this entry covers the main story from “WildC.A.T.s” Vol. 1 issue 8 and 9 as well as the back-up story “Warblade : the Bonds of Blood and Steel” from “WildC.A.T.s” Vol. 1 issue 9.
The idea of these issues are to show how the team spends their time off from being a member of a covert action team. Grifter and Zealot hit up a dive bar, Warblade and Maul go out to look at art and mac on ladies, Jacob checks up on an investment, Spartan follows Jacob, Voodoo follows Spartan and Void stays at home all alone… so very alone. Of course something goes wrong eventually and they have to suit up and take down some jackass, but seeing the team with some downtime is fun.
Grifter and Zealot are at one of Grifter’s old haunts, the diveiest of dives. A place so divey that southern redneck types hang out there, despite the bar being in New York City. There’s a bar brawl, Zealot wins and Grifter gets a message on his pager from Cyberjack with the code “T7.” Grifter lets Zealot know that he’s gotta bolt, personal guy stuff. She gives him a rather forward kiss for luck, and he’s off to the pages of “the Kindred” a little dismayed that his ex, that he’s having trouble getting over, just frenched in an NYC alleyway. So if you want to follow the thread of Grifter’s story bale out now and wait a month and I’ll get to it (kidding, I hope it isn’t another month between blogs!)
Warblade and Maul. I’ve already told you. Maccin’ on babes, visiting art shows.
Jacob, Voodoo and Spartan are sailing the high seas on one of Jacob’s cruise liners. Jeeze, Jacob sure got a lot done in the two years after Void found him in the streets! That’s besides the point, Jacob and crew are out on this cruise because he just had another one of his cruise ships go missing in this location. What kind of heroes are these? So one ship goes missing, why not get aboard another ship, strike out towards the same location with a whole bunch more innocent people and see what happens. Nope, let’s not go this alone, let’s endanger folks. Good call. Also, known mutie scum may be aboard this vessel as well.
Well, wouldn’t you know it, just before Voodoo got Spartan all talked into a smooch does Jacob stop by. Even worse is that after Jacob delivers a few lines that the whole ship is sucked up into the air. Voodoo, you’re never going to get to bang that robot at this rate. This brings up an interesting point. Voodoo has never been presented as an innocent, hell she used to be an exotic dancer, but in these scenes with Spartan she’s coming on much more forward than we’ve ever seen and pretty much more than we’ll see going forward. It always stands out to me when I re-read this issue. It’s not totally off base, but just enough to notice.
Back to the main dilemma, a boat being sucked into the sky. Turns out this is the work of Lord Entropy, another one of the Kherubim high lords that came to Earth. And he’s seeking vengeance on our lil buddy Jacob a.k.a. Lord Emp. Why the vengeance? Turns out that back in the middle ages when Jacob and Entropy were fighting as English knights Jacob killed Entropy’s wife. Why? Because she had just become a host to a Daemonite. That’s what Kherubim do, they hunt Daemonites (and if they’re English knights at the time, they also probably give the Scots a hard time as well.) Either Entropy forgets that a Daemonite took over his wife, or he missed that happening, because it doesn’t matter to him a bit. Dude’s out for Emp blood.
Back in New York, Void gets a vision of what’s going on. It helps that Entropy is using an orb/part of an orb to torture Jacob and co. because that helps her clue right in on the problem and where to go. She gets Jules to find Zealot and Zealot tracks down Warblade and Maul and they all rocket out to sea to find their fellow teammates. In a floating castle. With innocent cruiseliner folks lining the walls, while crystals grow around them, embedding them. For some reason.
Entropy is kicking everyone’s ass. The WildC.A.T.s he captured and the WildC.A.T.s that just showed up. As I said earlier, he has the power of the orb/an orb and it is amping his natural Kherubim powers. This give Void the bright idea to bond with Jacob and shut this joker down. Team up and blast ‘em. It works! The ‘C.A.T.s book it back to their plain/spaceship M.I.R.V. and are on they’re way back to NYC. Jules managed to save about 20 civilians while the rest of the team was taking care of business.
While captured Entropy does something to Jacob’s brain that gets him to remember the long life he has had. Dude has virtually no memory of what came before that day in August of 1990 when Void found him drunk in an alley. After Entropy does his thing Jacob’s brain is fixed and he starts to come to terms with who he is as well as what he’s done over his long life on Earth. Technically for this reason the “Team One” stories should probably be placed here, as they “WildC.A.T.s” issues are flashbacks of Jacob thinking over his life, thoughts he couldn’t’ve had prior the the events of “WildC.A.T.s” issue 9, but everyone is always on my case of not putting “Team One” in the “Pre-History” section. But look, the books are from Jacob’s memories, which he just got back from that mess with Lord Entropy! Also, all this thinking makes Jacob want to quit the team. Hell, if he saw what was coming in the next few issues, I wouldn’t blame him.
Back-up story time! Warblade takes down a Daemonite in an apartment. The Daemonite had taken over the life of single father. The son of said father sees Warblade take down his pops, but the kid is none the wiser of the alien possession. Warblade does the right thing and gets kid to the Halo Legal Department and tells them to help the kid find a new and decent home. Kid does an adorable little kid punch at Warblade’s face. Eh, not the worst short story, but not much there except for Travis Charest’s artwork.
Where to find these stories:
- the “Absolute WildC.A.T.s by Jim Lee” hard back
- Comixology: “WildC.A.T.s” vol. 1 issues 8 & 9
weathering wildstorm 