Stormwatch: PHD

Stormwatch: PHD 1-12

The next iteration of Stormwatch, this time written by Christos Gage.  Jackson King forms another team of mostly brand new, mostly-humans to deal with supers.  The first trade is a well-executed “formation of the team, introduction of the characters, set them on their first mission” arc.  The art by the always capable Doug Mahnke elevates it above the rest of the series, which is entertaining but not re-buyable.  

This cost of magic is a lot more fun than Aaron's Dr Strange.

An amusing twist on the horrid Starfox powers.

Not sure if I agree with this, but it's still funny.

I’m especially not a fan of Gage’s misogynistic tendency to have his female characters do bad things and then explain them away as byproducts of mental illness; Fahrenheit betrays the team because she was clinically depressed.  Christine Trelane shoots her husband in the head because of postpartum psychosis.  Sure, mental illness can lead to violence.  But these instances feel cheap and insulting.  (See Mark Waid’s Daredevil for a more nuanced depiction of the horrors of postpartum depression.)     

It's all so patronizing.

And handled too lightly.

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: No

Would read again: Yes

Rating: Pretty good (Nice for 5, 8-12)

Stormwatch: PHD: Armageddon 1

A glimpse into the futures of the team in alternate future form.  I would have liked it more if my copy of the issue didn’t happen to be missing six pages.  (I blame the printers.)  But even if I had the pages, this would still be a missable issue.  Keeping just because it doesn’t hurt.

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: No

Would read again: Yes

Rating: Fine

That’s it for my Warren Ellis box!  I’m almost done with all of his stuff, only Nextwave and Secret Avengers left.

Box Summary

Time spent reading: 20 hours, 15 minutes

Issues read: 192

Issues cut: 1

Highlights (Good or better): Crecy; Fell; Ministry of Space; Orbiter; Planetary; Planetary/Batman; Red; Stormwatch v1 37-40; Stormwatch v2 1-6, 10; Wildcats/Aliens; Authority 1-20; Stormwatch: Team Achilles 1-6

Project Summary:

Time spent reading: 52 days, 11 hours, 50 minutes

Issues read: 10990

Issues cut: 1153