Alan Moore’s Complete WildC.A.T.s

Comic Info

WildC.A.T.s (1) #21

Reprints WildC.A.T.s (1) #21-34, and #50 (July 1995-June 1998).  The WildC.A.T.s are dead…or so Majestic believes.  With the death of his team, Majestic and Savant set to make a new team of WildC.A.T.s to defend Earth.  Unknown to Majestic and Savant, the WildC.A.T.s have survived and are about to learn the truth of the war between the Kherubim and Daemonites on Khera.  Returning to Earth with this information, the WildC.A.T.s face the collapse of the team and uncover a traitor within their ranks.

Written by Alan Moore, Alan Moore’s Complete WildC.A.T.s collects Alan Moore’s stories from the first volume of WildC.A.T.s plus a short wrap up segment in WildC.A.T.s (1) #50 (June 1998).  The issues were collected (sans #50) previously collected as WildC.A.T.s:  Homecoming which collected WildC.A.T.s (1) #21-27 and WildC.A.T.s:  Gang War which collected WildC.A.T.s (1) #28-34.  This collection was preceded by James Robinson’s Complete WildC.A.T.s which collected Robinson’s run which occurred before this volume.

Alan Moore is an interesting writer who brings interesting ideas to comics.  Many writers work best when they have free reign on a comic (like their own creations), but as Moore proves with Swamp Thing, Supreme, and WildC.A.T.s, Alan Moore really can succeed in revamping existing characters.

Honestly, I never was a big Image guy when it launched.  I thought most of the characters were rather generic and the stories were really superficial to the art.  Of Image comics, I did like WildC.A.T.s much more than I liked Youngblood.  I was glad that Moore was assigned WildC.A.T.s because he showed the team’s potential.

WildC.A.T.s (1) #26

I have to say I do like the Majestic’s “Earth” WildC.A.T.s better than the traditional team.  Ladytron really is what the team needed to make it edgier and test the limits of Image.  As a result WildC.A.T.s actually feels more like a Vertigo comic at times.  Moore doesn’t do the best job keeping Tao’s true side hidden, but I do love the final showdown with Tao (including his mind-screw of Fuji).

The space portion of the series does do some interesting things.  It did involve my two favorite WildC.A.T.s characters more in that Voodoo and Maul both had big roles in the events.  I just found that the divided nature of the story had me wishing for Earth more than what was happening on Khera.

WildC.A.T.s isn’t Alan Moore’s best work, but it still is worlds above the average comic book and aided by some great art.  It does help if you have a bit of a handle on the WildC.A.T.s before jumping into the collection, and it can be a bit rough for newcomers to the Image world.  It also contains part of a bigger WildStorm crossover “Fire from Heaven” in issues #29-30 (April 1996-June 1996) which are a bit jarring and are given little explanation.  Check it out for Alan Moore’s take on a more traditional team book.

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