WSU vs. the Wild Storm

I know, the main point of this blog is to talk about the continuity of WildStorm Universe as it was from ’92 – ’11… but come on, you didn’t think I was going to touch this? At least in some way? Admittedly, I have no idea where Ellis is going with this new series, and honestly, I couldn’t be more on board for what he and his team are bringing. I just thought I’d have some fun, point out some of the references/differences from the old WSU to the new book “the Wild Storm” that came out last week.

New vs. Old

Lucy Blaze/Zealot

The first we see of Lucy Blaze, code name: Zealot, is with blood on her face. The pattern of the smeared blood is reminiscent of the Coda Warrior face paint Zealot constantly wore in the old WSU.

She’s also going by the name Lucy Blaze, which was her code name in Team One.

Her real name was Zannah, but I don’t know if that will be a plot point at all in this book, or if it even part of this new universe. In the old WSU she was an alien with a very long life span, once again, not sure if this is going to come up at all in “the Wild Storm” but there’s a slight joke in that direction in the first issue.

Priscilla Kitaen/Voodoo

When we meet Pris in this book she comes off as some kind of performance artist on her day off, talking to her employees about where she wants to set up her next show. In the old continuity, she was a stripper. Making her a singer/dancer/artist, with the stage name Voodoo, this time around just, well, feels more likely for her personality. Also, she’s coming across as older, she was only supposed to be 18 in the original series, she’s at least seeming early to mid-20s here.

Not totally sure what her full story is in “the Wild Storm” but I can’t wait to find out more. She seems pretty knowledgeable about aliens being in New York City, as well as other oddities in the city.

Miles Craven

Miles is still the head of International Operations. While on the surface he looks quite a bit younger than the man we knew in the old chronology, this new young Craven looks a heck of a lot better than the former version of young Craven from the ’60s.

The only other big change, other than he’s young and alive, is that he’s gay. The other Craven was straight, (or at least bi) because he seemingly enjoying getting it on with Ivana Baiul, but this change isn’t that big of a deal at all. He’s coming across as a much nicer guy than the absolute bastard we used to know from the WSU. A likable Craven could be a whole mess of fun!

Angela Spica

In both cases, Angela infused herself with the tech that gave her her powers. In “the Wold Storm” she did this as an employee of I/O, doing research on herself for one of their projects. In the old WSU she got the specs for the nanobots she replaced her blood with off the internet from the original Engineer.

Jacob Marlowe

Still a tech billionaire. Still an alien. Still a little person. Still likes to drink. The biggest change is his beard. I don’t mind the beard, I think it works for him, much better than what he was looking like before he passed away in the WSU.

Also, he now has, what he calls, a spur that fires energy blasts, unlike previously just shooting energy blasts from his hands or forhead.

Also, it seems as if Cole still works for him, we’ll see if he calls him “little buddy” because, as of yet, no one is calling him Emp, and they just may never.

Michael Cray

Well, he still works for I/O and Craven, but nobody’s calling him Deathblow yet. He’s also got hair and is African-American now.

I like that the new Cray has arm tattoos that are reminiscent of the original’s face paint look.

Another difference is that his powers are different. Seems like he has some kind of active or reactive power where as the WSU Deathblow was just, well, hard as hell to kill.

We also see Cray get a nose bleed and pass out. The old school version of Cray was famous for having cancer, could this version have it too? Is this pass out and bloody nose a symptom of that?

Adrianna

She’s still a former cosmonaut, though she’s still wearing her old cosmonaut gear, as opposed to a silver onesie. But she does have the same blank white eyes are the former version did.

She hasn’t been called out as Void yet, and we also don’t know her what her powers are either. While not often brought up, Adrianna is the first of two characters named Void. After the original died she gifted her ability and her silver to Spartan as he became Jack Marlowe. Eventually, after his death, the warping ability and silver skin got mixed up with Nikola Hanssen in “Caption Atom : Armageddon.”

HALO

The HALO company still seems to be making batteries and other electronic devices, much the same way they were in “Wildcats 3.0” in the old WSU.

International Operations

Still working for the government. Still a shadow organization. Still called I/O. Still being run by Miles Craven. Not much has really changed. Especially if you don’t remember that after Ivana Baiul took over and ran International Operations into the ground they switched their name to Internal Operations and were ran by Marc Slayton AKA Backlash.

New & What We Don’t Know

The Division

Zealot calls in the Division to clean up after the gene experimenter that she eliminated. Who does the Division work for? HALO? I/O? Are they even really called the Division? Am I making too much of this?

Pris’s Assistants

Are any of these assistants around Pris anyone we know? New characters? Is that red-head Caitlyn Fairchild? Nah, probably not.

Phil

Phil the coffee guy is great. I want more Phil. Make him the Kev of this new universe.

Julian

Julian is new, just because Craven didn’t have a husband or wife that we knew of in the old WSU. Sure, he was hooking up with Ivana and had a daughter, but we don’t know if he was ever married before. Craven’s Husband is a nice addition to the book. Like I said earlier, a likable Craven is a fun idea. An even more interesting idea is if we see Craven as an absolute jackass at the office and a total sweetheart to his man at home.

DCU Connections

Pris mentions that an alleyway where a man became a bat back in 1939, a direct reference to Batman who first appeared in 1939.

All the media outlets, the Daily Planet, GBS all exist in the DCU. Ellis has said that this is an alternate universe in the DC Multiverse, so things like this should be expected, rather than using OG WildStorm media outlets like the National Eye and or something… I should do more research on the media outlets of the WSU.

One Last Thing

Warren Ellis has said that he won’t be bringing his characters from “Planetary” into these books. As much as I love that book, and would like to see Elisha, Jakita and the Drummer again, we don’t need them. This new version of the WildStorm Universe is “Planetary” writ large! Secret underground teams. Researchers of the odd. Crazy technicians bringing superpowers to the people. This is all what “Planetary” was about, now it’s what this entire comic world is about. As much as I’d love to see those 3 tearing it up again, along with Ambrose, I think we’re getting a similar kind of excellent story, with the same feel, but with a late 2010 take. More paranoid, bigger stakes, and a lot more books.

I also try not to read solicitations anymore than I have to. Preview pages and spoilers don’t do too much for me, and in fact, detract from my enjoyment, of, pretty much everything. I don’t even like movie trailers all that much. All I know right now is a few things to look forward to from “the WildStorm” and that’s meeting Cole, the Grifter, next month. Meeting someone, whom I assume to be Jenny Quantum, in two months. And seeing what is in store for us readers when the other 3 Wild Storm imprint books start coming out.

That’s about it. I loved this comic. I love the return to an all new take and a mostly different (don’t assume you know anything) version of the WSU! If this comic was junk, I’d call it out for the junk it is. But it’s not. It’s a place to start. It’s a place to grow from. It may not look like a lot is happening now, but by issue 4 of “the Wild Storm” I’m sure we’ll see how crazy issue 1 actually is. It’s a great set up and I can’t wait to see what the creative team has in store for us. Did I say I loved this comic?