Stormwatch 3: Betrayal

Comic Info

Stormwatch (3) #0

Reprints Stormwatch (3) #0, 13-18 and Young Romance #1 (November 2012-May 2013).  Stormwatch has suffered some major setbacks, and a vision by Jenny Quantum shows it might only get worse…including a battle with a reborn version of Etrigan the Demon!  When a Shadow Lord arrives and demands that Stormwatch take out the threat of superheroes on Earth, Stormwatch finds one of their own their first target.  Midnighter senses something is wrong with the Shadow Lord, but Apollo and Stormwatch intend to silence him forever.

Written by Peter Milligan, Stormwatch Volume 3:  Betrayal continues the New 52 relaunch of the Wildstorm series.  Following Stormwatch Volume 2:  Enemies of Earth, the collection includes Stormwatch (3) #0 (November 2012) which was part of the origin month for the New 52 and a short story from Young Romance #1 (April 2013).  The collection features art by Will Conrad, Cliff Richards, Simon Bisley, Eduardo Pansica, and Julio Ferreira.

When it launched, Stormwatch was one of the New 52 titles I was most interested in.  I wanted to see how DC incorporated Wildstorm into their regular series.  Unfortunately, Stormwatch didn’t do a lot for me at the launch and I fell off the series.  Re-approaching the series, it still has problems, but it has interesting moments.

Stormwatch (3) #16

The story’s basic theme is “betrayal”, but it pretty much breaks down into three stories.  The first story is the #0 issue origin story which follows the path of the Jennys through time (up to Jenny Quantum) and also more insight to Adam One.  The second story is the rebirth of Etrigan (and the battle with Stormwatch) and a bit more on Stormwatch’s origin due to its ties to Demon Knights.  The third story is the “Betrayal” story which has the return of Harry Tanner, a surprise enemy, and a lot about the relationship between Apollo and Midnighter.  The Demon story is the weakest of the three and I don’t buy that everyone would immediately turn on Midnighter, but in general, the book is entertaining.

My primary interest still is the Wildstorm tie, so it was nice to see Zealot show up in this collection.  She previously was introduced into the New 52 in Deathstroke but here, we get to see her interact with Midnighter (leading to weird jealousy from Apollo).  It would be nice to see her make some more appearances in the New 52 (and develop her character).

Stormwatch is a very imperfect comic.  It feels much like a generic comic book with a very unconventional storyline.  The writing and the style of the comic is very traditional, but how the comic book unwraps is different with major characters changing allegiances and goals…this is where the comic has potential.  Stormwatch 3:  Betrayal is followed by Stormwatch 4:  Reset.

Related Links:

Stormwatch 1:  The Dark Side

Stormwatch 2:  Enemies of Earth

Stormwatch 1:  Force of Nature

Stormwatch 2:  Lightning Strikes

Stormwatch 3:  Change or Die

Stormwatch 5:  Final Orbit