| Stormwatch: Team Achilles | |
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Issue #1 (Art by Whilce Portacio) |
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| Publication information | |
| Publisher | Wildstorm/DC Comics |
| Schedule | Monthly |
| Format | Ongoing series |
| Genre | Superhero |
| Publication date | September 2002 - August 2005 |
| Number of issues | 23 |
| Main character(s) | Stormwatch: Team Achilles |
| Creative team | |
| Writer(s) | Micah Ian Wright |
| Penciller(s) | Whilce Portacio C. P. Smith Clement Sauve Carlos D'Anda Mark Texeira Tomm Coker |
| Inker(s) | Scott Williams |
| Letterer(s) | Comciraft Rob Leigh |
| Colorist(s) | Whilce Portacio |
| Creator(s) | Micah Ian Wright Whilce Portacio |
| Editor(s) | John Layman |
| Collected editions | |
| Volume 1 | ISBN 1-4012-0103-2 |
| Volume 2 | ISBN 1-4012-0123-7 |
Stormwatch: Team Achilles is an American super-hero series, the third incarnation/revision of the Image comics Stormwatch.
This version was penned by Micah Ian Wright and drawn variously by Whilce Portacio, C. P. Smith, Mark Texeira, Tomm Coker, Carlos D'Anda, and Clement Sauve. The longest run for a penciler on the book was by C. P. Smith, who drew issues 11-19. The title featured covers by Portacio, Jason Pearson and Michael Golden.
Contents |
Stormwatch: Team Achilles differed from the previous super-hero-centric Stormwatch groups in that it centered on a team consisting mostly of 'normal' human beings from various global Special Forces/Counter-Terrorist organizations acting as a small UN troubleshooting team. The stated mission of Team Achilles was to kill or capture criminal superhumans.
The title was a super hero action series layered with satire of both politics and comic books. Real-world politics often entered the book with a storyline where the team replaced a Strom Thurmond/Jesse Helms-like Senator with a shape-shifting African superhuman and another where George Washington, reincarnated as a patriotic hero resembling Captain America, tried to overthrow the American government. The book threw potshots at President George W. Bush, mocked the ineptitude of the United Nations, and made light of modern pathos-driven corporate superheroes with mockeries of a Doctor Doom-like armored dictator character, the Justice League, the X-Men, Superman, and even Wildstorm's own premiere superhero team, The Authority.
Some fans called Team Achilles "G.I. Joe for Grownups" and noted comics writer Kurt Busiek wrote "it's like Sgt. Rock, but with Superheroes." Although the enemies in the comic book have been the typical fantastic archetypes seen in comics, the weapons used by the Stormwatch team were mostly real-world weapons systems (such as the Barrett M82A1). Realistic weapons as well as tactics are used by the non-powered Team Achilles members to take down the physically superior enemies seen in the comic.
The book debuted to controversy from the first issue, which, due to changes in DC's printing schedule, came out not in October 2002, but instead on September 13, 2002, roughly the one-year anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. To compound the problem, the first issue featured a terrorist superhuman attack on the United Nations, which many readers thought was intended to comment on the 9/11 attacks themselves, and thus in poor taste.
Because Team Achilles (like all previous Stormwatch groups) was a United Nations entity, the book often dealt with realistic political details such as the U.S.'s refusal to pay its U.N. dues, political interference with the goals of the U.N. by conservative American politicians, and the U.N.'s own ineptitude and corruption. In the charged political air, the book accurately reflected the disdain that President Bush and his administration displayed toward the United Nations.
Detractors of the comic disliked the political tone of the book. Released during a time when the American public was 88% in favor of the Afghanistan War,[1] George W. Bush enjoyed a 65% approval rating,[2] and 72%[3] of the public supported the invasion of Iraq, the book took shots at conservative politics in general, "weapons of mass destruction", the Department of Homeland Security, America's paranoia about terrorism and the accompanying culture of fear, and, some felt, President Bush himself. Although the President in the Wildstorm universe was not specifically named after any known politician, some readers stated online that they felt that the mumbling, incomprehensible, racist Southern murderer depicted in the book was a clear mockery of Bush.
Additionally, many superhero fans disliked and disbelieved the concept that 'normal' human beings could ever hope to defeat superheroes. This was notable, given that the main concern of DC Comics (WildStorm's parent company) was to revive and promote 'traditional' pure superhero comics over the darker characters pioneered by Image.
StormWatch: Team Achilles was canceled in mid-story. Wright was fired in the aftermath of the exposure that he had lied about his military service in print and repeatedly online. Issue #23 ended up being the last issue published. Wright's revised script for Stormwatch #24 is online.[4]
Team Achillies returned to the Wildstorm Universe during the World's End event in a two-part backup story written by Christos Gage with art by Ivan Reis. The story ran in Wildcats (vol. 5) issue #10 & The Authority (vol. 4) issue #9 and shows the team finally escaping from the Project Entry universe. The walk to Siberia having proven fruitless, Team Achilles has spent the last few years searching for a functional Stormwatch teleporter that can return them home. Finding one and powering it up with the help of Baron Chaos, the team arrives just in time to witness the onset of armageddon. Flint (having become estranged from Santini during the team's exile) leaves to join up with her former teammates in Stormwatch Prime and Santini vows to continue what they're good at: killing superhumans.
Benito Santini - American of Italian Descent, Catholic. Was previously a field leader of International Operations' Black Razors. When John Lynch defected from I.O., he became the Director of Operations, only to lose his post when Ivana Baiul became the Executive Director. After various events in the Wildstorm universe, Santini was later assigned to be the new "Weatherman" to the Stormwatch team, although it's later revealed he has his own agenda to the matter. Despite this, he holds his team members in high regard. Married to Flint.
Blake Coleman - Santini's second-in-command of Stormwatch, field leader and best friend since their Black Razor days, Coleman is the chief on-the-ground commander for the team's early missions, until his untimely death.
Luis Cisco - A close friend of Satini and Coleman who served with them during their Black Razor days. He was scheduled for a leave of absence due to his impending marriage, but ended up joining the team for one last mission on his wedding day. During the course of the mission, the same one that saw the death of Coleman, he received injuries that resulted in his leaving the team.
Victoria "Flint" Ngengi - Formerly of the original Stormwatch team and of the same generation as the Authority's Swift, Flint is only the second superpowered individual on the assault team. Possessing superhuman strength and a high level of resistance nearing that of physical invulnerability, Flint is the team's door kicker. She later falls in love with and marries Santini.
Jukko Hämäläinen - Finnish, former member of the Osasto Karhu (Finnish Anti Terror Squad). One of the last survivors of a superhuman holocaust in that country, and initially the only superhuman-powered member on the assault team. Jukko's powers are more of a curse than a blessing: he feels the pain of any individual within a certain radius. This is one of the reasons this team operative is incredibly caring towards injured hostages, while highly lethal against enemy targets. He also seems to have a profound dislike of the Authority's Midnighter.
Jaeger Weiss - A member of the German GSG 9, Weiss is an incredible handsome, suave, and more often than not sarcastic, but highly reliable team member. He is easily recognizable by the face mask he wears to protect his face when on missions. Being a member of GSG 9, Weiss is often depressed when hostages are injured during operations. Because his entire family was killed by superhumans he harbors a distrust of the superpowered individuals on the team. Nevertheless, he is still good friends with Jukko — the pair often engaging in witty banter on and off mission.
Galena Golovin - Russian sniper, one of the more aggressive team members, is a perfectionist of few, often harsh words. Shares an 'interesting' relationship with her spotter, Pickney.
Charles Cottsworth Pickney - Formerly of the British SAS, his military career stopped dead after he shot his CO in the head in front of the Queen. It didn't seem to matter that his CO was possessed and attempting to assassinate the Queen, his upward mobility ceased and he ended up assigned to Team Achilles. Pickney is almost stereotypically British in demeanor. As spotter to Golovin, he and Golovin share an odd, often argumentative relationship with Golovin either commenting on Pickney's degrading vision or less-than satisfactory manhood.
Ajeet Singh - A Sikh Indian, Ajeet Singh was one of the last "official" Stormwatch members to join the group. He was called into service following Citizen Soldier's attempt to over throw the US government, and first saw action during the groups raid on Baron Chaos' castle. He was given the option of leaving the group following The Authority's take over of the United States, the idea being that he was so new The Authority would be unaware of his existence. He refused and remained with the group until the series cancellation.
Frederick "Alias" Ngebe Braumholstein - Frederick is a post-human with shape-changing abilities, and is one of the few metahuman members of Team Achilles. He was brought in following Santini's removal of Senator Sonny Terns, using his shapechanging powers to impersonate the Senator. In a rather ironic twist the Senator was a white conservative racist while Frederick is a liberal mixed-race South African. During his time impersonating the Senator he helped get through various liberal bills and financial aid for various African American organizations. During Citizen Soldier's attempted over throw of the US government his true identity was revealed, forcing him to abandon his mission and join the Team Achilles field team for the first time. He was given the option of leaving the group follow The Authority's take over of the United States, it was thought that due to the covert nature of mission and the fact that he had never worked with the field team, that The Authority would be unaware of his existence. He refused and remained a member until the series cancellation.
Khalid Tefibi - Stormwatch's resident tech geek, and the individual most often made the butt of jokes by the more masculine, hard-charging members of the team. Nonetheless, Tefibi's technological skills and wit prove vital to the teams' success and later their ultimate survival. Further, Colonel Santini reveals in Stormwatch: Team Achilles #16 that he is grooming Tefibi to be his replacement. In Santini's words: "That's why I'm prepping you now, Tefibi...I need someone capable of taking over if I get greased." Tefibi then expresses utter despair at the prospect of such responsibility. Santini recruited Khalid Tefibi from a federal prison where he was spending time for hacking into the Pentagon.
Avi Barak - A member of the Israeli Defense Force, Barak is an "inductive telepath" first introduced in issue 4: his powers are such that, if he asks you a question, and you do not answer truthfully, he instantly absorbs the information from your mind. Through Santini's efforts, his power level is raised to a much higher rating, although it has left the psi a little less than balanced.
Dr. Marie Grunier - Recruited from the French Gendarmerie, Grunier serves a dual role as the teams medical doctor and, when needed, as the teams hostage negotiator. She was romantically linked to Hämäläinen.
Buzz Dixon - Originally a StormWatch reservist, the creature known as Buzz Dixon was later recruited by Colonel Benito Santini as his chief scout and gatherer of difficult-to-get information on the Achilles team. Dixon handles nearly all of the team's recon work as Team Achilles' scouting specialist and primary intel-gatherer. He is often the first on the field, as he reconnoiters mission targets and locations pre-insertion. Buzz Dixon is a quadrupedal being possessing compound eyes, large, fan-shaped ears, and chameleon-like skin that allows him to become nearly invisible. Due to his unique optical, olfactory, and auditory physiology, Dixon possesses super-human senses. He also has a "sixth sense" in the form of low-grade telepathy (He can mentally "speak" in others' heads and receive thoughts, but generally only if they are nearby.). Further, Buzz Dixon can cling to walls with the sucker-like pads on the bottoms of his feet, and he possesses a prehensile tail. Despite his completely inhuman appearance, Dixon's personality suggests that he is human, or at least possesses a psyche very much like human beings. He is loud-mouthed, boisterous, swears quite a bit (he is partial to "fuck"), uses current slang, and has the sort of stereotypical mannerisms of a cowboy-type or jarhead-type character. Due to his personality and human name, it can be argued that Buzz Dixon is a super-powered meta-human who was once human, but whose powers are manifest through a strange physiology that also stripped him altogether of his human appearance. However, he shows no distress over his esoteric physiology. Dixon had very little "screen time" in the StormWatch: Team Achilles series, and his origins can only be conjectured.