The Authority: Where Do I Start?

iFanboy has called it one of the best comics in the first decade of the 21st Century, and rightly so. Created in the final days of the 20th century by Warren Ellis and Bryan Hitch, it blossomed in the early 2000s and changed the conversation when it came to modern super-hero comics.

Coming from the ashes of Wildstorm super-team Stormwatch, the Authority cast of the idea of super-heroes being impartial guardians for the human race and made them active participants in the world they lived in. Founded by the literal sparkplug Jenny Sparks, the team quickly became the defacto flagship title of the Wildstorm line until it’s dissolution in 2010.

And although the Authority itself have yet to make their make in the DCU come “New 52” (although Stormwatch comes close), to this day you can still see its effects in comics. And it’s always worth revisiting.

The Authority: Relentless: Where it all begins. Sparks assembles a team of like-minded brutal idealists to take on the world’s threats head-on, and do it in a way that changed the comics industry. From fighting an army of flying supermen  to an extra-dimensional overlord, it’s done with a new kind of imagination and irreverence that set the tone, scope and attitude for things to come.

Jenny Sparks: The Secret History Of The Authority: The Authority was created in the spitting image of its founder Jenny Sparks, and this early formative work by Mark Millar shows the path that led to her way of thinking and also how she assembled what would be the Authority team itself. It has everything from a teenage Hitler, a sentient Kansas City and even time travel.

The Authority: Under New Management: While the first volume, Relentless, set the team up as a team to be reckoned with with super villains, this collection shows the team beginning to take notice of traditionally off-limits antagonists like the world’s governments standing in the way of the greater good. Collecting the final arc of Ellis & Hitch and Millar & Quitely’s first, Under New Management takes on some concepts head-on that we’re still waiting on other super-hero comics to catch up to.

Stormwatch: Change Or Die: Although not an Authority story per-se, this arc is one of the last gaps of the Stormwatch squad as they falter and lead to the formation of the team. It shows the U.N.-sanctioned team dealing with a iconic 40s- throwback hero looking to bring his anachronistic ideas for world peace down ont he modern world by force. In many ways it’s a dry run for what would be the message of The Authority, and a message then Stormwatch Black member Jenny Sparks takes to heart.

The Authority: World’s End: The least known out of our picks today, this latter addition shows the Authority’s role switched from Earth’s rulers to Earth’s survivors as they deal with the world lumbering into the tail end of an apocalyptic meltdown and the remaining team members trying to re-adjust to a time where their world-changing ways need to be down-sized to just staying afloat. Written by the writing duo of Danny Abnett and Andy Lanning and drawn by Simon Coleby, it’s an overlooked gem that shows a new side to being a super-hero.