Three Way
Written by: Warren Ellis
Art by: Jon Davis-Hunt, Steve Buccellato and Simon Bowland
Cover Price: $3.99
Release Date: March 15, 2017
I was so impressed with the kick off to The Wild Storm last month that it quickly jumped to the top of my pull list. Warren Ellis didn't hold any hands with his cold open to the rebooted universe and that along with some of the smartest writing and kick ass visuals won me over after one page. So, do we get more information this issue and does my love for The Wild Storm continue? Let's find out...
The issue opens with Angela Spica (in her Engineer form) flying off and landing at Camp Hero in Montauk, NY. Just an aside, I love Camp Hero and all the crazy stories and theories surrounding it, so I loved seeing it here. She busts into the base, then through some rundown rooms and ends in a room that is part 60's spy thriller and part Star Trek. The scene ends with her reverting back to regular Angela...possibly crying android tears.
We then head off to IO where Miles Craven and his people are trying to figure out what the hell is going on. They already know it was Angela who saved Jacob Marlowe by turning into some sort of flying android and now they are putting the pieces together to figure out just how she did it. We get some more cool character callouts and the idea that some major shit is about to hit the fan.
We head off to see Jacob Marlowe and it looks like a three way race is on between IO, Skywatch and Halo to find Angela first. Things heat up a bit when Kenesha (Savant!) tracks Angelica to Camp Hero and tells us it's actually a closed down IO station.
We then head off to the third part of this fucked up trinity...Skywatch. After Henry Bendix reams out
Christine Trelane, she informs Lucy of her new job...finding Angela. Like you didn't see that coming! A couple of things stand out here, however...Lucy wants nothing to do with this job and the big discovery could end up being who and what Jacob is along with who saved him.
After an odd, but great looking page of Voodoo, we get what should be the origin of Deathblow. Ellis gave a sly little hint this was coming and I'm glad he didn't waste anytime coming through with it. Speaking of hints, the ending of the issue pretty much confirms a few huge characters are among us as they head off the save Angela and hopefully themselves!
I can't say that I was as excited after finishing this issue than the first. Warren Ellis is really digging in for the long run and is really tight on giving up any information at all. Character names are not freely handed out and a lot of what we see is up for interpretation. I am still a fan of the series and can't wait for the next issue, but this is quickly becoming a niche title of a niche title and I worry that many will find the work involved to truly enjoy it too much to go on. I hope that is not the case.
I still think Jon Davis-Hunt and the art team are doing a great job with clean art and standard panel layout that lets the reader concentrate on the dense story being told. I can't wait to see when Davis-Hunt gets to cut loose because the few times he has, it has looked awesome.
Bits and Pieces:
Warren Ellis continues giving readers a smartly written book that is short on hand holding and high on intrigue. While I worry that he isn't giving up enough of the basics (especially when it comes to characters), I am enjoying the ride and am willing to put some extra work in to get the most out of it.
7.8/10
This series feels like a call back to the X-Files meets Cyberpunk and that's not really a bad thing.
ReplyDeleteIt is the raw visualization of how super hero books would be in real life that makes it worthy. It's not clean cut and all white-black, rather ambiguously gray just as life is supposed to be.
DeleteI'm glad that DC has found a medium in Wildstorm to explore more deep concepts and offer more variety to their fans. It doesn't have to be connected to the Prime earth universe just be a world among the many of multiverse.
Just finished issue 2, finally, and I gotta say, The Wildstorm is strong! I have zero history with or knowledge of Wildstorm, other than I know of the New 52 crossover characters, and I have heard of guys like Deathblow and Engineer, but never read a comic featuring them before issue 1 last month. So this is all-new, exciting territory for me. It reminds me of when my local comic merchant saw me scanning the racks at his shop, clearly new to comics, and recommended I check out the new Valiant stuff, of which he gave me a few #1s to get into it. It was an interesting, modern take on cheesy 90's comics, and the it worked thanks to master plotting, realism, and top-notch art.
ReplyDeleteThis is the kind of 'gritty' that DC has been trying to infuse into there main universe line for years now! Ellis is a master of this style of storytelling, and the art is the perfect match for the story, the characters, and the 'feel' of a high-quality, HBO-type action/espionage/thriller series.
I don't need to know everything right now. Where is the intrigue in that? The story, so far, has been cleverly divided into 3 (possibly) opposing factions, whose motives have been fleshed out enough through the characters natural dialogue. I haven't once been confused as to who is who, or what was going on, even though I may not know a characters first or last name yet. So far, the story has been easy to follow, and is clearly building up to a boil already. The VooDoo bit was unexpected, but nicely done. In one page, I felt like I learned a ton about the character and her place inside this universe. I can't wait to see how she is used going forward.
This series is for real, GFC. Pick it up, relax, enjoy the ride. Trust that a master of the craft is going to give you some damn entertaining stories. He may not telegraph the ending of the story by issue 3, but then, where is the fun in that? You may not know every single detail of this universe after reading issue 2, but you WILL be hungry for more of the story afterwards.