Reading advice: The Authority?

[shaxper]

Two issues into the new volume, I can already tell I really like this team. I've never read the Authority before. I know there were two previous volumes and a whole lot of mini series, plus Midnighter and Apollo appeared in Stormwatch before that. So what are the "must read" Authority stories? What do I need to pick up, and should I read them in a particular order?

[JohnPopa]

The first twelve issues by Warren Ellis and Bryan Hitch are definitive.

[jerrymcl89]

I've read the first two Authority trades, which are very good (the first is by Ellis/Hitch, the second half E/H, half Millar/Quitely. I guess the preceding Stormwatch stuff by Ellis is also good, but I haven't read it.

[dancj]

Really the bests place to start is with Ellis's Stormwatch TPBs. Then go to the Ellis + Mark Millar Authority TPBs and (by most accounts) skip Robbie Morrison's ones and get Brubaker's Authority Revolution.

Somewhere in there you might want to get Coup De Tat too

That'll get you up to date.

[Billage]

The first 2 trades (Relentless and Under New Management) are,as stated above,definitive Authority.

[shaxper]

Okay, I went back issue happy today (I'm not much of a TPB guy) and obtained all of Stormwatch vol. 2 and The Authority (vol. 1). That covers most of your reading suggestions. Once I read all of that, how necessary/definitive are any of the Authority limited series? Do I need to read the Kev stuff or Revolution? Are these essential Authority stories, or merely good stuff? Also, do I need to go back and read Ellis's work on Stormwatch vol. 1?

[The Xenos]

Yeah, pretty much skip the (Robbie) Morrison run. Vol.. whatever. I started getting it, but quickly dropped it. Brubaker's Revolution was pretty good at least for the Jenny storyline.

Though of course, start with the Ellis stuff. Millar was good on it as much as I dislike him elsewhere.

I actually never checked out Stormwatch even though a friend keeps telling me to.

[DaveEB]

I actually didn't mind Robbie Morrison's run once it started rolling(about midway through his second arc). If you could get over the art, the story was pretty good towards the end of his run. It suffered at the beginning because they felt compelled to re-introduce the characters with a story that really didn't mean anything in the long run, but once it started getting into things like "The Church of Shamanism" and them taking over America it was actually pretty good story wise...the art...not so much.

[Generic Eric]

The Garth Ennis Kev mini's are totally unnecesary to the mythos of The Authority. But, damn are they fun. Planetary is only tangently connected to The Authority, but it's a brilliant series created by Warren Ellis at the same timeframe and in my opinion the better series.

[Billage]

Once you have the Ellis stuff and the first part of Millar's run,you're fine.