Wildcats, Wildcats Special

WildCATs Special 1

This may have been my first exposure to Travis Charest’s art.  I remember thinking at the time that he did lips differently from everyone else.  Anyway, this was a solid debut for him (for me) - Close to Jim Lee’s style, but distinct enough to have a voice of its own.  And he would obviously go on to do do phenomenal work.

The story hits all the early WildCATs tropes: Daemonite possessions, cryptic Void/Providence speak, Grifter showing off, a Coda warrior still pissed off at Zealot, a dramatic team entrance courtesy of Void.  The details are unimportant.

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: Yes

Would read again: Yes

Rating: Fine

WildCATs 0

It pissed me off that this issue could only be purchased along with the collection of the original miniseries.  Of course, the completionist that I was at the time couldn’t resist. Present me isn’t so pleased with past me. A pointless issue with nascent Brett Booth art doing its best (which isn’t very good) Jim Lee impression.  Not cutting because nostalgia.

Regret buying: Yes

Would buy again: No

Would read again: No

Rating: Boring

WildCATs 1-13

I went into this read expecting it to feel like Mark Silvestri’s Cyberforce run - Horrible writing (from past his prime Chris Claremont and Claremont-devotee Brandon Choi), generic characters from the Image school of design, and awesome art.  Sure, the art would be superior (Jim Lee!), but it would still be a struggle to get through it all.

Surprisingly, no.  Jim Lee manages to carry the whole thing on the strength of his pencils, with strong assists from his inking and coloring teams (primarily Scott Williams and Joe Chiodo).  My notes are littered with panels that blew me away and reminded me of just how big of a role Lee played in why I originally fell in love with comics in the first place.

The other half of my notes call out all the plot holes too annoying to ignore.  Let’s see if there's enough pretty art in the rest of this post to keep me from getting to them…

These shots of Grifter are engrained in my mind from high school:

Lee would do a great Chow Yun Fat comic.

Lee really know how to use a three-quarters page panel for maximum effect:

The action leaps off the page.

Great use of perspective.

Warblade may be a generic mix of Wolverine and the T-1000, but Lee knows how to make him look cool.

I’d forgotten about this piece of Lee art until I saw it in an in-house ad:

I love Lee’s two-line shorthand for eyes:

Once again, the Cats port in fully posed.  I really like the bright, crisp colors.

Issue five also has two memorable four-page gatefolds.  They’re impressive, but part of me would have loved to see how he’d tackle a fight with more than two characters.

Something more like this.

Perhaps the only time a comic book character will admits to artificial enhancements:

Scott and Jean cameo, right after their wedding over at Marvel!

This Zealot reminded me so much of something that I’d seen before…

It's not a swipe if it's your own art, is it?

Granted, with Daemonites as your main villain, there’s bound to be a ton of mind control in your stories.  But Chris Claremont’s use of the phrase “body and soul” was such a trigger word for me that I felt compelled to do a quick internet search.  Surprising no one, it’s something that he’s used once or twice in his writing before.

I had not realized that Claremont’s use of mind control was prevalent enough to support an entire blog.  

Reading the Tapestry storyline reminded of happy days playing the Wildstorms CCG.  I should dig them up and dust them off, see if it’s as fun as I remember.

These were good cards.

WildCATs came as a pleasant surprise after so many early Image reread letdowns, and it’s all thanks to Jim Lee, best of the best.  He’s got a fan for life right here.

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: Yes

Would read again: Yes

Rating: Nice