“Disorder” (No Spoilers)
This issue can be summed up in three words: chaos, chaos, chaos! Last issue saw The Carrier on a collision course with the planet Daemon, the planet of the Wildcats sworn enemies the Daemonites. It was a great cliffhanger and set-up a precarious predicament for our heroes to say the least.
The creative team has got this run broken down into beats. We alternate from story to action on a pretty frequent little cycle. It is a really refreshing pace. One thing I was interested to see was how this creative team was going to deal with so many characters.
Tag: kristy quinn
Wildcats #20
“Red Blade 2 of 3: Red Flags” (No Spoilers)
Another incredible issue from the new creative team! This can be considered the “Empire Strikes Back” of this premiere 3-part arc that Adam Beechen and Tim Seeley have constructed. Things do not bode well for our heroes. They just witnessed The Red Blade forces defeat an entire fleet and now they’re returning to finish off our heroes!
Even though many heroes are present, Beechen wisely keeps the focus down to a few while the others are either in the background or have smaller roles. Fans of The New Dynamix mini-series that came out in 2008 will get a nice surprise in this issue. It is also noteworthy that mid-way through the issue, the events we saw in Gen 13 #34 a couple of weeks ago come into play.
The Authority: The Lost Year #6
“Absolute Authority” (No Spoilers)
I think this is the strongest issue of The Authority: The Lost Year yet. Last issue was more of a bridge between this arc and the previous. It gave closure to the first arc but set up how The Authority got to where they are now. For a first-time reader, there isn’t much missing info, so I think a person picking up this issue wouldn’t be lost.
I usually wait until the end of my reviews to talk about the art but this time, I really liked it from page one. I don’t have a way to confirm this, but judging by the way the two men are credited it looks like Brian Stelfreeze (Wednesday Comics, Shadow of the Bat) did the layouts and Joel Gomez (Lost Boys: Reign of Frogs, Iron and the Maiden) did the finishes.
Gen 13 #34
“A Runt’s Eye View” (No Spoilers)
During the past month, the Wildstorm Universe has been thrown into chaos throughout all the World’s End titles. And it has been a great read! The Authority #18 set up the dilemma: The Carrier is leaving Earth. Which heroes are going and which are staying? Wildcats #19 showed the war being waged by the heroes who stayed on Earth against the lost Kheran force known as The Red Blade. This issue acts as an addendum to Wildcats #19 as we see the same battle but from the perspective of Runt from Gen 14.
Gen 14, you ask? No, it’s not a typo. If you haven’t been following World’s End then you don’t know about Wildstorm’s newest Gen group. But where Gen 13 were created to serve the purposes of the secret organization Tabula Rasa (introduced in Gail Simone’s run), Gen 14 were created as breeding stock for Gen 13.