-The Authority Prime 1
Story 3/10 Art really sucks 3/10
The Authority is dealing with their usual end of the world stuff, when afterwards Jenny asks her 2 daddies, the Midnighter and Apollo, what gives them nightmares. They don't want to tell her, but we know that it's Bendix. Well as soon as that issue comes up, of course, we got right to Storm Watch Prime. Bendix's son is now the new Weatherman, and he's trying to dig up all of his father's old files and garbage and stuff. Well he opens up this one file, only to find out that his father had a secret bunker somewhere in Arizona. So Jackson King puts the team together, he even digs out his old Battalion outfit, and they go to Arizona to kick some ass. Well . . . that's not really the plan, but of course it's only logical that Henry would have had lots of defenses around his most prized possessions. Which he does in the form of his Thinker-Tanks. They trash the lot of them. But then in what looks like a scene from the Transformers, they all piece together in to one big robot. They're all set to give it another shot, when all of the sudden the Authority shows up. I'm not sure if this story is going to carry over in to the Authority #2, or if there's going to be a StormWatch prime. But either way, it should be a hell of a fight. This issues brought to us by Christos Gage on the scripts, and Darick Robertson on the pencils.
or
his ain’t your daddy’s Authority. That grand, obnoxious, self-righteous team spin-off of Stormwatch is gone, with all it’s anti-governmental sexy energy. I was (an still am) one of the biggest Authority fans to date, with near every and all appearances (save Kev-…blecch!), and have watched as one writer after another tried to mirror the smart swift quippy (?) dialogue that was Warren Ellis’. It always seemed to be overdone to the point of farce. Midnighter and Apollo were super- gay, the rest of the team were super-slutty, and everything else was socio-political mish-mosh of whatever the editorial rant of the day was, poking fun at random. Well, relax, sit back, and meet the new (sorta) Authority.
Going into battle against Elder Demons invading Earth from H. P. Lovecraft’s attic, we find the familiar Jack Hawksmoor, Engineer, Swift, Apollo and Midnighter. New to the mix are the New Doctor (old one died of a silly drug over-dose), and Jenny Quantum, our century’s millennium baby/teen and universal protector. Evil vanquished, the yreturn to the Carrier NOT for an orgy, but relax and regroup. Cut to: pre-Authority heroes Jackson King and old-school Stormwatch, taking on a band of evil killer robots with resurrected second-tier grunts Fuji, Hellstrike, Fahrenheit and Winter. See? No one stays dead in ANY publishers’ comics, not just Marvel! While we see some familiar faces, the dialogue and interchange is a fresh take on old friends. Gone are the tacky non-sequitors and inside sexual innuendo; here we are presented a team of friends that jibe each other at best but act in the way heroes do. Whatever was the intended direction Ellis wanted to take these characters, shame on him; he doesn’t write the book any more.
Picking up those reigns is yet another TV writer crossing the fence, Christos Gage. You may know his comic work on World War Hulk X Men (yeah, me neither), or his skills on televisions’ Numb3rs. While he is no Warren Ellis, that’s not necessarily a bad thing. I think one of the strikes against Authority for so long was its dedication to crass-ness, a misconception of the political satire direction taken by Mark Millar after Ellis’ departure.
This is a different book, but not in a bad way. He biggest tie in to Ellis here may be the artist, Derrick Robertson. Fans of the Vertigo should lovingly remember his pairing with Ellis on Transmetropolitan, with a unique style and equally dramatic layouts. Here the art is a bit more controlled, with heavily inked lines and well-defined characters. The cinematic shots made famous in the first series are gone, but you get the sense of energy from alternate angles and panel sequence. The main problem with the art is something I have alluded to prior, in that each character is looking for a contact or is extremely constipated.
Will this book pick up steam and keep it’s high standards, and not fall into the depraved toilet humor it’s gotten to be associated with? Let’s hope not. Stick with me, pick it up, give it a chance. You might like the new Authority.
By this guy VVVVVVV
-The Authority Prime 2
Story 3/10 Art still sucks 3/10
ssue #2 of Authority Prime is the last issue. Not the last issue of the series, but surely the last issue I’ll buy of this writer’s run on the title. As I mused in my review of issue one, Gage is no Ellis and it wasn’t a bad thing. What’s bad is that he’s taken ten years worth of character building by three very talented writers (Ellis, Millar and Brubaker) and wiped his arse with it and flushed down the crapper. When I get five pages into an Authority comic and there’s a double-page splash of two super-teams going to battle each other over a simple misunderstanding of objectives, I feel like I’m reading some left-over late ‘80’s copy of Marvel Whatever. My Authority, the book I came to know and love, they faced big challenges. God, Alternate Versions of Themselves, Invasions from Other Dimensions, occasionally each other but justified. There’s no real reason for this fight. None. And who’s really, really bad judgment call was it to return Stormwatch to the tacky costumed gonad boys and girls club run by former Weatherman Jackson King (now back in his Battalion armor)? It took Warren Ellis at least 12-15 issues to turn these characters into something tangible, grow them, mature them and turn them into people other than stereotypical ‘heroes’. Well, congratulations Mr. Gage for undoing all of that in two issues.
At stake here is the unburied memory vaults of Henry Bendix, the maniacal former leader of Stormwatch and the progenitor of the Stormwatch Black guard (including Apollo and Mid-Nighter), which became the original Authority. Issue two picks up as these two teams face off and express their mutual disdain and lack of trust (although last time I checked, Jackson used to be tight with them). The rest of the plot goes like this (stop me if it sounds like, oh, 737 comics you’ve read before): They face off. Small individual shots of members fighting each other with bits of reminiscing dialogue between punches. One member of a team gets hurt really bad (by accident? Come on, they’re fighting!). NOW there’s going to be some serious butt kicking. Set up for last-page macho tough-guy quote. To be continued…
Yawn.
Aside from a few additional innuendos of The Doctor’s resurrection of the fallen former Stormwatchers, we get nothing new here. It’s just a glorified run of the mill slugfest. Sure, there are little ‘adult’ teasers like Rose Tattoo bumping, grinding and getting off on a guy, but it’s gratuitous. I simply don’t believe that Gage has it in him to be seriously sick enough to write good Authority stories. There, I’ve said it. Now, go back and write CSI: Cincinnati or something TV-related.
As far as the art goes, Derrick’s doing well to keep up, but there are too many full page shots and it almost seems they are there to cover up the weak story and hurry the book along to the last page as filler (note: breadcrumbs, people). It’s almost like Posers and Muggers for Fanboys poster book, vol. 7, after you’ve shown the big boy’s art the first six volumes. VERY heavily inked lines to aid in the retro ‘80’s vibe of this book. You almost feel like you’re reading Marvel Two In One Issue (pick one). Been there, done that.
If you truly want to read this book, wait about three months and pick it up in the quarter box, ‘cause that’s where this is headed. If Wildstorm/Image wants the magic back, they need to dig deeper into their bench. Hey, I know, call that Straczynski guy. I heard he’s done killing Spidey’s book, maybe he wants to put down this dog as well.
I got lazy and copied/pasted these reviews.....but never the less I agree with them and will prob end up dropping this run.