Short Hiatus

Hello everyone, sorry I haven't gotten an entry up in about a week but the past week has been pretty hectic and I've fallen behind with reading and some other things. I'll be back early next week and I'll get this blog back on track with two new entries including the next Character Spotlight focusing on Jenny Sparks. I'll be slightly active on the Wildstorm and Comic Forums this week but I will mainly be handling things off the internet for a few days.

So I will see you next week with some interesting new entries. Have a good week.

Creator Spotlight #3: Whilce Portacio

Whilce Portacio became a famous artist while working at Marvel Comics working on such titles as Uncanny X-Men, X-Factor and Punisher. His gig was originally inking titles but he climbed up the ladder and was later used for his abilities with pencils. Portacio was one of the founders of Image Comics but had to withdraw due to his sisters health. Even though he didn't have his own imprint, Portacio later came back and put out his new book called Wetworks through Jim Lee's Wildstorm imprint. At this point in time Portacio was considered a big star on the rise like the other Image founders but he also shared a problem that most of the other Image founders seemed to have. That problem was delays.

Portacio went into a diabetic coma in 2000 due to a failing pancreas. When he was able to wake up about a week later he had lost a lot of weight and couldn't do much of anything for about six months. I can't imagine how scary of a time this must have been for him but somehow he managed to get back to work quickly.

In 2006, Portacio returned to Wildstorm and Wetworks when he relaunched a volume 2 for the series but as with previous runs on titles, Portacio quickly fell behind with his work and ended up leaving his book pretty quickly. After only 15 issues the new volume of Wetworks got axed and the title is currently in limbo. The Wetworks crew showed up in Wildstorm: Armageddon and DC/Wildstorm Dreamwar but other than that the team has gotten little to no attention the past couple of years.

In 2008, it was announced that Whilce Portacio would be taking over pencil duties for Spawn. At this particular point in time it was announced that Image co-founder and creator of Spawn, Todd MacFarlane would be going back to Spawn as co-writer. Needless to say, this collaboration has caught attention and there has been quite a bit of buzz over Spawn ever since.

In additon to his work on Uncanny X-Men, X-Force, Punisher, Wetworks, Spawn and numerous other titles, Portacio received a lot of positive attention for his work on DC Comics Batman: Confidential title. In fact, there's a pretty good podcast interview available that Whilce Portacio recently did with The Batman Universe Podcast. You can find it under the episode guide of Batman Universe Specials on iTunes for free. In the interview, Portacio mainly touched on his work with Batman: Confidential and his more recent work on Spawn.

Personally, I think Whilce Portacio is hands down an amazing talent who can ink and pencil just about anything but like the other Image founders, he has never been the best at meeting deadlines which is something big with me. In an industry where there's solicitations, advance solicitations and solicitations for the advance solicitations I think it's paramount to get your work out on time. I don't just blame this on artists and writers though, I also blame publishers because they have no business soliciting these titles until they are in the can. Fortunately, this seems to be a lesson that Wildstorm has learned in the past year or two after suffering from this problem for about 15 years.

If you're interested in learning more about Whilce Portacio check him out on comicbookdb.com. You can find his profile there as well as profiles for everybody elses that I talk about in this blog. Not only will you find information about the creators, you can also find a detailed chronological listing of all of Whilce's work on the website. I opted to talk about him in this spotlight as I plan on doing a Dane spotlight in the very near future after my Jenny Sparks spotlight. For my next set of reviews I also plan to review Wetworks vol. 2 and most likely DC/Wildstorm Dreamwar after that.

Wildstorm in May

Even with the Wildstorm proper books going from 4 titles a month down to 3 we still have a busy month coming up in May. Kicking off the week of May 6 we are getting The Authority #10, Prototype #2 (of 6), Astro City: Dark Age Book 3 #1 (of 4) and the precursor to the Sleeper series, Point Blank which is collected in a new trade paperback.

Unfortunately, the week of May 13 is a little light as it's a skip month for Gen13 (/cries) but at least we get Stormwatch PHD #21, Storming Paradise #5 (of 6) and Resident Evil #2 (of 6).

The following week (Week of 5/20) is packed as we get Ex Machina #42, Gears of War #7, the much anticipated Killapalooza #1 (of 6), Mysterius the Unfathomable #5 (of 6), World of Warcraft #19 and Heroes vol. 2 finally gets the trade paperback treatment for all those Heroes fans out there that can't or won't pony up for the hardcover edition.

The month will wrap up on May 27 as we kick the week off with Wildcats #11, Fringe #5 (of 6), Resistance #6 (of 6), Starcraft #1 (if this doesn't sell a bazillion issues in Korea I don't know what will!) and World of Warcraft: Ashbringer is coming out in a hardcover collection.

Although I don't plan to get it, I don't see how Starcraft #1 can't be a big hit. There's so much anticipation behind the new game that unless it's just an absolute dreadful book it's bound to be successful. My thoughts with these solicitions is we continue to have way too many six issue mini series out there and probably one or two more licensed properties than I would like. I wouldn't mind all the licensed properties if they were more in proportion with the Wildstorm proper books.

I've said it before and I'll say it again, I totally get that Wildstorm counts on these licensed property books to pay the bills but I maintain the point that we need at least one more ongoing book for Wildstorm proper to follow. After the switch to bi-monthly for Gen13 and Stormwatch I'm sticking to my guns now more than ever. We need at least one title a week to follow World's End and right now we're only getting three. Not only do I feel that we need another title for the sake of story but I also think a brand new book could launched properly with quality creator talent could honestly spark sales for the other World's End titles.

Due to the recession and less than stellar sales numbers, if it's too big of a commitment or maybe if the creator talent isn't there to stick on a new book there needs to be either an Anthology book or one-shots coming out regularly. Have a new one-shot come out every two to three months focusing on a character or set of characters currently being left out of the big picture. We have plenty of heroes out in limbo that could use a 22 page story for 2.99. Let's say you do six of these one-shots and then you can collect them in one nice pretty trade paperback. The same could hold true for an Anthology book except you send it straight to trade. The principle is the same it's just you tell shorter stories (but more of them) with more creators.

With Planetary ending, Ex Machina starting to close up shop and two titles (Gen13 and Stormwatch) needing a major bump in sales I really don't see the harm in trying a couple one-shots or an Anthology book. Sometimes less is more and this is one of those times and I appreciate the editorial group out in La Jolla not throwing fifty new random titles at us every week (my wallet appreciates this as well) but there needs to be something to spark excitement in the community and a chance to try and grab some new sales.

With the recent Gen13 and Stormwatch editorial changes I'd like to think that was a step in the right direction and we shall see what the cards hold for the future. What are your thoughts on what you would like to see to help grow sales for the Wildstorm proper books? Have any comments on the new editorial change for Stormwatch and Gen13? Will the shift help sell more books? And finally, will the upcoming World's End trade paperbacks be enough to bring in some fresh blood to make this thing a success?

Creator Spotlight #2: Gail Simone

Since I just finished up my reviews for Welcome to Tranquility it made sense to me to do my next creator spotlight on the writer of the Tranquility series, Gail Simone.

Gail got her foot in the door early on by working for Bongo Comics working on The Simpsons. She hit the mainstream when she went to Marvel Comics and wrote issues of Deadpool but didn't stay at Marvel for very long as she reportedly had issues getting along with her editor.

Being in the mainstream and not wanting to work with Marvel anymore the logical choice was to make the move to DC Comics. Gail hit the jackpot with DC when she took over the Birds of Prey book and had a very long and critically acclaimed run before diving into other books for DC, including Action Comics, Villains United, Wonder Woman and eventually the spin off of Villains United, Secret Six.

Not only did Gail work on DC titles but she also dove into Wildstorm's Gen13 and created the series Welcome to Tranquility. To date, Welcome to Tranquility has had 13 issues published, 12 of which were written by Gail with the 13th was written by Christos Gage as part of Armageddon.

Today Gail Simone stays busy writing the Wonder Woman and Secret Six ongoing books but she is also making her return to the Tranquility book later in 2009 with a new six issue limited series.

I haven't reviewed Gail's Gen13 run yet in this blog but if you are curious about her work on Welcome to Tranquility I've reviewed the entire series in previous entries. In the future I hope to review her work on Gen13 after reviewing Gen13 vol. 1 (the 5 issue limited series and issue #0). Speaking of old books, I'm thinking about starting a series of blog entries titled "Blast From the Past" where I focus on old 90's Wildstorm books such as Wetworks vol. 1, WildC.A.T.S vol. 1 and maybe even some limited series such as Zealot or Team 7. If there's any interest for "Blast From the Past" entries please leave a comment and I'll try and cover what you're interested in.

Getting back to Gail's work I have to say I haven't read everything she's put out to date. What I have read includes her entire run on Birds of Prey and Welcome to Tranquility. My girlfriend has her complete runs for Villains United, Secret Six, Wonder Woman and All New Atom. Outside of Wildstorm, I'm really looking forward to reading her Wonder Woman stuff as I've heard she's really saved that book and hopefully the sales will pick up in the future to help spark interest in a second Wonder Woman title. What I have read from her has been overall excellent (I gave her Tranquility issues very good reviews) and I can't wait to see her get back to Tranquility later this year.

Review: Welcome to Tranquility Part Four of Four

Today I'm wrapping up my four part review by reviewing Welcome to Tranquility: Armageddon which is a one-shot issue written by Christos Gage, with art by Horatio Domingues and Neil Googe. Carrie Strachan took care of colors and Travis Lanham gave us some pretty great letters if you ask me.

Welcome to Tranquility: Armageddon is part of a series of one-shots that lead up to the events that take place in Wildstorm Revelations and Number of the Beast. The story opens up with a Maximum Man enjoying having his powers back. Unfortuantely, Maximum Man takes his fun a little too far and starts sleeping around with many of the local women that can be found in Tranquility, with the problem being many of them aren't single which is upsetting the local men.

Maximum Man is approached by Sheriff Lindo who basically tells Maxi-Man to cool it and stay away from the married women and as the Sheriff is leaving Void shows up. After her brief introduction, Void takes Maxi-Man into the future where everything outside of town has been mostly destroyed. Before Void gets the chance to explain much of anything, Maximum Man is attached by a group of superpowered beings calling themselves the "Supreme Soviets." Maxi-Man gets some help from the people of Tranquility fighting off the Soviet team.

Once the fight has finished, Sheriff Lindo from the future finds out Maxi-Man is from the past as the Maxi-Man of the future is resting in the town hospital recovering his powers that have been drained from constant fighting Sheriff Lindo tries to explain what she knows about the post Armageddon world but it seems she doesn't really know a whole lot about what happened except for the fact that it wasn't caused by a weapon of mass destruction but superhumans themselves. Lindo also explains that Salabal was able to cast a protective shield over the town protecting it and keeping intruders out but after two weeks she collapsed from exhaustion. After regaining her energy Salabal went to work on a new spell that would take the town into an alternate reality. While Salabal works on the spell it's up to the town and it's heroes to buy her time and keep everyone safe until the spell is ready.

Once finished explaining her story, Lindo recruits Maxi-Man from the past to help protect the town while Maxi-Man from the future rests from a group of robots being led by a giant robot going by the name of Black Panzer. To help back up Maxi-Man we see Sweet Sally and some of his team with Captain Cobra and Mongoose Man fight off the bad guys.

After the robot bad guys are defeated it's announced that Salabal's spell is finished and that the town would soon be moved to an alternate reality and that nobody would ever remember the town of Tranquility existed except for the actual inhabitants of the town. Before being taken to the alternate reality, Void shows up again and quickly takes Maxi-Man back to where they started in the present. Once they arrive back in the present Maxi-Man immediately loses his power and goes back to his old regular form and quickly forgets what happened.

Christos Gage did a great job in keeping Gail Simone's work intact while building on what's already been established. It was also great to see Neil Googe do some of the art in this story but his style is very different from what Horatio Domingues does. Personally I think Googe is much better suited for Tranquility. That said, Horatio Domingues still did an exceptional job.

This had to be a tricky story to tell as there's a heck of a lot of information to pack into a single issue. It really reminded me of the old comic book days where you could really tell a full action-packed story in a single issue, which is definitely something comic book creators don't do enough of anymore. Not everything has to be a five or six issue story arc dragged out. I get that they are catering to the waiting for the trade crowd but I don't see any reason why you can't collect five or six one-shots in a trade, either.

Getting back on track with this particular book, the story was great and the art was solid but it's very hard to live up to the source material and I think this book didn't quite cut it, especially when it comes to the art as Neil Googe only penciled a few pages in this issue. Some panels looked a little rushed and I feel like the story as a whole could have been slightly more polished. On a scale of 1 to 10 (1 being the worst and 10 being the best) I give this story an 8. I was really close to giving it only a 7 or 7.5 but the story was just so interesting with how the town could survive and I loved all the character cameos so I had to give it a higher score. I also appreciate that Christos Gage didn't bombard us with backup stories and tried to keep the story tightly knit.

This story definitely has me thirsting for more and I can't wait for the new Tranquility series to start up later this year with Gail Simone back! The only downside is Neil Googe won't be doing the pencils again as he has kept himself busy working with Christos Gage on Wildcats (I guess it's not really a downside though since Googe is working on a different Wildstorm book, the guy can't be everywhere doing everything for everybody at once! Artists are people, too...I think!)

In The News: Grant Morrison, Planetary #27 and More!

Let's get the big news out of the way first. Warren Ellis has said on Twitter that Planetary #27 is in the can. Needless to say, this was LOOOOONG overdue but Wildstorm kept their word from New York Comic Con this year by saying it would be finished sometime in 2009. Let's hope we see this final issue solicited for July in the coming weeks! This announcement has gotten a lot of buzz on the internet the past 48 hours or so.

I can't comment on the quality of Planetary as I have been putting off reading it until the series is complete. Once this issue comes out and the trade is solicited I will definitely be picking up the old books and pre-ordering the new trade. I'm sure with all the buzz behind this I won't be the only guy or girl looking at picking these issues up in the form of trade paperbacks.

Also recently announced, Keith Giffen is going to pick up where Grant Morrison left off with The Authority. Grant Morrison did the first two issues before hitting a brick wall and after about two years of waiting Wildstorm has decided to move on and hand the story over to Giffen who is going to finish what's to be a 12 issue run. For more information check out the interview with Keith Giffen over at Newsarama (Link: http://www.newsarama.com/comics/030924-Giffen-Authority.html).

The thought of Giffen finishing this story doesn't excite me very much at the moment but at least the story will be finished. I would rather it finally get done rather than sit out there for two more years waiting for Grant Morrison to put it off some more. It's also hard to get excited about a title before an artist is even announced for it. As important as writing is in todays world of comics, you still can't produce a great book without great art so let's hope the creative team will be solid and timely for this one.

While we're on the subject of Grant Morrison's books, it's also been announced that Grant Morrison and Jim Lee are getting the band back together and finally sitting down to work on their Wildcats run. Rather than solicit individual issues over a period of time it's looking like Morrison and Lee will be completing their story as a graphic novel. Personally, this news has me very excited. I love the idea of being able to sit down and read this straight through without having to worry about any future delays.

I've been very excited about the fact that Wildstorm has learned not to solicit projects anymore without them being finished. I don't mind waiting for a title I just get annoyed when it's solicited and in my mind and then of course it ends up not showing up on time.

While on the topic of solicitations and upcoming books I want to stress how important pre-orders are for comics. Be it individual issues, hardcover collections or trade paperbacks the best way to support the publisher with new titles is to pre-order things you know you're going to buy. Not only are pre-orders great for the publisher but they are great for us as fans and customers for a couple different reasons. First, it ensures you'll get your copy. You don't have to drive to two or three different local comic shops to find a missing trade or issue or prowl the internet to see what's in stock. Pre-orders are also great because a perk of pre-ordering through many stores or websites includes a pretty fat discount. Online stores such as Heavy Ink, DCBS/InStockTrades and Comic Collector Live often offer amazing discounts. Heavy Ink is typically 20% off while DCBS/InStockTrades is around 40% off. Many local comic shops also offer 10-20% off for pre-orders and pull list customers.

The last thing I want to bring up today is the trade paperbacks coming out for the World's End titles this upcoming summer and fall. Wildcats and The Authority are up first with Stormwatch and Gen13 following close behind. Please, if you haven't been buying and reading Stormwatch or Gen13, consider pre-ordering the trades. These are two titles that need a serious boost in sales. If you buy the single issues, maybe consider buying a trade or two for a friend or co-worker that enjoys comics but isn't necessarily reading anything from Wildstorm. It's hard to imagine a Wildstorm universe without Gen13 or Stormwatch around so please at least consider these books for yourself or someone else when the time comes to order these. I'm currently planning to get the Stormwatch trade as it's the only title I'm not getting in single issues and possibly getting the Wildcats trade for my girlfriends niece as a Christmas present (she's starting to get pretty into comics). Even if you won't buy any of these books or if you can't afford them spread the word to friends and fellow comic readers please. Word of mouth is a powerful thing in the comics industry.

Review: Welcome to Tranquility Part Three of Four

Sorry for the short delay. I meant to get this review up yesterday but I ran out of time. In this entry I'll be reviewing Welcome to Tranquility issues 7-12. I'll remind you once again, there will be spoilers. So if you don't want anything spoiled please don't read this entry. These issues were written once again by Gail Simone and Neil Googe did pencils (with the exception of the backup stories).

Gail Simone opened up this story arc by quickly showing the aftermath of what happened in the previous six issues of Tranquility. We see the tombstone for Mr. Articulate and we see our surviving characters from the previous story arc getting on with their lives and it appears the town is mostly back to normal. It also appears we've only gone forward in time only a few days since the sixth issue. After seeing Zeke and Bad Dog in the cemetry talking about the dead Colonel and his graveyard arrangements we see Sheriff Lindo getting ready to leave the town lockup where we see Emoticon behind bars. Emoticon is obviously serving time for his role in the death of Mr. Articulate but he appears to have changed a little bit while serving behind bars. He even shows the Sheriff a little bit of respect.

After leaving lockup, Sheriff Lindo goes to the movies by herself and while at the movies we see the Gen13 team has shown up in Tranquility and Emoticon has been broken out of jail. Shortly after the breakout we find out the town might be developing a bit of a zombie problem.

After meeting our zombie friend we get a few backup stories to help share the history of some of our main characters. We get a backup with Emoticon and Pink Bunny at the diner before he got his emote mask and a second Pink Bunny backup of her fighting and killing Hellkitten after a pretty intense fight. The third one is of little Sheriff Lindo back when she was just a little girl beating the snot out of a boy who started talking trash about Lindo's family. Facing family problems at home and being convinced that the Sheriff at the time is racist, we see Lindo and her sister hotwire Sheriff Presley's (Deputy Presley in present time) personal car. Lindo drives the car off the road and the Sheriff catches up with the two girls and shows compassion and even says he won't tell their mother if they do chores at the police station. At this point it appears little Lindo starts to calm down about her situation and begins to build a positive relationship with the Sheriff.

We also get a story about how Zeke became a zombie. Apparently he was a talented young singer with a guitar that got turned into what he is by a guy named The Host. After Zeke's story we get guess what? That's right, another blast from the past when we find out how Emoticon got his mask. Emoticon tried to rob an old man that has a farm but got caught by the farmer. After being captured by the old man, we see Emoticon reveal that the old man is his grandfather and Emoticon was trying to steal money from him. The old man quickly accepts that he could be Emoticon's grandfather and caused a horrible tragedy that gave Emoticon his mask.

After getting all this wonderful backstory we go back to the present at the hospital where we see our crazy-eyed doctor checking out the zombie body for the Police Department. While examining the body the zombie heals itself and wakes back up attacking Sheriff Lindo, the doctor and the Deputy Presley. Presley basically blew the zombie away and we see The Host visit Zeke at the graveyard after Lindo and Presley debate what Zeke will do with the potential zombie uprising in town.

We quickly see what side Zeke takes as the Host really upsets Zeke by killing his pet snake. One thing leads to the next and after some more backup stories we see The Host visiting Emoticon and his grandfather who broke him out of jail. The Host proposes the three of them form a trinity after Zeke turned The Host down.

While the potential bad guy trinity is talking the hospital, diner and graveyard all become overrun with zombies. The fighting really picks up and we have Maximum Man, Pink Bunny, the police, Gen13 and more all wrapped up in combat with the zombies on multiple fronts. At the diner, Pink Bunny sends her workers to hide and barricade themselves in the walk-in refrigerator while she fights alongside a zombie Mr. Articulate against the other zombies. Unfortunately in the fight, Mr. Articulate literally loses his head and Pink Bunny is quickly defeated.

In the heat of battle, Emoticon decides he needs to change sides and no longer backs The Host or his grandfather. Let's just say the kid finally grew a spine and allied with the Tranquility heroes. The heroes battle the zombies, Emticon's grandfather and The Host and eventually win.

Now for my opinions, first I want to say this was another brilliant installment to the Tranquility series and I will definitely buy future Gail Simone Tranquility stories. She once again left no real holes in the story which is really saying something considering how complex she makes everything with tons of different characters and stories going at once. At the same time, one could argue that she might have tried to do too much (which is also how I felt with her first story arc in issues 1 thru 6) with too many characters. Tranquility is such a great and interesting town with a lot going on but I feel like she uses too many characters that aren't really needed to advance the story.

Zombies are almost always great in comics and this story was no exception. It was especially fun seeing Mr. Articulate and Astral Man back in zombie form. Other things I really enjoyed was learning more about Emoticon, Sheriff Lindo, Deputy Presley and Zeke especially. As much as I enjoyed the various backup stories though, I feel like we got too many of them. It goes back to my thoughts of trying to do too much with too many characters.

Overall, on a scale of 1 to 10 (10 being the highest and 1 being the lowest) I give this story arc a 9. There were parts I enjoyed more than in issues 1 thru 6 but I thought 1 thru 6 had a more tightly knit story overall. For me this arc beat out the first arc in action and the art was as good as ever (which is expected since Googe did the pencils for all these issues with the exception of backup stories) I just think that where I deduct a point is having all the backup stories and frankly, I felt like the same story could have been told (maybe even better told) with 2 or 3 less backups. Sometimes less is more. I would have been happier if we got more of what was happening in the present and less of what was happening in the past.

I have one review left for the Tranquility series. I plan on doing my review for the Tranquility: Armageddon issue next week. In the meantime, I'll be reading some old mid 90's Wildstorm books including the Gen13 mini series, WildC.A.T.S issues 20-25 and the first Grifter ongoing series (10 issues). Maybe once Tranquility is wrapped up I'll blog about some of Alan Moore's WildC.A.T.S run or the Gen13 mini series. I also plan to talk about Wildstorm's recent announcement about what is being planned for Grant Morrison's Authority and Wildcats runs in the very near future. I'll try and work that into my next entry later this week.

Review: Welcome to Tranquility Part Two of Four

As promised I'm now going to review Welcome to Tranquility issues 1-6. Before I get into detail I want to tell you that this is going to be a pretty in-depth review so there will be spoilers. If you don't want anything spoiled for you it would be a good idea to skip this entry. I'm not going to go over every single page and panel but I will give a pretty good overview of what happens managing to leave out just a few details to enhance your reading experience (there's a twist or two I won't go into). You've been warned!

The story starts with a group of aged heroes sitting in a local diner being served by a young girl named Leona who is apparently the grandchild of a hero named Slapjack. As the aged heroes are talking to Leona we meet the woman running the diner, Suze, the Pink Bunny. After the brief diner intro we are taken back in time to meet the Liberty Squad who are on vacation in a place called Peaceful Woods. This was brilliant as we got several pages of introduction for many of the aged heroes living in Tranquility in their prime. We meet Judge Fury, Astral Man, Bad Dog, Maxi-Man, Pink Bunny and Colonel Cragg.

After their short story where the Liberty Squad defeated the gladbots and Henry Hate we go back to the present and meet Minxy Millions after we get a quick introduction to her character in her prime. Minxy crashes her plane right into Tranquility almost killing the sheriff and a couple journalists being escorted around the town by Sheriff Lindo working on a story. After the crash we see Maxi-Man walking down the street approaching the Sheriff and asking if she has a Pakistani dictionary. The Sheriff tells Maxi-Man she doesn't. After this we find out from the Sheriff that Maxi-Man is one of the most powerful heroes and that he has a secret word that allows him to change from accountant into superhero instantly. There's one problem though. Maxi-Man has forgotten the word that allows him to change and that's why he is reading out of dictionaries hoping he stumbles across his word at some point.

We now go back to the diner which is basically setting the state for the rest of the story arc. A thug going by the name of Emoticon shows up in the diner with his crew looking to stir the pot so to speak and Emoticon and his thugs fight against the locals in the diner and somehow in the heat of the moment Mr. Articulate who was hanging out with his elderly superhero friends at the diner is stabbed and dies soon after.

After the stabbing we get to see what appears to be a cover for some kind of tabloid that's called The Tattler which shows Mr. Articulate naked under a blanket lying in the morgue. On the cover of the tabloid it reads, "The Great Voice Silenced! Mr. Articulate Sleuths No More! Death or Deception-- Could He Yet Live?" and then you see a picture of Midnighter on the bottom of the page with more headlines reading, "Was He or Wasn't He? One Former Lover Speaks, and it's a He!" Personally I thought this was hilarious as it was poking fun at Midnighter's sexuality as he is a homosexual (in case you didn't know, Midnighter and Apollo have been lovers for quite some time).

After we see a maxi doctor examing Mr. Articulate's body and the Tattler journalist snooping around the hospital we skip forward to Sheriff Lindo questioning Emoticon. Lindo quickly learns Emoticon couldn't have committed the actual murder because he has a visor on his head that won't allow him to lie as the visor makes emote images.

As the story continues we learn that Leona has been holding back with some information, The Tattler journalist is still working on his story and we also learn the Mayor is definitely a bit of a hot head and may not be all that he seems. By about halfway through the six issue arc one is led to believe that Leona is the key to solving the murder mystery but she is very reluctant to pass on any information to Sheriff Lindo or anyone else.

Probably my favorite part of the series is when the Liberty Snots are formally introduced after seeing ads for The Authority and Timelost Teens (Gen13). Gail Simone really had some clever ideas to try and fit this story in with the Wildstorm universe without actually incorporating most of the Wildstorm universe. It's pretty impressive to see her touch on all these other titles without actually including them in the arc. We learn from the introduction of The Liberty Snots that they are basically the grandkids of the towns aging icon heroes. We see that Leona is a member of the team, called Ajita as well as new characters Silicon Stiletto, M-T, Freeksho, Mangacide and Leona's boyfriend, Sweet Sally. Yes, that's right...a guy going by the name of Sweet Sally. I think it's pretty safe to say that we aren't supposed to like Sweet Sally early on and these kids seem pretty "emo" sporting mostly black threads and wearing make-up.

As it becomes more and more clear that Leona isn't telling all to the Sheriff, Lindo pays Leona a visit and everything building up inside of Leona drives her to the edge and she tries to commit suicide but fails and is taken to the hospital. The Sheriff tries to keep Leona's mom from seeing her as she knows it will only upset Leona even more and while all this is going on, The Liberty Snots plan to break in to take Leona as they also aren't allowed to see her. While all this is happening we find out that one of the journalists that nearly died in the plane crash has been murdered in town (making reference to the journalists that were almost killed by Minxy near the beginning of the story- the journalists were still running around town looking for information while the Sheriff was off trying to solve the murder).

Sheriff Lindo brings Emoticon back in for more question as she feels he was more involved in the murder than he initially let on. He obviously didn't commit the murder himself but he knew who did. Before Lindo can finish her questioning The Liberty Snots make their move blowing a gigantic hole into the side of the hospital saying they get their teamate or they will burn everyone in the hospital.

The police fight off The Liberty Snots and and the Mayor shows his true colors when he attacks Pink Bunny to get to the living journalist in his diner (the journalist was under Pink Bunny's protection from request of Sheriff Lindo). After The Liberty Snots and the police come to a peaceful resolution at the hospital Lindo gets a call from a beat up Pink Bunny saying The Mayor is the bad guy.

At this point basically everybody is terrified of The Mayor and don't know how to stop him when Henry Hate shows up and reveals to Maxi-Man (his long time foe and friend) that he knows his secret word. After getting his secret word back we get Maxi-Man fighting The Mayor. While Maxi-Man fights The Mayor, Sheriff Lindo enlists many of the towns retired heroes and villains to aid him. With the whole town backing Maxi-Man up, The Mayor is taken down.

Before all this happens it's revealed that Colonel Cragg is with The Mayor and he plans his own attack on the town. While most of the town was off fighting The Mayor, Minxy and her co pilot who happens to be Lindo's sister, saves the town from an aerial attack from Cragg. Apparently the whole plot from start to finish was over what ended up being a sort of fountain of youth for the town. Different parties had conflicting thoughts on what to do with the fountain and their situation and one thing led to another.

The good news at the end is Leona wasn't directly involved in any of the murders but it turns out she felt so guilty because she was in a position to stop the murder of Mr. Articulate as she has the ability to insanely fast (you can compare her abilities to The Flash from DC Comics). Everything moves so slow for her in real time that she easily spotted what was going on but didn't do anything to stop her friend, Mr. Articulate from dying for personal and selfish reasons.

Overall, I give this arc (on a scale of 1-10, 10 being the highest and 1 being the lowest) a 9.5. The art is fantastic for the story and Gail Simone threw in a lot of fun little nuggets while telling a great original story. I only deducted half a point because I felt like she threw a little too much out there too fast. I think she could have told this story with a couple less characters. This was the kind of story where you could jump in and read without knowing anything as it was a brand new concept, town and group of characters for Wildstorm but she overcomplicated things probably a little bit more than she had to, at least for me.

Personally, I had a strong feeling that The Mayor was involved one way or another very early on and it made sense to me but I felt like there was no reason to have a second traitor like Cragg thrown in the mix. I was also a little underwhelmed with Leona's involvement in all this. With her trying to commit suicide and all this plot buliding up around her character you'd think there would have been a little bit more to what happened beyond just not stopping it for selfish reasons.

Wildstorm in April

Hey guys, today I am going to take the time to discuss what's coming out next month from Wildstorm. Later this weekend I will be doing Part Two of my four part review of Welcome to Tranquility. April is an exciting month with lots of new product coming out and we also get a special bonus week for releases as we have five Wednesdays in the month of April.

Kicking the month off, The Authority #9 comes out on 4/1. Also coming out on 4/1 is the final issue of the Mirror's Edge limited series and a big bonus for 4/1 is the DC/Wildstorm Dreamwar trade paperback which I will definitely be picking up. Dreamwar was a six issue miniseries written by Keith Giffen with art by Lee Garbett and Trevor Scott. I haven't read this story yet as I had been waiting for the trade but I plan on reviewing it in this blog sometime in the future.

Wrapping up the busy week of 4/1 we have Prototype #1 (of 6) and the Resident Evil: Fire and Ice tradepaperback.

Unfortunately, with 4/1 being such a heavy week all we get the week of 4/8 is Gen13 #29 and Resident Evil #2 (of 6). Things pick up again on 4/15 with World of Warcraft #18, The X-Files #6 (of 7), Mysterius Unfathomable #4 (of 6) and the Casey Blue: Beyond Tomorrow trade paperback. Going into 4/22 we have Wildcats #10 and Ex Machina #41.

4/29 is going to be a busy week with Fringe #4 (of 6), Gears of War #6, Resistance #5 (of 6) and Supernatural: Rising Son gets the trade paperback treatment.

All said, April is going to be a busy month as World's End continues and we're starting to see a lot of limited series coming to an end. We're also starting to see more and more books get the trade paperback treatment which excites me. The past few months have been relatively slow for new trades coming out from Wildstorm. Hopefully this is the start of a new trend.

With more and more readers switching to the trade format it's important for Wildstorm to cater to many of these customers by providing excitement and good jumping on points for their titles. It's clear that the imprint has had great success with licensed properties as of late but without help from trade paperback sales I don't think World's End will catch on and grow sales with the mainstream comic community anytime in the near future.

It's my understanding that we will see some trades for Wildcats and The Authority later this summer. Part of why there's been such a long wait is that the World's End issues are only 18 pages instead of 22 because we currently get 4 pages of back up stories. That said, it sounds like if you want to get the back up stories you have to buy the single issues unless Wildstorm decides to somehow collect these stories in the future. I think it would be cool if someday they collected all the back ups in one collection. Not everybody gets the four titles a month and I'm sure a lot of people ignore the back ups as they know they won't be getting the next part of the story because they aren't buying the title it's found in.

WSU Fandom

Hopefully everyone has had a nice relaxing weekend so far. Up here in Minneapolis it's still pretty cold but we haven't had snow in over a week and it's slowly warming up so I'm feeling pretty optimistic. In celebration of the warming weather it's time to celebrate the fandom of Wildstorm comics.

Today I'm going to focus on five things in the Wildstorm fandom. First off is going to be an obvious choice, the official Wildstorm forums.

(Link: http://dcboards.warnerbros.com/web/category.jspa?categoryID=6 )

There's nothing particularly special about this forum but it's a great place to talk for free about your favorite Wildstorm books with other fans. I am picking this board in particular first because it's official and also there's not nearly enough activity on these boards at times. I think one way to help make the folks over at DC pay more attention to it's Wildstorm fans is by getting more fans on their forums showing there's interest in the Wildstorm books. If you're all about the internet forums without wanting to post on sites full of crazies (like Newsarama) make an account and start posting if you haven't done so already!

Next up, I want to tell you about The Comic Forums.

(Link: http://www.thecomicforums.com/forum2/ )

The Comic Forums aren't Wildstorm specific. They are simply comic specific. But it's a great culture on these boards and you can talk about just about anything comic related with hundreds of other comic fans from across the world.

One great aspect with these forums is you can do more than just talk about comics. You can also make threads to buy, sell and trade books and there's many podcasts featured on the forums, including the infamous Comic Geek Speak podcast. Comic Geek Speak has covered some Wildstorm titles in the past, including a Book of the Month Club episode focusing on The Authority v.1 by Warren Ellis. It's a great episode to listen to if you're into podcasts and have considered picking up these issues in the past.

With nearly 5,000 registered accounts you can't go wrong posting on The Comic Forums. Not only can you talk to fellow comic fans on this site but also creators and publishers. You can learn about a lot of indie books especially that you may not necessarily read or hear about elsewhere.

Next up I want to talk about the Eye of the Storm podcast. Eye of the Storm is a podcast that's been put on by a gentleman going by the name of Franky De Jesus. He started the podcast at the beginning of 2008 recording episodes consistently throughout the winter and spring of 2008. He went on hiatus in the summer and fall and recorded his most recent episode in December of 2008.

The podcast isn't perfect but when Franky was active he gave us what we needed with solicitations and in-depth interviews. I think the best way to encourage Franky to put out more episodes more often is to download his episodes (episodes 2 through 7 can be found on iTunes by searching for Eye of the Storm under podcasts). If you have any compliments of criticisms please write a review about his podcast on iTunes. To this day I am the only guy who has written a review for Franky. I'm hoping with enough downloads and comments he will be more encouraged to get active again. Even if he doesn't the episodes are worth listening to for his Armageddon reviews.

Wildstorm definitely needs a larger presence in the world of podcasting. With over 100 active comics related podcasts out there we have very few that ever focus on anything Wildstorm related. I'm now going to shift focus on another podcast that covers Wildstorm at times that's much more active than Eye of the Storm and that podcast is Raging Bullets.

Raging Bullets is a podcast that focused on DC Comics which of course includes the Vertigo and Wildstorm imprints (you can find it by searching Raging Bullets in the podcast section of iTunes). Even though it's not specifically for Wildstorm they cover quite a bit to make Wildstorm fans consider listening to them. With over 160 episodes put out regularly it's a great show to check out if you have the time to listen to them. I mention having the time to listen to them because their shows can be very long (most comics podcasts in my experience are 45-90 minutes on average, Raging Bullets can go 2-3 hours). If you aren't interested in the entire podcast you can always look at shownotes and fast forward to sections that may interest you.

Keep in mind with podcasts, you don't have to have an iPod or pay any money to enjoy them. iTunes is free for everyone to download and you don't have to have an iPod to sync your podcasts to. So if you're ever just sitting at your computer and browsing the internet you can always browse while listening to your favorite podcasts.

I'm saving the best for last and what's last is the Wildstorm Resource Wiki.
(Link: http://wildstormresource.wetpaint.com/?t=anon )

I'm not going to talk about this website much but I just had to link it as it's a wonderful site. Please check it out and participate. Make an account and help promote your favorite books and characters! If you want to know more about the Wildstorm Resource Wiki click the link and check out the goodness! Remember, for a Wiki to work there needs to be people like you and me helping add information to it to make it a wonderful site. A special thanks go to Grifter78 and Wildstorm Resource for modding and providing the site for us fans.

Review: Welcome to Tranquility Part One of Four

Today I'm starting to review Welcome to Tranquility (issues 1 thru 12 and Welcome to Tranquility: Armageddon one-shot). I'm splitting this review into four posts for the sake of not making one giant post that nobody will read that's a bazillion paragraphs long. Sometime next week I plan to put up Part Two and the following week Part Three with the Part Four finale one week later.

The first twelve issues make up the Welcome to Tranquility limited series which was written by Gail Simone (currently writer of Secret Six and Wonder Woman and previously writer of Birds of Prey and Gen13). Neil Googe was the main artist for the twelve issue mini series issues. Carrie Strachan and Travis Lanham provided colors and letters, respectively. Welcome to Tranquility: Armageddon was writen by Christos Gage with art by Neil Googe and Horacio Domingues. Carrie Strachan and Travis Lanham provided colors and letters once again. Welcome to Tranquility was created by Gail Simone.

If you don't already have the issues you can pick up the Book One trade paperback that has issues 1-6 collected with a Worldstorm Preview Story. The trade is priced at $19.99 USD. Book Two is another trade that has issues 7-12 collected and is also priced at $19.99 USD. Welcome to Tranquility: Armageddon can be found in the Wildstorm: Armageddon trade paperback which collects all the Armageddon one-shots written by Christos Gage priced at $17.99 USD. If you want go to cheaper or if you prefer single issues I imagine most of these issues can be found in a dollar box at some local comic shops.

Without going into every single detail (that would make this blog how long!?) I'll give you the necessary information to get through the storyline and hopefully get you to where you feel like you got the information you would like from me or maybe even get you to go out and buy it at the store if you don't have it already. Best way to support a book publisher is to buy the books, right? That said, I also understand we're all going through tough times right now economically and we can't just walk into a store and buy whatever we want whenever we want. If you don't have the desire or the budget to buy this title that's perfectly fine. Part of why I am writing this blog is to help bridge the gap for the people that don't have the time or the money to be buying and reading all these books. With the internet it's gotten much easier to follow a comic publisher without buying all the comics. Between forums, podcasts and blogs it's now easier than ever to keep up with everything.

Let's start with the introduction written on the back of the trade which reads:

"Tranquility is like any other small town in America, except for one fundamental difference-it's the town where super-powered beings go in order to retire and raise families. From the Golden Age to the Modern Age, heroes and villains alike reside in Tranquility, and it creates a unique blend of personalities and conflicts that causes the local law enforcement nothing but headaches. As a camera crew is in town to film a news segment on this unique place, the town is turned upside down by a murder...and it becomes evident that all isn't as quaint as it seems!"

In Part Two I'll cover issues 1-6, in Part Three I'll cover issues 7-12 and in Part Four I'll finish up with Welcome to Tranquility: Armageddon and a wrap-up.

I hope you enjoy the upcoming reviews and if you have an idea for a future review feel free to leave a comment! After Tranquility I was thinking about going back to the beginning of Wildstorm and doing the WildC.A.T.S Trilogy or the WildC.A.T.S/Cyberforce crossover.

In my next post I plan to focus on the small but dedicated Wildstorm fandom. I will share some information about podcasts, internet forums and share some various links to help you stay current with all things Wildstorm. There's lots out there to check out! If you have any information or links you would like to share leave a comment and I will try and work them into my post.

Character Spotlight: Nemesis

Expanding on my spotlight plans I am now introducing my character spotlight series. I plan on running character spotlights along with creator spotlights and eventually team and book spotlights. The idea is to share information on creators, stories and characters that you may not be exposed to otherwise. There's plenty of people who only read one title or another and they might find it helpful to get information on other happenings in the Wildstorm universe. I'll do my best in my spotlight installments to avoid major spoilers unless otherwise noted.

Rather than do something logical like start with a big character like Midnighter, Grifter, Zealot or Majestic I thought I would start with a character that hasn't been as exposed, at least not until more recently. Sorry to anybody looking for a blast from the past this entry. You'll have to wait until next time as I've picked Nemesis.

If you want to play along at home, listed below is a list of spotlight entries I plan on making in the coming weeks. Keep in mind, this list is subject to change based on my reading schedule. As I write about these books and characters I'm for the most part not writing cold. I'm writing entries shortly after reading and re-reading a lot of material found in single issues, trade paperbacks, etc.

Coming soon for Creator Spotlight:

Gail Simone (writer of Welcome to Tranquility, Gen13)

Warren Ellis (writer of Stormwatch, The Authority)

Jim Lee (founder, editor and artist of Wildstorm)

Coming soon for Character Spotlight:

Jenny Sparks (The Authority)

Dane (Wetworks)

Grifter (Wildcats)

If you want to see a particular character, team or creator under the spotlight in the near future write a comment nominating your pick. I'll try and work in the requests with my named picks.

From Khera and trained as a Coda warrior, Charis Adrastea (a.k.a. Nemesis) is currently featured as a member of the Wildcats and had her own 9 issue limited series run titled Wildcats: Nemesis. She was also a featured character in Wildstorm: Armageddon and Wildstorm: Revelations.

Part of what makes Nemesis so different from most other people is that due to genetics she is capable of living for thousands of years and packs a lot of strength for such a small woman. Aside from her ability to live so long, she is very much in tune with the emotions of those around her (empathy).

Wearing specialized body armor, Nemesis is highly skilled in various forms of combat. She is deadly with both guns and her two prized and indestructible swords made from the Creation Engine. Her swords can cut through pretty much anything.

When the Kherubim/Daemonite war spread to Earth, Charis was among the Coda warriors stuck on our planet. Nemesis was asked to infiltrate the Daemonites by posing as a traitor but she was compromised when the Daemonites asked her to kill a recently captured Zealot. As a higher ranking member of the Coda, Zealot ordered Nemesis to kill her but Charis couldn't go through with it so she blew her cover and fought the Daemonites instead. After this, Charis wasn't just an enemy to the Daemonites as this conflict developed problems with the Coda as well.

Around the same time, Charis hooked up with a member of the Brotherhood of the Blade (a rival faction of male warriors) named Raven. Raven later betrayed his lover by killing 200 Coda on the Isle of Lesbos. Not only did he kill all the Coda he also set Charis up in the process so she would take the blame.

Over the years Nemesis has avoided many assassination attempts and has worked hard to clear her name. Charis' nickname was given to her by the Coda after her perceived betrayal.

If you've enjoyed this character in the Wildcats books or gotten interested in her from recent events I highly recommend picking up the trade or single issues for Wildcats: Nemesis. It's a strong read. My next character spotlight will most likely be about Jenny Sparks.

Recommended Reading for Those Left Behind

For the past couple weeks I've been talking on a few different internet forums and in private messages about Wildstorm books and why some titles are selling and other's arent. I've even put up a poll on The Comic Forums about World's End and whether or not people are following it and also if they like or dislike it ( http://www.thecomicforums.com/forum2//index.php?showtopic=149897) I think the general consensus is Wildstorm has suffered for a few reasons the past several years. Among them being:

1. The books come out late!
2. Fear of the reboot
3. Worldstorm

Out of the few dozen comic readers I've spoken to most complain about what Worldstorm did.

All that said, I don't disagree with any of that, but it's in the past. To each concern raised I have a reply.

1. The books don't come out late anymore. Since World's End started all titles have been coming out on time in single issue format.
2. If you fear the reboot then I have a thread you should see on the official Wildstorm forums: http://dcboards.warnerbros.com/web/thread.jspa?threadID=2000181524&tstart=0
3. Worldstorm? It's done. It's like House of M, World War Hulk or Countdown to Infinite Crisis. In the past. Time to move on. That's the great thing about comic books right? You can enjoy what you enjoy and ignore what you don't. You vote with your wallet.

Now, if you have been following the panel news, what folks are talking about across the internet on sites like Newsarama or maybe you were a fan in the 90's and something took you away from it all, Armageddon and World's End are a great place to start at if you are considering investing in these titles again. Writers made it easy enough to read the new stuff without being very familiar with the older books. For example, if you read Wildcats: World's End you don't necessarily have go go back and read the previous 100+ Wildcats books that came out before World's End. I went back and started reading the old stuff again but it wasn't because I had to. I did it because I enjoy the new stuff so much it encouraged me to go back and start from the beginning.

The easiest way to jump back into Wildstorm proper without digging through dollar bins or watching eBay like a hawk is to go to your Local Comic Shop or visit a website like amazon.com or instocktrades.com and order these three trade paperbacks:

Wildstorm: Armageddon
Wildstorm: Revelations
Number of the Beast

If you open up your wallet and buy those three trades you will have everything you need to take you up to World's End. If you don't like it then maybe Wildstorm proper isn't for you right now but at least you tried. No harm done, right? You can always eBay your trades or pass them on to a buddy when you're done with them if you aren't a collector.

Now if you do enjoy those trades and are considering picking up some stuff monthly or bi-monthly here's some nuggets of information that you may find useful. The two top selling World's End titles so far have been Wildcats and The Authority. Most readers will tell you that they are both solid reads. Many fans will tell you that Christos Gage had a bit of a slow start on his Wildcats run but that he's come into his own the past few issues. That I'll agree with for the most part. Wildcats is regularly at the top of my stack each month and The Authority isn't far behind.

Stormwatch PHD has been, unfortunately, the worst selling Wildstorm proper book since the start of World's End. It's surprising because most Stormwatch fans seem to love this title. For whatever reason it's not getting much attention and sales continue to suffer. If you're an old Wildstorm fan that enjoyed reading Stormwatch I highly recommend jumping on this title as the issues come out. This title could really use the help!

Gen13 seems to be the most talked about book for both good and bad reasons. Gen13 is selling a little bit better than Stormwatch but not by a whole lot. It seems to be one of those books right now that everybody either really enjoys or dislikes.

If you read the three trades I recommended and enjoyed them getting invested in Wildstorm proper again is as simple as starting up with the respective issues that come out after Armageddon and World's End or the run that started shortly before.

Both Gen13 and Stormwatch's current series started not too long before Armaggedon and World's End. Gen13 is especially easy to get into with trades out due to the popularity of Gail Simone's run on the series.

The Authority and Wildcats both started new runs and numbering after the events of Armageddon, Revelations and Number of the Beast.

Gen13 and Stormwatch PHD Changes as well as What's New in March

March is going to be a busy month with a trade paperback coming out for Secret History of The Authority: Hawksmoor on 3/25 as well as the continuation of World's End with The Authority #8 (3/4), Gen13 #28 (3/11), Stormwatch PHD #20 (3/18) and Wildcats #9 (3/25). Unfortunately, March is the last month we have Gen13 and Stormwatch PHD monthly as both titles are switching to bi monthly in April. I have no idea if this is creators running behind, running out of story, sales dropping or just waiting for The Authority and Wildcats to catch up with events. Let's just hope this won't be permanent.

With only 4 titles covering World's End I think it's a blessing and a curse at the same time. On one hand you only need to pick up 4 books a month (soon to be only 3) to be able to follow what's going on but on the other hand there's no Wetworks or any other stories going on such as Majestic to follow a single character. All we have right now is teams. With a storyline about the end of the world you'd think this would be the ideal time to have a team running around like Wetworks. None of this appears to be changing anytime soon either as the only new title coming out that will fit into all of this is the new Tranquility series but it won't even take place during World's End.

Also, with where events are right now it makes sense for most characters to stick with a team as what's left of the universe is extremely dangerous and tough to navigate but we have Majestic sitting over in Hawaii right now building his utopian society and until Wildcats catches up with him in the coming months we don't really know what's going on.

Going back to solications, in March we are also getting World of Warcraft #18, The X-Files #5 (of 7), Resident Evil #1 (of 6), Fringe #3 (of 6), Gears of War #5, Resistance #4 (of 6), Mirror's Edge #5 (of 6) and Ex Machina Special #4 among other titles. It appears we have a lot of mini series being wrapped up in the next couple months. It will be interesting to see if Wildstorm continues the mini series and starts some new licensed property projects or if they will focus on more Wildstorm proper and creator driven books. I guess we'll know soon enough. With the exception of Killapalooza, Prototype and Starcraft I haven't seen or heard of anything else starting up before the summer.

For the most part one would have to imagine the management over at DC prefers Wildstorm focusing on licensed properties as they probably sell the best on a regular basis. Not that I think this way but I imagine many people would much rather read about World of Warcraft than Gen13. Personally I'm hoping for more of a balance before we get to 2010. Titles have been coming out on time and the company seems more focused than they had been in years so I hope it's building editorial and creator confidence to refocus on Wildstorm proper and help expand on things that we were getting before the DC acquisition.

There's countless characters in limbo out there just waiting to be brought back into the fold. I'm not saying they all need to be featured in their own book but you can't really feature many characters when you've only got 4 titles to work with. With Tranquility starting back up, I propose having a 6th title starting up or coming back, be it The Paladins getting their own story, another Majestic solo series or the return of Wetworks. After Gail Simone wraps up Tranquility another one of my proposed titles could fill the gap keeping 6 titles going.

I really think doing something along those lines would help satisfy the fans who want more without cannibalizing their own sales. Put out 6 quality books a month and most of your fans would be willing to pick up at least 4 or 5 of them. If folks are willing to buy 40 or 50 monthly titles from the Big Two I think Wildstorm can squeeze in a couple more titles on everyones pre order list as long as their books continue to be on time and quality reads. If nothing else, an extra title or two would really help diversify what they're trying to do with World's End.

Apologies for my bit of a rant. I hope nobody thinks I was being negative I just want more diversity to help keep the excitement going. I just see so much potential with where everything is going right now and I love seeing everything coming out on time and the best part is, the bulk of the books are still only $2.99. Personally, if a couple more books came out I would gladly open up my wallet and pick them up.

Creator Spotlight: Neil Googe and Sleeper!

Today I'm launching my Creator Spotlight segment where I attempt to share some information to help promote the works of Wildstorm creators. In the future I will expand my spotlight entries by adding spotlights for specific titles and characters found within the Wildstorm universe.

I'm starting with British artist Neil Googe who's most recent work can be found in Wildcats. My personal opinion is I think the guy is an amazingly talented artist who is often overlooked but can pencil as good as anybody in the business. Previous work for Googe includes Majestic and Welcome to Tranquility. Outside of the Wildstorm imprint, Googe has also worked on 2000 AD and Shotgun Mary.

More specifically, Googe did pencils for Majestic on issues: 1-4, 6-8, 12, 13 and 15 in Majestic's 2005-2006 run before doing pencils for Worldstorm with writer Gail Simone. From 2007-2008 Neil worked again with Gail Simone on Welcome to Tranquility. After the events of Armageddon, Revelations and Number of the Beast Neil has been steady on Wildcats with writer Christos Gage starting in 2008.

Neil is a longtime Image and Wildcats fan and has been a fan of Jim Lee ever since Image launched. Wildcats: World's End is the biggest project in terms of scope that Googe has worked on yet and based off of what we've seen so far, I hope to see him working on more big books in the future.

Unfortunately it would seem like Googe won't be returning to the new Tranquility series once it starts based on information given out at New York Comic Con this year. Let's hope his absence on Tranquility means he is staying busy with future issues of Wildcats.

In other news that I couldn't wait to talk about I wanted to comment on solications for some trades coming up. Wildstorm already dropped a bomb this winter when soliciting a new tradepaperback for Ed Brubaker's Point Blank coming out in May which definitely got my attention. What's really got my blood pumping though is in June we are getting Sleeper: Season One in a new trade. I love Brubaker. I love noir. I love trade paperbacks. Many argue Sleeper is as good as Brubaker's work on Gotham Central if not better but I can't confirm or deny that as I haven't read all of his work on Gotham Central (yet). I'll be sure to voice my opinion once I've finished the series, though.

Just when I was almost ready to complain about a lack of collected editions coming out over the past few months Jim Lee and Co. drop these solications which are more than enough to shut me up. Next solication I want to see is Wildcats #2 written by Grant Morrison with pencils by Jim Lee !

/whistles innocently as I walk away from the keyboard...

Wildstorm in February

Wildstorm started February off at the New York Comic Con promoting World's End and what's in store for 2009 talking about their 4 core titles and what's coming up with licensed properties.

Hot topics at NYCC included the future of Wildcats v.4 (nicknamed All Star Wildcats by some) written by Grant Morrison and pencils by Jim Lee. Jim Lee stressed that both himself and Morrison plan to produce future installments but have been unable to do so in the past since they have been overcommited on other projects.

One thing that really caught me eye about the panel at NYCC was what's going on in Gen13 with how the team was caught in a timeloop during Armageddon causing the team to miss all the big action. The team is currently trying to make their way to the town of Tranquility. Based on information leaked and solicitations for the next few months, Gen13 and Wildcats have me the most excited with what's to come.

Speaking of Tranquility, later this year writer Gail Simone should have solicits coming out for a new Tranquility limited series titled Tranquility: One Foot in the Grave which is to take place between her first limited series and Tranquility: Armageddon.

Overall not a whole lot of new information was passed out at the con but I imagine that most Wildstorm fans are probably happy about that as books have been coming out on time the past year and personally I am enjoying World's End quite a bit (I think most fans probably agree with me). When World's End started I initially only got Wildcats and waited a couple months before I jumped on board with where the universe is going in the future. I've been enjoying it so much I now get Wildcats, The Authority and Gen13 as new issues come out.

In other news, Ex Machina is concluding later this year with issue #50, a new Resident Evil series is starting up and Wildstorm will be expanding World of Warcraft with a new series. Also in the works is a Starcraft series to help launch the new computer game Starcraft 2.

World's End continues in February with The Authority #7 (came out 2/4), Gen13 #27 (came out 2/11), Stormwatch PHD #19 (2/18) and Wildcats #8 (2/25). Each book is 32 pages, color and has a back-up story told by writer Christos Gage (writer of Wildcats and also GI Joe: Cobra from IDW).

Welcome to World's End and Beyond!

This blog is dedicated to the Wildstorm universe. Wildstorm is a comic book publisher located in La Jolla (San Diego) California. Wildstorm was founded by Jim Lee as part of Image Comics after many creators left Marvel to form their own company where they would own their own properties.

I will go into more detail with regard to how Wildstorm was formed and it's early years in time.
Some of Wildstorm's ongoing books (both past and present) include: Wildcats, The Authority, Wetworks, Gen13 and Stormwatch. Wildstorm also produces books for many licensed properties such as Resident Evil, Fringe and World of Warcraft.

I will not be covering the licensed property books very much as this blog will focus primarily on the core Wildstorm titles both past and present going through World's End (Wildstorm's current event following the limited series Number of the Beast).

The main purpose for this blog is to help promote awareness of what's going on in Wildstorm titles and to help provide valuable information from the past to the fans of today. There aren't very many dedicated blogs or podcasts to the Wildstorm universe and most of them seem to be outdated or unable to keep current with their information.

I'll do my best to sift through what was Image in the 1990's and work up to what Wildstorm does today as an imprint of DC Comics. Mostly I'll be covering the books but I'll also briefly cover publisher and creator news as I go.

Until next time, you can find me on The Comic Forums (www.thecomicforums.com). It's a great community and if you aren't already on the boards you should be as you will find a great fandom talking about just about anything comics related 24/7. I post as Nightcraws, don't be shy and send me a private message!