Five First Issues of Wildcats

  Five First Issues of Wildcats

A lot of fans like to complain about the seemingly constant restarts of comic book titles nowadays. They longingly remember the days when every title had a hundred issues under its belt, and the best titles had four or five hundred. Some of the most frequent targets of criticism are the titles from Image, many of which re-launch every two or three years.

And yet, there is something positive in all of this. By restarting their titles so frequently, the publishers and imprints allow us to see some of the flexibility within the superhero genre. The concepts are malleable, the characters multi-faceted. Plus, it’s certainly easier to compare a title that re-launches several times in the same decade. The styles are similar enough that the contrasts highlight the differences in approach rather than changes over time.

WildC.A.T.S #1 (1992)

By Jim Lee, Brandon Choi and Scott Williams

Welcome to the Image Revolution! Image Comics was formed in 1992 when seven artists left Marvel Comics in order to take control of their own careers. Since the company was artist-driven, the titles tended to feature bold art and nearly non-stop action. However, the artists were also determined to prove that they didn’t need writers or editors. In retrospect, most of them proved the opposite. Jim Lee’s WildC.A.T.S #1 was one of the best of the new releases, though it still suffered from some of the same lack of clarity as the others.

The basic concept behind the original WildC.A.T.S is a fairly straightforward superhero team. There are some slight twists- visions and dreams, hints of alien races that have been warring over Earth for centuries, a corporation backing the team rather than a private millionaire like Tony Stark or Bruce Wayne- but still, a standard superhero title. The thing that set WildC.A.T.s apart at the time was that it was a little more violent and edgier than the current comics published by DC and Marvel under the auspices of the Comic Code Authority were allowed to be. The characters who used swords actually cut people with them rather than just hitting them with the flat of the blade. And guns actually shot people- something you would have never seen watching The A-Team or The Dukes of Hazzard. The other thing that WildC.A.T.S #1 had going for it was the stellar Jim Lee art. It was powerful, arresting, captivating. Even supposedly quieter scenes such as Jacob Marlowe getting a morning shave were dynamic.

The story starts with Void, a teleporter who can transverse both space and time. She passes through the past and the future, giving us glimpses of obstacles that the team may have to deal with at some point, before finding her destination. She discovers Jacob Marlowe, a homeless dwarf lying in a gutter. She picks him up, tells him he has a destiny and teleports him away. The story then jumps forward to the present day- 1992- with Jacob Marlowe lying in another gutter. He gets up and we learn that he’s no longer homeless; he was sleeping off a hangover and is now the head of a multi-national corporation. Void tells Marlowe that she’s still having dreams of the destruction of reality before they check in on their “Covert Action Team” which is currently in a training session. The team is made up of Spartan, Warblade and Maul. We then check in with the bad guys, a mixture of super-powered villains and regular Mafioso who work under the Daemonite Helspont. After a quick interlude with Marlowe, we meet Cole, a mercenary soldier, as he enters a strip club. However, we learn that he’s not there to watch the dancers but to protect one of them- Voodoo- as some of the villains we met in the earlier scene also arrive in order to capture or kill her. Voodoo can apparently see that they’re really demons, in spite of the human faces they wear. Cole puts on his Grifter mask and engages in a gunfight with the villains. The WildC.A.T.S arrive and the fight escalates before Grifter’s partner Zealot finishes it. Marlowe invites everyone back to his headquarters, one of the surviving villains detonates a bomb and the strip club is blown to smithereens. Helspont, believing the WildC.A.T.S to be dead, talks to his ally about their plans for the future. The ally is Dan Quayle. And that’s the end.

It’s a very strong first issue. Jim Lee introduces as many as four threats- the asteroid that crashed in the Soviet Union in the past, the government agency that plans to shut them down in the future, Void’s dreams of the destruction and the Daemonite crimelord Helspont- all of which may or may not be inter-related. He also does a good job of introducing the characters. We meet Void and Marlowe, and then Grifter and Voodoo, as they meet each other. We get clear introductions to Helspont and Spartan and a dramatic entrance for Zealot. We only get bits and pieces of other characters- Helspont’s agents as well as Warblade and Maul- but it’s better to allow a couple of characters to work in the background than to overfill a first issue with introductions. We also get some great splash pages and lots of action- the signature pieces that people who would have bought the book would have been looking for. However, as noted earlier, there were a few problems in terms of clarity. I wasn’t always sure if Grifter and Zealot were supposed to be rivals to or members of the WildC.A.T.S. After multiple readings, it’s now clear to me that they had previously been rivals who are brought into the team as of this point. But that’s a fairly minor quibble considering all that was right with this issue.

Wildcats #1 (1999)

By Scott Lobdell, Travis Charest and Richard Friend

Do you remember the minor twists that I mentioned earlier? It’s about time to see what happens when those minor twists become major ones. By this time, Jim Lee’s Wildstorm imprint had become known for cutting-edge comics. Warren Ellis was in the midst of transforming the U.N. sanctioned StormWatch into The Authority. Alan Moore had completed an incredible run on WildCATS (without restarting the title with a new number one) and was now in the process of creating his own America’s Best Comics imprint. And Wildstorm had become a big tent imprint, welcoming such titles as Kurt Busiek’s Astro City and J. Scott Campbell’s Danger Girls into its fold. Jim Lee had capitalized on all of this success by leaving Image Comics and selling his Wildstorm imprint to DC Comics. In the midst of all of this critical acclaim and commercial success, Wildcats was given a second life.

The original name WildC.A.T.S stood for “Covert Action Teams.” But while there was plenty of action, there wasn’t anything covert about the WildC.A.T.S. For 50 issues, they had been pretty straightforward superheroes, more violent than most, but still running around in bright costumes and blowing things up in the bright of day. No more. Scott Lobdell’s second volume emphasized the covert part of “Covert Action Team.” They would become secret operatives. They would work in the shadows. They would move behind the scenes in order to thwart the plans of villains even before they came to fruition. They were more James Bond than Superman.

The story opens with somebody swimming underwater in the canals of Venice. When the swimmer eventually emerges from the water, we discover that it’s Grifter. He’s in Venice in order to intercept a payoff to a weapons dealer. He figures he can stop international crime and get a big payoff at the same time. However, Grifter discovers that the client is actually Spartan. The seller is the French-speaking Noir, who looks like he might be of Algerian descent and refers to himself annoyingly in the third person. Grifter discovers that Noir has brought several snipers to take out Spartan. After the shooting begins, Grifter takes down the snipers, saving his former teammate rather than intercepting the deal. Meanwhile, Spartan reveals that he is working undercover. He tells Noir that he wants to be taken to the source of the weapons. The conversation slash interrogation is interrupted by a huge tank. Spartan takes on the tank while Grifter and Noir flee down the streets of Venice together. Noir tries to escape with the money but Grifter stops him. And Spartan stops the tank only to discover a self-destruct bomb hidden inside. The tank blows up, but the Wildcats and Noir are teleported back to a base. Marlowe is there to greet them but he no longer looks human. Instead, he’s evolved into a cross between Yoda and E.T. Grifter knocks Noir unconscious, has an argument with Marlowe and Spartan and attempts to storm out. But Marlowe calls him back with a warning about the weapons they’re up against and the potential Armageddon. Grifter reluctantly agrees to join up again. And that’s the end.

This version of Wildcats certainly does a great job of differentiating itself from the earlier one. The emphasis on the covert aspect of the concept keeps it consistent with the earlier incarnation while also giving it a life of its own. And Travis Charest seems to be a perfect fit as an artist. He doesn’t pack as much into each page as Jim Lee did, and makes excellent use of panels without borders. The result is that the art has more room to breathe and achieves a mood that really captures the covert noir aspect of the story. Unfortunately, Lobdell and company decided to emphasize “covert” at the expense of “team.” I can’t help wondering if the change in concept would have worked just as well if the team was still a team, a la Mission: Impossible, instead of having been “scattered to the four winds” as Marlowe says. Also, Charest gives Grifter a wonderful opening sequence while swimming in the canals but Lobdell forgets to tell us his name until page 15. I admit that it’s probably preferable to having Grifter refer to himself in the third person, as Noir does, but there are several pages of dialogue with either Noir or Spartan in which Grifter’s name could have been included without feeling like forced information. Still, as with the first volume, it’s a fairly minor quibble in an otherwise outstanding first issue.

Wildcats Version 3.0 #1 (2002)

By Joe Casey, Dustin Nguyen and Richard Friend

It’s time for another twist on the Wildcats concept. Alan Moore had already explored the alien races warring on Earth for centuries during his run on the first volume. Scott Lobdell took a look at the covert side of a Covert Action Team. Joe Casey’s third volume does something that had never been before. Wildcats 3.0 focuses on the fact that the team was sponsored and supported by a major corporation. Now, other teams and titles had explored the corporate aspect before. But they had all concentrated on the corporate sponsorship. The heroes were usually characterized as sell-outs while corporate interests interfered in the operation of the team and prevented them from saving the world. Casey flips the old paradigm on its head. What if, instead of being beholden to the company, the heroes use the company itself to change the world? Wildcats 3.0 answers that question. Instead of merely using the Halo Corporation as a support structure for their superhero activities, they concentrate on improving the world through commercial products: “Your world… only better.”

The issue opens in Viet Nam. Cole Cash (Grifter) attends a black tie soiree. He introduces himself to a local manufacturer on behalf of Jacob Marlowe. We then jump to Washington D.C. where an agent Waxman, also called Wax, is asking to be let back into a covert agency that operates beneath of the cloak of the National Park Service. He’s let back in but forbidden from field work for the time being. Next up is the headquarters of the Halo Corporation in Los Angeles. Spartan, who has now apparently adopted Jacob Marlowe’s name as his own, is addressing a board meeting. He congratulates them on their trite attempts at establishing the Halo brand and then tells them of his grand plans “to take over the world, figuratively speaking.” At this point, it certainly seems possible that Spartan has gone rogue. It’s happened before. Back in Viet Nam, Cole kills a naked woman who had planned to assassinate him after sleeping with him. He calls back into Halo headquarters and is teleported home, still naked. He puts on his costume and his gear. Waxman infiltrates a biogenetics lab. Spartan acquires his own accounting firm. Grifter destroys the child labor sweatshop of the manufacturer who tried to have him assassinated and lets the kids kill their former tormentor. Waxman shows up at a crime scene that happens to be at a high-end Washington brothel. He then meets with Grifter in a local bar where the two trade information. In Florida, a red-headed modern cowgirl kills an FBI agent that Waxman had been worried about. And finally, we get to watch a Halo commercial promoting their new never-ending battery, featuring a little angel Ladytron.

First of all, the overall concept is incredible. That’s the real strength here. I can’t say that I’ve ever read anything else quite like it. Yet, Casey also manages to strike a good balance with the other aspects of the title. He doesn’t forget to include a little bit of espionage and action in order to keep things interesting. Grifter throws somebody out of a window and blows up a building in separate scenes. And, although we follow the same two characters that were featured in Scott Lobdell’s first issue, there is at least a sense of teamwork. Spartan and Grifter are working towards the same goal, and are still part of the same identity, even if they’re working separately and pursuing those goals separately.

Yet this issue isn’t perfect. Like Lobdell, Casey doesn’t always bother to introduce the characters. Cole Cash hands out his business card so we know who he is, but Spartan isn’t clearly identified. He’s called Mr. Marlowe but then refers to his predecessor as Mr. Marlowe, making the whole “taking on the name of his former mentor” thing somewhat confusing. The cowgirl assassin at the end of the issue isn’t named at all. The connection between the Wildcats and Agent Waxman is also a little unclear. We do find out that Waxman and Grifter have some kind of connection, but it’s still obscure. Dustin Nguyen’s art doesn’t help in this regard. The three main characters all look too similar- tall, muscular men with reddish to blonde hair. Waxman sometimes looks like Spartan and sometimes like Grifter. The only way to tell them apart is by their haircuts, but in the one scene in which two of the characters actually meet together, even their haircuts are similar. Apparently, we’re supposed to tell them apart based on Grifter’s stubble and sideburns. Finally, I like the idea of superheroes saving the world through commercialism, but the commercial itself isn’t that good. If we’re going to believe in the concept, we need to believe in the commercials- that they’d actually be on TV and be able to persuade people to buy the products. We don’t. Wildcats 3.0 has the strongest concept but the weakest execution. Even so, it’s strengths easily outweigh it’s weaknesses, arousing curiosity about how this will all work out.

Wildcats #1 (2006)

By Grant Morrison, Jim Lee and Scott Williams

Despite the unique takes on superheroes, or perhaps because of them, Wildcats had waned in popularity by 2006. In fact, the whole line was in need of a pick-me-up. The solution was a high-profile splash. Grant Morrison, one of the biggest names in comic books, was brought in as the writer. And Jim Lee, the founder of WildC.A.T.S and still one of the biggest artists in the business, was brought back as penciler. The basic premise was a return to the bold superhero stories that were the hallmark of the first volume. But this version of Wildcats wouldn’t ignore the volumes that had come before. It would keep the covert operations and the corporation. But they would be pieces of puzzle, not the entire picture. The real key would be the action: fistfights and threats from outer space and actual super-villains. And it would be up to Grant Morrison, known for many crazy ideas of his own, to blend all of this incredible elements into one title.

The story starts with a hook- “the unstoppable rise of the superheroes”- and a history lesson. The history lesson tells about heroes who have come before- heroes who are shown but not mentioned by name. The original WildC.A.T.s are part of the montage, as is The Authority. We then look in on Cole Cash, Grifter, who is lying down drunk in an alley in Rio de Janeiro. A young boy asks Grifter for help only to be interrupted by some thugs who beat the both of them up. In orbit, Priscilla Kitaen, Voodoo, arrives for an appointment with Spartan, who’s going by Hadrian again instead of Jacob Marlowe. We’re informed of Halo’s latest commercial product- your very own personal home protection android. Spartan then asks Voodoo to rejoin Halo. He still wants to change the world through the corporation. Voodoo doesn’t accept the offer right away, though she extends an offer to Spartan of her own, which leads to a bedroom scene. After that, we get a scene with some nameless henchmen working in a hidden base in an asteroid field. They’re working for a reanimated Kaizen Gamorra, one of the villains from the first series. We also see a fleet of alien spaceships led by Helspont. The Daemonites attack a planet, and we discover that the defense is being led by Zealot. She fights a delaying action designed to let others escape. Majestic then arrives to tell her that Helspont’s next target is Earth. Back on Earth, Grifter goes after the thugs who have been terrorizing the local neighborhood. He discovers that they’re actually Daemonites after killing them. And that’s the end.

As a first issue, the fourth volume of Wildcats is fast-moving and exciting. No scenes last longer than four pages and several are as short as one. Yet even the one-page scenes introducing Halo’s latest venture or the super-villains on the rise clearly establish some aspect of the series. Altogether, the issue feels like a ride on a roller-coaster- bouncing up and down from the gutters to a station in outer space, swinging you around from one scene to the next- in a way that’s wildly exhilarating. It may not stand up to close scrutiny- it’s not quite clear how everything is supposed to fit together- but it’s an incredibly enjoyable experience at the time.

There are some nice artistic touches as well. Jim Lee uses a technical layout in order to introduce the home security android as well as thermal imaging for the bedroom scene so that it’s a little less overt. There are subtle touches, too, such as Spartan’s slightly tilted head and part smirk part smile when he tells Voodoo that he has an offer. And, of course, there are the powerful action shots and splash pages, such as Majestic’s dramatic entrance. I suppose my only real complaint is that there wasn’t an issue two. The re-launch was aborted shortly after take-off. The superstars couldn’t keep up with a monthly schedule, or any schedule, because of their other commitments. Eventually, the title simply moved on to another installment.

Wildcats #5 (2008)

By Christos Gage and Neil Googe

In my introduction, I mentioned the malleability that is possible for a title like Wildcats. There’s a level of creative freedom that simply isn’t available on a title like The Avengers or the Justice League of America. Those other titles generally have to hold tighter onto their core concept. And those other worlds generally have to closely resemble our own. That isn’t the case with Wildcats. It can play a little more loosely with its core concept, concentrating on covert or corporate operations instead of super-heroics. And they can change the world as much as they want- whether that’s with a corporation controlling the world or, well, Armageddon. That last word is the basic premise behind Wildcats volume 5. The heroes had been given glimpses of the end of the world but were unable to prevent it. They barely managed to survive it. Now, they’re the lone beacon of hope in a world of devastation. And this is the story of what heroes do “After the End of the World.”

The story opens with a group of super-humans. They had been incarcerated before the end of the world but now their prisons have been disabled as part of the general destruction. They’re free, they’re ready to prey upon humankind, and there’s no law and order left to stop them. Or so they think. The Wildcats Zealot, Grifter and Ladytron jump in to rescue the humans. There’s the standard level of Wildcat violence. Swords really cut. Bullets really hurt. And if the bad guys don’t surrender, they’re going to be killed. Grifter even sticks a bomb into the mouth of one super-human. Having disposed of the would-be tyrants, the Wildcats offer to bring the survivors back to their base. Los Angeles may have been destroyed but the Halo building is mostly intact. They introduce the survivors to their new haven and to the other members of the team who had stayed behind: Hadrian, Jeremy, Reno and Priscilla (Spartan, Maul, Warblade and Voodoo). As Reno and Priscilla lead the rescued survivors away, Spartan and Grifter talk strategy and objectives with Backlash and Nemesis. Spartan then checks in on Jeremy, a scientific genius who’s still working on ways to save the world. The conversation is interrupted, however, when Majestic attacks the Halo building. He tells the Wildcats to give him what he came for, but doesn’t tell us what that is. As he’s tearing the building apart looking for what he wants, Zealot tells Nemesis to give her the only sword that can actually cut Majestic’s invulnerable skin. And that’s the end.

So how does it work as a first issue? Pretty well, as it turns out, but not perfectly. The story is book-ended by two action scenes: the showdown with the recently released super-villains in the beginning and the confrontation with Majestic at the end. It also does a good job in the way of introductions. Christos Gage uses the rescued survivors as a natural way of introducing us to the major characters. Three of the Wildcats introduce themselves to the rescuers and then in turn they introduce us to the headquarters and four of their teammates. It’s not a perfect run, however. Backlash and Nemesis just walk in and start talking. Nemesis isn’t referred to directly until her second scene and Backlash isn’t named at all, which is a notable omission considering they’re the two most recent additions to the team. There’s also a problem concerning Majestic. It’s not really clear why he’s a villain now or why he’s attacking the Wildcats. I suppose that it’s supposed to be a mystery that serves as a hook to bring the reader back as a next issue. But it doesn’t work that way, since all of the other characters apparently know what’s going on and the readers are the only ones left out.

The one thing that the issue really has going for it is the concept. In that way, it’s a lot like the third volume. It’s an incredibly daring move to blow up your fictional world and introduce a post-apocalyptic landscape. It’s a great idea to recast your superheroes as the protectors of a lost humanity. Other titles have shown us such situations as part of an alternate future in a single story arc. And others have used that as a starting point, such as Jack Kirby’s Kamandi. But Wildcats is the one title to actually go all out and give us the end of the world as the new status quo. We may not know why Majestic is suddenly a villain, but we want to know what the Wildcats are going to do next.

And that’s what it’s all about, isn’t it? A fictional world is supposed to draw us in so that we want to know what’s going to happen next. Whether it’s another volume with a new twist on a traditional concept or simply a cliffhanger ending at the end of an opening issue, we’re supposed to want to come back for more. These five first issues attempt to do that in vastly different ways. And that’s what makes them so interesting.

The End.