Stormwatch Post Human Division Vol 1

 

So last month covered the 3rd tpb  in this run of Stormwatch. Stormwatch is an odd series for me. I got into it so so late. 

After the Authority took over the USA ,Stormwatch gets reformed. But this time funded by the USA.Less super powered members. But we still got Jackson King in charge.

Read this entire trade while waiting in a Ear Nose and Throat doc's waiting room. And was surprised at how dense this was for a comic from it's era. Yea you got splash pages. But then you would get page after page of multiple panels with piles of dialogue.

Art is good writing is good but with a catch. No clue how this would read to anyone that hasn't read at least all of Stormwatch vol 2 and at least the last 20 issues of Stormwatch vol 1. So this isn't a friendly to new readers TPB.

Oh and this TPB references a few times the Wildstorm vs ALIENS crossover. The TPB of that Crossover is LONG Out of print and the issues that make it up are not cheap.

Stormwatch's leader,Jackson King,is reforming the team. Using what super powers being they got left and the cream of the crop of the humans. And we get a surprise return from a few long thought dead members of Stormwatch.

If you have read and enjoyed previous Stormwatch vols Stormwatch PHD is worth tracking  down. I actually found the first 2 or 3 issues in the cheap bins and read 1 and 2 before getting these trades.

Stormwatch Post Human Division TPB 1 gets a B+

2015 Reading Challenge Book 081 Avengers West Coast Darker than Scarlet...

TITLE-Avengers West Coast Darker than Scarlet...
AUTHOR-John Byrne,Roy and Dann Thomas
FORMAT-Trade Paperback
FIRST TIME READING-No
PRICE-Gift

This is a trade collecting the abrupt end of Byrne's run on the title. And then Roy&Dann Thomas wrap up the plot threads Byrne had started. Of course with Byrne writing the title he also does the pencils. Once he leaves Paul Ryan takes over.

So what and how is the story. Scarlet Witch does her first that I know of heel turn in this run. After having ,in the previous storyline before the trade,the Vision's brain wiped clean which stripped him of all his emotions Wanda is slowly losing her mind. Then the secret behind her twins is revealed and she teams up with her father Magneto.

While all this is going on we have a side story of the golden age Human Torch trying to adjust to the modern world. Plus there are hints that Hank Pym and the Wasp might be getting back together.

I loved West Coast Avengers/Avengers West Coast since the 4 issue mini series. But about a year before John Byrne took over I had stopped reading it. And came back right around the time Byrne brought the golden age Human Torch back. And somehow never read the end of his run.

Avengers West Coast Darker than Scarlet gets a 3.11 outta 5.