The Wild Storm #24 – Warren Ellis, Writer; Jon Davis-Hunt, Artist; Steve Buccellato, Colorist
Ray – 8/10
Ray: This is the end of the road for Warren Ellis’ two-year reinvention of one of comics’ most famous 90’s superhero universes, but it’s not actually the end – the series is being relaunched in August with a new artist As WildC.A.T.S. – a revival of the universe’s most iconic team. But before that, there’s one last big battle to be won as the forces of the rival government agencies Skywatch and IO do battle with the superhero population of the world caught in the middle. There’s a lot to cram into this final issue – so much, in fact, that it feels like the least satisfying of the recent installments. When the story kicks off, the remaining heroes including Midnighter, Apollo, Engineer, and the rest are battling against a horde of crazed enhanced humans who are taking over New York. There’s a lot of violence in this segment as the mostly generic villains are dispatched, but the insane Henry Bendix has one last plan up his sleeve – and it could spell the end of New York itself.
In a plot reminiscent of Joss Whedon’s big finale on his X-men run, Bendix fires a massive diamond spear at earth, aiming to atomize everyone in the vicinity. That leads to a daring last-ditch attempt to save the city by Apollo and Engineer, giving us the best action scene of the issue. The latter half of the issue is mostly a massive power play by Bendix and Miles Craven, as they increasingly lose their minds and kill everyone who even questions them. One death in particular seems to random and a missed opportunity that I have to assume it’s a fake-out. But seeing Jackie King hoist them both on their own petards and take control was entertaining, and this issue does set up a compelling new status quo for the upcoming series relaunch. This series suffered from many narrative issues over the course of its run, but it delivered spectacular visuals and the final arc was among its strongest.
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GeekDad received this comic for review purposes.
