Livewire #1: Living the Outlaw Life.

Diving into this as a Valiant fanatic I was super excited to finally see McKee in her own solo series. As a mainstay of the Valiant roster she’s been a mentor, a love interest, the “guy in the chair” and so on, but this series focuses on the thing that drives her most– Livewire is, at the end of the day, a hero.

Following the events of Harbinger Wars 2, Livewire is essentially locking horns with the U.S. Government and all its allies (of the black ops variety) over her drastic actions to save young Psiots from being captured and turned into government hitmen or lab test animals. The greatest thing about this is, despite her heroic intentions, the massive black out she caused by dropping a huge deuce on the entirety of the American owned satellites in space wasn’t her best idea, per se, but she owns it. While she doesn’t regret drawing a line in the sand like a soldier fighting for a cause, she also acknowledges with some remorse the causalities caused by the conflict. It makes for an interesting mix of emotions, especially when she tracks down her team of young Psiots in training– “The Secret Weapons”. But as she reveals in her dialogue with them, she doesn’t regret giving Uncle Sam the finger, because if she didn’t, quite frankly, no one would have and they’d all be dead for the crime of just being born unique.

Amanda and The Secret Weapons are doing a pretty good job staying off the radar and as we see throughout the issue (including the kick ass opening sequence involving Livewire saving two planes full of people from certain death friggin mid flight!) still make time to do superhero stuff. The build up goes from some heavy character driven moments to some OH SNAP SON! action, quick fast and in a hurry come the issue’s final pages and, suffice it to say, Livewire’s troubles are just beginning when a team of heavy hitting mercs get the drop on her.