC/Wildstorm too…)

I’m not counting the ABC books since they fell out of the purview of the “Wildstorm Universe” but when they ended, that pretty much marked the end of my interest in Wildstorm as a label. When I flip though Previews every month now, I almost always skip past their listings (except this past month when my attention was caught by the new Top Ten comic, but again, that’s a holdover from the ABC days and not one of Jim Lee’s babies…)

I’m sad….

I remember buying Morrison’s WildCATs and Authority…then getting really pissed off when there was no follow up. By the time Authority 2 came out I had ceased to care.

As for Gail’s Gen13 run, I did not find it very funny and it just felt like she was trying to make me feel guilty for enjoying the Fairchild cheesecake that was one of the big selling points of the series. That, and I did not really care at all about the mystery she was trying to sell me. I do not deny she is a great writer, but I just could not get into her work there.

I do not bother with Wildstorm any more. DC has completely botched their take on these properties and I really think the guys upstairs should have thought twice before 1) dumping so many projects on Morrison’s lap and 2) like you said, pairing him with a pair of artists not known for their speed/reliability.

The reasons for having a separate Wildstorm Universe seem null and void now. All those aspects which made it unique (or atleast separate from DC anyway) are being aped or adapted in the mainstream DC title. And now that WS is earth 49 or something of DCs 52 earths, why not bite the bullet and have them all mingling together.

Theres been a rumbling on t’interweb about folding the WS characters into the DCU proper for some time. Its been on the cards since DC bought Jim Lee. DC bought characters from Fawcett, Quality and Charlton. All of which were folded seemlessly into the DCU over 20 years ago, after the Crisis.

Its now 2008, DC have a ‘licence agreement’ with Milestone Media and with Archie Comics for their MLJ characters which means they are effectively taking over the superhero characters of each company. Oh and DC is having another crisis. The final one apparently(!)
Its now been announced that J. Michael Stracynzski will be taking over Brave and the Bold to integrate the MLJ characters into the DCU. Dwayne McDuffie will bring his Milestone characters to JLA while Static makes the leap to Teen Titans.

Whats next? Grant Morrison writing Adventure Comics featuring WildCATs etc moving to Gotham or Metropolis? People would care about the WS characters if readers thought they mattered. If they arent on the same planet as Superman or Batman, then i would be inclined to agree with Brad, they’re irrelevant.

Come on DC, bite the bullet and Bring on the DCU WildCATs…

I didn’t even care about the Wildstorm Universe when I was reading WildCATS and Gen13. And I never cared about The Authority.

For what it’s worth, I really enjoyed all of Joe Casey’s Wildcats work; the 2.0 incarnation was I believe with Sean Phillips getting his chops down pre-Sleeper and pre-Criminal, then the 3.0 run with the beautiful Rian Hughes covers.

I guess I have a fondness for these characters evert since Travis Charest drew them in the first relaunch, too bad Lobdell’s writing was crud. In the failed Eye of The Storm line, I also though Joe Casey and Ashley Wood’s Automatic Kafka was grand, I think it got cancellled at issue 9 and was never (and probably never will be) collected.

Wildcats, and by extension the whole Wildstorm line, failed irrecoverably for me when Morrison and Lee put out a mere two issues of the Wildcats relaunch in as many years. After that, I officially threw in the towel. It’s just ridiculous that the damn editor of the line and a writer like Morrison can’t get more than two issues put out after so much build up. I just can’t support that “business model” (a term used loosely for sure) with my hard earned money, regardless of fondness for the characters.

I’ve still got high hopes for the WSU as a whole, sure it stumbles and fell with its hyped WorldStorm re-luanch, but that falls squarely on Grant Morrison shoulders for taking on more then he could. If the editors put someone else on GM Authority & Wildcats people would be complaining that they wanted a GM Authority or Wildcats not writer X or Y, so basically WS was screwed either way, also Gene Ha has said on his blog that he never received a script beyond issue #2 and that’s why he took on projects like JLA #11 and a new Top 10 mini series. I care for the WSU and its characters because they offer something a little different then the “big two” endless Crisis or Disassembled House of Civil Hulk Invasion. I think before you condemn the new World’s End story line you should read it.

I think there are a few fans out there that still care for the WSU and want to see it succeed.

I’m still eagerly awaiting the Morrison/Lee WildCATS #2. Not kidding. I can’t count the dozens of times I’ve read and re-read the first one. The post-introductory stage of superhero culture? Easily potentially more interesting than silver-age send-ups.

I was there for WildCATS and the original Stormwatch series (of which I was a big fan). Backlash also sucked me in back in the day. I have read the Ellis Stormwatch/Authority in trades but didn’t care too much until that Worldstorm relaunch. My favorite title, and one I haven’t seen mentioned, is Stormwatch PHD. Gage made that book a great Gotham Central for the Wildstorm Universe. I gave up on Gen13, WildCATs and the Authority gave up on me, and then they cancelled PHD, the only decent book they had going. Some issues of Midnighter’s solo series were good from the first year (I lost interest again when Giffen took over). I am now too fatigued to give a crap about the World’s End, Number of the Beast, Revelations, whatever stuff. I think they killed any hope of a resurgence with the botching of Worldstorm. It is obvious to me that DC doesn’t really give a crap about the line so why should I get re-invested when they could just yank a creative team I like or not enforce deadlines? If I hear good things, I will look into it in trade form. Month-to-month, too little too late.

I can’t say I was ever really involved in the WildStorm universe to start with, though I’ve read several Stormwatch & Authority trades (mostly Ellis’ run) and would call myself a fan of Planetary.

At this point, my main interest in the WSU amounts to (a) that last Planetary issue and (b) the potential return of Welcome to Tranquility, which I discovered (as I often seem to) after the series had already been canceled.

It’s worth quoting this post again, because it says it all:

“I challenge you to pick up the first few issues of the relaunched titles, review them, and then pass judgement. That seems to make a lot more sense than trashing the relaunch without even looking at the books.”

It seems like every relaunch of a comic imprint has to have a crop of “why bother?” articles, summing up past failures, written by people who haven’t read the books for years. Just for information, this relaunch involves around 4 titles, all of which were stated by WS months ago to have 5 issues already in the can; if you’ve followed comics news at all, you’ll know that they’ve clearly learned from the Worldstorm debacle and are making real efforts to differentiate this. 2 issues have come out already, to pretty good reception, and there are loads of previews, but it doesn’t sound as if you’ve seen them. I don’t see the journalistic value of writing a “who cares?” article from that perspective, unless you’re just keen to be the first person to say “I told you so” if it fails. As the poster above suggested, why not look at the contents of the relaunch before you make a call on the value of it?

Also, your description of some characters as “ill defined” or “analogues” suggests your Wildstorm reading is a bit out of date.

Not me.
The only two books I read from Wildstorm is: Ex Machina and Supernatural.
Both of which is not actually apart of Wildstorm Universe.
That has gone by the way of a black hole.

I don’t think Brad’s saying, “who cares, it sucks, don’t bother.” I think he’s asking whether there are enough fans of the characters (rather than the creators) in the Wildstorm and the world they inhabit to support yet another relaunch. I only bought the comics based on writers or artists (from Jim Lee to Claremont, James Robinson, and Charest to Alan Moore, Ellis, Millar, Quitely, Cassaday, Brubaker, Phillips, & Casey). While the current Wildstorm creators may be doing good work, the comics themselves don’t stand out against similar (or perceived as similar) Marvel & DC titles. I think Wildstorm lost steam when they couldn’t follow up Authority vol 1 with an Authority vol 2 of equal quality and “name” pressence.

Wow. Well there was as big a chunk of blind, uninformed hatin’ as I’ve ever seen online. Hey, I can be a published internet writer too! Check out this “opinion” piece:

Now, I can’t say I know much about this “Barack Obama” in that I’ve never heard him speak or actually attempted to educate myself on him or the issues… but I saw him once on TV and he seems like just another attempt by the Democratic party to re-launch their bid at capturing the White House. Hey, is it me, or didn’t they lose the last few elections? Is there any end to this pathetic cycle of failure? Man, I long for the good-old days of non-sucky candidates (these days co-incidentally coincided with when I actually paid attention to them.) Maybe one day we’ll return to that, but I read somewhere online that Hillary Clinton ruined the party for everyone, and since I’m not really going to make any attempt on following this up with any actual real-world research or experience of my own, I’m going to endorse that theory as the one that sounds the most correct to guys that don’t know what they’re talking about.

Shazam! A political piece every bit as informed and insightful as the Wildstorm piece that Curran has written. Actually… that’s not fair. This piece actually falls short, in that it doesn’t include enough tortured syntax, run-on-sentences, or ad homonym attacks (complete with “hilarious” nick-names.)

Sorry guys. I guess maybe I’m not cut out for internet writing after all. I promise to try harder to be dumber next time.

Joe Casey’s WildCATs (which is completely overrated by the 12 people who liked it and were really vociferous about it on the ‘net, from the small sample size I’ve read)

Casey wrote about 50 issues of WildCATS, counting volume 2, 3.0, and various one-shots. I’d say that more than 12 people liked it if he lasted that long on the title(s).

I know the “12 people” remark was probably sarcasm, but using imaginary people to justify your statement that Casey’s run was overrated is pretty weak. Why don’t you just speak for yourself?

Reminds me a bit of “groupspeak”….

I’m realy feel some what disappointed in people’s quick judgements about Wildstorm World’s End. It seems the majority of people who have posted refer to the old Wildstorm. Titles that are long gone and have no reference to what is actually going on. I agree with the fustration that you all feel because of the poor manegment by Morrison (wildcats & Authority), Lee (Wildcats), and Pfeifer (Captain Atom). Those individuals were responsible for a failed relaunch because the did not have a solid plan or stuck to one. Most readers are tired from the delays and failures which I understand. Yet how can most people judge something that is new when they have not picked up the series yet?

From what I have read so far is that the creative team behind World’s End have already planned and finished story arcs for on time shipping. They only have 4 titles a month so it doesn’t hurt the walet. Wildstorm seems to have gotten its act togeter. Why not give it a shot?

4 titles a month? Man I remember back in the Image days they had like 12 books are something a month. Bring back Savant Garde I say!

Ah. Another one of these? A random blogger posts a bunch of questionable opinions strung together into a post so he can get attention. Most of which only a small number of people (or possibly even just him) really agrees with. They’re usually done just after something interesting happens, so they can hopefully stir up a shitstorm. You can almost set your watch by these things.

If you don’t wanna read WS comics, then don’t. Nobody’s making you. But if you “forgot” about that universe…well that speaks to you not keeping up with comics news more than them not making a big enough splash.

I would say there’s a small collective that cares about Wildstorm, but its definitely not on DC’s radar one bit. Heck, I don’t even think its even on Jim Lee’s radar. While something like the Captain Atom mini was a decent chance to start again it didn’t work due to they’re not interesting characters. They’re all cyphers of every other Marvel and DC character, their takes might be interesting but don’t hold weight…at least to this reader. I did read a bit of Wildstorm (loved DnA’s Majestic and Sleeper) but the days of trying something inventive and mindblowing are long gone. Ellis gave Wildstorm the benchmark of WSU writing that’s near impossible to come close to. I’m thankful we had a brilliant Authority run and a visionary and stellar work that is Planetary, but like the George Harrison album says: “All Things Must Pass”

Perhaps its time to let the dog take its final walk before going Old Yeller on it.

Wildstorm was what really got me into comics again after the the …”reign of supermen”, and “age of apokolapse” . The first runs of WildCats, Gen13, StormWatch, DeathBlow, Backlash, WetWorks and the Team 7 series were all great, and I still have most of them….but now what is it really? What ever happened to the comic revolution???

So where’s this “trashing the relaunch without reading the books” hatchet piece you guys are getting all worked up about? Because it’s just not there in the article above. You really seem to be projecting based on what others think of your tastes, then overreacting massively.

Sorry, that should be “projecting based on what you think others think of your tastes” etc.

The comments here prove that, no matter what it is, somewhere on the internet people are really into it, to the point that they get upset on some level if it is not treated with all due reverence.

Joe Casey’s WildCATs (which is completely overrated by the 12 people who liked it and were really vociferous about it on the ‘net, from the small sample size I’ve read)

You’re completely overrated, and no one has even rated you yet!

Is this really happening? Wow. How long before they end being in a story where they’re marvelling at how inspirational and awesome Batman, Wonder Woman and Superman are?

About as long as it would take to start randomly admiring Captain America, Iron Man and Thor in the MU.

Also, I agree totally that Wildstorm is a spent force, and quite sad compared to what it used to be, but the biggest factor in that really has to have been the sale to DC.
Suddenly books didn’t last as long, talent got moved onto other projects and nothing got a push from the company.
I’m sure it made great financial sense to Jim Lee, but it killed his company.

Wildstorm should publish stuff like Ex Machina and others.

Let Wild Cats, Gen 13, Authority etc rest in peace. Maybe someone will bring them back in ten years and they will be great.

The bottom line about the Wildstorm Universe is that it is a universe with lots of potential that has been grossly mishandled over the years. When your own founder (Jim Lee) over-extends himself and chooses his own universe to drop in favor of other projects, as a fan it did sting a little. It’s as if the universe was “orphaned” after that and nobody wanted to take care of it.
But now, the current creative staff has learned from the mistakes of the past and proven to us already that they can give us on-time issues and a cohesive story and universe that has a permanent status change worth following because unlike the numerous other post-apocalyptic scenarios we’ve seen before, this one is here to stay. It will only take a successful run for the reboot disasters to be forgotten. And so far, Wildstorm is off to a good start and hopes to prove itself this time once and for all.

As someone that’s out of the loop–what’s currently being published under the Wildstorm imprint? I saw Ex Machina and Planetary mentioned, but one of those is finished whenever Cassady finishes the last issue, and the other isn’t part of a shared universe. Is there much else going on?

Well, at the very least, it’s nice to see all kinds of different people who dig or used to dig WildStorm for whatever reason.

For me, WildStorm’s biggest problem and greatest strength is that they don’t have a status quo. They went from being very flashy, albeit deceptively complex Image Comics books that had, at least in my opinion, a very well thought out continuity and connected history, stemming from all the titles in the early years having a connection to Team 7.

Then they transitioned into the “Super Vertigo”, where all the titles pretty much stood apart from one another, and if all you read was Wildcats or the Authority or whatever, then that’s all you really needed. They went from artist-driven to writer-driven and everything in between which gave us some great stories by awesome creative teams.

It becomes a problem, because it seems that the original Image Comics WildStorm fans can’t get into the modern books that stand alone, and the complex relationships or the early stuff don’t appeal to the modern fans who are just looking for solid superheroics. There aren’t many people who are fans of WildC.A.T.s AND Wildcats Version 3.0. Or Pre-Ellis StormWatch and Post-Ellis StormWatch.

The lack of editorial direction is also a pro/con situation, where on the one hand, you get to kill off StormWatch to create the Authority, which set the tone for a lot of superhero books to follow. I’ve always said that WildStorm’s greatest achievement was creating Marvel’s Ultimate line. However, now that all the other comnics are venturing into the darker, more “mature” territory that used to be WildStorm’s, where do they go from here?

I’m actually okay with WildStorm’s current direction and I think the idea of a world that the heroes failed to save has some potential for interesting stories. I don’t know if it will succeed, mind you, but I have to admit to being a bit confused by criticisms of this being a “tired, repetitive cliche of a post-apocalyptic superhero world”. Have there been many others? There was Days of Future Past. But have there been other, long-running explorations about a superhero made redundant by an apocalypse? If so, that could just be my own ignorance talking, but it’s the internet, so I wouldn’t be alone.

I like that they’ve assembled some decent creative teams, and I like that they’ve made sure that they have many issues in the can before releasing the first issue. They know they messed up WorldStorm and they’ve taken steps, and while they may not be “superstars” like Grant Morrison or whatever, I don’t think they’re bad teams at all.

I like the fact that Jim Lee allows his creators to take his characters to new and interesting places, I like that characters can be killed off and it took nearly ten years before they got revived. And while I think it might be tougher to break new ground in superhero comics right now, WildStorm will always be a publisher who looks for innovation before anyone else, and that’s why they have me as a fan.

I agree with whoever challenged you to read the first couple of issues of World’s End, Brad, and would even add that you might go back and explore some of WildStorm’s backlist. There’s excellent work to be enjoyed, and it’s not an accident that WildStorm, and its fierce, dedicated little fanbase continue to fight to get noticed amidst the Secret Invasions and Final Crises of today.

Okay, that’s my rambling to add to the pile of ramblings.

How long before they end being in a story where they’re marvelling at how inspirational and awesome Batman, Wonder Woman and Superman are?

JLA/WildCATS. Published in 1997. Written by Grant Morrison, drawn by Val Semeiks.

Contra anything in this blog entry, however, the “Wildstorm Universe” was never a “big deal”. Books written and drawn by Jim Lee were a big deal in the early 90s. Books written by Alan Moore and Warren Ellis and Joe Casey on behalf of Wildstorm were a big deal in the late 90s. Wildstorm Studios was a big deal before being acquired by DC.

But the universe itself? Mostly derivative characters and ideas cast off from rejected X-men pitches, as wel as pastiche characters setup to be analogues of more famous superhero characters so that the writers could do “shocking” stories that you’d never be allowed to tell about those characters. It also had one or two truly original creations who couldn’t possibly ever support a book of their own (Jack Hawksmoor … and maybe I can come up with another one if you give me some time). And the occasional Warren Ellis foul-mouthed, chain-smoking Mary Sue character that might be considered original if her personality weren’t just a graft of every other freaking Warren Ellis foul-mouthed, chain-smoking Mary Sue character.

So no, I’m not terribly surprised that no one can figure out what to do with the Wildstorm Universe. It has no purpose anymore - it was the playground that writers could use to do the stories that DC and Marvel wouldn’t let them do with their characters. But now that DC and Marvel have pretty much removed all of the boundaries to what you can do with their characters, the Wildstorm Universe is superfluous. Plus the character designs bring bad flashbacks to the 90s - I’m always a bit afraid that I might pick up some chromium poisoning if I’m not too careful.

OTOH - Abnett and Lanning’s Authority book is the first issue of The Authority that I’ve read since Warren Ellis left the book that has me interested in picking up the next issue (and that includes Morrison’s take, and I’m a total Morrison geek). So I suppose there might be some use for the Universe if it gives Abnett and Lanning work.

I remember when Wildstorm was the place to go for the best superhero comics in the industry. 1999 until mid-2004 (probably a bit earlier), that was a good run (with some great stuff after, of course, but that was the core years for almost line-wide quality). But, quality wasn’t selling–or, to be fair, that sort of quality wasn’t selling, so they tried different things and… that hasn’t worked either, it seems. I would say they should try returning to the idea of being the Vertigo of superhero comics again, but since the “Worldstorm” relaunch had guys like Grant Morrison, Garth Ennis and Brian Azzarello (with Gail Simone who I don’t mention with the other three because of the Vertigo connection… or lack thereof) at the helm and that didn’t exactly light the world on fire.

As for the Joe Casey’s Wildcats comment… ah, you’re right, it is overrated in its own way. Volume two with Sean Phillips is very, very good. Version 3.0 had its moments and tons of potential, but its second year is a near-steady downward spiral into a dull regressive action story that seems to go against the point of the book. Still a great body of work overall, but the way it ends is pretty bad considering what came before. (And not that this necessarily justifies my opinion–and actually acts as self-promotion–but I’ve been analysing Joe Casey’s work on my blog for the past year and my focus since March? His Wildcats work, issue by issue and I’ll be finished on Saturday. I’m a big fan of his work–and I would have to be to be analysing all of it so in-depth–but it’s not all great.)

M Bloom: Simone’s run on Gen13 was god-awful. The characters were perfectly fine before Captain Atom, there was no absolutely need for a reboot. All of sudden we have hammy corny dialogue that I expect to find in Teen Titans. All the good character moments of Gen13’s previous 12+ years just vanished, along with the clear Team 7 backstory which has now been ruined by a writer who admittedly didn’t originally want the job.

Ryan the lowani: “Solid genre writers”? DnA and Gage? The first issue of WildCats v5. was excruciatingly embarassing after the brilliance of Joe Casey’s run. Grifter’s doing lame out-of-character jokes and Spartan’s back to uncool boring Hadrian again. And that ridiculous one-note Nemesis cliche is somehow still being used….. seemed very unsolid and very DC-lite to me…. not challenging and provocative, just routine….

jccalhoun: There WAS an idea of what to do with WildStorm. The Eye of the Storm era was fantastic. DC just somehow deliberately set out to homogenize it’s entire output, driving away Alan Moore, Joe Casey, Scott Dunbier, Garth Ennis….. even John Nee I’m sure didn’t have to leave and he was a big reason for WS success. The books were never marketed, the websites were hardly ever updated, titles selling at Vertigo level weren’t given the same opportunities, artists were poached with lies that they would return, series canceled without DC bothering to end them……. Read any WildStorm book published from 2002-2003 and tell me seriously it isn’t miles better than present DC books.

Katefan: Please, if you haven’t already, read Sleeper and WildCats version 3.0. Ignore Brad Curran: both series are absolutely visionary and and an example of what WildStorm can acheive without editorial hack mismanagement.

Nick UK: “All those aspects which made it unique being adapted in DC?” Uh, no. Crisisland is still churning out the same 60-year-old cliches it always has. Infinite Legions, infinite Supergirls, Silver Age characters returning all the damn time for NO REASON, and zero creativity. Show me an everlasting car battery sold globally in the DCU and then I’ll agree with you.

All the Fawcett/Quality/Charlton characters are permanently designated to 2nd, 3rd and 4th place in the DCU (that’s beeing charitable) as DC will NEVER allow any character to have independant thought, action or beliefs which go against the precious, politically-correct “Trinity” three. (So perfect DC calls them by a religious metaphor for god…)

WildCats in the DCU just means that any potential for the characters to grow and mature as they did in the past (……and lets face it, like all comic characters SHOULD DO) will be completely gone. I mean, would you like Dream, Death, Constantine and the Minutemen to team up with Superman to rescue little kittens lost up trees and then laugh about how good it is that things never change over tea and biscuits in a Alex Ross painted doublespread?

winterteeth: I agree - Armageddon, Revelations, Number of the Beast have all been extremely terrible. My opinion is that these are of DC’s plan to close down the WSU and merge it into Crisisland. You can see the hand of DC in the terrible dialogue and quasi-religious sounding titles that remind me of the godawful “Kingdom Come.” And stupid resurrections such as StormWatch Prime and the High are just sad potshots at Ellis’ fantastic Authority run.

Kelson: Welcome to Tranquility should never have been part of the WSU. It’s a book about Golden Age archetypes (like the JSA) written by one of DC’s staple writers set in what is supposed to be a modern, confusing-continuity-free superhuman universe. It should have stayed like the Boys as a creator-owned project, because these characters just are not in the right place.

DubipR: They are good characters. And part of the reason WHY they are great is because they don’t have 20 bloody different versions of themselves floating around time and space. They had clear simple origins. DC, for no reason other than the misguided belief that modern heroes will be more profitable if dragged down to an archaic and outdated story-telling style, and an extremely confusing mismanaged continuity. One case in point….

The new DC multiverse makes no damn sense. Just 52 crap worlds? Created by a retarded space worm? That’s Authority and Planetary out of canon then, since rather than infinite spectacular worlds to travel to and explore there’s just 50-odd variants of Superman and Batman. Just silly.

What this very longwinded post is trying to say Mr. Curran, is YES there are still people who seriously care about the WildStorm Universe. We may have stopped buying the titles due to the complete contempt for the audience displayed by the ancient brass, but we still think that the characters and concepts are sound.

And if you’re wondering why you haven’t seen many more of these posts by me on CBR, it’s because I get very angry and upset when writing all this out and thinking about how messed up things are now. Not angry at you; feel free to have your opinion. Writing this statement takes a lot out of me and just makes me feel sad. And I went back through my post A LOT, toning down what I had to say.

I don’t want to believe that WildStorm is forever doomed, but I can’t blindly collect stuff I know is tripe. All I know is —– I will buy INTELLIGENT, cliche-free mature readers comics with superhumans in them (it can be a shared universe) that do not treat the reader like the 40-year-old virgin. If Marvel, DC or any indy publisher did this I might buy it. But I will always remember the WS characters fondly, and want them to escape the dragnet of unimagination that they currently seem caught in. A merge with the DCU would not solve this problem, only make it worse.

Missremembering? Jesus, what ever happened to spell checking your work?

There absolutely are people who still care about the Wildstorm Universe, and though it may be a small group they are unabashedly passionate in their affection for the characters (yes, the CHARACTERS, not just the creators) and their history, myself included.

Yes, “World Storm” was a huge clusterhump. Yes, “World’s End” might be a last-ditch effort to reclaim a mainstream hit. But that doesn’t mean there aren’t some GREAT comic work being produced, past and present, by Wildstorm. Chris Gage’s STORMWATCH: PHD, Gail Simone’s WELCOME TO TRANQUILITY, and Abnett and Lanning’s MAJESTIC were all *fantastic* titles that couldn’t break through the sales barrier.

They may not have been able to reach the creative zenith of “Eye of the Storm” - Casey’s WILDCATS, Wright’s STORMWATCH: TEAM ACHILLES, Brubaker’s SLEEPER, and even the strange Casey vanity projects like AUTOMATIC KAFKA and THE INTIMATES were superior to most anything produced by Marvel or DC in the last ten years - but the imprint is still tossing out golden eggs on a fairly consistent basis.

Here’s to “World’s End” being as satisfying a payoff as ARMAGEDDON, REVELATIONS, and NUMBER OF THE BEAST were as lead-ins.

Considering that Number of the Beast was averaging just over 7,000 in sales for issues 3-6, I’d say there are very few out there that would agree with you, Chris.

You may be right, Kushiro; but I’ve always subscribed to the notion that just because a book doesn’t sell well doesn’t necessarily mean it’s not good, and vice versa (*definitely* vice versa).

I agree, and I am still sticking with the Wildstorm books to see if the payoff is indeed a good one. But my comment was meant to suggest that, in reference to the topic at hand, that perhaps not enough people care about it for us to find out.

I miss Kev.

They should just call it “Earth-Kev”.

The “real” Wildstorm Universe died years back. We are just waiting for Warren Ellis and John Cassaday to finish up the obituary.

Maybe the best solution is to kill off the main titles, or put them on hiatus, for a few years. Keep it is an imprint for creator run/owned titles, like Criminal or Machina, who can do some more interesting things without the constraints of having to fit everything into the big Wildstorm picture. Use that time to sign up talent, with some big names, that are interested in rebuilding the brand for the long term, who will make time for this project instead of running back whenever the Big 2 call them, and retool the titles so that they all fit well as a cohesive universe. That is, if DC doesn’t plan on folding the main Wildstorm Universe characters into the DC Universe…just my two cents.

plok:

I second that…

with one caution…

Once Planetary has finished…

So… By Christmas 2009??

Earth-Kev - The Kev Universe… Kev Comics…

The relaunch with the apocoplypse isn’t the problem, imo.

It’s they spent, what, a year? Leading up to it…with the characters learning it was coming, seeing glimpse of the future..preparing…and then….nothing…

They’re actions had no effect. Things didn’t even change a little. And then, one of the big story lines coming out of NotB, preventing Majestic from going insane…it plays about before issue 1 of the new WildCats series, and they failed at that too.

So what was the point of the year leading up?

I, too, “seriously care about the Wildstorm Universe.” It’s the only imprint at the Big Two where superheroes can and do experience real and lasting change, rather than the mere illusion of change, and that freedom makes for some fascinating — if, at times, wrongheaded — developments. Where else could a team begin as a generic “covert action” squad, then become a post-modern non-team, and eventually morph into a corporation? Certainly not at Marvel or DC proper.

That said, I am skeptical of this “World’s End” direction. As Paul O’Brien mentioned in his review, which sparked this whole discussion, there’s a great risk of the post-armageddon setting homogenizing the line. If all of the series are going to deal with the same struggles, publishing four books might get redundant. So, I’m curious to see how — and if — the writers differentiate their titles.

Should this revamp fail — and, coming off the diminishing returns of Armageddon, Revelations, and Number of the Beast, things don’t look too hopeful, sadly — it might be time, as wwk5d mentioned, to give the shared universe a rest for a while. Focus on non-shared universe properties (like Ex Machina and Desolation Jones) and licensed comics (Supernatural, Chuck, whatever). Create a want — a need, a desire — for Wildcats and Stormwatch and The Authority and the like. Absence makes the heart grow founder and all of that. Come back strong, guns blazing, after years of hibernation.

And, y’know, bring back DV8.

“Create a want — a need, a desire — for Wildcats and Stormwatch and The Authority and the like.”

Thanks for the thought, but you’ll find this already exists. Titles don’t become irrelevant because you personally no longer read them. All three of the titles you mention have a committed fan base which is very supportive of World’s End and keen to see it succeed - unlike the writer of this piece, who didn’t even know there was a relaunch, yet still thought his views were worth typing out. Now *that’s* irrelevance.

For what it’s worth, Steven Grant had some good things to say about the latest Wildstorm relaunch/event in this week’s Permanent Damage column, to quote:

“… I suspect ultimately someone’s going to find ‘the way’ to restore everything to as it was, but I strongly hope Wildstorm’s got the guts, or maybe desperation, to just keep going forward from here, because whatever else you can say about ‘World’s End’ (though nothing can be said definitely until it’s over) it not only teases the massive change all Big Events promise, it starts out having already delivered it. Maybe the vastly overused expression ‘changes everything forever’ will really mean something for once, in which case ‘World’s End’ may be the only Big Event of the summer really worth paying attention to… ”

Still not enough to sell me on the titles, but praise from a veteran writer and observer like Grant can only be a good thing for fans of the imprint and the imprint itself.

All three of the titles you mention have a committed fan base

Didn’t somebody above mention sales of around 7,000? Those fans may be “committed”, but there aren’t enough of them.

That’s actually the point of Brad’s post, despite all the poor reading comprehension on display here. His question wasn’t whether or not these books are good or worthy, it’s whether there’s enough people out there who care.

Hint: 7,000 is not enough people, not for a company like DC to commit to these books in any serious way.

By the way, for those who’ve read this as an attack on their beloved universe, Brad even suggests in the last paragraph that he’d be happy to see them succeed at their relaunch. So, seriously now, you ought to actually read the article before freaking out. You will seem far more intelligent that way.

Is that really even praise from Grant?

It sounds more like a critique of Marvel and DC than praise for Wildstorm.

Ah, the appeal to “true fans.” It’s my favoritest Internet fallacy.

I miss the days when books like Desolation Jones and G-Mozz’s Wildcats and Authority were coming out.

“Is that really even praise from Grant?

It sounds more like a critique of Marvel and DC than praise for Wildstorm.”

Well he also said, “and Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning are bringing a nice 2000 AD style apocalyptic despair to the writing.” So I believe it is praise, though a lot of it does seem a bit weak to me.

“Is that really even praise from Grant?

It sounds more like a critique of Marvel and DC than praise for Wildstorm.”

Can’t it be both, though?

And yeah, I guess a big part of Grant’s article is pointing out how DC’s and Marvel’s big events this summer are simply maintaining the illusion of change while Wildstorm’s event has already delivered, to an extent, change in spades but he also talks about how there seems to be firmer grasp of where the story is heading among the people involved in the event, as opposed to the shaky and sometimes outright bungled coordination of DC’s and Marvel’s big summer projects.

Of course, not having read the Wildstorm book in question or most of the DC/Marvel crossover fodder (and not having any plans to in the immediate future), I’m only taking Steven Grant’s word that it’s a good read that can potentially top whatever’s going on with DC and Marvel now. I thought his opinion offers a well-reasoned contrast to the opinions stated by Brad Curran in his blog (not that I disagree with all of Curran’s observations… I agreed with some of them, thought he was reaching on others).

Bear in mind that I don’t necessarily want to see Wildstorm wallow in the grubbing post-apocalypse forever and ever, I’m just saying that it would be nice to see a company start from this point and continue on, building something new from the ruins rather than return to what’s effectively our own civilization.

I like what they’re doing so far in World’s End. I can’t quite burst with effusive praise because not enough has been played out for me to get a grasp of how well they’ll ultimately play it out. I thought the effect on the Authority, especially, was nicely handled. But where it goes from here, who can say? The best I can say at the moment is that I think it’s worth taking a look at and at least seems to be going a little further than Marvel or DC are willing to (or possibly are capable of). So far…

- Grant

“seriously now, you ought to actually read the article before freaking out. You will seem far more intelligent that way.”

I read it, thanks - several times through, to see if I could find anything that suggested an informed opinion; you know, hints that maybe he’d heard about the relaunch or dipped into any WS titles lately or even (gasp) looked at the 2 issues that have just come out. But no, he said up-front that he’d as good as forgotten that WS was even publishing, and he’s based his comments on the new stuff on what someone else said in their review. He’s written a dismissive piece based on zero research. Poor reading comprehension? At least we’re doing some reading.

In my many back and forth conversations with the guys from the raging bullets (dc fan podcast) and everyone in the forum, we do occasionally talk about wildstorm. Of everyone there, I am probably the biggest (or one of the biggest) supporter of the WSU books. I would be more likely to drop my other DC books than wildstorm books due to my support of the imprint. So in letting you know where I am coming from, here’s my take:

First is the failure of grant morrison to complete his storytelling on Wildcats and Authority. DC tried to show the fans that they were serious about big names being on wildstorm books, but when it comes to those two books, it more showed that DC management wasn’t really into it that much. It comes of as a spit in the face of any wildstorm reader. If DC wants to show that they still care about this imprint, they would have grant morrison finish the books and then show us something new to add to the universe. The guy has lots of ideas and they’re just all DC. Unfinished work is very unprofessional, and that’s what this is.

Second is that stormwatch PHD and cristos gage’s writing may have saved the wildstorm universe from being relegated into obscurity forever. The book was a mixture of wright’s team achilles and the traditional view of stormwatch. If anything, this book was the flagship title. It eventually led to the Authority Prime mini and eventually to the 3 part event. Of all of the books that came out of the worldstorm “soft” reboot, this is the one that remained consistent and excellent above all of the other books. No offense to tranquility fans, but it was its own book. Just like ex machina. It didn’t need to be told as essentially being in the WSU proper.

I didn’t think the Armageddon to number of the beast event was all that great from a story standpoint (being somewhat difficult to follow at points), but it told it in the wildstorm style in that things don’t remain the same in the WSU. I liked the ending of mark of beast, not because of what happened at the end, but because we were told about it in the first part and it still happened anyway.

The books of Tranquility, Wetworks and Gen-13 seem to be more along the style of DC offerings. Gen-13 is for fans of the characters that just want more (or need more teen titans, because that’s what it feels like), while tranquility is just a revamp of a superhero concept. Neither of which was breaking new ground. Wetworks did have a nice twist toward the end of its run which I appreciated, in turning the cyborg mother one into a vampire. Other than that, nothing really stands out.

Midnighter was really good until giffen took over the book. I consider the book as being castrated, because it totally was without any edginess. Case in point, the first story had midnighter with a bomb where his 2nd heart should be and he’s sent back in time to kill hitler. Giffen’s story had midnighter going to find who he is and he ends up owning a house and some girl to take care of. I oversimplify it, but it proves the point.

Speaking about older issues, I did one of those marathon reads of wildc.a.t.s through 3.0 (and nemesis) about a year ago and the book never changed it’s feel. The art did, but it moved away from the cheesecake style of the image books into something else. Now the story evolved, which is possibly the best part of WSU books, but it never lost the feel. Sorry to say, but I think if you didn’t like volumes 2 and 3 then maybe wildstorm books aren’t for you.

Stormwatch went through about the same thing, but I am miffed at the micah wright thing, because regardless of that military stuff he lied about, the book was just starting to get good and older stormwatch members showing up when it was cancelled. Personally I like stormwatch better with the giant satellite, but again, the books evolved. Members go their own way. We get books like authority from that kind of thinking. That’s what makes wildstorm great!

Sales being what they are on the books, it says something about the readers of wildstorm books. We don’t want the same stuff over and over, we don’t need earth shattering events to pull us back, and we don’t need a relaunch. We just need writers and artist to take their ideas and toss them out the window and give us something that we have never seen before. Honestly, that’s what we really want. Anything else, we can get from a DC or Marvel book anyday. We demand a better book! (and more planetary)

Going back to the just recent number of the beast event. With the relaunch of the authority/stormwatch/wildcats/gen-13 books, I do have to question the reasoning for going back to the well for those and why we don’t have a paladin book, or why it still has to be wildcats.

Regardless of everything else, I enjoyed wildcats world’s end #1 and look forward to the other books.

As a retailer the answer is “no, not enough people care about the “Wildstorm Universe” to make it a viable marketing tool.” Post-Boys (or the final Planetary) I could virtually skip that section of Previews and other than a few Ex Machina fans (tpd’s do okay though) I’m pretty sure that my clientele wouldn’t even notice.

WSU fans who can’t understand the original post: the isn’t a comment on the quality of the books they publish . It’s just a reflection of the way things are. Being good isn’t necessarily enough to make a book sell (see: Sleeper among countless others). The reality is, just as the original question suggests, there aren’t ENOUGH people who care ENOUGH about the WSU to mak