Customer Reviews

Alan Moore: The Complete WildC. A. T.s

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

"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.

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.

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.

Alan Moore had just previously reinvigorated a really limp, unimaginative superman-clone character, "Supreme" for Rob Liefield' "Awesome" comics. Thus he was an excellent choice to take on Jim Lee's Wildcats.

There's some astonishing writing in here. My favorite moment in the book is when the telepathic Damonites dance in a ring, all of their minds linked sequentially together. Just an incredible concept, and it's just a toss-away, not critical to the story at all.

But ultimately, the book is a bit too scattershot. Where Moore could bring his own ideas to the Supreme character who was essentially tabula rasa, here's there's just too much baggage to deal with on these characters. The net result is that there's really no lasting mark.

This seems to be the difference between a concept like "Watchmen" or "V For Vendetta" that Moore clearly gave his heart to, and concepts like this, where he was a hired gun working on somebody else's book.

It's a nice run on somebody else's comic book, but it doesn't belong on the same shelf as "Watchmen" "Promethia" or "From Hell".

*Contains some spoilers*

Wildcats hit with a bang when it first popped onto the scene in 1992. It sold tons of copies and fans went nuts for Jim Lee's art. Cut to a mere twenty issues later however, and the book had already become stagnant, crushed by the absence of new ideas and a lack of direction in the storytelling.

Then Alan Moore came along and suddenly it was a whole new ballgame.

Quickly and expertly Moore goes about revitalizing the title, jettisoning what's stale and bringing new characters and elements into the fold.

As the story stood pre-Moore, the original team of Wildcats had left Earth bound for the planet Khera, the homeworld of many of the 'Cats and their ancestors. According to those on Earth, they were presumed dead. As soon as Moore begins his run he gets right to work in establishing two simultaneous arcs.

In the first arc, the god-like Mr. Majestic and Zealot's sister, Savant, go about building a new team of Wildcats in order to continue fighting the good fight. Moore's new team is interesting in their proactive approach (rather than strictly reactive approach of the original team) and in their roster. Out of all of his new creations, the characters of T.A.O. and Ladytron make the largest impact on the reader as they are both wildly interesting, dynamic, entertaining, and each have a unique personality. However, not all of the new characters fare so well; Condition Red, the younger brother of Grifter, never really gels or quite develops a personality.

In the second arc, the original team of Wildcats (sans Grifter who is still on Earth) arrive on Khera and find all isn't quite how it seems. This part of the story is where Moore really turns the title on its head while injecting some much needed new directon. On Khera, the team finds that the Kherubim/Daemonite wars have been over for 300 years with no one simply bothering to tell the warriors on far-off Earth. Not only does this change the status quo of the title (after all, what is the point of the Wildcats if not to defeat the Daemonites in war?) but Moore uses Kheran society as a window to investigate class structure, racism, gender issues, and imperialism. Talk of 'shortages and food riots' and the problem of how to handle war refugees would seem laughable in Wildcats when the title began, but Moore develops the book into something deeper and more meaningful than it was ever intended to be.

Moore's characterizations are handled well. The true blooded noble Kherans (Zealot, Emp, Mr. Majestic) are handled particularly well as they struggle between their Kheran roots and feelings and their lives on Earth. Moore also inserts some much needed levity into the book, especially through the character of Ladytron. Her conversation with Overtkill late in the book is a killer.

However, it's not all roses. Much like what happened to James Robinson during his run on Wildcats, a Wildstorm Universe crossover ('Fire From Heaven') runs through the book which effectively forces Moore to stop his story in its tracks. Moore never quite recovers from this and it seems that post-crossover Moore's interest in the book wanes. The second half of his run is mainly concerned with a gang/crime war that erupts in New York City. The storyline drags on for far longer than it should and consists of obvious less thought and depth than Moore put into the first half of his run. It is clear that by the end Moore is sick of working on the title.

About forty percent of the art in the book is handled by Travis Charest. It is leaps and bounds above the work he did on Robinson's run. His style here really starts to pull away from Lee's as it evolves into something else. He gets far more detailed, his body structures change, and he literally gets better with every issue he draws. Many other artists also float in and out (Jim Lee, Ryan Benjamin, Mat Broome, Kevin Nowlan, to name a few) and while the art ranges in style and quality, all of it is rather good.

All in all, Moore's run on Wildcats was easily the high point of the first volume of the title. By injecting depth and new directions he gave the title it's second, and best, wind.

Note: Collects Wildcats (Volume 1) issues 21-34 and a short story from Wildcats (Volume 1) issue 50.

Alan Moore proves yet again that he can play around in an established universe as well as in one of his own creation. In this case, his palette is Jim Lee's Wildcats/Wildstorm Universe, and the stories he weaves with the characters are breathtaking and horror-inducing as only the best writer in comics history can tell them. The original Wildcats Team find themselves on Khera, their home planet, while a new team is being assembled by Mr. Majestic and Savant back on earth. Here Moore introduces one of his most frightening creations yet: TAO, the Tactically Augmented Organism, a WildC.A.T with abilities that could tear the team apart from within. The Wildcats soon realize that all is not what it seems when their world is turned upside down in typical Moore fashion. Beautiful language combined with stunning art make this collection a prize to be cherished by any comic fan!

MINOR SPOILERS AHEAD

I read Robinson's WildCATS and decided to see what Moore did with this title. I wasn't super-delighted with Robinson's WildCATs but I thought it was a real nice book.

I read Moore's WildCATs and I must say that artwork (Travis Charest, Ryan Benjamin etc) is great, like in previous issues. Story is differently written, but in a good way. Some dialogues and scenes are simply farce of team superhero titles that are published.

Maybe you will not like this book since story is written as two in one combo: one part of chapter is about WildCATs original team and other is about new team assembled by Savant. There is also a part of crossover I didn't get because I didn't read Image comics frequently.

If you liked Robinson's book even a bit, I think you will love this one. Both books are great buy, price is good, art is GREAT. In my opinion, both writers did good job as much as you can writing commercial title. For me, these two trades are best spent money on a comic book in last few years.

An enthralling trip through both outer and inner space as Alan Moore interweaves a intergalactic opera with the mundane concerns of simple folk with super powers. It has everything and a gripping denouement to boot. Treat yourself!

This was my first exposure to the WildCats and the WildStorm universe and prompted me to start collecting both.

They are refreshingly updated and cooler than the superhero teams that were born in the Golden Age, and it's good to see them in Moore's hands since he has such vision and looks at characters so deeply. And some of the plotlines were frankly stunning.

In a few places I felt lost because this obviously only includes Moore's work on the book, so a couple chapters refer to books I hadn't read, but this was a minor annoyance. I din't want this book to end, and when I started reading WildCats from the beginning I was dissappointed that Alan's muse wasn't there. Better than Tom Strong, a kickass thrill ride.

I'm a big Moore fan but have to say that this collection is not a showcase of his writing talent. I have no experience with Wildcats, but found the collection to be as enjoyable as reading average team-based comics from DC and Marvel. (I'd probably buy it again--its worth the $15--but it's not great.)

Moore's Top 10 series is much more entertaining, and if you are expecting to find a book from Moore that you'll re-read again and again, look elsewhere (Watchmen, Swamp Thing...).