To fully appreciate just how complex and intricate a title like STORMWATCH is, you have to go back to the first issue of Warren Ellis' reign; issue #37. Following the battle with Damocles, Henry Bendix, A.K.A. Weatherman One(he's the commanding officer aboard Stormwatch), has decided to completely restructure Stormwatch(just so you know, Stormwatch is the U.N. heroes of the Wildstorm Universe).
Some folks are new to the team. Jack Hawksmoor(A.K.A. Hellstrike): a neo-human. The mysteriously homicidal Rose Tattoo. Jenny Sparks(a 96 year old teenage-type who controls electrical energy and likes her beer and cigarettes). Some, such as former Team Leader Battalion, have new assignments(he is now trainer about the hovering SkyWatch). Others, such as Undertow, no longer have jobs with the organization. In fact, Undertow no longer has anything, as his remains are discovered.
Looks to be a result of a terrorist attack. Stormwatch Black investigates and discovers that, in actuality, it is the assassins had ties to the United States government. Bendix promises revenge.
But, at the same time, Stormwatch activities have come under fire from the U.S. government, who has also threatened reprisal; warning Stromwatch to stay out of United States government affairs.
And that brings us to issue #40, wherein Kaizen Gamorra, patriarch of the clan Gamorra(also a former Team One member named John Colt) has downed an airline and unleashed a biological gen-factor weapon upon England. This is a gen-factor purchased from the American Government, mind you. Bendix launches Stormwatch Red into action, having them land on Gamorra island and exact revenge. The U.S. government and the United Nations Special Security Council are not pleased about it and suggest taking action upon what now looks to be an organization outside the law.
While tensions are far from cool, several members take time to take time off. Hawksmoor makes matters worse by revealing that a former president's illegitimate son was responsible for a series of brutal murders. And Jenny Sparks, through a wonderfully illustrated romp in issue #44, reveals that something known as the 'Comet Effect' is what is responsible for the creation of many SPB's(super powered beings) all over Europe. And Battalion vacation's in Alabama and discovers a private militia with anti-U.N. tendencies which take him hostage and thrash him.
Winter, the field leader, decides to take the three Stormwatch units out for a night of drinking and carrying on. meanwhile, Bendix and Rose Tattoo have their own secret agenda; one which involves the mysterious disappearance of a being called The High(more on him in a minute). The team discovers some sort of electro magnetic radiation coming from Serbia. Here, the assembled team discovers the remains of an engineering platform which has apparently been put together by the Daemonites(chief amongst Wildstor m villains) some 400 years earlier and have been doing human genetic testing.
All that leads into the epic 'Change or Die' storyline in issues #48-50.
The High is a super-human who was fired at our earth by a parallel earth back in 1910, where he was adopted and raised as human(sound like Superman to you?). His activities are the stuff of which urban legends re made of: beatings upon corrupt and evil individuals-righting wrongs in his own way. For ten years, he has sat high atop a peak in the Rocky Mountains.
And then he left.
He has assembled a team of superhumans. The Doctor. Rite. Blind. Smoke. The Engineer. The Eidolon. Their mission is not to just fight crime. Their mission is to change to world according to their beliefs. Battalion's brother, Strafe, betrays Stormwatch by providing vital information The High and his people need to keep Stormwatch from interfering in their actions. When the High makes a public TV appearance in bad spandex costume, he is attacked by Winter, Hellstrike and Fuji: all three of which are soundly beaten and left for dead.
Bendix organizes a killing mission to The High's base of operation in the jungles of Paraguay, even as The High realizes the codes he has received from Strafe are phony ones. As the team lands to perform its' mission, we learn that The High and Jenny Sparks have met before and, much like the Superman in Mark Waid's KINGDOM COME, quit his job when no one would listen to him. Sparks pleads with Bendix to allow a discussion between the two sides.
It is here that we see the power-trip Bendix is on. he doesn't want The High changing the way life is. Or anyone else, for that matter. HE wants to control that. And thus the megalomaniac is fully revealed, along with his love for The High's former friend, Rose Tattoo.
Bendix wants to be God. And he will kill anyone, including Stormwatch team members, to see that occurs.
During the ensuing battle(prompted by Bendix' release of an acid based weapon), everyone dies. Well, all of The High's followers. And Rose Tattoo, whose head is twisted about by a blood-thirsty, revenge minded Hellstrike. Bendix appears to die too, at the hands of Jenny Sparks. Even The High dies, like (as Sparks comments) "a bug on a windshield".
Thus ends STORMWATCH VOL. I.
Jim Lee then decided to make STORMWATCH part of his New Horizons line and the old team of Ellis, Tom Raney and Randy Elliot were gone, replaced by Ellis, Oscar Jimenez and a host of guest inkers(three in three issues). Battaion is now in control of Stormwatch and, even though they have been banned from American soil, he sends Storwatch Black, the team which supposedly doesn't exist anymore, into the town of Pavane to find out why there are biological weapons stockpiled there. Also, it appears that Henry Bendix lives on.
Warren Ellis is doing for this title what Alan Moore has done for SUPREME. He has taken the consept of a U.N. superhero peacekeeping force and thrown it through a blender. With some of the wittiest superhero banter in a long while, the dialogue is crisp and snappy, while not wallowing in its' own self-righteous poltics. The concepts, of subversion both by those inside Stormwatch and inside the U.S. government has enough twists and turns to keep any conspiracy theorist busy for some time. His characterization uis sharp and insightful. There is no forgetting who's who here as each character carves his orher own indelible niche into the tale.
The artwork on this title, especially that of Tom Raney and Randy Elliot, is tremendous. To be perfectly honest, despite all the fan buzz which was circling about on this title, it took the cover of issue #46(a great shot with Rose Tattoo in the foreground and Weatherman and some of the rest of the cast in the back) to actually make me plop down $2.50 and give this title a shot. While Jimenez' art style on the current incarnation is good, it isn't Raney and Elliot, who did for women in tights what Gary Fra nk and Cam Smith have done on titles like THE INCREDIBLE HULK, SUPERGIRL and will soon do on GEN13. Fear not for fans of this dynanimc duo, as they have a new home on DV8 and I, for one, can't wait to see what they do with THAT title.
This title is truly a gem and one which is always at the top of my "must read" pile each and every month; so much so that I now look for Ellis other work, like TRANSMETROPOLITAN and WOLVERINE. He has done for this sagging title what Steven Seagle has done for ALPHA FLIGHT-revitalized it, energized it and sent it soaring to new heights.
Do yourself a favor and make room for this title in your collection. Back issues, with the exception of #37(Ellis' first issue) are not that expensive or hard to find. And try to read them all in one sitting. It plays much better that way.