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A review by wyrmdog
The Wild Storm Vol. 1 by Warren Ellis
5.0
I am not an impartial party when it comes to Warren Ellis. I love almost everything he writes. I love his ideas, his structure, his characters, his sense of wonder. I am a little sad I didn't know this re-imagining of my favorite 1990s superhero properties was a thing or I'd have been all over it sooner.
One of the things I like best and that I concurrently fear most with comics are re-imaginings. Unlike reboots which tell you to throw out everything that came before and unlike relaunches which are meaningless marketing ploys that likewise jettison history and continuity, a re-imagining says, "I loved this property when it was big. I want to write it a love letter and make it relevant to now. I want to explore these characters as they put on new hats and walk new streets." Re-imaginings are an exercise in what-if that lets writers do things with characters that they couldn't do otherwise.
I know some of that is a pretty thin line, but I think it matters. I think Ellis believes that, too.
Anytime you read a re-imagining or a reboot, there are changes to your favorite characters. Weatherman One is a full-on madman (so basically what Ellis made him before, just creepier), Battalion is a woman, Deathblow is a killer teddy-bear (not literally, you just kinda want to hug him). You always hope for the best but they don't all survive the transition recognizably or peacefully. Thankfully, the Engineer is one that feels very familiar. The Engineer is the audience stand-in, introducing us to the world so the infodumps feel more natural. She's always been one of my favorite characters, even if she looks like Danger's* grandmother when she's in full combat mode. I did prefer her previous...outfit. But that's because I'm a pig. I fully accept this about myself.
Anyway, I read this with my breath held over Fahrenheit. I always liked her in Stormwatch. She was not treated well the one time Ellis had control of her narrative and given her role in this story, I am fearful of her fate here, too. Feels like she'll meet the same fate as Iron Fist's secretary in Thunderbolts 137. But even if she's casually tossed away (again), it's fun to see her given bold snark in the face of serving a man who appears to be wildly unstable. I think that having been given free reign to make the characters his own, Ellis is having a great time.
The story itself is typical of Ellis: a whip-smart funhouse mirror that twists a reflection of the world so that the horrors are enlarged, distorted, and made manageable in ways they just aren't in the world we actually inhabit. It's an examination of all we fear could be, all we know that is, and all we wish that was.
I am buckling myself in for the ride. It's gonna be great.
* (from the X-Men)
One of the things I like best and that I concurrently fear most with comics are re-imaginings. Unlike reboots which tell you to throw out everything that came before and unlike relaunches which are meaningless marketing ploys that likewise jettison history and continuity, a re-imagining says, "I loved this property when it was big. I want to write it a love letter and make it relevant to now. I want to explore these characters as they put on new hats and walk new streets." Re-imaginings are an exercise in what-if that lets writers do things with characters that they couldn't do otherwise.
I know some of that is a pretty thin line, but I think it matters. I think Ellis believes that, too.
Anytime you read a re-imagining or a reboot, there are changes to your favorite characters. Weatherman One is a full-on madman (so basically what Ellis made him before, just creepier), Battalion is a woman, Deathblow is a killer teddy-bear (not literally, you just kinda want to hug him). You always hope for the best but they don't all survive the transition recognizably or peacefully. Thankfully, the Engineer is one that feels very familiar. The Engineer is the audience stand-in, introducing us to the world so the infodumps feel more natural. She's always been one of my favorite characters, even if she looks like Danger's* grandmother when she's in full combat mode. I did prefer her previous...outfit. But that's because I'm a pig. I fully accept this about myself.
Anyway, I read this with my breath held over Fahrenheit. I always liked her in Stormwatch. She was not treated well the one time Ellis had control of her narrative and given her role in this story, I am fearful of her fate here, too. Feels like she'll meet the same fate as Iron Fist's secretary in Thunderbolts 137. But even if she's casually tossed away (again), it's fun to see her given bold snark in the face of serving a man who appears to be wildly unstable. I think that having been given free reign to make the characters his own, Ellis is having a great time.
The story itself is typical of Ellis: a whip-smart funhouse mirror that twists a reflection of the world so that the horrors are enlarged, distorted, and made manageable in ways they just aren't in the world we actually inhabit. It's an examination of all we fear could be, all we know that is, and all we wish that was.
I am buckling myself in for the ride. It's gonna be great.
* (from the X-Men)