Stormwatch #10; probably spoilers

[Aaron King]

Someone's going around killing graduates from Stormwatch's 1983 training class. Ebony & Ivory, Ghetto Blaster, the New Romantic... did Gage make these characters up? I hope so, because if someone else created them as serious heroes, that's a little weird. Oh, and Tranquility makes a cameo.

Anyway, the first suspect is Slaughterhouse Smith, the comatose crimelord from Wildcats volume two who is now awake and somehow younger. Dino tracks him down and there's a nice fight scene involving the best use of a mirror in a comic book that I've ever seen. In the end, Stormwatch is left in a tight place.

More opinions: Great last page. Good job with the mirror scenes; it could've been very confusing (see a recent Chaykin-drawn issue of Blade). Mr. Smith's art was very Bryan Hitch/Alan Davis in a few panels. I was a little surprised at how quickly the team was taken down by Smith after the previous issues of badassery.

[Erwin Heinek]

Still enjoying the hell out of this series. Loved the Tranquility cameo.

[ComicbookJeff]

One of my must-read books every month.
Missing this=missing out!

[rage6839]

Everytime I read this book, I am impressed. Good stories and characters. Surprised by Jackson's wife but gave a reasonable explanation. Any word on how sales are?

[hawkeyefan]

Someone's going around killing graduates from Stormwatch's 1983 training class. Ebony & Ivory, Ghetto Blaster, the New Romantic... did Gage make these characters up? I hope so, because if someone else created them as serious heroes, that's a little weird. Oh, and Tranquility makes a cameo.

Anyway, the first suspect is Slaughterhouse Smith, the comatose crimelord from Wildcats volume two who is now awake and somehow younger. Dino tracks him down and there's a nice fight scene involving the best use of a mirror in a comic book that I've ever seen. In the end, Stormwatch is left in a tight place.

More opinions: Great last page. Good job with the mirror scenes; it could've been very confusing (see a recent Chaykin-drawn issue of Blade). Mr. Smith's art was very Bryan Hitch/Alan Davis in a few panels. I was a little surprised at how quickly the team was taken down by Smith after the previous issues of badassery.

This book is consistently one of the best on the stands. I really liked the story that was set up in this issue. And teh fight with Slaughterhouse Smith was handled really, really well.

Smith's art is definitely getting better with each issue. And Gage's writing is top notch.

[jadrax]

Loved this issue.

[Aaron King]

It's exciting to see so many replies. When I saw that no one had posted about the book this (Thursday) morning, I was a little worried that everyone had decided not to pick it up.

[Subotai]

Gage's stock is really rising...a few years from know we'll look on smugly saying we knew him when...

[steve2275]

whos mr good news/bad news at the end?

[christosgage]

Glad you guys liked it! The guy at the end is The Monstrosity, Dr. Shaw's monstrous alter ego. Slaughterhouse Smith isn't younger, I'd say he is in his mid to late 60's, but when seen in Wildcats Vol. 2 he was still scarred from his battle with Jacob Marlowe aka Lord Emp. When he woke up he healed.

Thanks again for the kind words!

Best,

CNG

[The Cool Thatguy]

What's Slaughterhouse Smith's deal, anyways? I remember him from Team One. Why was he in the coma, and where'd he get his powers from in the first place?

[christosgage]

The source of Smith's powers was never revealed. He was a mob boss with super-powers who allied with the Daemonite Lord Helspont but later turned against him. As for why he was in a coma, it was the result of a battle with the Wildcats' Lord Emp, who zapped him with a mental blast.

[The Cool Thatguy]

The source of Smith's powers was never revealed. He was a mob boss with super-powers who allied with the Daemonite Lord Helspont but later turned against him. As for why he was in a coma, it was the result of a battle with the Wildcats' Lord Emp, who zapped him with a mental blast.

Whoo, thanks Gage! I was a little curious since I didn't know, but it didn't hurt my enjoyment one bit!

[MadBastard]

I enjoyed this issue a great deal (http://madbastard.hypersites.com/site/page/pg3313-pn_PHD_10.html). I particularly enjoy the way the team behind the book had fun taking the extremes and ridiculousness that are inherent in the super-hero genre and putting them into a mundane, everyday frame. In between the lasers, the mind control and pyrokinetics, people talk about marriages, old friends and how they make a living. Normally, that stuff can be boring as a stone, but in this issue it provides nicely for character development, as well as a few red herrings and actual plot hints.

[KSBrennan]

I've been reading Stormwatch since the first issue back in the early days of Image and this run is up there with the best, if not the best. It has a great balance of new and older characters. You don't need to know the history of the Wildstorm Universe to get into it, though it does have a few things for long time readers to pick out.

It's always at the top of my reading pile on Wednesdays. We need more people reading this book.

I'm going to admit thought that I'm worried about this crossover thing with some of the other Wildstorm books. If it is anything like the some of the WS's previous attempts at crossovers (Wildstorm Rising...cringe) I'm going to be pissed.

[Subotai]

The ending reminded me of that Secret Wars issue, when the heroes recover and find out Molecule Man dropped the Rockies on them...Dr. Shaw may have turned a corner here; if he can change forms at will, it'd be a great help to PHD. In any case, they're gonna have to get Prime to help deal with SS, it looks like...

[christosgage]

I'm going to admit thought that I'm worried about this crossover thing with some of the other Wildstorm books. If it is anything like the some of the WS's previous attempts at crossovers (Wildstorm Rising...cringe) I'm going to be pissed.

I'm not sure what you're referring to...there was a brief Tranquility appearance in #10 but it wasn't a formal crossover. And come on, Fire From Heaven was way worse than Wildstorm Rising. ;)

[Jamie]

This title, along with Gail Simone's All-New Atom, has got me reading comics again.

I can think of no higher praise than that. :)

[K'Nort]

Who was Smith's grandson? Fleisig doesn't seem to fit, so I'm guessing it's someone from the Image run.

[Strannik]

Who was Smith's grandson? Fleisig doesn't seem to fit, so I'm guessing it's someone from the Image run.

He appeared in the second volume of Wildcats, during Joe Casey's run. I

[Aaron King]

Slaughterhouse Smith's grandson is named Samuel Smith. I think he first appeared in Wildcats volume 2, #14. He was a serial murderer who only killed women with the last name "Marlowe." He, too, had eyebeams. He died at the end of the arc.

[Subotai]

"Punk." - Grifter

[KSBrennan]

I'm not sure what you're referring to...there was a brief Tranquility appearance in #10 but it wasn't a formal crossover. And come on, Fire From Heaven was way worse than Wildstorm Rising. ;)

Sorry Chris, I was referring to Armageddon. Though I just finished reading the CBR update on it and found out that the issue are stand alone and won't interfere with the release of the series. That's good news. I might even check it out with you writing it.

Fire From Heaven was terrible. Thanks for making me remember it. Jerk.

[Scorpion13]

God I hope the sales are good on this book. Its the best thing Ive read in a long time.

[Stagier]

glad to see christos so engaged with the community.

that said i love this book. sad to hear that it's getting a "revamp" without gage. i guess we'll just have to wait and see.