This book collects issues 1-7 of Dan Abnett and Andy
Lanning’s run on The Authority.  Wildstorm has spent the last year or so
doing something daring and/or foolhardy with its superhero universe – sending
it to hell via a carefully prepared armageddon which isn’t an ‘event’ but the
ongoing status quo.  So far World’s End been a blast:  lovingly
structured and cohesive, four sharply written and drawn books supplemented by a
slew of fun back-up tales.  Of all the books I’d say Authority is the
strongest, since this team has the greatest tragic potential in an apocalyptic
landscape, tailor-made for an epic fall from grace.

When this book debuted in 1999 it was bigger, louder,
more ambitious and more beautiful than any other mainstream superhero comic,
with a super-ethic that hadn’t been seen before:  defending the world from
extraordinary threats, the characters weren’t squeamish about violence if they
could save more people than they killed.  Warren Ellis’ original run
raised the bar absurdly high and left subsequent writers with a
challenge:  how to keep an unbeatable team interesting without ever more
ridiculous threats, more outrageous attitude?  So the Authority devolved
from cranky idealists to loudmouthed celebrities to unelected rulers of America
– their progress often brilliant but ultimately directionless.  Ed
Brubaker, in his ‘Revolutions’ arc, tried stripping the team back to its roots;
here DnA go one further, radically depowering them to create a mature
character-driven tale of humility and recovery.

Here, the Authority’s ‘finer world’ mission is over; the
planet’s wrecked by nuclear holocaust and the team’s stranded in the ruins of
London, their ship a lightless hulk fused with the dead city.  Jenny and
the Doctor are missing, and with them any hope of fixing things overnight; the
others are physically or emotionally shattered, struggling to protect survivors
and maintain their identity with the scraps of their old power.  What
makes this work is the unlikely union of the downbeat, gloomy plot with the
writers’ obvious affection for the Ellis series, with its strengths of
character chemistry and social conscience underlying the widescreen excess. 
By crippling their absolute power, DnA give something back to these characters
that hasn’t been seen for a long time:  a
genuine nobility and heroism that comes from the extreme sacrifices they’re now
making.

The other revelation of this book is Simon Coleby’s craggy,
atmospheric art.  His style is dark, jagged
and distinctive, giving the characters a weathered, savage grace we’ve never
seen before while rendering the landscapes in ruinous Gothic detail that
perfectly suits the story.  His splash pages are spectacular, but it’s the
character drawing – this ragged, grim Authority – that anchors the mood of the
book and hooks our sympathy.

Highly recommended, and essential reading for any
Authority fan.