.
Signal No.1
How do you introduce a new superteam? Start your issue with a burning building full of people that need rescuing or have a group of terrorists hold a building hostage. This allows the new superteam to flex their super-powered muscles and show-off how great they are without getting injured or getting their asses kicked by the main villain.
The new LEGION recently did this schtick. The JUSTICE LEAGUE during the 80s did the hostage thing. THE YOUNG AVENGERS did the burning building and hostage situation all in one issue. And almost every Alamat book in the late 90s that featured a superteam did the whole hostage situation thing. (God bless us all!)
Anyway, this is all a segue to “What is a good example of a first issue of a new super team?” Well, I’m glad you asked. Below is an article I wrote about Warren Ellis’ “Stormwatch”. In 40-pages, Ellis was able to set-up the world of Stormwatch, introduce the new characters, tell you what they’re all about, and well… he did put in a hostage situation, but he was able to give it a bloody, new spin.
By the way, you can read that first issue online at:
http://www.dccomics.com/media/excerpts/1772_x.pdf
Riders of the Storm
by Budjette Tan
(Printed in MIRROR WEEKLY, February 2, 1998 under Karen Kunawicz’s “On the Verge” column)
“I am the Weatherman. I am the controller of StormWatch, the United Nations Special Crisis Intervention Team. I am the world’s policeman-- and I’ve got your new world order right here.”
With these lines, British writer Warren Ellis launched the comic book “StormWatch” into a bold, new direction. What started off as a another-typical-superhero-book was transformed by Ellis into a taut, paranoid, and shocking comic book series. The art of Tom Raney and Randy Elliot captures the cynical mood and tense atmosphere that Ellis established with his words. Ellis started his epic storyline in “StormWatch” #37 and concluded it in issue #50.
Under Ellis’ pen, “StormWatch” did not battle the usual maniac-would-be-world dominator, but confronted evils that were ripped out of today’s headlines but given a superhuman twist.
Due to a recent debacle that threatened the destruction of the world, Weatherman was forced to lay-off officers of StormWatch and some were reluctantly re-assigned to non-active desk jobs. Weatherman brought in new members and divided the nine man team into three specific fighting units.
ROLL CALL!
WEATHERMAN: commanding officer of StormWatch, always on duty and onboard SkyWatch, their satellite headquarters. The Weatherman is cybernetically hooked up to an array of computers that monitors every part of the globe, overseeing various countries for any signs of civil unrest or military conflict. Just like the symbol of StormWatch --a lightning bolt with an eye in the middle-- Weatherman is the all-seeing eye and he has the power and the authority to destroy anyone that threatens the free world.
STORMWATCH PRIME: suited to deal with superhuman threats in hotwar situations. They are like the Marines, sent to combat the most powerful enemies head-on.
WINTER: Russia, SW-Prime commander, over-all field leader of StormWatch. He was a former member of the Spetznaz, the KGB’s elite killing squad. He has the power to absorb all types of radiation and re-direct it in the form of energy beams.
FUJI: Japanese, champion sumo wrestler. Big as his namesake, he is the strongest member of StormWatch.
HELLSTRIKE: Irish, this body is composed of volatile gases. He can fly and project beams of superheated plasma.
STORMWATCH BLACK: covert insertion unit; designed for urban, low intensity conflict.
JENNY SPARKS: British, SW-Black commander, She is a 96-year old chain-smoking, beer-guzzling, blonde who doesn’t look a day over 20. She has complete control of all electrical energy; capable of converting herself into pure electricity and ride on radio waves and telephone cables. She can also control the electrical impulses found in machines and in the human brain.
JACK HAWKSMOOR: American, an alien abductee. Genetic experimentation transformed him into a Neo-Human, designed to live and survive only in the city. Hawksmoor can literally talk to the city and learn it secrets and the secrets of those who live in it.
SWIFT: Tibetan, the youngest member of the team. She can sprout angel-like swings from her back and her feet transforms into talons. She is a refugee from her politically-torn country.
STORMWATCH RED: comprised of members with the greatest destructive capability for acts of deterrent display and retaliation.
FAHRENHEIT: American, SW-Red commander. A pyrokinetic who can generate and project extreme heat.
FLINT: African, has nigh-invulnerable skin and whose strength is only second to Fuji. She has seen the horrors of apartheid in her country and wishes to make a difference as an officer of StormWatch.
ROSE TATTOO: an enigmatic, taciturn, beautiful assassin. She has uncanny aim, proficient with any weapon, and has mastered various martial arts.
“Power is neither legitimate or illegitimate. Power is.” – Benedict Anderson, political scientist
The newly re-formed StormWatch experience their baptism of fire when a super-powered terrorist called the Father began to randomly slaughter people in Germany.
Father was the product of genetic engineering by a racist group who wanted to annihilate all so-called inferior races. Father could mentally generate a force field so powerful only a nuclear bomb could pierce it. He was also a walking power plan, capable of projecting beams of pure energy, obliterating everyone he deemed inferior.
It took the combined might of StormWatch to stop him and they had no choice but to kill him. Father’s dying words were “I only wanted to change the world.” The last page of “StormWatch” #37 showed the team standing over Father’s severed body. The last panel was just a black box, where we read the words, “Behold, I teach you the superman. He is this lightning. He is this madness.” It was a portent of things to come.
In the issues that followed, StormWatch battled with telekinetic Japanese terrorists, a serial killer who turned out to be John F. Kennedy’s bastard son, biological weapons from Gammora Island that turned people into monsters, another racist group that tried to blow up another federal building, and a covert death squad who was working for the American government.
“All we use freedom for is to KILL each other. Control is the key, not FREEDOM. There must be discipline.” – Weatherman
“StormWatch” #48 to 50 was the culmination of all the sub-plots that were laid out during the year. In this story arc entitled “Change or Die”, Ellis introduced the Changers, an idealistic group of superhumans who had decided to bring about world peace whether we liked it or not. Instead of just fighting crime and arresting the villain-of-the-week, the Changers planned to use their powers to reshape the world into paradise. They wanted to empower everyone with technology that would provide for all their needs. It would be a world without want; where the government would become useless and all authoritarian structures would fall.
Weatherman blindly saw the Changers as a group who intended to overthrow all governments and destroy civilization. Weatherman sent the entire StormWatch team on a “kill mission,” to terminate the Changers with extreme prejudice. Everyone followed expect Jenny Sparks, who questioned Weatherman’s decision. “If the Changers were offering what StormWatch had been trying to achieve for so long, why couldn’t they corporate with the Changers and change the world for the better,” asked Sparks.
“I want change, yes,” Weatherman said with a wild look in his eyes. “On my terms! I’ll change the world. No one will die unless I decide they die. I’ll change the world one body at a time if I have to…” That was when Weatherman finally snapped and started killing people inside SkyWatch. He fell into the same abyss that corrupted the mind of the Father -- the abyss of absolute power. Weatherman has indeed become the lightning and the madness.
“I could’ve had the world to myself!” yelled Weatherman as Sparks threw a lightning bolt at him. But he escaped and would soon return to become StormWatch’s most fierce enemy.
In the end, casualties were suffered on both sides and the Changer’s plans were never implemented. It was more than a battle of heroes vs. villains. StormWatch fought a war over beliefs and ideologies. Despite the battle fought by these god-like beings, the world was left relatively unchanged-- with paradise still a dream away and people still had to fight their petty wars.
“What constitutes the bulwark of our liberty and independence? It is not… the guns of our war steamers, or the strength of our gallant army….Our reliance is in the love of liberty which God has planted in our bosoms.” – Abraham Lincoln
“StormWatch” #50 marks the end of their dynamic new era. Last October `97, the title was re-launched with issue #1. Wildstorm Studios, its publisher, saw it as a marketing move to entice more readers to collect the series. StormWatch No.1, Vol.2, is still available in local comic book stores and will be a good jumping-on point for interested readers and comic book collectors. Internet surfers can log-on to Ellis’ website to get a sneak peek of “StormWatch” and all his upcoming projects.
StormWatch is not your regular bunch of heroes. They are soldiers who love peace so much, they are willing to kill for it.
Signal No.1
How do you introduce a new superteam? Start your issue with a burning building full of people that need rescuing or have a group of terrorists hold a building hostage. This allows the new superteam to flex their super-powered muscles and show-off how great they are without getting injured or getting their asses kicked by the main villain.
The new LEGION recently did this schtick. The JUSTICE LEAGUE during the 80s did the hostage thing. THE YOUNG AVENGERS did the burning building and hostage situation all in one issue. And almost every Alamat book in the late 90s that featured a superteam did the whole hostage situation thing. (God bless us all!)
Anyway, this is all a segue to “What is a good example of a first issue of a new super team?” Well, I’m glad you asked. Below is an article I wrote about Warren Ellis’ “Stormwatch”. In 40-pages, Ellis was able to set-up the world of Stormwatch, introduce the new characters, tell you what they’re all about, and well… he did put in a hostage situation, but he was able to give it a bloody, new spin.
By the way, you can read that first issue online at:
http://www.dccomics.com/media/excerpts/1772_x.pdf
Riders of the Storm
by Budjette Tan
(Printed in MIRROR WEEKLY, February 2, 1998 under Karen Kunawicz’s “On the Verge” column)
“I am the Weatherman. I am the controller of StormWatch, the United Nations Special Crisis Intervention Team. I am the world’s policeman-- and I’ve got your new world order right here.”
With these lines, British writer Warren Ellis launched the comic book “StormWatch” into a bold, new direction. What started off as a another-typical-superhero-book was transformed by Ellis into a taut, paranoid, and shocking comic book series. The art of Tom Raney and Randy Elliot captures the cynical mood and tense atmosphere that Ellis established with his words. Ellis started his epic storyline in “StormWatch” #37 and concluded it in issue #50.
Under Ellis’ pen, “StormWatch” did not battle the usual maniac-would-be-world dominator, but confronted evils that were ripped out of today’s headlines but given a superhuman twist.
Due to a recent debacle that threatened the destruction of the world, Weatherman was forced to lay-off officers of StormWatch and some were reluctantly re-assigned to non-active desk jobs. Weatherman brought in new members and divided the nine man team into three specific fighting units.
ROLL CALL!
WEATHERMAN: commanding officer of StormWatch, always on duty and onboard SkyWatch, their satellite headquarters. The Weatherman is cybernetically hooked up to an array of computers that monitors every part of the globe, overseeing various countries for any signs of civil unrest or military conflict. Just like the symbol of StormWatch --a lightning bolt with an eye in the middle-- Weatherman is the all-seeing eye and he has the power and the authority to destroy anyone that threatens the free world.
STORMWATCH PRIME: suited to deal with superhuman threats in hotwar situations. They are like the Marines, sent to combat the most powerful enemies head-on.
WINTER: Russia, SW-Prime commander, over-all field leader of StormWatch. He was a former member of the Spetznaz, the KGB’s elite killing squad. He has the power to absorb all types of radiation and re-direct it in the form of energy beams.
FUJI: Japanese, champion sumo wrestler. Big as his namesake, he is the strongest member of StormWatch.
HELLSTRIKE: Irish, this body is composed of volatile gases. He can fly and project beams of superheated plasma.
STORMWATCH BLACK: covert insertion unit; designed for urban, low intensity conflict.
JENNY SPARKS: British, SW-Black commander, She is a 96-year old chain-smoking, beer-guzzling, blonde who doesn’t look a day over 20. She has complete control of all electrical energy; capable of converting herself into pure electricity and ride on radio waves and telephone cables. She can also control the electrical impulses found in machines and in the human brain.
JACK HAWKSMOOR: American, an alien abductee. Genetic experimentation transformed him into a Neo-Human, designed to live and survive only in the city. Hawksmoor can literally talk to the city and learn it secrets and the secrets of those who live in it.
SWIFT: Tibetan, the youngest member of the team. She can sprout angel-like swings from her back and her feet transforms into talons. She is a refugee from her politically-torn country.
STORMWATCH RED: comprised of members with the greatest destructive capability for acts of deterrent display and retaliation.
FAHRENHEIT: American, SW-Red commander. A pyrokinetic who can generate and project extreme heat.
FLINT: African, has nigh-invulnerable skin and whose strength is only second to Fuji. She has seen the horrors of apartheid in her country and wishes to make a difference as an officer of StormWatch.
ROSE TATTOO: an enigmatic, taciturn, beautiful assassin. She has uncanny aim, proficient with any weapon, and has mastered various martial arts.
“Power is neither legitimate or illegitimate. Power is.” – Benedict Anderson, political scientist
The newly re-formed StormWatch experience their baptism of fire when a super-powered terrorist called the Father began to randomly slaughter people in Germany.
Father was the product of genetic engineering by a racist group who wanted to annihilate all so-called inferior races. Father could mentally generate a force field so powerful only a nuclear bomb could pierce it. He was also a walking power plan, capable of projecting beams of pure energy, obliterating everyone he deemed inferior.
It took the combined might of StormWatch to stop him and they had no choice but to kill him. Father’s dying words were “I only wanted to change the world.” The last page of “StormWatch” #37 showed the team standing over Father’s severed body. The last panel was just a black box, where we read the words, “Behold, I teach you the superman. He is this lightning. He is this madness.” It was a portent of things to come.
In the issues that followed, StormWatch battled with telekinetic Japanese terrorists, a serial killer who turned out to be John F. Kennedy’s bastard son, biological weapons from Gammora Island that turned people into monsters, another racist group that tried to blow up another federal building, and a covert death squad who was working for the American government.
“All we use freedom for is to KILL each other. Control is the key, not FREEDOM. There must be discipline.” – Weatherman
“StormWatch” #48 to 50 was the culmination of all the sub-plots that were laid out during the year. In this story arc entitled “Change or Die”, Ellis introduced the Changers, an idealistic group of superhumans who had decided to bring about world peace whether we liked it or not. Instead of just fighting crime and arresting the villain-of-the-week, the Changers planned to use their powers to reshape the world into paradise. They wanted to empower everyone with technology that would provide for all their needs. It would be a world without want; where the government would become useless and all authoritarian structures would fall.
Weatherman blindly saw the Changers as a group who intended to overthrow all governments and destroy civilization. Weatherman sent the entire StormWatch team on a “kill mission,” to terminate the Changers with extreme prejudice. Everyone followed expect Jenny Sparks, who questioned Weatherman’s decision. “If the Changers were offering what StormWatch had been trying to achieve for so long, why couldn’t they corporate with the Changers and change the world for the better,” asked Sparks.
“I want change, yes,” Weatherman said with a wild look in his eyes. “On my terms! I’ll change the world. No one will die unless I decide they die. I’ll change the world one body at a time if I have to…” That was when Weatherman finally snapped and started killing people inside SkyWatch. He fell into the same abyss that corrupted the mind of the Father -- the abyss of absolute power. Weatherman has indeed become the lightning and the madness.
“I could’ve had the world to myself!” yelled Weatherman as Sparks threw a lightning bolt at him. But he escaped and would soon return to become StormWatch’s most fierce enemy.
In the end, casualties were suffered on both sides and the Changer’s plans were never implemented. It was more than a battle of heroes vs. villains. StormWatch fought a war over beliefs and ideologies. Despite the battle fought by these god-like beings, the world was left relatively unchanged-- with paradise still a dream away and people still had to fight their petty wars.
“What constitutes the bulwark of our liberty and independence? It is not… the guns of our war steamers, or the strength of our gallant army….Our reliance is in the love of liberty which God has planted in our bosoms.” – Abraham Lincoln
“StormWatch” #50 marks the end of their dynamic new era. Last October `97, the title was re-launched with issue #1. Wildstorm Studios, its publisher, saw it as a marketing move to entice more readers to collect the series. StormWatch No.1, Vol.2, is still available in local comic book stores and will be a good jumping-on point for interested readers and comic book collectors. Internet surfers can log-on to Ellis’ website to get a sneak peek of “StormWatch” and all his upcoming projects.
StormWatch is not your regular bunch of heroes. They are soldiers who love peace so much, they are willing to kill for it.
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