Stormwatch comic series
Bad storm rising

// Synopsis: The UN has assembled a team of superhumans which monitor world events from their space station and is the first and only response to global crisis.

// Review: I started on this series at its inception because it was the labor of love from the great Jim Lee. But Jim tried his hand at writing as well as pencils. While it looked great, the story and script was extremely derivative. I jumped back in from 37-50 and then all 11 issues of volume two written by Warren Ellis who is this generation's Chris Claremount. Ellis decided to move the title away from the standard good capes vs evil capes fare in favor of grittier grey moral plotlines. Some issues are stand alone stories while others are lengthy story arcs involving different groups' misguided attempts at changing the world for good. Another re-occurring theme that Ellis uses in addition to conspiracies, the environment, the futility of microscopic change, is that America is always a greedy, power hungry, petty villian that will even visit evils on its own populace.

/ The series was re-launched after issue 50 still with Ellis under the helm. This time he returned Stormwatch to its world saving roots but also laid a deep foundation for his subsequent title, The Authority, that would arise from the ashes of the eventually destroyed Stormwatch. Many of the original Stormwatch characters were generic and frankly boring. In two fell swoops, Ellis killed off almost all of them save for the new ones he created under his tenure that would become The Authority. But he let the rest all go out with a bang in a Wild Cats crossover that involves Ridley Scott's Aliens infesting the Stormwatch space station.

/ It was a nice touch how they handled flashbacks. Usually in movies you see some type of weird filter applied to the film and in comics sepia tones or watercolors were used to give a older feel. But when the 96 year old Jenny Sparks was giving her history through the years, the panels were drawn in the classic comic styles of their eras. Very original.

// Wrap up: While the art suffered until Bryan Hitch (The Ultimates) came on board, the stories became interesting for the first time and they provide a great background for all of the characters in The Authority.

Entertainment rating: 3