Product Description

Continuing the early Stormwatch stories by acclaimed writer Warren Ellis (The Authority, Transmetropolitan), 'Lightning Strikes' is a cold, hard look at the histories and abilties of several members of the super-powered U.N. crisis intervention team. Jack Hawksmoor, the alien abductee created to live in cities, features in the first tale, along with some good, old-fashioned hard-boiled detection; the origin story of electric-powered Jenny Sparks is a tour de force look at superhero comics and teams of the last century; the chilling tale of Rose Tattoo sets up the events of the later storyline 'Change or Die'...and, finally, the Jim Lee-pencilled 'Assembly' shows the devastating power of the new Stormwatch.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #154104 in Books
• Published on: 2003-04-25
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 144 pages

About the Author
Warren Ellis has worked for Marvel Comics on X-Men, DC/WildStorm (The Authority, Transmetropolitan and the award-winning Planetary) and on an array of titles, including Ministry of Space, and the forthcoming Global Frequency and Orbiter. Jim Lee is the original co-creator of Stormwatch, and an industry legend and fan-favourite who is now pencilling Batman.

Customer Reviews

Stormwatch shows off
Collecting issues 43-47 of the popular Warren Ellis penned Stormwatch, this book lets some of the best of the series characters go solo - well sort of. Jack Hawksmoor tracks a killer, Battalion clashes with anti U.N. terrorists and Jenny Sparks tells the story of her century spanning life.
The Jenny Sparks issue is the best in the book, using retro comic art to illustrate and chart Jenny's career; I loved the famous Gibbons Watchmen pull back, substituting a discarded smiley clock faces dressed doll for the Comedian and his smiley badge; but there's also a century's worth of influences and styles to go with it - just brilliant. Other highlights are the international pub crawl and a whole issue illustrated with full page panels.

Only essential for hardcore Stormwatch and Authority Fans.
Set just before "Change or Die", "Lighting Strikes" is a collection of one off stories set in the Wildstorm Universe. Again, Ellis tends to stay away from the previous established Stormwatch characters (with the exception of Jackson King and the Weatherman, Henry Bendix) to focus on his newly introduced characters Jenny Sparks and Jack Hawksmore.

The artwork is adequate in this book, certainly better than the two previous Stormwatch books. In particular, the Jenny Sparks story, where she describes her life is wonderful, with the artwork changing styles to in a homage to the comics of the decade being described.

Whilst the stories are one-offs, they do tie into the main Stormwatch continuity with Jackson Kings story setting up future conflict between America and Stormwatch and Rose Tattoo's story directly leading onto the events in "Change or Die". As a result, its not an essential purchase for non hardcore Stormwatch/Authority fans (I left it until the last of my Stormwatch/Authority purchases).

However the Jenny Sparks life history and Bendix journal stories make this well worth the cost of purchase and certainly essential for fans.

Focus on character development in a mature superhero world.
The Wildstorm world is like our own, but with higher technology and a history of superhumans. The United Nations has its own superhuman crisis unit, Stormwatch, who do whatever it takes to combat superhuman threats (hint: their opponents hardly ever end up in prison). This is the second of four volumes collecting the issues written by Warren Ellis which led up to the excellent 'The Authority' title. Much of this volume is taken up with stories focusing on individual team members. Jack Hawksmoor has a detective story in New York, drawing out the abilities of one of the strangest superheroes ever. Jenny Sparks tells Jackson King the story of her nearly 100-year life, with different decades drawn in the appropriate comic/cartoon art style. King, aka Battalion, gets a rumble with some terrorists. We get a lot of character development as established team members go out on a social trip, with humour that's lacking in the other stories here (and a couple of pages in the wrong order, which was confusing), while the ongoing plot with commander Henry Bendix simmers in the background. Finally there's a rather throwaway episode with some of the team in action exploring a hidden complex. Artwork and story are good throughout. It's definitely a stage on the way from somewhere to somewhere else, getting us closer to the characters before the stuff hits the fan in the next volume.