Review: Stormwatch #4

 

Even with the sad news that, with the New 52 and this title only four months old Paul Cornell will be departing as writer with #6, he is leaving his successors with a lot of cosmic meat and reams of work to do on this non-superhero team, as Stormwatch #4 attests.

Right away the reader is thrown dramatically into the “eye of the storm,” so to speak, meaning the monster missile from the moon. It has apparently absorbed everyone except Midnighter and now he must face this scourge alone … or does he?

Is it a bird, a plane, or … Apollo?

That is right, everyone’s fave couple is working together for the “first” time in this continuity, and the team work could not be smoother. If only the rest of the team – including its leader, Adam One himself – were so inventive and johnny-on-the-spot as almost-recruits Midnighter and Apollo.

Theirs is really the brunt of this cosmic battle until Jack comes into play with the mysterious city beneath them all coming to full life.

The heroes do not even get to enjoy the spoils of victory, such as it is, because they are soon whisked away by their own HQ to face … ah, but that would be telling.

If there is one thing this runaway cosmic train is, it is action-packed in a good way. There are talking heads, sure, but that usually leads to plot or character development or, more often, yet another cosmic mystery to solve. They are beginning to stack up and I just hope the new writer(s) meet the challenge of continuing to lay this new ground of the new DCU!

So applause to the departing Mr. Cornell. You got me hooked on a book I now love and would love to see you continuing on but we as readers will do that nonetheless.

And while resident artist Miguel Sepulveda will likely be drawing the two-issue fill-ins (not really the right words) on #s 7 and 8, no one at DC has said if he is continuing on the title. His art has been a boon to this non-team, establishing a unique and very cosmic, moody look. It is my hope he remains.

What will be next for this most unique of mankind’s saviors? I will be here with Stormwatch to find out.