Welcome to Tranquility - One Foot in the Grave #2, #3, #4 and #5 - WildStorm

When issue #1 ended, and Mayor Fury was taken from the custody of Sheriff Lindo and Deputy Presley, it looked as if they perished in the car when it blew up shortly afterwards. But, if we've learned nothing else from comics . . nothing is ever as it appears. We find out that luckily Thomasina recovered in time and pulled Presley out of the vehicle before it exploded. But that's not the real problem. The real problem is the person that came after Mayor Fury. It turns out that it's his son . . Derek. It seems that the Mayor and the Pink Bunny had a child . . somewhere along the line, but never let anyone know about him because . . well, they were scared to death of him. It seems that even from an early age he was more powerful than both of them combined. Add that to the typical teenage rebellion and . . they pretty much had a monster on their hands. As the story progress' we learn more about Derek, as well as seeing the frustration and fear from his parents. And we know that eventually they sent him away. At least that the gist of what I get out of it. They talk about how they had to make a decision between Derek and Thomasina . . whom we know the Fury's basically adopted after her father was killed, but we don't know yet what exactly that decision was. And if they're child truly was as powerful as they thought . . what could they do to get rid of him? Or how? There's a scene where he looks to be about 8 years old and the Mayor is mad at him because he's scared his mom . . once again. It had something to do with his horse, Paint. Anyways, the mayor asks him where he is, and Derek replies 'He made me mad, so I had to put him in the bucket.' The Mayor looks around and literally sees a bucket filled with blood behind the boy. 'It wouldn't eat the apple I brought. So I shoved him in the bucket. It was hard. It took forever. Bet he wishes he ate the apple now.' But then when he sees that his dad is outraged he tells him, 'What are you mad about? It's just a stupid horse. I can bring it back.' His dad didn't realize he had powers like that. He asks him, and asks him if it would be the same? 'No. Not like it used to be. No. Want me to do it? It's kind of funny in a sad way. For a while.' For me . . that was probably the most disturbing scene of the whole book. Anyways, after leaving his father broken and battered, Derek then goes after Minxy Millions. 'I was thinking what would happen if the most beloved citizen of this crappy town had something horrible happen to her? I mean, really, something to shake the rafters. Give the good folks some sleepless nights. And then I thought . . what if they blamed my dad? They couldn't blame me, now. Could they? I don't even exist.' In the process of this attack, he ends up hurting Venus, Thomasina's sister, when he shoves a fork in her neck. When the Sheriff learns that her sister has been hurt . . and she can't get ahold of any of the towns heavy-hitters, she calls in the Coyote Kid. To me . . he seems like a Ghost Rider type of character . . on a horse. But he also has a posse of other ghosts, or cowboys, or something. Anyways, when they see that Venus is close to death, they do what they can to stave it off . . for awhile, but before she's about to go they offer her a spot on their posse. They basically tell her she can be their spirit of vengeance. Sound familiar? And that may be an option for her, somewhere down the line, because they save her life at the hospital, but . . she's also paralyzed. So, while all of this is going on, we also have to deal with the return of Mr Articulate. The guy was murdered by Colonel Cragg . . there was a whole storyline about it and everything. And he also came back as in between this as a zombie, of sorts. So everyone is more that a little confused when he comes walking through the door of the diner . . once again. I'm not sure how this all connects to the Fury storyline . . or if it even does. But it seems like there's something there. Although I don't have any idea what it is. Anyways, at the end of issue #5, Tranquility is holding a little concert . . with their local band, the Liberty Snots. And the Sheriff is hoping that this gathering of people will draw Derek out once again. She's trying to gather up all of Tranquility's finest to stand against him. But she doesn't know if even that will be enough. I like this series. I liked it the first time. We don't get Neil Googe's art on the interiors this time, but . . he is doing the covers. The interiors are being done by Horacio Domingues. When I first started reading this series, Horacio's work seemed kind of like a cheap knock-off of Neil's. But, as the series goes along, Horacio's work has been growing on me. It's not perfect. And it's not as unique as Neil's, but . . his style does fit the book. And Gail Simone has done a great job of capturing the feeling and style of the book as it was presented to us the first time. I'm not sure how this all fits into the current state of the WildStorm Universe. Did it happen before Armageddon? Or is it all somehow separate? And yes I have a bad habit thinking about stuff like that. But after reading this series, I find . . I don't really care. The rest of the WildStorm Universe is so doomy and gloomy . . I think it's nice to see some of it's characters acting semi-normal. Well, at least . . normal for this town. I think it's a decent series. Unfortunately there's only 1 issue left. And if you haven't followed it . . I'm sure it'll be out in TPB before Christmas. If you get a chance, peruse it that way.

Gen13 #37 and #38 - WildStorm

In this issue Pathcutter and the rest of the Gen13/Gen14 find their hidden oasis . . Pocatello. Or, I guess I should say, rather . . the city finds them. They're traveling through the wasteland, when all of the sudden . . they're in the city. Well . . it wasn't exactly that fast. They thought they had found a sheltered area and set up camp for the night. When they woke up . . they were in the middle of the city . . surrounded by armed citizens. And seeing as how the 'post-humans' were responsible for the fate of the rest of the world . . these townsfolk don't really extend the hand of friendship. Anyways, as it turns out . . Pathcutter's whole motive for coming here was that he was looking for his sister. Before the world ended, they were a super-hero team by the name of Hide & Seek. Apparently his sister's powers are cloaking in nature. When she gets hurt, or passes out, she goes into defensive mode and her body cloaks everything within a few mile radius. Which is how Pocatello has stayed off of everyone's radar. They've been keeping her in a medical coma, forcing her powers to work. So while Caitlan and the rest of the team are trying to sort things out with the Mayor and Sheriff . . they're the 2 people that seem to be the most in charge, Pathcutter heads off to find his sister. They end up offering the team a home here, but in exchange they need their help protecting them and their citizens from a nuclear testing facility in the nearby town of Idaho Falls. One of it's scientists have made it to Pocatello, and he's very mutated from the radiation he's had to absorb. He's been trying to contain the facility and prevent meltdown, but . . it got to be more than he could handle. So when the team takes off to go take care of this problem, Pathcutter steals his sister and tries to bring her back to consciousness. Of course in doing so he opens up the town to outside threats. The Mad-Max group of characters that Kaizen-X was leading is there ready and waiting. Apparently Pathcutter was working with them. We don't really know that yet, but . . there's not really any other explanation. So Bobby ends up looking like a flaming skeleton, when the reactor blows. And the rest of the team, after coming across Pathcutter . . or rather, Hide & Seek trying to make a getaway with his sister, ends up heading back to Pocatello and right into the fight with Kaizen-X. I thought this story was ok. Phil Hester did a decent job with it. I don't suppose there's much he could do, as he doesn't really have much to work with here. With Bobby probably out of the picture now, Caitlan is really the only one of the original Gen13's left. And while these other characters are interesting, there hasn't really been a whole lot of development on their part. And we kind of know right up front that some of them are just cannon fodder. To me it's just sad because these were a bunch of characters that I really liked in the beginning . . back in the day. But now they seem miles away from there. Anyways, Cruddie Torian does the art. His style of art fits this book perfectly. To bad it's probably too little . . too late!

the Authority #25 and #26 - WildStorm

Well, after the debacle with Mondragon . . and the extensive damage that the Aegean did to the inside of the Carrier . . the Authority really only has one course of action . . it's time to do some spring cleaning. Actually, I don't mean for that to sound as 'light' as I do. They actually have quite a bit to take care of. The Carrier is damaged. They've got an extensive amount of wounded civilians. And John, the High, has just sacrificed himself for the safety and lives of the masses. Not to mention that during the course of this, Jack revealed the doomsday device that he brought on board with him. When Jack took over Gamorra City, he learned of a WMD that they had created. It was so powerful that it could take down the Carrier. But there was a problem activating it, because when Kaizen Gamorra created it, there wasn't the technology available that could channel it. But Kaizen fixed that. He hardwired it into on of the lab assistant's brains, Mayumi Kana. So when Jack took the weapon, he did it partly to find a humane way to free Mayumi's mind. 'But, when the Carrier came back online and it was clear we weren't in control of it. I felt we needed an insurance policy.' Needless to say the rest of the Authority isn't very happy about this. Anyways, just as things are starting to get back together, the Carrier comes upon a planet. Well . . what's left of it. In it's atmosphere is some kind of base hovering overhead. And it has dozens of other 'shift-ships' attached to it. As the Carrier approaches, it hovers over a spike. I think they assume that it's some kind of docking bay. But really . . it essentially impales the Carrier. And Ange loses all connection with it. They then have dozens of doors open up all over the ship. They're immediately beset by aliens. One of which is kind of a amped up version of Cryb, from the Sinestro Corps. It seems to be alive, but . . it's also large enough to have an area to contain all the people that it's capturing. But so far it doesn't look like it's actually hurt anybody. Most of their damage comes from fighting their captors. A small group of them remain behind though . . Roxy, Sarah, Christine, River and Deathblow, also Shen. Apparently River has the ability to alter their perception of things. So basically . . he hides them. As well as Shen, who's still unconscious, laying in the infirmary. But everyone else, I assume, has been taken to the main 'loading-bay' . . as it were, and are trying to figure out what's going on. One of the aliens takes over one of the bodies of the civilians. Through this, and Jack's attempt to use his powers to interface with this moon-sized city, they learn that they're actually inside of some kind of very large alien. Apparently the Carrier serves as a 'harvester' of sorts. It goes out to collect biological material . . people, aliens, whatever . . which the larger alien uses as cogs in it's machine. To put it simply. 'When last a harvester returned from your planet, your species hadn't developed language. You could only grunt . . and scream. Now you speak but you will also scream. We will use you. You will be Karibna.' Ever since they left Earth, this group has gone from one bad situation to the next. But, it appears that they've finally reached their destination. So now, maybe, instead of reacting to everything that's been happening to them . . maybe now they can pool their resources and take the offensive. I sure hope so. Otherwise . . all these people are done. I think this has been an interesting chapter of this groups journey. Tom Taylor and Adam Warren have put together and interesting story here. Even if it does seem to edge on apocalyptic. I'm also very impressed by Al Barrionuevo's art. I've always appreciated Al's work. But in this story he changes up his style just a little bit. He's added a kind of painted style, or influence to his work. It comes across really well. Anyways, both issues end with big cliffhangers, so it'll be interesting to see what happens.

WildCATS #25 - WildStorm

The WildCATS, or . . I guess I should say . . the team as it exists right now, has a lot of stuff going on. On many different fronts. The Midnighter is in Zanzibar trying to stop Zealot from creating a new Coda army. Actually, he's not so much against that as he is the way she's doing it. She doing it with 'birthing camps'. She inseminates volunteers, then speeds up their pregnancies . . and also the growth of their babies, creating her army at an alarming speed. But also at the cost of many innocent women's lives. The pretty evenly matched so . . their fight is pretty much a stalemate. At which time Maul gets involved. In order not to be killed he has to shrink down to microscopic size. So right now . . his fate is in question. Meanwhile, in Salem Massachusetts, Jackson and Maxine have come into contact with another entity . . Aeon. Basically, he's like a watcher of worlds. But the reason for his involvement here is that he's noticed how much the mystical energies of Earth have gotten out of whack. Which is why Maxine and Jackson are out looking for the new Doctor . . the Earth Shaman. They take care of a problem in Salem and then head off to Egypt. But right now . . nobody really trusts this guy. Or, I guess I should say, as powerful as he is . . nobody trust his motivations, or goals. Everything they're getting from him is just to vague right now. The WildCATS also have an incident at a power-plant they're trying to bring back on line in Zambia. And Grunge has figured out the door technology. So now he can effectively spy on John Lynch and Team-7. But the human factor in this book came in when Midnighter and Zealot were fighting. Near the end, out of frustration, she throws Jenny in his face. One one hand it pissed him off enough that he fought Zealot to a stand-still. But it also brings up feelings and emotions that he's been trying to surpress. When he returns to SkyWatch, he's sullen and sad. Even for him. I thought it was a decent book by Adam Beechen and Tim Seeley. But again, I think they're just reacting to the problems. It doesn't really seem like there's a plan to get past all of this . . other than holing up the breaks in the dam. After all these months we still don't have much in the way of progress . . a plan for putting the Earth back together. That's what I'm waiting for.

the Authority - the Lost Year #11 - WildStorm

Well it figures that the Authority's last stop on the little hitchhiking tour of the galaxy would be the worst one. On this world the Authority decided to use their power and take control . . or everything. When that was done, and they had no one left to fight . . they began splitting apart. Each of them took control of a different part of the world, whether it be geographical, or ideological . . they put a choke-hold on everything . . every aspect. They were . . the ultimate authority. Pun intended. My only question is, I'm not sure why they didn't kill all the other supers. I don't know if they thought that eventually they'd turn them into slave . . or if they just wanted someone to lord their authority over . . someone that counted. But that ends up being their downfall. When they put Midnighter in a prison, it ended up being a prison of his design. A prison that he had thought about and contemplated many times, but never made. Until they got to this world. So he also knew exactly how to disable it. The other thing that I think was their downfall was . . once they had no one else to fight . . they began turning on each other. Survival instinct . . I guess. Anyways, it's a long hard fought battle, and our Authority learns a lot about theirs on the way out. Jenny makes a grand gesture on the way out, and Midnighter asks her why. 'Why? Why the fuss if you already had this in motion?' To which Jenny replies, 'It was a long shot. Maybe I just wanted them to think we were heroes!' More or less, it was the standard 'good Authority vs bad Authority' issue. But . . this one gave these characters, and us the readers, an awful lot to think about. This was something that the Authority never, ever thought that they would do. But on this world . . they did. They decided to take that step. And no matter how much they justify that they're not this world's Authority, in some sense . . they are. Or, could be. Like I said . . they have a lot to think about. I thought it was a fantastic penultimate issue. Grant Morrison and Keith Giffen did a great job with the story. And Brandon Badeaux' art looked incredible. This was a great way for this series to go out. I can't wait to see what they have in store for the final issue . . and how they're going to tie this all together with the current state of the WildStorm Universe.

Welcome to Tranquility - One Foot in the Grave #1 - WildStorm

First off, I'd like to say that I miss Neil Googe's art on this series. I thought he did a great job, and really . . he was just hitting his stride when this series ended. The art in this series is by Horacio Domingues, and . . it's ok. I think he tries to keep it looking close to Neil's stuff. The look kind of has the same feel, but . . it's just not the same. Neil does however does do the cover, with Ethan Van Sciver doing the variant. Also, Gail Simone is back for this mini-series, so . . it really does have the same feel. I'm guessing though that this takes place before the apocalyptic events that rocked the WildStorm Universe. If not . . they don't mention anything about it this issue, but . . we'll see what happens as it progresses. Anyways, the main focus of this story is about Mayor Fury getting out of jail. Apparently he's been exonerated of his attempted murder charges of reporter Collette Pearson. One of the differences in this series seems to be the perspective of the story. A lot of the first series was told from Thomasina Lindo point of view . . and Tommy's. They're the law in Tranquility, but . . how much authority do you really have when you're policing over a bunch of ex-supers. I mean . . they can pretty much do whatever they want. All you can really do is try to keep the peace. Anyways, when they're driving him home from the courthouse, their truck is attacked and it looks like the Mayor is the only one to leave it before it explodes. The guy who attacks it helps him escape, but . . we don't know who that is, just yet. I may be wrong but it looks like Thomasina and Tommy have perished in the fire. Also at the end of the last series, Mr Articulate had been killed. Or so everyone was lead to believe. I can't remember if anybody actually ever saw the body. Anyways, the Pink Bunny, Fury's wife, is planning a surprise party for him. But before he can arrive . . because of the previous mentioned difficulties on the road . . Mr Articulate shows up at the door. I think this will be an interesting series. I enjoyed the first run of this book. And this one, so far, seems to have pretty much the same feel to it. I'm also interested to see how all of this fits in with the current state of affairs of the WildStorm Universe.

X-Files / 30 Days of Night - WildStorm / IDW Publishing

I have to admit . . I really enjoyed this issue. I was less than thrilled with the last X-Files mini series by WildStorm. I thought it was kind of dull, and predictable. But as I said then . . I just feel like the caliber of stories have increased since that series aired. Yeah, it was cutting edge then. But now? Not so much. I say that even though I have a deep fondness for the series. I loved it! Anyways, I'm still a follower, so . . I picked up this series even though I wasn't quite sure what to expect. I know the 30 Days of Night was a good franchise, so . . I figured they'd probably be a good fit together. And . . I was right. This issue basically follows a trucker . . Henry Lee Brown, 'Patches' . . a road-worker, actually. He's lived in Alaska for all of his 40 some years. And although he dreads the long winter nights, he knows that he's blessed and he balances out his time with his family with that of work . . clearing the roads. Henry, 'Patches' finds solace, quiet and time to think at his job. Plus, for the most part, it's been uneventful. That is until the night he stumbles across the semi-truck graveyard. He finds an area with a dozen or so trucks wrecked and mangled. But, at first . . he can find no bodies. And then . . he finds the effigy. A 25 foot pole with 16 headless bodies hanging from the top of it. And on the bottom . . all the collected heads, in a pile. A few of them . . he even recognizes. After reporting what he finds . . enter the Police, the FBI, and . . Mulder and Scully. This issue basically just serves to introduce the characters and set the stage. But things are going to start escalating next issue. After the long hours stuck at this site Henry is just happy to be returning home . . home to his loving family. But upon entering, he finds a pack of vampires . . demons, or whatever . . that have entered his home and killed his family. Their heads have been centered on the dining room table like the Thanksgiving turkey. This could prove to be a very interesting series. I just hope it doesn't get to predictable. It's nice to see Steve Niles return to the franchise he created. With a little help from Adam Jones on the scripts. And although I'm not a huge fan of Tom Mandrake's art . . I do have to admit that he's probably the perfect artist for this story. His style does fit in well with the macabre nature of this book. So, right now . . I'm hopefully optimistic. This could be good, or . . it could be average. We'll just have to wait and see.

the Authority: the Lost Year #10 - WildStorm

To be honest . . I thought this was probably the best issue of this series to date. I thought the concept and the story were brilliant. But with Grant Morrison and Keith Giffen involved . . what else could I expect? Anyways . . the Authority have come to yet another world . . a varied version of their own . . but on this one the Authority have assumed absolute authority over the entire planet. They land here because . . basically, on the way to find their home, the Carrier needed a breather. The difference though with this one is that the Authority concede. They see the force that they're being met with, and rather than fight back . . they decide to submit and see what they're dealing with . . to suss out the players before jumping into the game. But they're all immediately separated and incarcerated. Which makes them suspect . . maybe surrendering wasn't their best course of action. However, the prison they're put in . . it's one of the Midnighter's design. Which leads him to think . . if he's thought this out, any number of different ways . . both him and his alter, then they probably both thought about and installed a fail-safe. Which he/they did. Once free of the prison, and having deactivated the rest of the fail-safes, Midnighter clues everybody else in to the advantage of their arrival. 'This complex is something I've given a lot of thought to. Don't pretend that I'm the only one who's imagined what it'd be like if we . . exerted our authority. We've all played out 'what-if' scenarios. The only difference between us and them is they acted it out. We know what they've done because . . we've considered doing it. Which levels the playing field.' However the one thing they don't know is where the Doctor is. But we see that he is in the possession of this world's Doctor. And this world's Doctor is the red-haired, drug addicted one. So who really knows what he's capable of? Anyways . . I loved the issue. This issue was like a classic Authority issue . . the team I came to love. Which means that . . now that they've figured out the problem . . it's time to kick some butt. Keith did a great job with this story. Also Brandon Badeaux did a great job with the art this issue.

the Authority #24 - DC

Well, the entity that has drawn the Carrier into it's web is called Mondregon. We find this out from River, the little boy that John, the High, has been trying to protect. Apparently it lays dormant in space until something with some life in it floats close enough for it to ensnare. In this case . . it's the Carrier, and everyone on board. This assembled band of heroes fights it, and the Aegean, whom they themselves brought on board. But despite their eminent deaths, 3 important things happen. First of all, Angie, who connects with River, finds out that this little boy is much, much more than he appears to be. We see a glimpse of it this issue, but . . I'm sure it's just the tip of the iceberg. Secondly, Jack pulls out his secret weapon and uses it to beat the Aegean. Apparently it's and EMP generator. And with his code-word to open it's case, 'Hawksmoor. Final solution.', we're guessing that it's probably strong enough to take out the whole Carrier. I'm sure everyone is going to be more than a little interested in that, once the dust settles. And finally . . John Cumberland, the High, makes the ultimate sacrifice to save the Carrier and the people on board. Although, really . . I think he does it mostly for River. 'In my quest to make humanity better, I've done so much to hurt it. But this child . . what he could someday do . . saving the child could erase all of my sins. But you have to promise me something, Christine. Promise me you'll do everything in your power to give him a childhood.' And with that he takes off into space and uses his incredible power to take out Mondregon. I thought it was a good way to wrap up this story. It was full of action and adventure, and a few more mysteries for our heroes to solve. I thought Tom Taylor did a good job with this story arc. And of course, Al Barrionuevo did a terrific job with the art. But I would've expected nothing less from him. Now we just have to sit back and see where the Carrier takes our group of heroes next. Eventually, maybe, they'll make it back to Earth.

the Authority - the Lost Year #9 - WildStorm

Ok . . this issue was kind of goofy. Even for me. The Authority from this alternate dimension, and the villains they were preparing to fight . . the League of Nasty Bastards . . were all a little . . cartoonish. But, I guess . . that was the point, really. Basically the Authority landing in a dimension of . . buffoons. But it was funny when, at the end of the last issue. the LNB show up, ready to fight their nemesis, and . . there's 2 of everyone. They certainly weren't prepared for that. Which is when, at the beginning of this issue, their leader Emperor Maximus steps up and says, 'Time Out!' Basically . . he wants to walk away . . to fight another day. And who can blame him? He came looking for their normal squabble, and instead he's faced with overwhelming odds. Anyways, they go back and forth. There's some hitting and punching. And you don't even want to know how the Dung Beetle gets his powers. But the Authority decide that they've had enough. They don't really care where they go from here. They just want to get off this world. They'd rather go back into the Bleed and face the unknown, than to spend another moment here. Which, eventually, they do. Keith Giffen and JM DeMatteis write this. It really showcased their goofy style. Sorry . . I don't mean that to be negative. It was funny. In spots. Together, they just really seem to go over the top. It really kind of seemed like a comic from the 70's . . dialogue and all. Except for the part where the 'bad-guys' just want to call off the fight. I thought that was kind of a unique twist. Rather than just fighting . . everybody jumping into a big slug-fest . . someone actually stops to assess the situation, and react accordingly. What a unique concept. Anyways, it was ok. A little much for me, but . . entertaining. JJ Kirby and Michael Lopez do the art. I just hope that next issue is a little more . . serious.

WildCATS #24 - WildStorm

It's hard to call this team the WildCATS, per se. The same holds with the Authority, StormWatch and Gen 13. All the groups are a hodgepodge of characters, and the names, or titles, are really the only thing differentiating them. In this issue we find out the fate of a few things that these characters have brewing. First of all, Jackson and Voodoo are still out looking for the Earth's new Doctor. Which has led them, and their soldiers into some interesting situations. Such as Battalion and Ladytron who end up in Salem where they find a real witch. Unfortunately . . she's not the new Doctor. But she is more than willing to steal their life-force and use it as her own. That is until someone show up and blows her head off . . 'My name is Aeon. I have come to save your world.' Ok. Meanwhile Charise is still holding Majestros captive in his Mount Rushmore base. Well . . he's not really captive, so much as incapacitated participant. Since he was stabbed he's been unable to move or talk. Which Charise has used to her advantage as she's determined to have his baby. He's healing gradually. And in the meantime he's trying to figure out what's going on with Charise. It seems that someone is controlling her. Another group in Kenya are using Fuji's new mastery of his powers to rebuild the country. They've infused him with some of Eidolon's essence, and now he feels like he can do anything. The question is, is he, or anyone, going to be able to control it. And, they're being watched and hunted by a group that has already claimed sovereignty over this land. They aren't ready to confront them yet, but . . they will soon. And Midnighter has gone to check in on Savant. It seems that with Maul's help, breeding and growing Coda warrior's, she's attempting to rebuild her army . . one woman at a time. She's also recruited Petrified Girl and Cybernary to help her. Although, without her enhancements, she's just Katrina now. Anyways, Midnighter is disgusted by what Savant is doing to these women, and children. And by the end of the issue they decide that there's really only one way they can settle this . . a good old fashioned throw-down. I thought this was a decent book. It showed us most of the characters, and served to move most of the story-lines forward . . even if only a bit. But Midnighter was definitely the star of this book. This issue was written by Adam Beechen, and drawn by Tim Seeley. Some progress is good. But . . I wish we'd make more, or a little speedier.

Gen13 #36 - WildStorm

I'm kind of on the fence about this book right now. While the rest of the WildStorm Universe if off trying to do something . . I'm not sure what . . but something to try to bring their world back together, the Gen13 misfits are basically out wandering the wasteland. But I will say that I'm thrilled that Phil Hester has taken over the scripts on the book, and I think Cruddie Torian is a great addition as the resident artist. It just seems like there's not a lot of direction here, right now. Our little montage of Gen13's and Gen14's have recently hooked up with a caravan on their way across the country in search of the hidden city. It's supposed to be a city that's been untouched by the ravages of the world. Anyways, on their way they're attacked and captured by a cult of sentient robots. They hate all flesh and want to kill them. But . . Lance has a plan. He's one of the Gen14's. He absorbs things, as well as their physical properties. He thinks that if he touches the robots he'll be able to absorb their essence becoming a man/machine, replaced their old leader Spartan. It works, and with his resurrection as a machine, they view him as their new god. His first decree is to let the humans go and spread his seed. But he'll be staying behind. Anyways, we also find out that Kaizen Gamorra's son is also wandering these lands. He's trying to build an army so that he can become the new ruler of the world. And he's doing it one child at a time. Basically, he raids camps or towns, steals the children and kills off everyone else. But he runs into the caravan and tries to get information form them about the hidden city. He ends up fighting Caitlan for their release, but then plants a mole among their people as they leave. He's convinced that they'll lead him to the hidden city. All in all . . it's ok. But other than this search for the city, they don't really have any direction. It's really just been a bunch of adventures and encounters thrown together with this quest being the string that binds them all together. And a rather thin string at that. They don't even have any idea if this city really exists or what they'll even find when they get there. To me, the best thing this book has going for it is that it's different from the other 'super-hero' stuff out there. So that's a plus. It is a pleasant distraction.

the Authority #23 - WildStorm

Well now that they've gotten past the threat of the Night Tribes, it appears that everybody on board is trying to relax a little bit, and unfortunately . . they're letting their guards down. The High, John, has reactivated his powers. He did so to help out his fellow passengers last issue. And already they get into a situation that only he seems to be able to handle. The Carrier is on a course. I'm not sure what it is, or where it's heading, but even Angie seems unable to alter it or slow it down. However, in thier path, there is a debris field made up of many destroyed space vessels . . Daemonite, Kheran, even a Carrier. They're intrigued, and they find signs that someone is alive in there. Christine seems to be the only voice of reason. She just wants to drive on by and ignore it. 'Those vessels didn't all just fly out here and destroy themselves.' But Jack wants to play the hero. Or at least live up to his heroic ideals. Whatever they may be. Anyways, it ends up that John is the only one with the power to go out there on his own. He goes to investigate and discovers a body. Which he then brings back on board because he's still alive. Hello! They don't have sci-fi horror movies on the world where the Authority comes from? Anyone who even watched Star Trek knows that they should contain and examine the body before bringing it on board where it can do the most damage. But . . since the ship is staying it's course, I guess they don't have much of a choice. They do this even though they know he's Agean, and he has a Justice Stone attached to his chest. 'It's probably the only reason he's alive. With that thing attached to him, he could be every bit as powerful as Union.' Hello! Lots of 'red-flags' here. And of course . . the worst happens. It appears that the debris field is sentient. And right now it's channeling it's essence through this guy. Yes he's powerful. Very powerful. And through River, the Century child, they find out that this thing . . the debris field, or essence, or whatever is called Mondregon . . whatever that means. But it's something they all appear to be very afraid of. And we see that the debris field seems to be coalescing into an octopus, or Kraken type shape. It was an interesting issue. I liked that Tom Taylor wrote a little more humor into the story this issue. And I thought that Mike S Miller did a good job with the art. It's still not the Authority that I'm used to, but . . it's something. I just wish I knew where they were heading, or what the purpose of all this is.

Tales from the Fringe #1 - WildStorm

This isn't actually where this book fits into things . . chronologically speaking . . it came out on June 26th, but . . I had an open spot here so I thought I'd put it in. I usually don't go in for these comic-book adaptations . . whether they be TV series or movies. They just always seem to let me down. The only one that even came close to success was Topp's - X-Files book. At least in my opinion. But when I ended up picking up the photo-cover variant on E-Bay for $1.99, it just seemed serendipitous. Plus . . I really, really like this series on TV. I didn't post anything about it last year when it came out, but . . maybe I will this year. I was also thinking about doing the Big Bang Theory. I thought I'd give it a nod. Especially since it does such a consistent job of recognizing our little hobby . . and the whole science-fiction genre. Plus . . it's really good also. Anyways, it appears that this series is set up as a way of giving us some background stories on some of our characters. In the first story we see, what I think is an earlier story of Peter Bishop. We don't know a lot about his history before he joined up with Olivia and his father, but . . apparently he was a shyster . . a con man. Always looking for the next big score, and the quick pay-off. But he's always been extremely intelligent. Which is why I think the scams came so easy to him. He approached them from ways that other people hadn't thought of, so . . they were less likely to suspect that he was scamming them in the first place . . until it was to late. Anyways, we see him in Iraq where he's at the receiving end of one group that he owes money to, while he's trying to get into another deal by passing himself off as a pipe-line engineer. It appears that he also has always had this altruistic streak, as he's trying to help a man who's been asked to die for his faith. In the end Peter unfortunately ends up covering his own bets, while failing to help the man he promised to. It appears that at this time in his life he had good intentions, but not the character or fortitude to follow through with them. It was an interesting story, and it certainly didn't end the way I expected it to. It's brought to us by Justin Doble & Adam Gaines on scripts, with Federico Dallocchio doing the art. In the second story we see what happens to a girl who takes a really strange trip. She's given some strange drugs by her boyfriend, at a party, and apparently slips into the future. She finds herself about 10 years older, a trained assassin, and smack in the middle of an operation. The next steps she takes, after leaving the party a little freaked . . lead her right into the arms of the man she saw in her future vision. Although she doesn't know that yet because he hit her with his car. I'm not sure what this has to do with Fringe, but . . it was an ok story. It just didn't feature any of our main characters. I thought that was a little odd. Anyways, it's by Alex Katsnelson and Shawn Moll. For the first issue, it was . . ok. But, in my opinion, nothing to get to excited about. Well see if I pick up the second issue or not. I don't know yet. It depends on if I can find it somewhere . . cheap!

WildCATS #23 - WildStorm

There's lots of stuff going on here, but . . it's mostly maintenance. With everything going on in the WildStorm Universe right now, and all of these books pretty much interconnected . . we get bits and pieces of several story-lines . Grunge is up in the WatchTower, and he's Spartan's second in command. He's been working on several projects, but the most important is that Spartan has tasked him with spying on John Lynch, and Team 7. Spartan doesn't trust them and is suspicious about the way they left. Anyways, Link has been working on recovering the door technology, but Grunge has some unique ideas for it's use. So he's taken over that project also. Voodoo, and the old Doctor that she took out of the Garden, are looking for the Earth's new Doctor. They're following up leads, and Battalion and Ladytron are doing the leg-work. Right now they're checking on that kid that can dream up anything. He was in the Authority books about a year ago. Anyways, for some reason they can't get a good read on him so Battalion and Ladytron need to go in for extraction. Long story short, he's not the Doctor and Battalion lobotomizes him. Meanwhile, Charis has Majestros' catatonic body and is intent on creating a child. She's turned the base in South Dakota into her own private love-den. Warblade is still trying to recuperate from his injuries . . and we find out the status of everyone else. No one has died . . yet. Link and Apollo are attempting to build a particle magnet. Basically, they want it to sweep the Earth and pull all of the harmful stuff out of the atmosphere. One of the results will be that Apollo will be able to return to Earth. And Zealot is trying to rebuild her own Coda army. Right now she's working with volunteers, but . . she's not very happy with the results. She's also got Maul doing some cloning with recovered Kheran medical samples and maternal volunteers. The problem is, they have to accelerate the gestation and the human body isn't made for that. They've already lost 6 volunteers. But Zealot doesn't really care. She just wants to get her army up and running. But it looks like Midnighter isn't to happy with her methods and goals. He's spying on her. So, like I said . . kind of a maintenance issue. There's lots of cool stuff going on, but were only getting bits and pieces right now. Adam Beechen is writing it, with Tim Seeley on the art. I think they did a pretty decent job, for what they had to work with. But I'm sure they have to coordinate everything that's going on here with the other books. It probably doesn't leave much room open for artistic license. That's the only problem with these big cross-overs, like this . . it starts to become more about all the various pieces fitting together than necessarily the story-line. But I'm holding out hope.

Ex Machina #49 - WildStorm

I love this book! But . . I hate that there's only 1 issue left. I guess I can see how it kind of needs to wrap up, but . . you'd think there would be a spin off. Or a continuation under another name. I sure hope that the Great Machine, Mayor Hundred, doesn't get killed at the end. But . . it does look like he's going to be arrested.

Anyways, the ironic part about all of this is that it looks like, at one time . . the Mayor and Suzanne may have had a relationship. I'm guessing that they put it on hold because of his election . . and the conflict with her being a journalist. But he promised her that she'd be the first person he'd call when he left office. However, with the events of this story-line . . it looks like that decision may be taken out of their hands. So . . last issue, Suzanne made her play to put NYC into a bit of chaos. She sent out a signal over the radio waves, that put a whole lot of people under her influence. But the Great Machine has a way of counter-acting that . . a device that he and Kremlin made when they had to stop Pherson. So now he just has to stop Suzanne, and save January. Suzanne had already taken the gun that was the opener for the other dimension. But she didn't know, until the Great Machine finds her at Coney Island, that his back-pack was the actual power-source. She also has another piece of insurance, the Nullifier. So while she's tying to open the doorway, the Great Machine won't be able to stop her. The problem is . . the Mayor is . . well, a politician . . he lied. 'Really? That thing would cancel out my voice? Kremlin and Bradbury were always scared of what I might do with unchecked power. So was the election board. So I told them all I invented a 'Nullifier'. But really . . it's just a piece of an old garage door opener. Doesn't even have batteries in it.' Instead of interrupting the process, he lets her continue and then tosses her through. But it's not a dimension of angels and prophesy. Instead . . it looks like a realm of demons. 'This . . this isn't how it looked in my head. Nah! That . . that burns. Please! This isn't right! You can't do this to me! I'm Press! I"M PRESS!!' And then he closes it up. January thinks he's her hero. But by the time all of this has happened, the Commissioner has shown up with a couple of Police Officers, and cross-bows, to arrest the Mayor. What a fantastic way to go into the last issue. I think Brian K Vaughn and Tony Harris have had a masterpiece here ever since day 1. The stories are touching, relevant and full of escapism and irony. Not to mention exciting and entertaining. What more could a comic-geek like me ask for in a book? I'm really going to miss this one. But . . I'm glad I came along for the ride. Couldn't last forever. Right?

the Authority #22 - WildStorm

Before I get started . . I just want to say that I did enjoy Tom Taylor's story here. The content seemed a little . . sparse, to me. But I enjoyed the way he handled the characters . . both interaction and dialogue. Mike S Miller does the art, and . . I think that was the best part of the book. There's a few little things . . picky things, that I could comment on, but overall . . I think this guy shows some great talent and potential. He definitely has an Image style to him. Anyways, having said that . . this book really boils down to 2 things. First there's the infestation of the Carrier by the Night Tribes. Apparently some of them had been holed up in the bowels of the ship, and the recent insurrection and fighting amongst it's passengers have stirred them up. Christine has sent some of her finest fighters to try and quell the uprising, but 3 against a tribe doesn't stand much of a chance. Meanwhile, Angie has been looking into her own way of purging the problem. Also, Angie seems to be having a problem of her own. Her personality seems to be more that of the Carrier's than her own. So her thinking isn't carrying much emotion. Her first idea is to vent all the compartments carrying these vermin into space. Of course that means that any of the passengers in those areas will also be dumped into space. She does this a couple of times, to Christine's chagrin, but finally comes up with the solution to make herself, and the Carrier, crystalline. Thereby allowing the light of a nearby star to pass through the ship. And we all know what sunlight does to vampires. Anyways, during the course of all this, they discover that River, the soul of the new Millennium, is hiding down there somewhere and masking his presence. Because she's afraid that he'll be caught up in all the purging, Christine begs John, the High, to let her reactivate his powers. Eventually she does, and he then goes in to save the boy. Which is the second important thing that happened this issue. My only problem with all of this is . . why didn't Angie think of the crystalline idea in the first place? I guess maybe it was a way to show us the struggle between her own personality and that of the Carrier. Plus, I guess, they weren't actually in the star system at the time. And during this flip-flopping, Jack implies that he has the power to stand up against Angie . . thinking of the box he has hidden on the Carrier. But we still don't know what it is or how he's going to use it. Anyways, I thought it was an ok book, but . . it was a little disappointing to me. I just don't feel like we made much progress in the story. They took care of the Night Tribes . . which just popped up last issue, and John was reactivated. That was about the extent of it. Maybe that was just some loose ends that needed to be tied up. Hopefully we'll get more substance next issue.

the Authority - the Lost Year #8 - WildStorm

This issue was just kind of . . ok, for me. I mean . . I understand what the concept is here . . the team is lost in the bleed and by trying to find thier way home they keep landing on these various worlds with similar, but different, versions of themselves. Through those experiences they're learning a little more about themselves, and, I think, a little more about the affects that their actions have on the rest of the world. But, these guys have always been pretty arrogant and full of themselves. So . . I think it's going to take a mighty big hammer to get through that thick skull of theirs. I don't see how this particular landing is going to help them, but . . it is interesting. This world has an Authority team pretty much like their own, but . . there are a few differences. First of all, Midnighter and Apollo are kind of goofy here. And they completely deny their homoerotic tendencies. The Doctor is kind of goofy also, as he seems to be more into mumbo-jumbo than mysticism. And the Authority operates completely out in the open . . floating high over the city for everyone to see. 'We always put the buildings back together after we destroy them. In all our years together, not one single innocent bystander has ever been hurt. Well . . maybe they've been hurt. But no one's ever died. Well, there was that one guy. But we've got great insurance.' But what this world's team lacks in brutality and teamwork, it more than makes up for in paranoia. When the team first gets here, and Jack shows his presence, this world's team is convinced that they're just evil doppelgangers. So obviously there's a big fight. Until finally the 2 Jenny's agree to share information, and listen to one another . . even if very reluctantly. There seems to be some progress made until this world's arch-nemesis show up . . Emperor Maximus and his League of Nasty Bastards. They jump in and are ready to fight the Authority. That is until they take a look and find out this time that they're facing 2 teams. I enjoy Keith Giffen and JM DeMatteis' writing. They always seem to put just the right amount of humor into their stories. And Keith always has great ideas for whatever book he's working on. So, while I appreciate the work being done here, I'm afraid that in the end it's just a lesson in futility. I mean, we already know what's going to happen when they do finally return to Earth . . Armageddon. We're already following their adventures past this series. And to me it doesn't seem like they've changed very much. So whatever they end up learning while they're out here . . apparently it doesn't stick. But that's ok. We love them because they're bastards. And we love them because they fight dirty to get the job done. So, why change what works? Anyways, David Williams and Kelsey Shannon do the art. Anyways, I like this series. And I always enjoy reading an Authority story. I just don't see the point. Sorry!

WildCATS #22 - WildStorm

This issue is a very dry read. Spartan and the rest of the heroes have set up base in SkyWatch. And since his robot body was damaged in the recent battle with the Red Blade, he's got himself hooked up into the systems of the satellite. Since he's linked up to the entire system, essentially . . he's the Weatherman. Anyways, Hadrian wants to take the opportunity that the world's been given to 'unite the world, eliminate borders, and create a cooperative planet-wide society.' But, not everybody is as optimistic as he is. Zealot is the first to voice her dissension, with Maul and a few others joining in pretty quick. Anyways, right now, the 'hows' and the 'why's' don't really matter. The point is that everybody, no matter what team they were previously on, are now going to fall under the banner of WildCATS. Hadrian is also not claiming to be the leader. He just wants to help coordinate everything so that maximum cooperation between groups can be obtained. Plus, he'd like the structure of the teams to be fluid. Since he's so adept at collating data, he wants to move people around so that their powers and experience best fit whatever situation that they're thrown into. Basically . . this goes on and on throughout the whole issue. A couple things of note, though . . Lynch and Team 7's ears seem to perk up when Spartan talks about all the I/O bases that Gen13 has found littered around the country. A strange female has taken Majestic to his Mount Rushmore base and seems to be trying to nurse him back to health. Also, Hadrian has picked Grunge to be his right-hand man. 'Eddie, it's time for you to stop denying your own intelligence. Your planet needs you. It's time to step up. It's time to grow up. And get to work.' Anyways, to me it seemed more like a rank and file type of issue. There's not a lot going on, so it's time to get the people and players into position for future story-lines. Plus they needed to define exactly how this group of people was going to work. I just thought it was a very dry read. Adam Beechen gave us a whole bunch of information, but most of it was just rattled off by Spartan. Tim Seeley does the art. I just hope that next issue we get back in to some action.

Gen13 #35 - WildStorm

This was an interesting book . . with some of the Gen13 members now aboard the Carrier, the team has become kind of a hodgepodge with Gen13 and Gen14 members. So right now the team includes Fairchild, Burnout, Ditto, Runt, Hardbody and Windsprint. Ok . . there's more Gen14 character than Gen13, but . . I think it's still an interesting mix. We're also introduced to a new character this issue . . Pathcutter. We don't really know to much about him, other than his name, but . . I'm sure as this story unravels we'll be learning more. Basically, our team is on a trek across the wasteland right now. They might still be heading back towards Tranquility. I'm not sure. Anyways, they come across a wagon-train of sorts. They end up protecting them from this biker-gang that's been harassing them, but really . . all they want is some supplies. Pathcutter seems to be the leader of the caravan, and they're on their way to Pocatello. It's some small city in Idaho that seems to be relatively unscathed from the disasters. But before they get there they have to travel through the territory of some kind of robot-cyborg group. So Pathcutter hires our band of misfits as security. More like cannon-fodder if you ask me. He can send one group in to distract the cyborgs, while his group does an end-around. I'm not sure if he's that devious, but . . I guess we'll find out next issue as we seem to be in the thick of things by the end of this one. The thing I've always liked about this book . . and these characters, is that even when things are down . . they aren't all 'doom & gloom'. That's not necessarily true of the last year or so, but . . besides that time, this group usually stays upbeat. Or at the very least they use their sarcastic humor and wit to distract them from the realities of the world. Phil Hester seems to be getting us back towards that groove. So, to me . . this book has definitely made a positive turn. Even though the world they live in really hasn't. I'm also enjoying Cruddie Torian's art. In my book J Scott Campbell with always be the defining artist of this title, but . . I've long since given up hope that he'll ever, ever be back on this book. Cruddie is not a bad substitute. He's got a little bit of the same feel. I can definitely see some influence there. So, overall . . I enjoyed the book. I'd have to say that this is one of my top 5 books, as far as 'most potential', right now.