the entry covers “Jim Lee’s WildC.A.T.s : Grifter vs. Daemonite” Special Edition issue 1, which came boxed with the “Grifter vs. Daemonite” two pack from the Playmates WildC.A.T.s toy line
When I first got a hold of this book (thanks to fellow WildStorm fan Brian Hartless) I didn’t read it. I didn’t read it because I was sure it took place in the “WildC.A.T.s Adventures” series of titles, not the main WildStorm continuity, so you know, I thought it’d be a fun curio and not so much something for this site. Once I did read it, I thought “Damn… well… hmmm…” It is drawn much more in the style of the regular WSU titles, and there’s nothing here that contradicts anything we know about the regular series either. See, there are differences between cartoon and comics versions of the WildC.A.T.s, and this almost seems as if it was written to not touch on any of those differences. That’s pretty damn genius when you think about it.
So what’s the story? We have our old friend Cole busting up an executive board meeting in a high rise. There’s a suspected Daemonite among them. Cole uses a few tricks and gets the Daemonite to out them self. Then it’s a fight to the death, which even involves falling out of a skyscraper window and battling on a rooftop. While Cole is seemingly pinned down and out of ammo he calls for the rest of the team. The Daemonite overhearing this decides to charge Cole thinking him defenseless. Ha ha, you stupid alien, that was a bluff, Cole totally has more bullets to shoot into you! But wait, he wasn’t teasing about calling in the rest of the WildC.A.T.s, so now they’re here to kick your ass too! Fun, but short story, which is expected.
Continuity Corner :
- I figure that this happens fairly early on in the “WildC.A.T.s” Vol. 1 run. I put it shortly before 14 because much of the team is still acting like, well, a team. Cole is still a member of the WildC.A.T.s so we know this happened before issue 20. Also, we are also on Earth and have Pris on the team, so either this took place before issue 22 or after issue 50.
- This issue presents us with a story that has the main motivation of the WildC.A.T.s team to be fighting the Daemonites, which kinda dropped off after they got back from space. Sure, Helspont and Defile kept causing trouble, but that was more out of revenge than trying to have the Daemonites win a centuries over war. Which is why I like having it before issue 15, as once we get to that issue, it’s pretty much a straight line towards “WildStorm Rising” which removes a lot of the characters and motivation for this story.
- During the “WildStorm : Chamber of Horrors” special we don’t see Cole, so this is an acceptable solo mission for him to be on, while the others hang out, telling stories, waiting for him to make a call to action if he needs them.
weathering wildstorm 