Reviews - Stormwatch PHD #1

Stormwatch is back! After the last few series that involved Stormwatch and then the excellent Stormwatch: Team Achilles, fans have not been able to get any Stormwatch for a few years now. All that has changed with the reboot of the Wildstorm universe.

Now Stormwatch members long thought to be dead are back. Diva, Fuji, Winter and Fahrenheit are all back and we get to see them in action on the first few pages of this new series. Jackson King is back too as the leader of Stormwatch. Nowadays, King is just the coordinator and hardly goes into field combat.

Now why the PHD? It stands for Post Human Division. King has realized that Stormwatch cannot handle the threats across the country now that it's under a limited budget and under direct control of the US Government. King decides to rely on some pretty intelligent and talented humans and hopes to form similar teams all across the country.

Not only has Christos Gage re-imagined Stormwatch, he's also re-created a few villains and created some new ones as well. Lord Defile looks way nastier with the real horns and Slaughterhouse Smith is really cool and Deathtrap isn't a lame as his old version. We are introduced to Lady Decadence, The Cooler, Pagliacci, The Ferryman and The Walking Ghost.

Doug Mahnke's art is breathtaking. I am so happy he is doing a Wildstorm book. After Team Zero and Seven Soldier's Frankenstein, Mahnke has shown that he has amazing talent and he can churn out the art on a regular basis. He juggled two books plus fill in for Batman. Crazy! His Stormwatch PHD stuff is simply amazing. The villains are absolutely menacing and Mahnke can definitely draw some sexy women.

I can't wait for the next issue of Stormwatch PHD and see where Christos Gage takes us. Excellent start!

DRAGONCRYPT - Sunday, November 19, 2006