In The Beginning...
By: Andrew Hines
Though I haven't reviewed it in a while, I've enjoyed the last year of Stormwatch. It's a big picture title, which really pulls you in. They're not just there to save America or even the Americas plural. They exist in order to deal with big threats before they become a problem for teams like the Justice League. This issue deals with their entire history. It goes from the time that they were known as the Demon Knights and gives a new reason for the name change. In other words it tells us why they're called Stormwatch. The recurring characters throughout the history have been Adam One and the various Century Babies which seem to just be incarnations of Jenny Quantum.
Peter Milligan has given me plenty of reason to love Stormwatch in the few months. He began writing at #9 and has given us plenty of action. In this issue, however, action takes a backseat and the story takes over. Don't get me wrong, there's plenty of action, it's just not (the comic book version of) "real time." Instead, we get to see some heavy-hitting past incarnations of Jenny Quantum and Adam One doing his best Benjamin Button impersonation. It's a new look at how to write an origin issue for a super team and frankly, it was an interesting one. I'm not typically a fan of "0" issues, so I was pleasantly surprised by this one.
Will Conrad has done a good job here on both pencils and inks. I say good and not great because at several points, both Jenny Quantum and Adam One begin to look like ReBoot characters a little bit. Overall, however it's a good issue, but those moments kind of stuck with me. There was slightly better work in regard to the effects generated by each version of Jenny. Along with that, the colors from Guy Major were a decent fit. The shading was a tad "off" in certain bits which didn't exactly help correct the ReBoot look.
It was a slightly above average issue in terms of art, but the writing was really what saved it. This one get's a "B-". My faith in the creative team's true potential is all that keeps it from getting a C-range grade.
