WSU vs. the Wild Storm 18

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 and Davis-Hunt are going with this new series, and honestly, I couldn’t be more on board with what they and their 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 a week ago. 

 

New vs. Old

Seemingly Unaffiliated Khera

So we see two Khera at an outdoor bar in Los Angeles. They look to be in their native forms, and can also, either naturally or via some unseen tech, fly under the radar of everyone around them. I mean they are able to be seen and heard enough to order drinks it seems, but other than that they are hidden. These two remind me a lot of the Wild Storm version of John Cole in that they’re trying to enjoy the finer things Earth has to offer, but unlike him, they don’t work for or with Jacob anymore. Interesting. In the old WSU we didn’t meet many Kherubims who hid from Emp and the other WildC.A.T.s. Some of them didn’t join up right away (Majestros, Mythos & Eve,) others antagonized them (Promethos), but mostly there wasn’t any Kherubim hiding in the fringes avoiding Emp and Co while trying to save the Earth in their own way.

New and What We Don’t Know

Slayton’s New Mission
Lynch has pointed Slayton at I.O. in New York. Not sure how this is going to play out. Back in the old WSU Lynch never seemed to have this much authority over Slayton. How will Slayton pull off his new mission to kill Miles, I’ve very curious to see this one!

Ella on the Train
Who is this woman on the train that Michael is speaking to? Is she going to be a major or minor player? Or just a single serving friend for Michael as he passes the time on the train. I really don’t think it’s a new version of the old WSU character Elizabeth Rowan AKA Black Betty from “StormWatch PHD” but I could be wrong. She’s the only old WSU character that I could think of that could go by “Ella” for short.

Drunk Kheras Motivation
Back to those two vodka swilling Khera in LA. The motivations of these two remain a mystery. They want the Earth to survive to have a chance at life. They are also trying to balance the Khera influence between Jacob’s “The Earth will not be a slave camp” and Lucy’s “Die in a fire, buddy!” sides as well as from I.O. and Skywatch. Is the only reason they want life on Earth to be safe is for the possibility of a slave planet? Other than anti-Jacob, what are Lucy’s true plans and motivation? Do those Khera just hate her because she’s working with the humans, even if towards the same goal?

Answers

King Giving Shit to Craven
I don’t know about the rest of you, but man, didn’t Jackie King just sound so much like Jackson King in these first two pages? When Jackie is being light-hearted she’s a lot different than the former WSU version of Jackson King, but when they get mad when they want results, and when they get angry, oh yeah, that’s the J. King I remember! Wasn’t sure where we were going with this character, but oh man, is she ever a new version of Jackson King!

Dr. Ragnar Helspont
This dude looks pretty human to me! It remains to be seen if he’s Daemon, Khera or possibly Acurian posing as a human as we’ve seen the Khera being able to do. Although we do know that Dr. Helspont has helped in the creation of some of Skywatch’s superpowered “agents.” And we’ve seen the Mayor/Hawksmoor lament that he may just be an upgraded human, made to be able to live on a slave camp of a planet… hmmm… slave camp planet, eh? Where have we heard that before? Signs are pointing to Ragnar being Khera, wanting to fulfill the original Khera plan on Earth, and using Bendix and Skywatch to achieve those ends.

At least his hair is pretty wild.

“Heaven’s Box” is Skywatch
I mean, I should’ve guessed this, but hey, I’m only willing to make so many crazy leaps in logic per write up!

Superpowered Skywatch Agents on Earth
So we now kind of know the answer to several characters we’ve found in the past several issues. The diner kid, Slayton’s Skywatch victim, the (ahem) mystery duo and the Mayor are all people that Skywatch has given powers to in one way or another of the course of several years. Bendix has them run around on Earth so that they can’t get at him easily. Maybe that’s another reason that he doesn’t like being stuck on Earth for too long.

Michael Cray’s Khera Implant Activation
Well, I wasn’t expecting an answer on Michael’s Khera Implant so soon, but yeah, it seems like he was implanted by I.O. way back under Dr. Helspont. The crazy doc seems to think that it was Jacob’s spur that finally jumpstarted the Khera awake inside Michael. Looking at the “Michael Cray” comic I guess we can put together that when he was at injured “in the desert” and being patched up by I.O. is when he got the Khera DNA implant.

Something is Indeed Different about Lynch
Andrew Kwok said it first, that Lynch’s brain was weird. Now Slayton is saying that something smells wrong about Lynch. We’ve yet to see Lynch exhibit any superpowers, just a lot of cowboy/action hero badassery!

The Halo C.A.T. is Headed Out on a Mission

While we don’t see where they’re going, we get a pretty great page of the team heading out to keep more crazy technology out of I.O.’s hands. The last panel just feels like vintage WildC.A.T.s to me. I’m not sure who all will agree with me on that, but damn, that panel is the type of stuff that would get me excited about a comic in only the way WildC.A.T.s could.

The Authority is Here!

Angie has left the Halo team and joined up with Jenny, Shen and the Mayor. I also like how Angie calls Hawksmoor on looking way too much like the Mayor… A cleaned up Hawksmoor can’t change his look too terribly much. Also, nice to know that Angie knew the Mayor!

Lucy’s Rejection of Jacob
We learn from the Khera at the bar that Jacob didn’t want to go through with the original plan of turning Earth into a slave camp. We don’t know exactly why Jacob made that choice. We also don’t really know why this choice pissed off Lucy so damn much. So yeah, we kind of get closer on figuring out what Jacob didn’t tell Angie several issues ago, but there’s still so much more to learn.

One Last Thing

A bit ago I said that the new version of John Lynch reminded me a lot of Sam Elliot. After a few issues of thinking this, I went straight to the source. Here’s what artist Jon Davis-Hunt had to say:

And that’s a wrap on the third story arc! We pretty much have the Authority together, Michael Cray re-entered the narrative, we have the WildC.A.T.s going on missions and getting the Gen13 kids together seems to be on John Lynch’s mind. “The Wild Storm” is such a good set-up book! I hope the final arc ties it all together. I hope we get those spin-offs for Lucy, the WildC.A.T.s and the Authority. Hell, it’s been plenty set up, get me a Gen13 book! Once again, I enjoyed the hell out of it, hope you did too!

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