STORMWATCH was a tale of a united nations organization designed to maintain world peace. Things go a little out of control when Weatherman Henry Bendix, the team's leader, got a bit wonky and got the team in a world of hurt with the governments of the world. Bendix is deposed(well, dies...sort of) and despite an attempt to cure the problem, the team is still looked upon as a menace by the world. Oh well: they do what the have to anyway!
But, in WILDC.A.T.S. VS. ALIENS(or vice versa), almost the entire team is wasted by Sigourney Weaver's favorite residual check. What remains forms THE AUTHORITY.
The series begins with three ominous and wordless pages as a team of men and women in black suits with a circle logo on them attack Moscow and virtually burn it to the ground. Back in New York City, former weatherman Jackson King and his assistant/love honey Christine debate their options. That's when Jenny Sparks, the oldest member of the team(you have to read STORMWATCH to understand that one) arrives, promising that she and the Stormwatch black team members, currently in hiding, won't let what happened in Moscow ever happen again.
Over on Gamorra Island, Kaizen Gamorra explains to his black suited followers how he is cutting a circle upon the earth and that two more cities shall bear the brunt of his wrath. This guy looks like a bad Mandarin clone and acts like Magneto on a severe power trip.
Jenny Sparks sends Jack Hawksmoor to scope out Moscow, who discovers that not only is the place pretty much wiped, but there is a load of residual radiation about the place. Jenny meets with two new characters: the Engineer(kind of more metallic version of STAR TREK VOYAGER's Seven of Nine) and The Doctor who is some sort of intergalactic shaman in funkier clothes. Jenny, Jack, The Doctor, and The Engineer, along with Swift, Apollo and The Midnighter (both of whom got dragged out of retirement after STORMWATCH ended) head for London just as the black suit's assault is commencing.
After pretty much kicking the snot out of the murdering invaders, the team discovers that they are being teleported in to the attack sites. They follow one of the attackers to Gamorra island and get there just in time to see Kaizen raise a force field over the island, which does a messy job to the fleeing sole trying to re-enter safe haven.
The team heads back to the Carrier to regroup and plan anew. The carrier is a monstrous spacecraft which allows the team to move back and forth between 'The Bleed': a doorway between universes which was prominently featured in the final issues of STORMWATCH Vol. 2. The Midnighter is sent to infiltrate Gamorra and take out the Kaizen while the rest of the team lands in Los Angeles. Unfortunately, they are met by hundreds of these suicidal terrorists. The doctor solves the problem by making some shatter into a million pieces and turning others into trees. The battle rages long and hard with casualties amongst the terrorists and civilians.
The Midnighter finds the Kaizen and, through the doorway to the Bleed, ends up back on the Carrier which he directs to ram through Gamorra's force field and eliminate the threat. Thus ends the first four issue story arc know as "The Circle".
(NOTE: you will find, as you read the work of Warren Ellis, specifically his STORMWATCH and THE AUTHORITY work, he really ENJOYS doing four part story arcs. Very symmetrical!)
The second story arc, "Shiftships", finds Los Angeles being attacked yet again by something known as Slidng Albion. In actuality, it means they are being invaded by an alternate Earth. We discover, via Jenny Sparks who has encountered this before(don't forget, she is 100 years old), the history between our world and sliding Albion and we also get to meet Lorenzo-Jenny's first husband. Is it possible the leader behind this alleged dead zone is really someone Jenny castrated some 75 years ago? Is it possible that this madman will do to our earth what he did to China? Will Jenny and the team do to Sliding Albion what they did to Gamorra?
All will be answered in issue #8 of THE AUTHORITY.
Once again, Warren Ellis has scored a major home run with fans and critics alike. This series is just great! Ellis is so familiar with these characters that writing them just is second nature to him, especially those of Shen, Jenny, Jack, Apollo and The Midnighter. For fans of STORMWATCH who were outraged when so many of the cast was eliminated in the WILDC.A.T.S./ALIENS series, it's a true treat to see the ones who were left alive being used to the fullest in this series. Ellis' style is true poetry; commanding the written word with grace and ease. In comparison to TRANSMETROPOLITAN, one of Ellis' other big hits at the moment, the storyline flows nicely and isn't punctuated by Spider Jerusalem's verbal assaults, so it's a little closer to being an all ages book.
The art team of Bryan Hitch and Paul Neary is a veteran one, having previously toiled on STORMWATCH together. It's a very clean, neatly delineated British look that suits the series(look at early issues of the old MIRACLEMAN series or LASER ERASER to get what I mean. There is just a certain style in british comics). Characters are well defined and, once you realize who is who, it's easy to figure out what's going on, whether in long epic battle sequences or tight close-ups.
This is a great read! Absolutely a fun, rollicking adventure which will have you on the edge of your seat with each issue. Do yourself a favor and pick up the Ellis' STORMWATCH books, both the first series from Image and the Wildstorm series. And don't forget WILDC.A.T.S./ALIENS. Many of the hard to find issues are available as trade paperbacks. It will add additional color to the already multi-hued tale of Jenny Sparks and company.