Stormwatch #9

One more review for the night and then it'll be one review a day for Sunday, Monday and Tuesday since this was such a bizarrely quiet week for me comic-wise. But that's then, let's tackle the first DC book I read this week first.

Stormwatch #9:

Summary: This one opens with the Martian Manhunter, Jenny Quantum and Jack Hawksmoor dealing with someone named the Vitruvian Man. The trio manage to capture Vitruvian Man, but not before Vitruvian Man claims that he was once a member of Stormwatch way back when... From there we head to Apollo and Midnighter, who were sent to intercept a Red Lantern that had arrived on Earth. The Red Lantern manages to blind Apollo with it's blood-spit, but is defeated by Midnighter's power, which I understand to be the power of awesomeness... Okay, that's not really his power, but still, you could fool me... Midnighter and Apollo take the Red Lantern back to Stormwatch's headquarters so Engineer could try to figure out how the red ring worked. Unfortunately, the Vitruvian Man manages to get free of his bonds and flips out on the ship after telling his tale of woe(basically the secret masters of Stormwatch murdered his girlfriend after he refused to stop seeing her), which draws the Red Lantern ring towards the Vitruvian Man since he was filled with rage. Midnighter leaps into action and snaps the Vitruvian Man's neck(!) before the ring can reach him, at which time the ring turns it's attention to Midnighter(!!). Before the ring can reach Midnighter though, Engineer recaptures it, and Midnighter storms away. This issue ends with Midnighter pondering if he'd end up suffering the same fate as the Vitruvian Man if he started to enjoy his time on Stormwatch too much...

Thoughts: So this was Peter Milligan's first issue as the writer of this series. Now, I'll admit, I was a bit disturbed when I saw that he was bringing a Red Lantern into this series seeing as that I hate the concept of the Rainbow Corps... I get that Milligan is writing the Red Lantern book, but that doesn't mean I want Red Lanterns in this series... But you know what? Milligan didn't make this comic about that Red Lantern at all. He actually used it as a plot point to show that Midnighter was beginning to let his guard down around some of his teammates, especially Apollo. Plus, I'll admit, the prospect of Midnighter as a Red Lantern is kind of cool(so long as it doesn't last too long that is). Granted, I'm still not that fond of the whole, “Stormwatch has secret, uber-powerful masters.” deal, and I don't get why they'd care about the Vitruvian Man's love-life... Overall though? This was a solid first issue by Milligan, here's hoping he can keep up the good work.

Score: 8 out of 10.

Midnighter cutting off a Red Lantern's arm? Further proof of his awesomeness.