Take a Walk on the Wild Side
Written by: Warren Ellis
Art by: Jon Davis-Hunt, Ivan Plascencia and Simon Bowland
Cover Price: $3.99
Release Date: February 15, 2017
I do not know much about the Wildstorm Universe save the characters that appeared in the New 52,
but that's one of the main reasons I'm so excited about this book. I love origin stories and getting one with a whole universe equals awesome and starting off on square one with everyone else makes it feel like we are all going on a journey together...a journey into the unknown! Well, maybe not unknown, but hopefully fun and exciting. So, now that it's here, is this opening chapter of the Wildstorm everything I was hoping it would be? Let's find out...
The issue starts off with Zealot cleaning herself off after an "interview" and while it is a very cold open, I was intrigued from the first panel. The art is really good, but it's also the mature nature of the beginning coupled with Ellis' dialogue that grabbed me. This may be an origin story, but it's obvious that this world is lived-in and going on with or without us. Ellis is letting us have a peek, but he is not holding our hand at all.
The issue continues in a kind of relay race fashion as characters pass one another and we shoot off to their stories. Wildstorm characters show up left and right and I'm sure long time fans will love it because I did as well...though I had to do a little research to find out who all of them were.
Voodoo, Miles Craven, Angela Spica, Jacob Marlowe...the list goes on. When we see the Engineer in action and get a hint at the WildCATS, I was totally in. Then we get Deathblow and Void?!?! Like I said, I don't know much about the Wildstorm Universe, but Ellis is playing a greatest hits album that rivals anything Foreigner ever put out...and yes, that's a compliment! The story itself is one of espionage, paranoia, revenge and more. At the moment, it all hinges on Angela Spica and I want more of everything here!
Now that is how to do a first issue. Ellis gives readers just enough name drops to grab those in the know by the balls and get new readers intrigued. Instead of an info dump, he is letting things breathe in a way that makes some of the things seem trivial, even when they aren't. It's really that subtle storytelling that impressed me the most. Crazy shit is happening, but it's crazy shit that does and should be happening so the characters in the book go about their business dealing with it. There is no need for gimmicks or tricks and it would all work even if this was an indie comic with new characters. What I'm saying is this is just good old fashioned, kick-ass storytelling.
Jon Davis-Hunt follows suit as well. His art kicks ass in a very straight forward way. Simple panel layouts and a clean art style lets the reader take in everything without confusion and in a crazy start like this, it is appreciated.
Bits and Pieces:
If you are a Wildstorm fan, this is a no brainer. If you are someone with little to no knowledge of the Universe, I still think this is a no brainer. This is a mature title that's smartly written and looks great and I can't recommend it enough!
9.3/10
Good to know it's a good simple start to what will most likely be sure quite a challenging story, now I can't wait to read it tomorrow.
ReplyDeleteI completely agree with you on the gripping aspect. I'm also glad to hear it is an origin because I was a little lost on what exactly it was meant to be. The comments at one point of mentioning old stuff that happened had me wondering if it was something a little more.
ReplyDeleteReally enjoyed it, but I feel I would have enjoyed it more with a little more knowledge.
So is this the wildstorm universe or just about wildstorm characters on earth prime?
ReplyDeleteWholly New Wildstorm Universe. NOT part of the DCU Earth.
ReplyDeleteI don't entirely agree with Jim's review. This issue was a little too talking head, Bendisy issue an less like classic Warren Ellis. Yes the relay race story telling was neat. I felt the story need more action and fun. It did set up an interesting puzzle and introduced cool characters. I just wanted a more bombastic story and less humdrum chit chat.
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