26 of 30 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Only if you're a diehard fan of Alan Moore's or of the WildC.A.T.s..., September 9, 2007
This review is from: Alan Moore: The Complete WildC. A. T.s (Paperback)
"Beneath me, an enormous gothic bodkin dyed in blood jutting from sands that boil with Algebra is Zealot's fortress, called the the Tower of Red Lament."
I'll tell you what, it's stuff like that which drew me to Alan Moore years ago. Imagery-evoking words, his hallmark. I've been a longtime fan of Moore, dating back to even before he wrote SWAMP THING in DC Comics. I had an inkling of how special he was when I read his dazzling MARVELMAN stories way back in those WARRIOR issues. Now, regarding WILDC.A.T.S, I embraced the title somewhat when it debuted, when Jim Lee was still heavily involved, but I lost track of the series somewhere along the way. I guess I always did like Jim Lee's artwork more than the stories. But when Alan Moore hopped onboard WildStorm's flagship title, I returned to the fold.
It was around 1995 when Moore took over the writing chores and attempted to instill a cohesive breadth and depth into the WILDC.A.T.S universe. He was more successful than not as, for a hefty portion of his 14 issue stint, he narrated an epic twofold tale. Moore not only let us experience first hand the "paradise" world of Khera, the Kherubim's home planet, but, on the other front, he also allowed us to follow the exploits of the all new WildC.A.T.s team back on Earth. For the curious, Moore's run falls within the first of the WildC.A.T.s' several published incarnations.
Plot SPOILERS follow:
Continuity wise, this storyline takes place after the crossover events of WILDSTORM RISING. With the original WildC.A.T.s (but for Grifter) believed to be dead, Mr. Majestic and Savant (also a Kherubim and owner of the 7 League Boots) form a new WildC.A.T.s. Envisioning a harder hitting superhero team, they recruit unbalanced "heroes" such as Cole Cash's younger brother Max, aka the gun-slinging Red Condition, the savage, cybernetic Ladytron, and the ever scheming Tao (Tactically Augmented Organism). But, in the course of their aggresive do-gooding, the WildC.A.T.s fall prey to a villain's insidious machinations and end up instigating a gang war. Concerned and affronted with the WildC.A.T.s' proactive methods, various crime lords band together for mutual protection and for retaliation.
Meanwhile, the original WildC.A.T.s, whose starship hadn't exploded after all, land on Khera. At this point Moore doesn't waste time in fracturing the team. A shocking disclosure reveals that the intergalactic Kherubim-Daemonite war had been over for 300 years, with no one having bothered to inform backwater Earth. The Kherubim immortals, Lord Emp and Lady Zannah (Zealot), are briskly whisked away for political grooming by the Pantheon and the Coda, their respective house affiliations. It doesn't take a second for these two to readjust to lordly Kheran life and to become oblivious to their teammates' plights.
This leaves the rest of the team at odds and ends. While Void feels as isolated as ever, Warblade (who can manipulate his body into organic steel) and the synthetic Spartan (whose mind and personality had just been downloaded into an improved body) seem content enough at first to fall into place. But Voodoo, a sensitive with half-Daemonite blood, is dismissed to the miserable Daemonite ghetto. Meanwhile, the size-shifting Maul visits his people, the Titanothropes, who - while being the planet's native residents - are relegated to downtrodden, second class citizenry and who dwell deep beneath the surface. Frankly, it doesn't take too long for Khera's imperfect political and social infrastructure to tear the team asunder. And then there's that pesky assassination plot...
Emp's WildC.A.T.s eventually return to Earth, where they meet their new counterparts. But the teams abruptly part ways as another Wildstorm crossover event (FIRE FROM HEAVEN) jars Moore's storyline. Issues #29-30 prove to be disjointed readings for those unfamiliar with events surrounding Damocles, Kaizen Gamorra, and the island of Gamorra. The issues after does re-focus on the WildC.A.T.s' attempts to curb the supervillain crime war and unearth the conflict's true source. The last issue, "Reincarnation," serves as a coda to Moore's contributions and does offer up a surprising reveal. With this run, Moore irrevocably altered the team's identity and mission statement, which was originally to combat the Daemonite forces. But, with that galactic war being over, the team finds itself seeking a new purpose.
End SPOILERS.
ALAN MOORE'S COMPLETE WILDC.A.T.S reprints WILDC.A.T.S #21-34 (1995-1997) & "Reincarnation," an 8-paged story from issue #50 (1998). Word to the wise: If you already own WILDC.A.T.S: HOMECOMING and WILDC.A.T.S: GANGWAR, then you already have these issues, excepting "Reincarnation." At 391 pages, this trade paperback is dense and somewhat confusing but is ultimately a worthwhile read IF you're a fan of Alan Moore and/or the WildC.A.T.s. Otherwise, this collection of tales might prove to be an incomprehensible mishmash.
I hate to say it, but this isn't Moore's best work, not by far. Part of the dilemma is that, despite the milennia's worth of background mythos presented, there's an essential shallowness to the characters and their personal histories which Moore just was never able to overcome. Here he indulges in several soap opera romances, but if one doesn't care about the participants, then it's all piffle. The Khera arc comes off as more social commentary and political skullduggery than superheroic action adventure. In other words, Dullsville. But, hey, even in a lesser effort, the man hasn't forgotten how to write. There are still snippets of very good stuff here: some big revelations, the occasional wit and humor, some nicely written passages, and, of course, the gutter talking Ladytron. That Ladytron dethrones the Grifter as my favorite character in these pages is a testament of sorts to Moore's skills. But my favorite parts in this collection are those in which Moore narrates from Void and Spartan's skewed perspectives.
Travis Charest isn't a great artist, but he's pretty good. The quality of the artwork is just below top drawer and is sustained predominantly by Charest's arresting visuals, although there are pages which could've benefited from closer attention to detail and more background work. The artistic continuity also suffers from intrusive guest stints by artists Ryan Benjamin, Scott Clark, Mat Broome, and even by the talented Kevin Maguire. On the good side, Charest and Troy Hubb's nifty covers are included in the TPB.
SWAMP THING, MARVELMAN, WATCHMEN, V FOR VENDETTA, TOP 10, LEAGUE OF EXTRAORDINARY GENTLEMEN...these are thus far the shining markers in Alan Moore's distinguished writing career and are titles which I would unhesitatingly recommend. Unfortunately, concerning his WILDC.A.T.S stretch, Alan Moore fails to consistently scintillate. So, three stars.
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12 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Alan Moore's Summer Blockbuster!, October 21, 2007
This review is from: Alan Moore: The Complete WildC. A. T.s (Paperback)
Sometimes we get so used to a creator breaking new ground that when he just tells a great story on an existing landmass, we think he wrote a bad story. All the reveiwers here that claim this book is bad, are those type of people. If you look at Alan Moore's Tom Strong books, they are not like Watchmen, why? Because Alan Moore is channeling the characters and comics of old, old, really old, Pulp comic heroes. He writes them as if they never stopped being written back in the 30's, and continued on to today. Then you have League of Extroadinary Gentlemen. Those comics are written to the tune of all the great novel works from back in the Victorian age and on to the early 1900's.
So now with this book, he writes an X-men knockoff. He doesent take it and make it his own, he writes it in the vein of an X-men knockoff, and tells a great story doing it. The reason he didn't break ground is because the characters themselves don't break ground. The universe they populate doesent break ground. Yeah, I guess he could have taken the Wildcats universe and turned it on it's head, making it his own, but he wrote this story in the confines of the series. He respected the existing fans enough to not change what they had come to love about this series, and instead wrote something along the lines of a summer blockbuster.
It's action packed, full of funny moments and doesent fill you up with heavy material. It's fun, it's exciting, and the art is pretty.
Enjoy it for what it is, and not what it isn't.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Moore's writing shines, but this graphic novel assembles it poorly, February 23, 2011
This review is from: Alan Moore: The Complete WildC. A. T.s (Paperback)
Alan Moore's Complete WildC.A.T.s collects WildC.A.T.s, volume 1, issues #21-34 and a short story from volume 1, issue #50 (originally published between 1995-97). Together, these issues encompass all of writer Alan Moore's work on Jim Lee's first post-Marvel series. Production-quality is poor: not only has DC/Wildstorm chosen not to include any editorial content (Introductions, Prefaces, character glossaries, etc.), but they've deliberately removed the original issue numbers, which appear nowhere in this collection save the mandatory copyright notice. Each issue has even had its original cover scrubbed of title and issue number; in their place DC has overlayed text designating the chapter and cover artists. WildC.A.T.s fans should thus beware: You may already own this material, which had previously been collected in
WildC.A.T.S: Homecoming (Wildc.a.T.S.) and
WildC.A.T.S: Gang War.
As for Alan Moore's writing here, this is certainly not his best work. That said, it's still better than most superhero stuff from this era--and leagues better than what earlier WildC.A.T.s issues offered. And in some places, such as his vision of alien planet Khera (occupying the first half of the graphic novel), Moore's writing is hands-down excellent. The editors of this graphic novel, however, actually makes Moore's work appear worse than it is. The problem is that WildC.A.T.s has always suffered an astonishingly complicated back story. To his credit, Moore works with this back story rather than obliterate it, but the result is a plot line that will be difficult for all but devoted WildC.A.T.s readers to follow. By failing to provide any Introduction, series recap, or character glossary (features regularly offered in even the monthly WildC.A.T.s comic book), the editors thus make Moore's writing appear excessively complex and convoluted. As for the art, a LOT of different artists (both pencilers and inkers) contribute to this book, giving the art a slightly incoherent feel. Nevertheless, it's all decent (though often very much "in-the-style-of" Jim Lee) and sometimes, as on issue #26, quite good.
Unless, you're a WildC.A.T.s fan, I'd stay away from this one. For its price, it's too poorly put together (editorially speaking). For those new to WildC.A.T.s, check out
Wildcats Version 3.0 Year One instead. And for Alan Moore fans, if you can, I'd pick up the original graphic novels or hold off till DC offers a better edition of this one.
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