Stormwatch: Post Human Division #4 - Wildstorm (2007)

I really liked Warren Ellis's run on Stormwatch. Apparently, Christos Gage did too. This issue of Stormwatch: PHD makes several references to that era. It even has a "ladies' night out" scene reminiscent of one of Ellis's own. This is not to say that Gage is aping Ellis; he has made Stormwatch his own. The collection of characters looks kind of like "Sidekick Squad meets the Legion of Substitute Heroes" but each of them kicks ass in his or her own way. Their abilities are cool as are their personalities. There's the usual couple of ex-bad guys to keep things interesting but the nominal good guys are just as messed up.

Given that we're only two or three months away from issue #6 there may be a trade out soon but this book reads quite well as individual issues. Each one has been fairly self-contained with the occasional reference to earlier issues.

Doug Mahnke's art is squiggly and weird-looking and it works beautifully with this book. He really plays up the weirdness factor of non-powered guys fighting super villains. Also, there's a short scene between Jackson King and the leader of the PHD which I'm still laughing about and it's largely due to Mahnke's art.

My favorite part of this comic is how non-freaked-out the members of this team are when faced with something like the guy on the cover up there. Their lack of powers is more than made up for by their experience. If you like to see well-rounded characters kick ass, this may be the book for you.