Tuesday, September 21, 2010

WildStorm now a casual drizzle

DC Comics has finally canceled the WildStorm imprint.

I have been waiting for this for a long time. I'm not sad. In fact, I'm relieved. Like when my grandmother died after being in a non-functional state following a stroke for many years, I'm just happy that it is over. I'm tired of seeing my loved ones suffer.

WildStorm got me back into comics after Marvel and DC scared me out of them. Sure, they were a bit gratuitously sexual and violent, but if you got past that, at its heart you would see a more realistic and nuanced interpretation of the superhero genre where heroes and villains could not be distinguished quite so easily.

DC purchased WildStorm from Jim Lee in 1999. This was a classic selling out of the first order. Aside from making millions (literally), Jim Lee got a publishing job at DC and some high profile work on Batman and Superman. This effectively ended their ABC imprint which were titles created by Alan Moore (who didn't want to work for one of the big two).

Most recently, DC literally destroyed the entire WildStorm world and turned their properties from relevant reflections of the modern world into post-apocalyptic nonsense. None of the original creators work their any more and any talent has long been siphoned off.

Like a vampire, DC drained the life out of WildStorm. It is now an empty corpse.

For those of you who want to see the WildStorm that was, I recommend Gen13 #1-17 & #60-77, Backlash #1-30, WildCATs #21-34, Wildcats V.3 #1-24, Team 7 #1-4, Sleeper Vol. 1-2, StormWatch Vol. 1 #37-50 & Vol. 2 #1-11, The Authority #1-28, and Planetary #1-27.

Expect a primer post in the near future... if I can muster up the energy.

RIP

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