Moore WildCATs, Lobdell WildCATs

WildCATs 21-34

The Alan Moore run.  Wow.  I am stunned at how poorly this has aged.  I used to love this string of issues - Lovely Travis Charest art, and a top tier villain in Tao.  

Well, those two aspects are still awesome, but Travis Charest only draws a handful of issues, and Tao flaunts his superiority in even fewer.  The rest is a conglomeration of lesser fill in artists and uninspired arcs about the segregated Kheran homeworld, a gang war in New York, and the horrendous Fire From Heaven crossover.  

Nice intro to Tao.

This doesn't quite hold up, but I still think it's clever.

Bendis can pull off this panel repetition, but for Charest, it just looks like he's desperately trying to save time.

Never liked the self-hug pose.  Who does that?

Why is Spartan doing the Ariel pose?

It is a classic, but still.

This is far from the classic run I remember, and I’m a little sad about it.

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: No

Would read again: Yes

Rating: Fine

WildCATs 1-3

Charest returns for volume 2 after a two year break.  He says in the letter column that he’ll be better about maintaining a regular schedule, but he draws five of the next seven issues before departing for good.  

But what a run it is - Charest’s art, as good as it was before, is better by leaps and bounds.  A joy to read, even if the Scott Lobdell scripts are completely forgettable.  Though I do love his idea of shrinking Maul to an emaciated state to jack up his intelligence:

Beautiful colors on the energy blast by Justin Ponsor.

Love a woman in a baseball cap.

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: No

Would read again: Yes

Rating: Nice

WildCATs 7

No idea why I bought this issue with Carlos Meglia fill in art.  He’s good for certain things (Monster World really is a nice showcase for him), but he’s totally miscast here.  Cutting

Regret buying: Yes

Would buy again: No

Would read again: No

Rating: Didn’t suck