|
Original Stormwatch Era (1993-1996) |
 Stormwatch began during the launch of Image Comics in 1993. As
such, it was a success; all of Image Comics' publications flew off the shelves in that early
period when the excitement of a third mainstream American comics publishing company seemed an
utopian dream. Image Comics had been founded by a group that included Marvel Comics's most
prominent artists (including Todd McFarlane and Jim Lee), and it was trumpeted as a movement
toward creator ownership since each of the Image founders owned the books on which they worked.
Marvel Comics had long had as its policy that its characters and not its creators were the
genesis of its sales, and so Image Comics felt revolutionary at the time. In retrospect, much of
Image Comics' early years had little quality to recommend it. The fact that the Image founders
had came from Marvel and not DC could be felt in their stories, which were even worse at Image,
where illustrators frequently wrote or co-wrote as well as illustrated, than they had been at
Marvel, which had a tradition going back to Stan Lee's days in the 1960s for subordinating the
story to the artwork. Moreover, as other writers and artists were brought in to work on Image
titles, often because the Image founders could not keep to regular schedules but also because the
founders launched spin-off titles, Image Comics shifted increasingly towards work-for-hire, the
same situation that the founders had protested at Marvel Comics; Image Comics became, in effect,
a small number of feifdoms, most of which operated as miniature versions of Marvel Comics.
Ironically, the quality of the titles tended to improve as work was farmed out; real writers
began working at Image under contract, and the art, while it lacked the astounding popularity of
the art of the Image founders, often told stories better since the artists, under contract,
tended to subordinate their art to the story more than the prima donnas who had founded the
company on their exaggerated artistic styles.
Stormwatch was published by Image Comics but was produced by Jim
Lee's Wildstorm Studios, his independent arm of the Image octopus / conglomerate / umbrella. In
fact, WildC.A.T.s had been Jim Lee's flagship
book; Stormwatch was the first additional title of his Wildstorm Studios. Stormwatch
fit the Image pattern. The quality of its early years was not great, and the title was farmed
out to various work-for-hire creators.
After Stormwatch #9 had been published, the various studios of
Image Comics implimented their collective "Images of Tomorrow" gimmick -- for which the various
studios produced issues numbered #25 for various titles, jumping forward in numbering by a year
or more for many books. As such, Stormwatch #25 was published after #9 and followed by
#10. The idea was that the participating titles would move toward the events of their #25 so
that #24 would logically flow into #25 and #25 would logically flow into #26, the issue
published after #24. The idea was more than a curiosity, however; it was a statement that Image
was here to stay -- at least for another year or two. With Image's reputation for lateness, this
became a great joke; people speculated how long it would take to reach #25 and how many titles
would survive that long. As it turned out, things worked out fine.
Before long, writer Ron Marz (of
Green Lantern)
was brought in, and he continued for
a time; he was, essentially, the only notable writer of the early Stormwatch period.
Stormwatch #22 participated in the "Wildstorm Rising" crossover that ran throughout
Wildstorm Studios' titles. #35 and #36 participated in an even bigger Wildstorm crossover entitled
"Fire from Heaven." With #37, the then-unknown Warren Ellis took over the writing of the title
that he would define and eventually transform into The Authority.
|
| IMAGE | TITLE | DESCRIPTION | STATUS |
| Stormwatch (first series) #0, 1-2: Brandon Choi and Jim Lee "story" |
| Stormwatch (first series) #1-2: Scott Clark pencils; Trevor Scott inks |
| Stormwatch (first series) #1 | cover-dated March 1993 | 1 |
| Stormwatch (first series) #2 | introduces Cannon, Winter, Fahrenheit, and Regent; cover-dated May 1993 | 1 |
| Stormwatch (first series) #3-16, 18-36: I know nothing about this issue |
| Stormwatch (first series) #3 | introduces Backlash | Needed |
| Stormwatch (first series) #4 | Stormwatch battles Daemonites | Needed |
| Stormwatch (first series) #5 | | Needed |
| Stormwatch (first series) #6 | | Needed |
| Stormwatch (first series) #7 | | Needed |
| Stormwatch (first series) #8 | | Needed |
| Stormwatch (first series) #9 | | Needed |
| Stormwatch (first series) #10 | | Needed |
| Stormwatch (first series) #10 [alternate cover] | different cover art | Needed |
| Stormwatch (first series) #11 | apparently has Ron Marz script; published on 16 September 1998 | Needed |
| Stormwatch (first series) #12 | Stormwatch battles Hellstrike | Needed |
| Stormwatch (first series) #13 | | Needed |
| Stormwatch (first series) #14 | | Needed |
| Stormwatch (first series) #15 | | Needed |
| Stormwatch (first series) #16 | | Needed |
| Stormwatch (first series) #17 | features Battalion's funeral in the 18-page main story (for which Ron Marz is credited with the "story"; Mat Broome with Ryan Benjamin & Dan Norton pencils; Trevor Scott "and company" inks); also features a 6-page story (with Ron Marz script, Jeff Rebner pencils, and Chuck Gibson inks); cover-dated December 1994 | 1 |
| Stormwatch (first series) #18 | Argos returns | Needed |
| Stormwatch (first series) #19 | Winter leaves | Needed |
| Stormwatch (first series) #20 | | Needed |
| Stormwatch (first series) #21 | the cover misidentified the number as #1; Stormwatch battles WildC.A.T.s | Needed |
| Stormwatch Special #2 | features
- a main story in which Flashpoint hunts one of the mercenaries, and
- a back-up that prologues the Wildstorm Rising crossover (Defile, the villain behind the crossover, appears; concludes with the note "The story continues in Wildstorm Rising!");
cover-dated May 1995 | Needed |
| Stormwatch (first series) #22 | participates in the Wildstorm Rising crossover (this chapter being part 9); cover-dated May 1995 | Needed |
| Stormwatch (first series) #23 | | Needed |
| Stormwatch (first series) #231/2 | a mini-comic (has smaller dimensions); a special promotion available through Wizard magazine; occurs between #23 and #24; recaps the Despot situation | Needed |
| Stormwatch (first series) #24 | Stormwatch battles Despot | Needed |
| Stormwatch (first series) #25 | published between #9 and #10 as part of the "Images of Tomorrow" gimmick | Needed |
| Stormwatch (first series) #26 | | Needed |
| Stormwatch (first series) #27 | | Needed |
| Stormwatch (first series) #28 | | Needed |
| Stormwatch (first series) #29 | Prism is introduced | Needed |
| Stormwatch (first series) #30 | | Needed |
| Stormwatch (first series) #31 | | Needed |
| Stormwatch (first series) #32 | | Needed |
| Stormwatch (first series) #33 | | Needed |
| Stormwatch (first series) #34 | | Needed |
| Stormwatch (first series) #35 | participates in the Fire from Heaven crossover (this chapter being part 5) | Needed |
| Stormwatch (first series) #36 | participates in the Fire from Heaven crossover (this chapter being part 12) | Needed |
 |
Miscellaneous (Not in Sequence)
| |
|
| Stormwatch (first series) #0 | tells the origin of the team; art by two teams, Brett Booth (pencils) & Sal Regla (inks) and Jeffery Scott (pencils) & Alex Garner (inks); cover-dated August 1993 | 1 |
| Stormwatch Sourcebook | contains bios of Stormwatch members, enemies, and Skywatch | Needed |
| Stormwatch Special #1 | a.k.a. Stormwatch Yearbook #1; features
- a lead story (written by Ron Marz, with art by Dwayne Turner) in which Stormwatch is transported to a magical dimension, and
- a back-up story (by by Marz, Richard Johnson, and Kevin Nowlan) featuring Diva;
cover-dated January 1994 | Needed |
