Wildstorm Rising was a
crossover
Crossover may refer to:
Entertainment
Albums and songs
* ''Cross Over'' (Dan Peek album)
* ''Crossover'' (Dirty Rotten Imbeciles album), 1987
* ''Crossover'' (Intrigue album)
* ''Crossover'' (Hitomi Shimatani album)
* ''Crossover'' (Yoshino ...
event published by
Image Comics/
WildStorm
Wildstorm Productions, (stylized as WildStorm), is an American comic book imprint. Originally founded as an independent company established by Jim Lee under the name "Aegis Entertainment" and expanded in subsequent years by other creators, Wild ...
that involved the entire line of titles published by WildStorm in
1995
File:1995 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: O.J. Simpson is acquitted of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman from the year prior in "The Trial of the Century" in the United States; The Great Hanshin earthquake str ...
.
Publication history
The 10-part crossover was published as a two-issue
comic book
A comic book, also called comicbook, comic magazine or (in the United Kingdom and Ireland) simply comic, is a publication that consists of comics art in the form of sequential juxtaposed panels that represent individual scenes. Panels are of ...
limited series Limited series may refer to:
*Limited series, individual storylines within an anthology series
*Limited series, a particular run of collectables, usually individually numbered
*Limited series (comics), a comics series with a predetermined number of ...
''Wildstorm Rising'' that served as bookends of the story arc (cover dated May
1995
File:1995 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: O.J. Simpson is acquitted of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman from the year prior in "The Trial of the Century" in the United States; The Great Hanshin earthquake str ...
-June 1995) while also running through these specific WildStorm titles. The chapters are as following:
*Prologue: ''
Team 7: Objective: Hell'' (''Team 7'' vol. 2) #1
*Chapter 1: ''Wildstorm Rising'' #1
*Chapter 2: ''
WildC.A.T.s
Wildcats, sometimes rendered WildCats or WildC.A.T.s, is a superhero team created by the American comic book artist Jim Lee and writer Brandon Choi.
Publication history
The team first appeared in August 1992 in the first issue of their epon ...
'' vol.1, #20
*Chapter 3: ''
Union
Union commonly refers to:
* Trade union, an organization of workers
* Union (set theory), in mathematics, a fundamental operation on sets
Union may also refer to:
Arts and entertainment
Music
* Union (band), an American rock group
** ''Un ...
'' vol.2, #4
*Chapter 4: ''
Gen¹³
''Gen¹³'' is a superhero team and comic book series originally written by Jim Lee and Brandon Choi and illustrated by J. Scott Campbell. It was published by WildStorm under the Image Comics banner, which went on to become an imprint for DC ...
'' vol.2, #2
*Chapter 5: ''
Grifter
A grifter may refer to:
Arts and entertainment
* Grifters (band), a 1990s American indie rock band
* ''The Grifters'' (novel), a 1963 American novel by Jim Thompson
* ''The Grifters'' (film), a 1990 American adaptation of the novel
* Grifter (ch ...
'' vol.1, #1
*Chapter 6: ''
Deathblow'' vol.1, #16
*Chapter 7: ''
Wetworks
Wetwork ( rus, мокрое дело, mokroye delo) is a euphemism for murder or assassination that alludes to spilling blood. The expression and the similar ''wet job'', ''wet affair'', or ''wet operation'' are all calques of Russian terms for su ...
'' #8
*Chapter 8: ''
Backlash
Backlash may refer to:
Literature
* '' Backlash: The Undeclared War Against American Women'', a 1991 book by Susan Faludi
* ''Backlash'' (Star Wars novel), a 2010 novel by Aaron Allston
* Backlash (Marc Slayton), comic book character
* ''Backla ...
'' #8
*Chapter 9: ''
Stormwatch'' vol.1, #22
*Chapter 10: ''Wildstorm Rising'' #2
Creators
Various comic book writers and artists who worked on this crossover event included:
Jim Lee
Jim Lee (Korean 이용철; born August 11, 1964) is a Korean American comic-book artist, writer, editor, and publisher. He is currently the Publisher and Chief Creative Officer of DC Comics. In recognition of his work, Lee has received a Harvey ...
,
Travis Charest
Travis Charest (born 1969) is a Canadian comic book penciller, inker and painter, known for his work on such books as ''Darkstars'', ''WildC.A.T.s'', ''Grifter/ Shi'', '' WildC.A.T.s/X-Men: The Golden Age'' and ''The Metabarons''. He is known f ...
,
Ron Marz
Ron Marz (born November 17, 1965) is an American comic book writer, known for his work on titles such as ''Batman/Aliens'', '' DC vs. Marvel'', '' Green Lantern'', '' Silver Surfer'', and '' Witchblade''.
Career
Marz is known for his work on '' ...
,
Kevin Maguire and
Barry Windsor-Smith
Barry Windsor-Smith (born Barry Smith, 25 May 1949) is a British comic book illustrator and painter whose best known work has been produced in the United States. He attained note working on Marvel Comics' ''Conan the Barbarian'' from 1970 to 197 ...
(who co-wrote & illustrated ''Wildstorm Rising'' # 1, and illustrated all of the covers to tie-in issues).
Windsor-Smith later said that he was talked into illustrating ''Wildstorm Rising'', and regretted participating it. He related that in reading the story and illustrating it, he could not understand the motivations of any of the characters, even when he read earlier Wildstorm books featuring the characters. He says he "mucked with the plot awfully" in order to improve it and his enthusiasm for it, saying, "After intense thinking, I realized what I was doing wrong: I was looking for characters! I know this sounds really glib as if I'm trying to build up to a funny line. But I’m really not. That was my problem: I was looking for characterization, and there was none. 'There is no characterization! That's what you’re doing wrong here, Barry!' They’re all ciphers!" Windsor-Smith later learned that writer
James Robinson was not pleased with Windsor-Smith's alterations to the plot.
[ Groth, Gary (September 1996)]
"The Barry Windsor-Smith Interview"
''The Comics Journal
''The Comics Journal'', often abbreviated ''TCJ'', is an American magazine of news and criticism pertaining to comic books, comic strips and graphic novels. Known for its lengthy interviews with comic creators, pointed editorials and scathing r ...
'' #190. Retrieved July 28, 2013.
Plot
''
Stormwatch'' and ''
WildC.A.T.S
Wildcats, sometimes rendered WildCats or WildC.A.T.s, is a superhero team created by the American comic book artist Jim Lee and writer Brandon Choi.
Publication history
The team first appeared in August 1992 in the first issue of their epon ...
'' teams end up at odds but have to stop fighting long enough to stop ''
Helspont
Helspont is a fictional character, a former supervillain in Wildstorm's comics who was transplanted to the DC Comics Universe. In addition to the WildC.A.T.s, he has also fought Team One, Gen¹³, Backlash, and when folded into the DC Universe, ...
'' and ''Defile'' from collecting all the keys to unlock the Daemonite ship which could destroy Earth, ship buried on Earth since centuries.
Collection
This crossover was later collected as the
trade paperback ''Wildstorm Rising'' (272 pages,
Image Comics, June 1996, , WildStorm, December 1998, )
References
External links
*
{{Stormwatch (comics), Stormwatch