Stormwatch (comics)

Stormwatchis a fictional superhero team appearing inAmerican comic bookspublished byWildStorm,which later became an imprint ofDC Comics.Created byJim Lee,the team first appeared inStormwatch#1 (March 1993).After the WildStorm imprint was retired and its universe was merged with the mainDC Universe,the group was depicted as a secretive team of superheroes who tackle dangerous missions while remaining unknown to the larger superhero community.

Stormwatch
Group publication information
Publisher	WildStorm(Image Comics,laterDC Comics)
First appearance	Stormwatch#1 (March 1993)
Created by	Jim Lee Brandon Choi Scott Clark Warren Ellis(vol. 2)
In-story information
Base(s)	SkyWatch
Member(s)	Stormwatch Prime: Battalion Synergy Winter Fuji Hellstrike Flint Cannon Strafe Diva Post-Human Division: John Doran Fahrenheit Paris Gorgeous Black Betty The Monstrosity The Machinist Former members: Backlash Martian Manhunter Nautika Flashpoint Jenny Sparks Jack Hawksmoor Swift Rose Tattoo Union Weatherman (Henry Bendix) Weatherman (William Bendix)
Stormwatch
Genre	Superhero
Creator(s)	Jim Lee Brandon Choi Scott Clark Warren Ellis(vol. 2)

Publication history

Stormwatch

Stormwatch (run by a fictional United Nations) is overseen from a satellite by its director, the Weatherman. The Weatherman was Henry Bendix, who had cybernetic implants connected to his brain to better monitor the world situation and his Stormwatch teams in action. His field commander was Jackson King (also known as Battalion, an American telekinetic). Other founding members includeHellstrike(an Irish police officer who is an energy being), Winter (an ex-Russian Spetznaz officer and an energy absorber), Fuji (a young Japanese man, an energy being trapped in a containment suit) and Diva (a young Italian woman with sonic powers).

The team first appeared in the eponymouscomic bookStormwatch,published byImage Comicsand owned byJim Lee.Early writers ofStormwatchincluded Jim Lee,Brandon Choi,H. K. Proger andRon Marz;early artists includedScott Clark,Brett Booth,Matt Broome and Renato Arlem.

Marz, who had worked onMarvel Comics'Silver Surferand developedHal Jordan'sGreen LanternreplacementKyle RayneratDC Comics,took over the writing whileJames Robinsonwas writingWildC.A.T.s.Robinson and Marz, directed by Jim Lee, intertwined the books' storylines over several months.

Around this time, two two-issue miniseries were published:Stormwatch Team One(written by James Robinson) andWildC.A.T.s Team One(written by Steven Seagle). In the intertwined miniseries, the groundwork for both teams was laid in the mid-1960s by a core group consisting of Saul Baxter (Lord Emp),Zealot,Majestic,John Colt (the template forSpartan),Backlash,a young Bendix and Jackson King's father Isaiah, all of whom would be members of (or figure prominently in) the later Stormwatch andWildC.A.T.steams. In this series "WildStorm", the publishing imprint name, was a code word used by the United States Government: "Wild" was extraterrestrial life-forms, and "Storm" was invading forces.

Robinson'sWildC.A.T.sand Marz'sStormwatchculminated in the "Wildstorm Rising"storyline, during which both teams were disrupted; Stormwatch incurred casualties, and the WildC.A.T.s were believed dead. After WildStorm Rising,Alan Mooretook over the writing ofWildC.A.T.s.After a second imprint-wide crossover,Warren Ellistook over writingStormwatchwith #37 (July 1996).

Warren Ellis andStormwatchVol. 2

Warren Ellis's run would refocus the stories and redefine the cast of characters while tying-up the first volume (with issue #50) and spanning the entire 12-issue run of the second volume. His version ofStormwatchinjected sexual and horror elements, thinly-disguised political commentary and criticism of the United States government into the stories. The accompanying art was toned down from the more-exaggerated 1990s superhero-style, which dominated the early Image Comics, helping to emphasize the science fiction aspect of the storylines. During this period Ellis usedStormwatchto introduce the concept of the Bleed, a space betweenparallel universeswhich later featured inPlanetaryand other comics set in the Wildstorm Universe. By the end of volume one Ellis made Henry Bendix a manipulative villain.

Ellis continued to write the book intoStormwatchvolume 2, until the August 1998WildC.A.T.s/Alienscrossover (also written by Ellis) which saw the Stormwatch team decimated byxenomorphs(the creatures fromtheAlienfilm series). Most of the Stormwatch characters Ellis had not created were killed off in this story while the surviving characters he had created became the main cast of Ellis' new series,The Authority,includingJenny Sparks,Jack Hawksmoor,Apollo,theMidnighter,andSwift(who debuted in Stormwatch vol. 1 #28, written byJeff Mariotte) as well as two new characters who were successors ofthe Engineerand the Doctor from Ellis' "Change or Die" storyline.Stormwatchvolume 2 ended with a story, set afterWildC.A.T.s/Aliens,in which the United Nations disbanded Stormwatch. The last scene, a conversation between former members of Stormwatch Black, introduced The Authority and promoted its first issue. Other survivors from the original team (including Battalion,Christine Trelane,and Flint) appeared briefly inThe Authority,and King and Trelane became central characters ofThe Monarchy.

Ellis's use of concepts and characters he developed in Stormwatch extended into other WildStorm projects as well. Notably,Planetary.In the 11th issue ofPlanetary,John Stone,a secret agent modeled after a combination ofJames Bondand Nick Fury (ofJim Steranko'sNick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D.) works for a 1960s precursor of Stormwatch namedS.T.O.R.M.,working out of a command center known asS.T.O.R.M. Watch.References were also made to Jenny Sparks, the Bleed, and the ability to teleport via "doors."

Stormwatch: Team Achilles

Main article:Stormwatch: Team Achilles

In September 2002,Stormwatchwas revived asStormwatch: Team Achilles,written byMicah Ian Wright.The series followed a human UN troubleshooting team dealing with superhuman-related problems. The planned final issue (#24) was never published, although its script is available for download online.

Stormwatch: Post Human Division

Main article:Stormwatch: Post Human Division

Stormwatchwas one of several comic books restarted after Wildstorm Comics' WorldStorm event. This version was launched in November 2006 with writerChristos Gageand pencillerDoug Mahnke.The series ended after issue #12,but resumed in August 2008 as part of the World’s End event with issue #13.In the new series several dead characters (Hellstrike, Fuji, Winter and Fahrenheit) were resurrected and reformed as the new version of Stormwatch Prime (now sponsored by the United States), and a separate branch office —Stormwatch: P.H.D.(Post-Human Division) — was opened in New York.

The New 52

Stormwatch (vol. 3)
Publication information
Publisher	DC Comics
Schedule	Monthly
Format	Ongoing
Publication date	September2011 – April2014
No.of issues	30
Creative team
Written by	Paul Cornell Peter Milligan Jim Starlin Sterling Gates
Artist(s)	Miguel Sepulveda Yvel Guichet Jeremy Roberts

DC Comics announced in June 2011 that the team would be incorporated into the DC Universe in a new series, written byPaul Cornelland drawn by Miguel Sepulveda, as part of theSeptember 2011 relaunchof its comics.Peter Milligantook over the book in issue nine after leavingJustice League Darkwith issue eight.

This Stormwatch, an organization which has protected Earth from alien threats since theDark Ages,is commanded by a group known as the Shadow Cabinet:a four-member group of Shadow Lordsreferred to as "the dead", and represented by an entity which can negate the group's powers and is aware of their secrets (except Harry's).Rejecting the title "superheroes", Stormwatch — Jack Hawksmoor, Apollo, Midnighter, Jenny Quantum, the Engineer, theMartian Manhunter(who left the team after wiping everyone's memory of him),and three new characters: Adam One (an immortal born during theBig Bang,who was later revealed to be Merlin),Emma Rice,the Projectionist (who controls the mass media) and Harry Tanner, the Eminence of Blades (the world's greatest swordsman)— exist in secret and consider themselves professional soldiers. Their base is a hijacked Daemonite spaceship in Hyperspace,later upgraded into the Carrier.

Jim StarlinwroteStormwatchwith #19, erasing the team's history as a 1,000-year-old organization and restarting its history again. Apollo and Midnighter were returned to their original costumes as the core of a new Stormwatch team with the Engineer, Hellstrike,the Weirdand new characters Jenny Soul, the Forecaster, and Force.After Starlin's run ended with #29, Sterling Gates wrote the series' 30th and final issue which restored the previous version of the team.The team then appeared inThe New 52: Futures Endweekly limited series.

Collections

Ellis' run onStormwatchwas collected into fivetrade paperbacks:

• Force of Nature(collectsStormwatchVolume 1 #37-42, 160 pages, January 2000,Titan Books,ISBN1-84023-611-6,Wildstorm,ISBN1-56389-646-X)
• Lightning Strikes(collectsStormwatchVolume 1 #43-47, 144 pages, April 2000, Titan Books,ISBN1-84023-617-5,Wildstorm,ISBN1-56389-650-8)
• Change or Die(collectsStormwatchVolume 1 #48-50, preview and Volume 2 #1-3, 176 pages, July 1999, Titan Books,ISBN1-84023-631-0,Wildstorm,ISBN1-56389-534-X)
• A Finer World(collectsStormwatchVolume 2 #4-9, 144 pages, July 1999, Titan Books,ISBN1-84023-291-9,Wildstorm,ISBN1-56389-535-8)
• Final Orbit(collectsStormwatchVolume 2 #10-11 andWildC.A.T.S/Aliens,96 pages, Titan Books,ISBN1-84023-381-8,Wildstorm, September 2001,ISBN1-56389-788-1)

Stormwatch: Team Achilleswas collected into two trade paperbacks:

• Stormwatch: Team Achilles Vol. 1(collectsStormwatch: Team Achilles#1-6, DC Comics, December 2003,ISBN1401201032)
• Stormwatch: Team Achilles Vol. 2(collectsStormwatch: Team Achilles#7-11, DC Comics, January 2004,ISBN1401201237)

Stormwatch: Post-Human Divisionwas collected into four trade paperbacks:

• Stormwatch PHD Vol. 1(collectsStormwatch PHD#1-4, #6-7, DC Comics, July 2007,ISBN1401215009)
• Stormwatch PHD Vol. 2(collectsStormwatch PHD#5, #8-12, DC Comics, April 2008,ISBN1401216781)
• Stormwatch PHD: World's End(collectsStormwatch PHD#13-19, DC Comics, October 2009,ISBN140122489X)'
• Stormwatch PHD: Unnatural Species(collectsStormwatch PHD#20-24, DC Comics,ISBN1401228526)

The New 52 version ofStormwatchwas collected into four trade paperbacks:

• Stormwatch Vol. 1: The Dark Side(collectsStormwatchVolume 3 #1-6, 144 pages, DC Comics, May 2012,ISBN1-40123-483-6)
• Stormwatch Vol. 2: Enemies of Earth(collectsStormwatchVolume 3 #7-12 andRed Lanterns#10, 160 pages, DC Comics, February 2013,ISBN1-40123-848-3)
• Stormwatch Vol. 3: Betrayal(collectsStormwatchVolume 3 #0, #13-18 DC Comics, Sept. 2013.ISBN1-40124-315-0)
• Stormwatch Vol. 4: Reset(collectsStormwatchVolume 3 #19-30, 272 pages, DC Comics, Jun. 2014,ISBN1-40124-841-1)

See also

• List of Stormwatch members
• List of government agencies in DC Comics
• United Nations in popular culture

External links

• Stormwatch: An Introduction,Pipeline,Comic Book Resources,December 16, 2008
• Stormwatchat the International Catalogue of Superheroes
• Stormwatchat the Comic Book DB (archived fromthe original)