Credits: Written by Alan Moore, pencilled by Travis Charest & Ryan Benjamin, inked by John Dickenson & Richard Friend and edited by Michael Heisler.
Cast: Cole ‘Grifter’ Cash, Deathblow, Jacob ‘Lord Emp’ Marlow, Void, Ladytron, Savant, TAO, Warblade, Maul, Priscilla ‘Voodoo’ Kitaen, Hadrian/Spartan, Mr Majestic and Zealot.
Plot: The first 5 pages take place before the start of this crossover. Grifter and Deathblow discuss the loss of their Gen-Factor and the plan to go to Gamorra. This is happening at the HALO building, the headquarters of the WildC.A.T.S. Currently the team is half of the current team and half of the team that have been on the planet Khera (home of Emp, Savant, Zealot and Majestic). The returning team (Emp, Void, Zealot, Maul, Warblade, Voodoo and Spartan) have suffered heartbreak and disillusionment while there and so coming home is far from a happy experience. Emp passes Deathblow and Grifter and keeps walking, commenting only that his home coming didn’t go well and he was leaving since he had no home. Inside Void meets Ladytron and is disturbed by her violent and amoral past and nature. Grifter finally leaves, taking a jet from HALO.
The next day, Maul and Warblade discuss being back and how they don’t feel like they are really part of the team anymore. This is also how Voodoo feels, but she feels this much stronger and has to leave the team permanently. The three half-human/half-kherubim members hug and kiss and promise to keep in touch. Voodoo passes Spartan on her way out, she calls him love, but this is clearly the end of their relationship. Elsewhere in the building Zealot informs her countryman Mr Majestic that the Kheribum/Daemonite war is over, Khera was the victor. Zealot has decided to part ways with her order the Coda and renounces Khera. Zealot is sanguine about the whole thing, having had time to think about it on the long journey back to Earth, but Majestic is in shock, cut off from home for millenia and all he has wanted is to go home, home not being what it was just sort of breaks him. Void arrives and informs Zealot that Grifter is on his way to Gamorra to try and save his life. Zealot knows what to do and tells Majestic that her intent is to go to Gamorra and save him. She invites everyone to go with her and the returned members of the team agree. This leaves Savant, TAO, Ladytron, Majestic and several StormWatch rookies to carry on their current Crime/Gang War. That’s not the whole team though as Max Cash (Grifter’s younger brother) is in the hospital after a bombing related to the war. Ladytron goes to visit him, only to learn he has checked out of the hospital and quit the team, one of his reasons is Ladytron’s crush on him and the pressure for him to reciprocate those feelings. Majestic finds Ladytron and drags her to another battle in their war.
Over Gamorra, the rest of the team are being fired upon on their plane. One of those firing is StormWatch troop carrier which finishes the plane’s flight and the aircraft crashes into the coast. Kaizen’s Hunter Killers see the plane go down and consider the occupants dead. Nearby inside a flash of magenta light, the Wild.C.A.T.S arrive safe and sound on Gamorra and they not happy.
Notes: This fits inside the Alan Moore run on WildC.A.T..S. vol 1. Alan Moore was a legend of comics in the 1980s, from From Hell, to V for Vendetta, Miracleman and who would forget Watchmen. He was famous for excellent ideas and deconstruction/reimagining of the to his mind moribund Superhero genre. He was not interested in dealing with the big 2 of comics, but did do some interesting comics for independents, such as his America’s Best Comics imprint, a retooling of Youngblood, 1963 and also this.
When WildC.A.T.S. started, it was a sci-fi heavy X-Men pastiche with the undercurrent of a war between demonic beings and human looking ones. Moore took it a step further and wrote what happens when the heroes learn that war is over and what really was their side like? Another team was also brought in (Savant, Mr Majestic, Ladytron and TAO) and the majority of this issue was what happens when the main team came home and what scars that has left, the Fire From Heaven stuff is like 5 pages at the end.
Thing is, I liked that. This was like the Wetworks issue in that regard, except I knew most of the characters and the initial art (by Travis Charest) was much better. <A side note here is that I was familiar with his work through a WildC.A.T.S./X-Men mini-series around this time. One issue was set during the second world war and featured Zealot & Wolverine and the art was sublime in it’s beauty and how it fit the mileu.> So I felt that I was reintroduced to the team, saw that things had moved forward and had a better idea of who the characters were at this point, before they became simply new players in the crossover. The final page wasn’t a surprise as such, but a great dramatic moment that makes me more excited to keep going that the last few issues.
Verdict: Writing 4 out of 5: It’s Alan Moore. Kind of don’t feel more needs saying, but heigh-ho. Characters felt real, there was pathos and humour and panels that wouldn’t feel out of place in a TV show or film. That said, this was a comic and used that medium to great effect.
Art: 2 out of 5 The problem here is that Ryan Benjamin is a good artist, he is and fits the genre well. Travis Charest is a great artist with his own style and great technique. It’s steak v burger. I love a good burger, but it’s a drop down after a great steak. I always feel this way when we have split art chores and that’s the reason for the loss of a couple of marks out of 5.
Overall: 6 out of 10 – Enjoyable issue with great writing and art that never goes below good. This not only makes me look forward to Chapter 8, but also makes me want to re-read the Moore run on WildC.A.T.S. as there was so much good stuff here.
Next Time: Mourning a fallen hero.
My Marvel Life 