Things start to heat up as Marlow’s crew comes up with a plan to invade IO Skytower facility. Meanwhile, Jenny Mei Sparks finds out what she truly is, and what her presence means for the world.
THE WILD STORM #10
Writer: Warren Ellis
Artist: Jon Davis-Hunt
Cover Artist: Jon Davis-Hunt
Colorist: Steve Buccellato
Publisher: DC Comics
What You Need To Know:
Angela Spica has used technology she has stolen from her former employer, International Operations (IO), to develop an exo-suit that can store itself under her skin. She uses this technology to save Jacob Marlowe, CEO of HALO, a company devoted to pushing the boundaries of technology for the modern world. But this single selfless moment has set into motion a chain of events that Angie could not even imagine.
International Operations is an organization masquerading as an American Intelligence bureau that actually runs the world. IO has sent an assassin, Michael Cray, to kill Jacob Marlowe. IO believes Marlowe’s technology is advancing too quickly and is too economically destabilizing. Angie is quickly recognized as a low-level employee in the aftermath of her heroic save of the technocrat. Miles Craven, IO’s director, has set his sights on bringing in Angie dead or alive revealing the technology she used to create this suit was actually stolen from Skywatch, an organization that rules over space. The two organizations have a peace treaty, and this is a clear violation. Miles worries that if Skywatch finds out IO had these technologies and kept them hidden, it could mean war or much worse.
After Michael Cray leaves IO for their decision to bring in a fearful Angie, he is approached by Christine Trelane and offered a job with The Division, the ground sector of Skywatch. Michael is dying of a brain tumor and Christine offers him better medical attention through the job. After an attempt on his life is made by agents from IO, he gladly accepts.
Jacob Marlowe decides to track Angie down and offer her safety. He sends his team to find her, leading to an incident involving one of IO’s CAT (Covert Action Team). IO’s CAT is killed by Marlowe’s team, and Angie escapes. Eventually, Adrianna, a former astronaut for Skywatch who was killed in a space “under our dimension” called “The Bleed” and brought back to life under mysterious circumstances, catches up with Angie and convinces her to join Marlowe’s team.
In Amsterdam, a mysterious healer, called “The Doctor” has a session with a small group of people including Jenny Mei Sparks. Upon the completion of the session, Jenny Mei is still knocked out and The Doctor decides to investigate, finding pieces of her origin locked inside her mind. Upon a consult with the elder Doctors, she is informed that Jenny Mei is an ancient defensive weapon and that her presence means trouble is on the horizon.
Angie, demanding answers, scans Marlowe and finds that he, John Colt and Kenesha are not human. Jacob explains that they are aliens who were left on Earth after losing communications with their home planet, never revealing what their mission was. He decides to grant Angie access to his lab on the condition she dumps all data from the suit into his files, as he wants to know the range of IO’s intel.
What You’ll Find Out:
Kenesha, Cole, and John are devising a plan to infiltrate IO Hightower again using Adri as their transport. Upon deciding that blowing up the whole complex wouldn’t be a great idea, Cole decides to use some of the tech Angie had utilized during their fight with IO’s CAT. Cole has Adri teleport him to Marlowe’s lab and requests Angie’s help, to which she easily agrees to give the specs on the tech so that the team can build their own drones.
At Skywatch headquarters, Henry reads a report from Trelane that reveals Michael Cray has been used by Ground Division to perform jobs and has been sent to a doctor to be diagnosed for the tumor in his head. However, the doctor has discovered that there is no tumor, and what is in Michael’s head is something else entirely. Henry believes this has something to do with a Reptilian alien race, to which his assistant, Lauren Pennington, scoffs and asserts there is no proof of such things. Henry explains there are many things she does not know. He takes a syringe of pink liquid and, feeling on top of the world, goes to work.
Jenny Mei Sparks runs into The Doctor and is coerced into drinks at the promise of an explanation of who or what she is. Jenny confides the information she has found out about IO and Skywatch, but The Doctor ridicules her and calls her conspiracy theories insane. She reveals that in her previous vision she saw that Jenny Mei was created by a race called the Daemon and that she is a defense mechanism for the world.
Kenesha has left Marlowe’s complex to go to a grocer down the street. Outside the grocer, a man looks skyward speaking riddles about how the world is changing and tells Kenesha to take care. Once inside, Kenesha asks the attendant who the man is and he informs her they call him “The Mayor” and he appears seemingly on schedule with people feeling convinced nobody cares. Outside, The Mayor decides he is going to check up on Copenhagen and dives into the street and disappears. A limo pulls up with Voodoo inside, who has witnessed the man’s stunt. Convinced it’s not just a bad trip from the party the night before she becomes sure the whole thing is real and grows fearful a war is coming.
What Just Happened?
As each faction in our story grows closer to a decision, they also grow closer to war. All signs point to doom, and each person is starting to realize their place in it. An issue of primarily talking heads, it was all about decision making, plan creating, and bombshell dropping. Our agents, both free and otherwise, are starting to put the pieces together for the impending war between IO and Skywatch.
The series continues to create a slow burn of what will happen next. A lot of foreshadowing breaks down into many interconnected actions and plans that will ultimately cause the impending doom prophesied by Jenny Mei Sparks return, and Voodoo’s knowledge of the things around her. Although it’s not clear exactly what Voodoo knows, she’s another thread adding to the impending doom foreshadowed for the last several issues. As we grow closer to the midpoint in the series, hopefully, we see more action to bring upon the war that will lead into the new Wild Storm universe.
Rating: 6.5/10
Final Thought: While this is another issue of talking heads, we are getting a greater sense of the bigger gears at play and getting more foreshadowing into the sense of doom that will lead to the Armageddon of the Wild Storm Universe. Each character is getting closer to understanding their place in the machine but has yet to discover what the plot truly is.