Stormwatch 1 Thoughts

Writer: Paul Cornell
Artist: Miguel Sepulveda

From the very beginning, Stormwatch got a pass from the fandom. People saw "Stormwatch" and the words "Paul Cornell", and suddenly people were okay with one title from the 52, if none of the rest.

Personally, I'm not quite so convinced. Stormwatch was one of those "mature" superhero titles that came out of WildStorm during the late nineties or so. They introduced wide-screen storytelling, and heroes that weren't afraid to get their hands dirty to "get the job done". To be honest, it was a bit rubbish (I'm one of a handful that will say that--most will disagree vehemently--but this is *my* site), and I'm not a giant fan of Stormwatch or Authority, but I gave it a shot because I wanted to see how it would work having "always" been apart of the DCU.

It works out about like I thought it would. Paul Cornell spends the issue laying out who these characters are and what they can do, much like Geoff Johns' Justice League. The difference being--I don't actually care about most of these characters. The only one that I actually care about is Martian Manhunter, who appears to be a bit different in this new DCU, though not necessarily in a bad way. (He's apparently pulling double duty, working with the Justice League and Stormwatch as necessary.)

The art needs a bit of work, but then again I don't actually know Sepulveda from anything so I can't tell if this was a rush job, the fault of the inker, or if he's improving over time like Jim is on Justice League. It's serviceable though, so no big deal there--the story's the focus.

They're trying to build up to getting the entire team together while simultaneously setting up a threat big enough for characters that are all basically broken. (Stormwatch characters tend to have powers that are more conceptual in basis than ones that can be measured on your typical scale. For instance, one of the members of this new team can talk to cities and coerce them to do things. Seriously.) It's not a terrible start, especially if you're either emotionally invested in these characters or like the big ideas Stormwatch throws at you.

Me? Still not convinced. I like heroes. They're cool, and reading about them is fun. These guys, and the attitude that created them, are kind of pretentious. Only time will tell if I care about this book or not.