šŸ’„ šŸ± WildC.A.T.S (2022-2023) Discussion Thread (SPOILERS) šŸ± šŸ’„

I was on the fence about getting into this. I love the WildC.A.T.S characters, but, honestly, their back story has never done much for me. What sold me on giving it a shot was Matthew Rosenberg who has really impressed me with his work on the current Joker series (especially those back-up stories). I said to myself, ā€œAlright, letā€™s see if he can make this work.ā€ The results from issue #1 are sort of mixed.

Letā€™s start with the things I liked. As I mentioned, I never much cared for the back story behind the WildC.A.T.S and felt that itā€™s an even harder sell working it into the context of the larger DCU. I like how Rosenberg plays with that here. Grifter tells the original back story along with some other DCU tall-tales to see if he can get anyone to believe them. That was a nice touch and an interesting way to play with the convoluted history of the team. I also enjoyed how Fairchild was worked into the group. Iā€™m not 100% sold on her new character design, but I like seeing her there and how her powers were portrayed. Sheā€™s like an old cell phone that canā€™t hold a battery charge. Itā€™s impressive but not perfect. Thatā€™s what I imagine super powers as a capitalist enterprise would look like.

However, thereā€™s still a major problem here and thatā€™s: Thereā€™s really not enough from this to convince anyone to get into it unless they are already familiar with the team. The way Rosenberg played with the back story was clever, but it delays an actual back story being put in place for the team. There isnā€™t a clear idea of what is going on and why itā€™s happening in the first issue. Iā€™m expecting that will become clearer over time, but, for now, Iā€™m not sure how Iā€™d sell this series to anyone who isnā€™t already familiar with the team. Thereā€™s no hook yet.

So, yeah, I have mixed feelings on issue #1. There was some cool stuff there, but, at present, it kind of feels like most other WildC.A.T.S eras: The characters are really cool and charming but thereā€™s still not enough beyond that. Like I said, though, Iā€™m really impressed by Rosenberg and will stay with it.

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looks like wildcats is sort of like the old justice league task force. stormwatch seems to be similar to wildcats. Lots of old wildstorm characters are being used again. Wildstorm probably has more than 100 characters that can be used.

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WildC.A.T.S predates Justice League Task Force by close to a year.

Like Task Force though, the C.A.T.S tend to operate on the clandestine side of things.

Theyā€™re literally the ā€œstormā€ of WildStorm, while ā€œwildā€ comes from WildC.A.T.S.

Stormwatch tends to be the more open, publicly-known group of the WSU.

WildC.A.T.S is the franchise of WildStorm, so we are definitely seeing familiar faces. :slight_smile:

If characters from Divine Right should pop-up, I would be onboard 100% x infinity for that.

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Max Faraday is sort of a dr manhattan clone. Void, Providence and Lord Entropy are also pretty powerful.

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One wonders what Doctor Manhattan would do with the Creation Equation. :thinking:

So, have you checked out the new WildC.A.T.S mag, yet?

If youā€™re an Ultra member, #1 is in our library, waiting for ya. :wink:

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Usually busy fixing minor color errors in cover art of teams. To learn about characters, I sometimes read the dc wiki. Recently, I learned how to use the gimp paint smudge.
1993 nov wildcats by j scott campbell:

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Iā€™m personally am annoyed by the change to her character. Why they make her a actual child instead of the college bombshell she was in the original and have her hang with her other gen-13 friends.

Honestly while not a life long fan of the classic wildstorm universe Iā€™m not sure if Rosenberg is selling me on the characters at all as I feel more nostalgic to the Ellis Wildstorm series and that was meant to be a retelling.

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There was a time when dc wanted to do a gen 13 title that included conner kent and they even showed a sort of preview but that gen 13 title never came out. Dc could try to use gen 13 to compete with those x people.

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Theyā€™re similar in the way that they are both superhero black ops teams. However, there is one major difference between WildC.A.T.S and the first incarnation of Stromwatch. Stormwatch were a global peacekeeping force with ties to the United Nations, so sanctioned by a global political organization. WildC.A.T.S were more like a private security force of the Halo Corporation. One was a U.N. peacekeeping force while the other was like Blackwater.

If you mean that they may use this WildC.A.T.S team as a way of bringing different Wildstorm characters in and out of the group thenā€¦ maybe! It looks like it could go that way based on the end of issue #2. However, that could also just be a public misdirection by Marlowe.

Eh. There was a way in which the original character design for Fairchild was a bitā€¦ exploitive. I think that, in the year 2022, itā€™s good that they are not sticking to that. However, I think they couldā€™ve kept the hair and the classic costume colors which wouldā€™ve given her that more nostalgic feel. Iā€™m also not crazy about the cargo pants, but to each their ownā€¦

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I dig cargo pants, so if Caitlin wants to rock 'em, more power to her.

I havenā€™t read #2 yet (Iā€™m spending too much time admiring Ben Oliverā€™s groovy take on Zealot, you see), but its up next in this weekā€™s ā€œTo Readā€ stack.

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1993 november wildcats by Jim Lee

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Iā€™m not the biggest WildC.A.T.S. fan, but Matthew Rosenberg is an excellent writer. Iā€™ll pick it up at the library when itā€™s available.

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Groovy! The thread will be waiting for ya. :superman_hv_4:

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Read #2.

Still liking the series.

And quite the interesting last page.

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Absolutely. Iā€™m all-in for the WildStorm take on the Seven Soldiers.

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Nathan Szerdyā€™s variant for #3, on-sale 1/10:

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For the unaware, the above ladies are Ladytron (left) and Zealot (right).

Newly-arrived for Ultra members is this yearā€™s Christmas special, headlined by none other than Cole Cash (aka Grifter) himself:

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The third thunderous issue arrives this Tuesday, January 10th!

Hereā€™s a look at the covers:

Main/A cover, by Stephen Segovia.
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B cover, by Nathan Szerdy (I love that Ladytron and Zealot dig Harley and Ivy).
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Whatā€™s your :index_pointing_at_the_viewer: cover choice, andā€¦what do you think will happen with the Seven Soldiers?

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Iā€™d have to check for sure but pretty sure I got the B cover.

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Iā€™ve been getting the B covers for each issue, so far.

Hard not to when #1 was by Jim Lee, #2 features Zealot looking wicked-spiffy and #3 features her looking even spiffier and alongside Ladytron, as theyā€™re wearing rad Harley and Ivy tees.

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If there is one thing I wish desperately they kept from Ellis Wildstorm books was Adrianna Tereshkova design.


This one here is really a downgrade.

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