WSU vs. the Wild Storm 2

I know, the main point of this blog is to talk about the continuity of WildStorm Universe as it was from ’92 – ’11… but I actually had a request to keep up this feature last week! 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

Ivana
In the old WSU Ivana was the stone cold bitch that worked for I/O, slept her way to the top, restarted Project: Genesis and kidnapped a whole lot of gen-active kids. She was the anti-John Lynch and had her own group of hellraisers known as DV8 at her beck and call up until she took over I/O following Craven’s death. This new version seems much more adept at her job at I/O without having to trick or mess with anyone. She’s a little condescending, but it doesn’t seem to come from an over-inflated sense of ego, she’s just good at her job and she knows it. Also, as far as well know, this version of Ivana is all human and isn’t mostly computery parts like the last one.

Cole Cash
There’s so much to say about the new version of Cole. But I’m grasping for words. It’s pretty much the same guy. Still a smart ass, still has a kind of antagonistic relationship with Marlowe, but not as goofy, I don’t see this Cole calling Marlowe “little buddy” anytime soon. Seems to be a lot more understood respect between the two here. Also, this version of Cole has reddish auburn hair, as opposed to the blond and dirty blond/brown hair that he’d sport, depending on the artist, in the old WSU

Kanesha
In the WSU Kanesha was better known as Savant. Savant was an alien like half of the WilC.A.T.s cast. The old Kanesha had a very different look than the new one, but the spunky attitude and the goggles are still there. Also, saying that she can redraw plans she saw 18yrs ago seems to be giving her some savant-like qualities… oh, I see what you did there Mr. Ellis.

Henry Bendix
Still bald and still in charge of SkyWatch/Skywatch, looks like not much has changed. A reference is made that he’s more machine than man at this point, and while that may be true, he doesn’t show the outward signs of cyborgification like he did in the old continuity.

Christine Trelane
Christine Trelane is a character that changed her look drastically over time in the original WSU. She was depicted as a typical ’90s comic book girl, it wasn’t until later, under Ellis’s writing, did she really become a much more normal woman, in look, and in character. Normal being a relative word for comics of course. “The Wild Storm” version of her looks a lot more like her later incarnation, despite not having her trademark glasses and vest. Here’s she’s still second in command under Henry Bendix as she was in the WSU. She’s not going by Synergy this time and shows no kind of powers, but she does run the investigative division of the ground crew of Skywatch.

Mary Cross
I’m not really sure if I (and other WildStorm fans) are drawing a true connection here or not. We’re presented with Dr. Mary Cross, a therapist that Cray often goes to. Her name, as well as being involved with Cray, leads many to think she is the new version of Sister Mary who worked for the Order of the Cross. It’s possible that this is all a big coinkidink. But I say no-inkidink! I think it’s just a sly reference for all of us fanboys/girls out there, but no real resemblance in actions, appearance or place in Cray’s life to Sister Mary.

Skywatch
SkyWatch was the satellite station, high above the Earth, that StormWatch operated out of in the WSU. It was mostly a base for the personal of StormWatch, active superhero types or not. Now it seems as if Skywatch is the name of the agency that polices, or is at least in charge of outer space/the area of space around Earth. So instead of “SkyWatch, the home of StormWatch” it’s more like a “Skywatch, the home of Skywatch” kind of thing. Also, we have no idea what it looks like yet in “the Wild Storm.”

New & What We Don’t Know

Majestic Level Event
We have mention of a Majestic Level Event, but nothing more on what that might mean. As WildStorm fans, we’re all expecting it to be a reference to Lord Majestros AKA Mr. Majestic. It probably is, but we have no idea what the event was, or why it is important.

John
Marlowe makes a reference to a John for Cole to take to capture/rescue Angela. Could it be John Colt, the inspiration for Spartan in the old continuity? John Lynch, of Team 7 and Gen13 fame? That could work, as he and Cole knew each other quite well in the old WSU. John Stone? Eh, probably not. Besides just the core group, I doubt we’re going to see any “Planetary” characters at all in “the Wild Storm.” My money is on John Colt.

Miles Craven’s Assistant
How is it that we still don’t know this woman’s name? Is it going to be some big twist on an old character? Is she going to end up being Joan Lynch, Francine Colby or Bebe Santini? I kinda hope so. Odds are, that it’s probably just the new version of Alicia Turner.

Lady Backlash Records
Ah ha ha ha. Ok, so this the record label Voodoo is on. I think it might be as close to any reference to Backlash as we’re going to get. You might be saying “Hey, wasn’t Backlash a dude?” well, yeah, he was, but then his daughter took over the name (after going by both Crimson and Jet) for a short time. Though, she was simply just Backlash, not Lady Backlash. Such a small throw away line leads me to think that this is it for any kind of Backlash revival, but if Jody Slayton is running the record label, that could be pretty neat.

Answers

Cray’s Cancer
As predicted, this version of Cray also has cancer. The previous Cray had cancer of the god-damn-everything, this one just has brain cancer.

Voodoo’s Job
It’s pretty clear that Pris is some kind of musical artist, considering she’s on a record label. She seems somewhere between Lady Gaga big spectacle oddness, and Beyonce cool. Her album is called “Blue Book” which is a direct reference to the alien theme for her project that she spoke of in issue 1.

the Division
Turns out that the Division is the ground forces for Skywatch. Glad that’s cleared up. In the old WSU there was an aquatic based version of StormWatch called SeaWatch, but that was more of a scientific exploration kind of thing by the U.N. than a super-hero kind of thing.

One Last Thing

Angela’s Armor
I thought of this earlier this week before issue 2 of “the Wild Storm” came out, and that’s that Angela’s armor isn’t as sleek as what she had in the former WSU. Also, that it now hurts her to change into that form. Suddenly, I remembered that there was an old WSU character very similar to this, and that was Brass.
His robo-form was a lot bigger and mech-like, but it was also bulky and it hurt him to change as well. I don’t think that this is an intentional reference, to be honest, and there’s nothing to show that Brass was ever even thought of when creating the new version of the Engineer. I just thought it was a cool connection to mention.