Posted in: Comics, DC Comics | Tagged: amanda waller, dc comics, lois lane, wildstorm

How Good Is Superman's Hearing Again? Waller Vs Wildstorm Spoilers…

You know how Image Comics, the original home of Wildstorm, only owns one thing, the trademark to its name and logo?

Published Sun, 26 Mar 2023 13:57:12 -0500

When writing about Waller Vs Wildstorm tomorrow. Spencer Ackerman described the book thus, "we're setting Amanda's rise within the context of another of my all-time comics faves, Jim Lee's WildStorm Universe, an imprint that from 1992 to 2010 filtered superhero action through Security State depravity, government duplicity and corporate rapaciousness. I know you're all shocked this would appeal to teenage/young adult me…..Yes, one of our main characters is Jackson King, A.K.A. Battalion, the field leader of StormWatch. You'll also notice that chessboard-and-knight logo on the cover. That's right—this is also a Checkmate book.!"

I also notice another logo on the cover. You know how Image Comics, the original home of Wildstorm, only owns one thing, the trademark to its name and logo?

I hope that's not a problem for anyone. Ackerman continued, "And that's because WALLER VS. WILDSTORM falls under DC's prestige Black Label imprint, which allows me to place Checkmate, another of Amanda Waller's secret organizations, within the WildStorm security apparatus, where I think it's a pretty natural fit? We're not doing strict continuity; we're doing vibes. Along those lines, I couldn't write this story without making use of another character that fits the WildStorm vibes—Deathstroke, whom the mercenaries' lobby insists I call a private security contractor."

And we get to meet Battalion of Stormwatch talking to a rather familiar journalist.

Ackerman also said "But this book is more about Deathstroke's (now-ex) wife, Adeline Kane. Finally, Jorge's cover also displays our other major protagonist: Lois Lane. I simply cannot believe this is happening. I got to write DC's titan of journalism, a character every bit as much an avatar of truth and probity as Wonder Woman is."

That's Nigel Keane, Hellfire. An early Wildstorm victim of Amanda Waller, it seems. "(This also meant I got to apply influences from Greg Rucka's Lois maxiseries and his Checkmate series.) Issue 1 is a big Lois issue, and the book as a whole allowed me to work through some things I experienced during some of my early-career reporting from Iraq. I don't mind saying my treatment of Lois is personal as well as aspirational."

So… did Superman just hear him tell Lois Lane that? I guess Spencer Ackerman didn't have a superman on hand… Waller Vs Wildstorm #1 by Spencer Ackerman, Evan Narcisse and Jesus Merino is published tomorrow by DC Comics. And everyone turns up…

WALLER VS WILDSTORM #1 (OF 4) CVR A JORGE FORNES (MR)
(W) Spencer Ackerman, Evan Narcisse (A) Jesus Merino (CA) Jorge Fornes
In the early 1980s, as the Cold War stubbornly refuses to thaw, a new battle heats up…for the soul of the intelligence agency Checkmate. As the agency's super-heroic public face, Jackson King—a.k.a. the armored Battalion, former leader of Stormwatch and the symbol of American might—has long suspected that Adeline Kane is up to dirty tricks overseas, engineering horrors that betray everything he believes about service to one's country. But King doesn't know that Kane has a clever new ally—an ambitious young woman named Amanda Waller. She has her own ideas about how metahumans can serve their country. And honor, dignity, and long lives don't factor into them… National security reporter Spencer Ackerman (the Daily Beast, Reign of Terror), comics and video game writer Evan Narcisse (Spider-Man: Miles Morales, Gotham Knights), and veteran artist Jesús Merino (Wonder Woman, The Joker Presents: A Puzzlebox) celebrate WildStorm's legacy of espionage-flavored superhero morality plays, pitting Stormwatch against the deadliest people in the DCU—including Deathstroke himself!
Retail: $5.99 In-Store Date: 03/28/2023

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