WSU vs. The Wild Storm 9

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 really like doing this compare and contrast thing! 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 earlier this week.

 

New vs. Old

Big Green Robot
When Angela, Jacob, and Adri first enter Jacob’s lab, we see a huge green robot hanging in the room. While it looks like an android that is meant to be piloted by a human, it does recall the two huge green cyborgs from the original WSU, H.A.R.M. and Met-L. Who knows if this robot is related to either as it could even be a reference to Maul seeing how it is big and green. Also, it is emblazoned with the number 52, as DC seems to have a real boner for that numeral.

John Lynch
We find out from Miles Craven that John Lynch was the man who was Director of I.O. before Miles. This is a bit of a role reversal from the original WSU where, yeah, Lynch was the director of I/O, but I/O was still under the Security Czar, who was Miles Craven. In effect, Craven used to be Lynch’s boss until Lynch left I/O, and in “the Wild Storm” Lynch used to be Craven’s boss until Lynch left I/O and Craven took his job. In the old continuity Lynch left I/O and went on the lam with a bunch of super-powered teenagers, after he became disillusioned with what I/O was doing in general, and how Craven was running things specifically. We don’t know why this new version of Lynch left I.O. yet, but we know that he knew Cole Cash. In the old WSU Lynch and Cash go way back as they were both part of an elite military group known as Team 7.

New & What We Don’t Know

Clade Societal Ranking
We learn that in the clades the individual names of the aliens represent what clade they are in which also reflects their rank in society. The fewer the syllables, the higher the rank. There also seems to be implications for the letters and pronunciation, so we still have a lot to learn!

John Colt’s Real Name
We find out that John Colt’s real name (more on alien names below) is eight syllables and has a “U” sound in the middle. So I guess his real name isn’t Yohn Kohl as it was in the previous WSU.

Answers

Emp & Zannah’s names
For the first time, we learn that Emp and Zannah are going to be names used in this new universe. So far we hadn’t seen Jacob be referred to as Emp or Lucy as Zannah, or that they had names outside of what we’d previously learned.

Clades
We see John and Kenesha discus their clades in this issue. We now know for a fact that Jacob, Lucy, Kenesha and John are each from different clades. That just leaves us with one clade that we have not met as of yet. Also, as being from differing clades, this probably means that Kenesha and Zannah are not related in this universe.

DCU Connections

Paul Kirk / Manhunter
Paul Kirk (as well as many clones of him) is the crimefighter known as Manhunter in the DCU. Except the Golden Age Paul Kirk who was mostly a tough guy private investigator, whom the movie character that Mitch likes seems to be more based on. Once again we’re seeing media based on C-list DC Characters, much like the Doom Patrol was in issue three.

One Last Thing

Thunderbook
We find out that one of John Lynch’s big projects at I.O. was called Project Thunderbook. It seems as if Ellis is never one to let a good name be forgotten, you see “Thunderbook” was also the name of a special from WildStorm Studios back in the day filled with short stories. Put this on the list of WildStorm things that I didn’t think I’d see referenced in “the Wild Storm!”

More issue comparisons of the old WildStorm Universe to “The Wild Storm.”