will there be trade paperback reprints?
what company owns the reprint rights? Image or DC?
will there be trade paperback reprints?
what company owns the reprint rights? Image or DC?
DC. They published the first 20 issues or so of the original run on the DC Universe app and those were originally published by Image.
Ironically, it includes issues from a Cyber Force crossover, but obviously the Cyber Force issues are left out because DC do not own them.
I'm reading them for the first time and I'm surprised at the extent to which both Wildcats and CF borrowed elements from the X-men.
I mean, I've always noticed tons of similarities, but I never knew they went as overboard as Cyber Force's HQ being in Westchester County of all places.
^^^Based on this exchange I found and read the issue yesterday.
Man that was so good!
Lee's art was excellent as usual, and Morrison set up a series of interesting plot threads I really wanted to follow up on. I’d def. have gotten this book.
After talking about it here I also went back and re-read that issue and enjoyed it immensely again, although at this stage it's bittersweet more than anything else. I'm also compelled to go back and read the whole run again, there's a veritable murderer's row of creative teams working on the C.A.T.S, from Choi/Lee, Claremont/Lee, Robinson/Charest, Moore/Charest and then Casey/Phillips all the way to Casey/Nguyen. Too bad the current volume by Rosenberg is so bland and also concluding with #12, I fear it will be another few years until they try and relaunch the book again now.
The worst thing about the new run is how it retcons classic WS stuff for no good reason. Rosenberg didn’t successfully update anything, he just made random changes which sadly are part of the “official” DCU iteration of the team.
So next time they decide to give the team a new try, his run is the new canon. They’d either have to reboot yet again or just accept things as they are.
I really wish DC would do more to maintain at least the classic runs as the core of their franchises. Want to update some elements of an IP? Fine, but try respecting the biggest landmarks. In the case of Wildcats, I’d have kept as much as possible from the Moore and Casey runs. Maintain the strong foundation and build from there.
I don't think Joe Casey's run gets nearly enough praise. He inherited a very high-profile relaunch by Scott Lobdell & Travis Charest who both left the book just a few issues in, with Lobdell frankly making a big mess of things and writing borderline nonsensical stories. Casey came in and cleaned up their mess, wrapped up the Kenyan/Lord Emp plotline very neatly and then proceeded to make the most of the "non-team" status writing excellent character-driven stories while also slowly progressing the book towards the Version 3.0 direction. Sean Phillips provided stylish, moody artwork that couldn't have complemented the stories any better.
Alan Moore's run rightly gets much acclaim but I do believe Joe Casey's is also up there as the best WildC.A.T.S. run ever.
That and Brian Azzarello's aborted run on The Authority following 9/11 killed those 2 books to this day and made Wildstorm lose any momentum. I'm really hoping James Gunn's DCU gives Wildstorm some much-needed attention otherwise I don't really see the comics coming back in a big way anytime soon.
I always felt Choi's run (I think it started at 36 and ran through 50) was an attempt to try and tell a story but with no clear direction. After Moore's run and the Fire From Heaven crossover basically the WildC.A.T.S. no longer existed. I was completely lost with the whole time travel storyline and with the cover to 50 it looked like they were going to reunite with new uniforms and instead the book just kind of faded away because of that lack of direction.