Confusing but the kind of book that says to keep coming back to figure it all out.
What They Say:
The moon is alive! Following the events of SUPERMAN #1 where [TEXT REDACTED], the covert team of sci-fi Super Heroes known as Stormwatch must not only battle the Earth’s moon, but find a way to hide its monstrous metamorphosis from the rest of the Earth! How? Uh, they’re working on it. Meanwhile, the recruitment of Midnighter goes poorly, and we learn why the Martian Manhunter is a member of the team. Written by Paul Cornell (Doctor Who)!
The Review:
A lot of people had complaints about the first issue of Stormwatch for a variety of reasons, from artwork to changed costumes to changed characters that inhabit it from the Wildstorm universe. With the way that whole universe existed before with so many variations, it wasn’t something that was getting my panties in a twist, but I did like the old core books that tried to really change the world and offer up something interesting. This series started off with a lot of things going on, but it had two winning elements for me. The first was that it went for the big epic idea of being a group that has defended the world from external threats for centuries, which tied it back to the Demon Knights series and I really love that. The second was that it ended with the idea of the moon coming alive to attack the Earth. That may be a little more visual than physical, but it was the kind of neat cliffhanger that you love to see because it does what comics can do – go big without any budgetary concerns.
The second issue follows up with the diverse storylines as best as it can as it does want to cover a lot, but there are problematic areas. Starting a book off with the majority of the team seemingly itching to take over as the leader from Adam simply doesn’t work. It does show that there’s infighting here and that it’s not all one big, happy family, but it’s just overpowering here with the way some of them go at it, especially Engineer. What’s more damaging – not to the story but to the characters – is that some of them are going on about this mid-threat when there’s such a big issue to be dealt with. While it may not be a big threat to them, the perception is there and having the back and forth, especially with Adam’s petulant nature (which makes some sense when you take into account his whole living backwards thing), really doesn’t make anyone appealing.
There are appealing parts to the book however that definitely keeps me coming back. The first is the subplot involving the attempted recruitment of both Apollo and Midnighter, two guys who have never met but seem to hit it off in their own way. With Martian Manhunter making the real play here, he has a convincing way of getting them to at least investigate things to some degree, especially when Adam does arrive on the scene in his cocky manner and shows them easily how they operate behind the scenes and tweak the world in order to throw everyone off course. You almost wonder if they’ll retcon an event or two this way, even as a joke. The real winner for me here though is watching Harry up on the moon as he works his plan with the sentience that is buried deep below. It may not be the game he intended to play with it in order to gain more information and control, but it’s a lot of fun to watch and it’s one of the few one on one situations here which gives it a bit more breathing room since it’s not filled with too many personalities.
Release Notes:
This comiXology edition of Stormwatch comes with the main cover as released with the print edition and no other extras.
In Summary:
There’s a lot to like with Stormwatch as a whole, but it’s having the whole shaky start that can turn off some people. There are a lot of elements to it that I like, and like a lot, but it’s not a cohesive piece and the personalities involved, especially with recruitment a part of it and an extraterrestrial threat, leave it feeling like a chaotic read with simply too much going on. While it does have that, it’s a book that does have a whole lot of potential in my mind and the kind of series that can be used to seed bigger things. I always like stories about the organizations that work in between the lines and Stormwatch certainly has all the technology to be just that kind of group. And the personalities as well, since they’re mostly not all costumes and suits which is a big advantage for a lot of them. But the book has to really work through the character problems quickly and gel into some kind of working relationship that provides something more concrete to it. The biggest turnoff for me is simply the way so many seem to be bucking for leadership when none of them are really thinking of the right time to do so.
Grade: B-
Readers Rating: [ratings]
