| Stormwatch | |
|---|---|
Cover of Force of Nature graphic novel. |
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| Publication information | |
| Publisher | Wildstorm |
| First appearance | Stormwatch #1 (March, 1993) |
| Created by | Jim Lee Brandon Choi H. K. Proger Ron Marz |
| In-story information | |
| Base(s) | SkyWatch |
| Member(s) | Stormwatch Prime Battalion Synergy Winter Fuji Hellstrike Flint Cannon Strafe Diva Post-Human Division John Doran Fahrenheit Paris Gorgeous Black Betty The Monstrosity The Machinist Former Members Backlash Nautika Flashpoint Jenny Sparks Jack Hawksmoor Swift Rose Tattoo Weatherman (Henry Bendix) Weatherman (William Bendix) |
Stormwatch is a fictional United Nations-sponsored superhero team that originated in the Wildstorm Universe (which itself originated within the Image Universe) and has since been revived as part of the DC Universe. The original version of Stormwatch first appeared in Stormwatch (vol. 1) #1, created by Jim Lee.
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Stormwatch began in the comic book Stormwatch, published by Image Comics but owned by Jim Lee. Among the main early writers of Stormwatch vol. 1 were Jim Lee, Brandon Choi, H. K. Proger and Ron Marz; among the main early artists were Scott Clark, Brett Booth, Matt Broome and Renato Arlem. The Stormwatch team was run by the United Nations, and overseen from a satellite by their director, "the Weatherman". The Weatherman was Henry Bendix, who had cybernetic implants connected to his brain to better monitor various world situations and his Stormwatch teams in action. His field commander was Jackson King, aka Battalion. The other founding members included Hellstrike (an Irish police officer, an energy being), Winter (an ex-Russian Spetznaz officer, an energy absorber), Fuji (a young Japanese man, another energy being trapped in a large, super-strong containment suit), and Diva (a young Italian woman with sonic powers).
Later, Ron Marz, who had worked previously on Marvel Comics' Silver Surfer title and had developed Hal Jordan's Green Lantern replacement Kyle Rayner at DC Comics, took on the writing chores. Concurrently, James Robinson of DC's Starman fame was writing WildC.A.T.s. Robinson and Marz, under the editorial direction of Jim Lee, intertwined the storylines of the two books over the course of several months.
Also around this time, two two-issue miniseries were released, Stormwatch Team One (written by James Robinson) and WildC.A.T.s Team One (written by Steven Seagle). These two mini-series were also intertwined, and revealed that the groundwork for both teams had been laid by a core group in the mid 1960s, consisting of Saul Baxter (Lord Emp), Zealot, Majestic, John Colt (the template for Spartan), Backlash, a young Henry Bendix and Jackson King's father Isaiah, all of whom would be members of, or would figure prominently in the later Stormwatch and WildC.A.T.s teams. In this series, the term WildStorm, the publishing imprint's codename, was defined as a code term used by the United States Government, "Wild" referring to extraterrestrial life forms and "Storm" referring to invading forces.
Robinson's WildC.A.T.s run and Marz's Stormwatch run culminated in the Wildstorm Rising crossover event, during which, the memberships of both teams were disrupted, with Stormwatch having sustained casualties and the WildC.A.T.s mistakenly believed dead. After WildStorm Rising, Alan Moore took over writing on WildC.A.T.s. Later, after a second imprint-wide crossover, Warren Ellis took over writing Stormwatch with #37 (July 1996).
Warren Ellis' version of Stormwatch was heavily influenced by DC's Vertigo line and its notable authors, such as Grant Morrison and Garth Ennis. Ellis injected more sexual and horror elements, thinly disguised political commentary, and criticisms of the United States government into the stories. The art was toned down from the more exaggerated 1990s style which had dominated all of the early Image Comics, allowing readers to take the book more seriously. It was during this period that Ellis used Stormwatch to introduce the concept of the Bleed, a space between parallel universes which features heavily in Planetary and other comics set in the Wildstorm Universe.
By the end of volume one, Ellis had revised Henry Bendix as a manipulative villain, much as Grant Morrison did with the character of "The Chief" in his run on DC's Doom Patrol.
Ellis continued to write the book as it transitioned into Stormwatch volume 2, until the WildC.A.T.s/Aliens crossover of August 1998 — also written by Ellis — saw the Stormwatch team all but massacred by xenomorphs, the creatures from the Alien series of films. Conveniently, most of the Stormwatch characters Ellis had not created were killed off in this story. A group of the survivors became the main cast of Ellis' new series The Authority, including Ellis-created characters Jenny Sparks, Jack Hawksmoor, Apollo, and the Midnighter, as well as Swift (who debuted in Stormwatch v1 #28, written by Jeff Mariotte), and two new characters who were the successors of the Engineer and the Doctor from Ellis' Change or Die storyline. Stormwatch volume 2 ended with one final story taking place after WildC.A.T.s/Aliens, in which the United Nations laid to rest the institution of Stormwatch alongside its fallen members. The very last scene, a conversation between the former members of Stormwatch Black, served to introduce the concept of the Authority and promote its upcoming first issue. Other survivors from the original team (including Battalion, Christine Trelane, and Flint) appeared in The Authority, and King and Trelane later became central characters in The Monarchy.
In the 11th issue of Planetary, another Warren Ellis series in the same fictional universe, a secret agent named John Stone (modelled after James Bond films and Jim Steranko's Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. comics) is shown working for a 1960s precursor to Stormwatch: S.T.O.R.M., with a command center known as S.T.O.R.M. Watch.
In September 2002 the Stormwatch series was revived. Stormwatch: Team Achilles, penned by Micah Ian Wright, followed a mostly non-superpowered UN troubleshooting team dealing with superhero-related problems.
A major theme of the series was the non-superpowered team leader's distrust of superpowered beings, and the necessity of Team Achilles. It took a detailed and pragmatic approach to superpowers, showing how it was possible to use intelligence and tactics to overcome physically superior foes such as Team Achilles often faced. The Authority were more than once brought low during the series' run. The series later became a satire of politics and comic books, with segments where the team replaces a Strom Thurmond/Jesse Helms-like Senator with a shape-shifter, and a storyline where a Captain America-analog (revealed to be the reincarnation of George Washington) tries to overthrow the American government.
Wright was fired after it was revealed that he had lied about being a US Army Ranger, with the result that Team Achilles was abruptly cancelled with issue #23 (August 2004), in the middle of a storyline. The planned final issue, #24, was never published, though the finished script is available online.[1]
Stormwatch was one of several comic books to have been restarted following Wildstorm Comics' WorldStorm event. In November 2006,[2] Stormwatch: Post Human Division was written by Christos Gage with Doug Mahnke handling the pencils. The series was ended after issue #12,[3] but restarted in August 2008 as a part of the World’s End event with issue #13.[4]
Several dead characters were resurrected for the series. In this new series, Stormwatch was sponsored solely by the United States, but a branch office had been set up in New York. Entitled Stormwatch: P.H.D. (Post-Human Division),[5] they were underfunded and overworked, and their mission was to find "cost-effective" methods of saving the day. The series follows the branch office as their leader, former Weatherman Jackson King, tries to defeat superhuman menaces and balance the tight budget. The team consists of King, NYPD officer John Doran, a depowered Fahrenheit, a former Stormforce soldier codenamed Paris, a master manipulator and former moll to supervillains called Gorgeous, a sorcerer's apprentice named Black Betty, a shape-shifting ex-supervillain and forensics expert named Dr. Mordecai Shaw, a.k.a the Monstrosity, and an ex-supervillain and technology expert called the Machinist.
| Stormwatch | |
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Cover to Stormwatch (vol. 3) #1 (Sept. 2011), featuring, the Martian Manhuner, Apollo, and Midnighter. |
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| Format | Ongoing series |
| Publication date | September 2011 – Present |
| Creative team | |
| Writer(s) | Paul Cornell |
| Artist(s) | Miguel Sepulveda |
| Stormwatch | |
| In-story information | |
| Member(s) | Jack Hawksmoor Martian Manhunter Apollo Midnighter Engineer Jenny Quantum Adam One (leader) The Projectionist The Enimence of Blades |
DC Comics announced in June 2011 that the team would be incorporated into the DC Universe in a new ongoing series written by Paul Cornell and drawn by Miguel Sepulveda as part of its September 2011 relaunch of its comics properties.[6] This version of the team will consist of Jack Hawksmoor, Apollo, Midnighter, Jenny Quantum, the Engineer, the Martian Manhunter, and three new characters named Adam One, the Projectionist, and the Eminence of Blades.[7]
The new Stormwatch is an organization that has protected Earth from major alien threats for centuries, dating back to the Dark Ages (with a visual nod to Cornell's Demon Knights). Rejecting the title of "superheroes", Stormwatch answers to a secretive Shadow Cabinet and exist completely in secret. No one knows they exist, despite the fact that they have fought the greatest threats that Earth has ever faced since the Middle Ages. The Martian Manhunter works with Stormwatch outside of his Justice League duties. While the team work for a group called the Shadow Cabinet, they don't seem to be linked to the United Nations in this continuity.[8]
Warren Ellis's run on Stormwatch has been collected into five trade paperbacks:
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