Authority

Authority 13-16

Mark Millar and Frank Quitely take over and create my favorite Authority story.  The team takes on the creations of a thinly-veiled Jack Kirby, as they fight twisted analogues of all the great Marvel teams.  I love the brutality of the fights, Millar’s take on celebrity, the Authority’s new mandate to fight corrupt world powers, and Quitely’s superb art.  

Taking on thousands of refugees.  Pretty cool

Such a great fight scene.

Not sure what to think about this line.

Heh.  You don't often see a baby give a knowing look.

Yes, yes it is.

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: Yes

Would read again: Yes

Rating: Pure joy

Authority 17-20

The team battle a former Doctor who’s managed to turn the Earth against humanity, including a giant tsunami that floods New York City.

Haunting cover.

The final confrontation against the Doctor is gloriously written, with some super creative beats by Millar, expertly drawn by Quitely.

So creepy and clever.

Heh.

If Quitely had been able to draw the first two issues (filled in by Chris Weston), this might have received top marks as well.

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: Yes

Would read again: Yes

Rating: Really good

Authority 21

A backdoor pilot for Monarchy, a title I’d completely forgotten about.  Jackson King acts like a bitter old man and odd things start happening to Christine Trelane.  Eh.

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: Yes

Would read again: Yes

Rating: Nice

Authority 22-29

A weird turn of IRL events: Frank Quitely quits after issue 22 to move on to other things, right when the team’s just been killed off by a hillbilly cyborg named Seth.  The editorial team scrambles and enlist Tom Peyer and Dustin Nguyen to create a 4-part fill-in arc.  I had absolutely no memory of any of this, and didn’t expect this to be any good.  To my surprise, this story about the replacement Authority team, put in place by the global power-that-be to protect their corporate interests, is actually pretty good.  Certainly having Nguyen to do the art helps.  

When Millar returns to finish off the story from 22, he’s got Arthur Adams as a partner, certainly a fine replacement for Quitely.  But the energy’s just not the same, and even though the Authority’s comeback is satisfying, it’s ultimately not as good as Millar at his peak at the beginning of his run.

Such a random reference, but totally true.  All hail Megatron!

I love the idea of a physical suspension of disbelief.

It has to be noted that Millar’s time on Authority is actually a lot better than Ellis’.  For sure, he’s standing on the shoulders of a giant, but his ideas and execution are both a bit better, and Quitely’s art is superior to Bryan Hitch’s.  Take both teams together and you’ve got one of the classic titles in comic book history.

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: Yes

Would read again: Yes

Rating: Pretty good

Authority: Kev

A parody issue where some random guy named Kev takes the piss out of the Authority.  Written by iconoclast Garth Ennis, this is totally not up my alley.  An easy cut, and quickly forgotten.

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: No

Would read again: No

Rating: Stupid (Cut)

Jenny Sparks

Jenny Sparks 1-5

Mark Millar gives us the “secret history of the Authority,” which apparently means that over the last 90 years, Jenny Sparks met every single member of the Authority prior to the events in Stormwatch.  Not only that, she Forrest Gumps her way through history and owes her life to a repaid favor from Adolph Hitler.  Seriously.

Why would you even want to go there, Millar?

Twenty or so years later...

It’s not bad taken on its own, but the need to tie everyone’s past together is kind of stupid.

On a totally different note, I’d forgotten that Jenny and Shen hooked up somewhere along the line.

And I think she hooked up with Angie also?

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: Yes

Would read again: Yes

Rating: Pretty good

Authority

Authority 1-12

This is about as good as you can get if you’re looking for a summer blockbuster in comic book form, which is just what Warren Ellis and Bryan Hitch were going for.  (Kudos to Hitch for doing twelve full issues on schedule.)

Ellis loves his Carrier captions

On the other hand, there’s a ceiling to how much of a satisfying meal you can get out of empty calories.  I’m not complaining at all, this is as fun as I remember it to be (it’s aged a lot better than Ellis’ Stormwatch), but it doesn’t make it to the very top tiers of my collection.

You make your intentions perfectly clear when you crib...

...from the quintessential popcorn widescreen blow-em-up.

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: Yes

Would read again: Yes

Rating: Good

Stormwatch

Stormwatch 1-11

WildCATs/Aliens

In his essay in the final issue, Warren Ellis says some fascinating things - He never clicked with artist Oscar Jiminez, he was bored with the characters, and Bryan Hitch reinvigorated him and set the stage for Authority.  And he talks a good game about how awesome it’s going to be, but there’s no way even he could predict how much of a game changer that comic would be.  

But in order to set all of it up.  Man, he really went ahead and killed off most of Stormwatch.  Fahrenheit, Fuji, Hellstrike, and Winter.  People who’ve been there since the very beginning of the comic, disposed of with absolutely zero sentimentality by both Ellis and the Alien xenomorphs.  (A completely random crossover, but I totally approve.  Another bold move by Ellis - To not even show the final moments of Stormwatch, but -- Wait, there’s nothing bold about it, it’s completely like him to show the aftermath of something and not the actual action.  But it really is a well done issue.) 

The last issue, where Ellis shuts down the team and title, is completely perfunctory.  His boredom is apparently, and he just goes through the motions.  But to his credit, the prior three arcs, especially the introduction of Apollo and Midnighter, are lots of fun.

Ellis moment of this run:

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: Yes

Would read again: Yes

Rating: Nice (issue 11) through Good (1-6, 10, and the crossover issue)

Stormwatch

Stormwatch 43-50

Alas, Warren Ellis’ Stormwatch hasn’t aged as well as I remember.  Everything leading up to the “Change or Die” finale is surprisingly adequate compared to my memories of them, not nearly as fun.  And the final arc, the showdown with The High and his team, is far less epic and disjointed.  The number of confusing statements about Malcolm King alone makes me wonder if an editor reviewed the script at all.

So Malcolm's totally willing to betray Stormwatch.

There's no way The High doesn't know torture is involved.

So how is he surprised here?

Winter's drastically misread Malcolm's intentions.

Smoke is somehow surprised as well here.

And then he isn't.  WTF is going on?  Why is this such a major plot point, anyway?

Also, what’s up with Ellis’ fetish for this phrase?

It stood out as weird in Ocean too.

So.  A bit of a disappointment, still enjoyable, and no longer on my list of top Ellis comics. 

He's literally foaming at the mouth.  Way too over the top for me.

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: Yes

Would read again: Yes

Rating: Nice to Pretty good

Planetary, Red, Stormwatch

Planetary 14-27

It occurred to me that Planetary has a lot of similarities with Alan Moore’s Promethea.  Issue-long explorations of whatever the writers want to talk about, a nominal plot to tie it all together, A+ art from John Cassaday and JH Williams respectively.  The difference is that Warren Ellis is careful to keep his comic fun.  Each issue jumps from comic trope to trope, but they’re all so masterfully homaged/built upon that I couldn’t stop reading.  As opposed to the interminable Promethea.  (Just thinking about it makes me want to punch something.)

So, the back half of Planetary.  They include Ellis’ takes on Thor’s hammer, the Lone Ranger, and Tarzan.  The battle against The Four builds up nicely all the way up to the final confrontation, which…kind of falls flat on its face.  (Pun intended when you consider the fates of Mr Fantastic and Invisible Woman…)

I love how Ellis sciences the hammer transformation.

And then extrapolates it to a whole armory.

I thought Snow looked familiar on this cover...

The final issue wraps it all up with some time travel twister and the rescue of Ambrose Chase.  Not bad, but a bit of a letdown.  Typical Ellis :P

None of these nitpicks should take away from the fact that this is a stellar series, definitely in the top echelon of my personal rankings.

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: Yes

Would read again: Yes

Rating: Really good

Planetary/JLA

Blech.  An Elseworlds JLA battles an Elseworlds evil Planetary.  Pretty much a waste of time.

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: No

Would read again: Yes

Rating: Didn’t suck

Red 1-3

There’s almost nothing to this comic - A retired CIA hitman comes out of hiding after the CIA tries to kill him.  There are no survivors.  There’s barely a plot here.  But it’s all about the execution, and Ellis pulls it off to perfection.

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: Yes

Would read again: Yes

Rating: Good

Red: Preludes 1-4

A series of one-shots providing some backstory to all the characters from the movie.  (Which was actually pretty entertaining.)  Like the source title, none of the stories are particularly original, but the are undoubtedly fun to read.

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: Yes

Would read again: Yes

Rating: Pretty good

Stormwatch 37-42

I’m excited for this one.  This is where Warren Ellis became Warren Ellis in my mind.  As with Planetary, he starts off with a bunch of Monster of the Week issues before culminating in a big bad final battle.  

This is also where he introduces Jenny Sparks and John Hawksmoor (who has one of my absolute favorite superhuman abilities ever), two characters with amazing lasting power.  Though I discovered something completely disturbing this time around:

Jenny Sparks is supposed to look nineteen???  That's so wrong.

Tom Raney’s tortured anatomy is perfect for this comic, he truly shines in some places:

A brilliant use of perspective.  "The enemy gate is down."

Perfect first page for setting up an issue.  

Ick.

Except for when he doesn’t:

A truly unfortunate face.

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: Yes

Would read again: Yes

Rating: Nice through Pure Joy (issue 37)

Planetary

Planetary 1-13

Here we go.  This is Warren Ellis at his best.  Here, watching and not doing is a feature, not a flaw.  And the things we get to see along with Elijah Snow, Jakita Wagner, and The Drummer are simply magnificent. 

A John Woo movie in comic form.  I love it so much.

Ellis' Vertigo commentary.

Ah, the grim and gritty era of superheroes.

I'm a sucker for this kind of action shot.

I love Ambrose Chase's look.

I love his powers.

I love his guns.

Just because it's true doesn't make it any more okay.

Ellis kills the JLA

After this and Apollo/Midnighter's original team, how many more JLA iterations has Ellis written?

Even better, Ellis doesn’t stop there the way he does with most of his series.  Here, he has the time to explore an actual overarching plot, where the dark Fantastic Four are the archnemeses of the Planetary organization.

Props, of course, to John Cassaday, doing apex mountain art here.  This series couldn’t possibly have attained the heights it does without him.

If it weren’t so late, I’d still be reading.

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: Yes

Would read again: Yes

Rating: Pure joy

Planetary/Authority

The teams never actually meet face to face as they all battle an alien threat, and it’s probably for the best.  But it also makes for a disjointed crossover that doesn’t feel all that substantial.  

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: Yes

Would read again: Yes

Rating: Nice

Planetary/Batman

There’s something about Batman that makes seeing juxtapositions of all his iterations unbelievably cool.  He’s had so many distinctive looks from so many legendary artists over the years, all instantly recognizable.  Seeing Cassaday’s take on them here is the primary reason for this comic’s high rating.

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: Yes

Would read again: Yes

Rating: Good