(No spoilers)

Wow.  That’s all I can say about this final part to the Stormwatch/Authority crossover.  It’s evident that this crossover will read better all in one sitting.  The way it was broken into four parts across the two titles seems too segmented when you have two months before it all comes together.  But boy does it come together here.  Things to keep an eye out for:  Jackson King (Battalion) and his confrontation with Eidolon’s Army of the Mad.  A little more insight into what saved Angie (The Engineer) in her confrontation with Eidolon.  Oh, and more awesomeness with Jackson King. Or did I mention that already?  Just kidding.  I mean, the cover to the issue should tell you a lot about what I’m referring too, but it’s really cool how it unfolds in the issue.  I’m also glad the predicament with Fuji wasn’t solved in this issue.  It adds to the severity of his situation that they weren’t able to “fix it” so easily.  And just as in The Authority #7, we get hints to keep a watch on Apollo’s situation as well (although this will obviously be dealt with in future Authority issues, not Stormwatch).  Finally, we get a neat set-up at the end concerning The High and where we saw him last that will intrigue readers.

The final part of the Tao backup story.  That “wow” I stated earlier?  That wasn’t all from the Stormwatch story.  Most of it is from the final and most disconcerting of not only this backup story, but of ALL the backup stories so far.  Tao confirms a part of his plan that John Lynch already did at the end of the Christie Blaze backup story, but then we find out Tao has one more “hero” that he has plans for.  I put hero in quotations because all I’ll say is that it is a Wildstorm character (a character I really like) that we haven’t seen in forever but the decision this character makes, while somewhat understandable though driven by selfishness, is far from noble especially considering the current state of the world.  And the famous quote Christos Gage uses at the end of the backup story (a personal favorite of mine btw) summarizing this character’s decision perfectly.  And boy does it set up a great story that we’re promised will be explored further in future Wildstorm titles!

Synopsis:

http://wildstormresource.wetpaint.com/page/StormWatch+PHD+%2319