WILDCATS #19
What did the
iFanboy
community think?
Pulls
Art by Tim Seeley and Ryan Wynn
Cover by George P
Size: 32 pages
Price: 2.99
This review contains spoilers, click here to read
This month sees new creative teams and story arcs for
both WildCATs and Authority. Far from
rebooting its World's End concept, Wildstorm has grittily chosen to stick to
its guns; although both titles show a change of pace and direction, they remain
in direct continuity. They're now very
closely aligned; WildCATs #19 picks up where Authority #18 left off, in the
wake of the Carrier's abrupt unplanned departure. This dovetailing extends from the books'
rosters (Apollo and Midnighter staying on Earth, while a few stray 'CATS have
jumped aboard the Carrier) to the cover art (each month will see the two books'
covers sharing a double-page image by a guest artist – here, it's George
Perez).
The issue kicks off with an old-school face-off
between the Kherans and the Wildstorm ground crew, and quickly escalates to a
melee of hack/slash, street demolition and aerial bombing as Sliding Albion's
shiftships join in the UnLondon land grab.
This isn't as random as it sounds, Sliding Albion having played a bit
part (pun intended, if you saw the fate of the ringleader, Lorenzo) in Abnett
and Lanning's Authority run. The
sequences here reference the pyrotechnics and property damage of Brian Hitch's
early Authority panels, especially Apollo's human-meteor battle tactic and the
splash page of Albion's shiftships breaking out of the Bleed. It's fun, showy stuff that hits the ground
running in the same way as Authority #18; new readers who prefer a gentler
introduction may be frustrated, but personally I think that's an issue for
them.
Writer Adam Beechen and artist Tim Seeley have made no
secret of the fact that they plan to draw in as many characters from around the
Wildstorm Universe as possible. A splash
page early on sets out the stall: a
technicolour double-page dust-up crammed with 30-odd heroes and villains
knocking the tar out of each other. But
this image comes with name-tags, a nice way to tell us that this isn't crowding
for its own sake. It'll be interesting
to see how Beechen and Seeley juggle their story among so many viewpoints, and
whether they can do it without reducing too many of their adopted heroes to
filler; but I'm not too worried, seeing the way the cast is played in this issue. The action is dotted with nice character
touches – Midnighter's 'fashionably late' quip to Apollo, Spartan calling
Zealot by her Kheran name, Winter tearing a well-deserved strip off Jackson
King.
Tim Seeley's artwork is energetic and expressive, with an old-school 90s vibe. He's clearly put a ton of work into devising distinctive new character designs for his huge cast; personally, the nostalgic Silver Age tone doesn't appeal to me as much as, say, the modern downbeat feel of Simon Coleby's Authority designs, but I can see the reasoning behind it; when you have this many characters, it makes sense to draw them boldly. It's probably also a response to the negative reactions that World's End faced originally; who says the apocalypse can't be colourful?