"Wildstorm Rising" was a crossover event published by

Image Comics Image Comics is an independent American American comic book, comic book publisher and is the third largest direct market comic book and graphic novel publisher in the industry by market share. Its best-known publications include ''Spawn (comics) ...

and

WildStorm Wildstorm Productions (stylized as WildStorm) is an American comic book imprint. Originally founded as an independent company established by Jim Lee and Brandon Choi to publish through Image Comics, Wildstorm became a publishing imprint of DC C ...

that involved the entire line of titles published by WildStorm in 1995.

Publication history

The 10-part crossover was published as a two-issue

comic book A comic book, comic-magazine, or simply comic is a publication that consists of comics art in the form of sequential juxtaposed panel (comics), panels that represent individual scenes. Panels are often accompanied by descriptive prose and wri ...

limited series ''Wildstorm Rising'' that served as bookends of the story arc (cover dated May

1995 1995 was designated as: * United Nations Year for Tolerance * World Year of Peoples' Commemoration of the Victims of the Second World War This was the first year that the Internet was entirely privatized, with the United States government ...

-June 1995) while also running through these specific WildStorm titles. The chapters are as following: *Prologue: '' Team 7: Objective: Hell'' (''Team 7'' vol. 2) #1 *Chapter 1: ''Wildstorm Rising'' #1 *Chapter 2: '' WildC.A.T.s'' vol.1, #20 *Chapter 3: '' Union'' vol.2, #4 *Chapter 4: '' Gen¹³'' vol.2, #2 *Chapter 5: '' Grifter'' vol.1, #1 *Chapter 6: '' Deathblow'' vol.1, #16 *Chapter 7: ''

Wetworks Wetwork () is a euphemism for murder or assassination that alludes to spilling blood. The expression and the similar ''wet job'', ''wet affair'', or ''wet operation'' are all calques of Russian terms for such activities and can be traced to crimi ...

'' #8 *Chapter 8: ''

Backlash Backlash may refer to: Literature * '' Backlash: The Undeclared War Against American Women'', a 1991 book by Susan Faludi * ''Backlash'' (Star Wars novel), a 2010 novel by Aaron Allston * Backlash (Marc Slayton), a comic book character from ...

'' #8 *Chapter 9: '' Stormwatch'' vol.1, #22 *Chapter 10: ''Wildstorm Rising'' #2

Creators

Various comic book writers and artists who worked on this crossover event included:

Jim Lee Jim Lee (; born August 11, 1964) is a Korean-born American comic book artist, writer, editor, and publisher. As of 2023, he is the President, Publisher, and Chief creative officer, Chief Creative Officer of DC Comics. In recognition of his work ...

Travis Charest Travis Charest (born 1969) is a Canadian comic book penciller, inker and painter, known for his work on such books as ''Darkstars'', '' WildC.A.T.s'', '' Grifter/ Shi'', '' WildC.A.T.s/X-Men: The Golden Age'' and '' The Metabarons''. He is known ...

Ron Marz Ron Marz (born November 17, 1965) is an American comic book writer, known for his work on titles such as '' Batman/Aliens'', ''DC vs. Marvel'', ''Green Lantern'', ''Silver Surfer'', and ''Witchblade''. Career Marz is known for his work on ''Si ...

, Kevin Maguire and Barry Windsor-Smith (who co-wrote & illustrated ''Wildstorm Rising'' # 1, and illustrated all of the covers to tie-in issues). Windsor-Smith later said that he was talked into illustrating ''Wildstorm Rising'', and regretted participating it. He related that in reading the story and illustrating it, he could not understand the motivations of any of the characters, even when he read earlier Wildstorm books featuring the characters. He says he "mucked with the plot awfully" in order to improve it and his enthusiasm for it, saying, "After intense thinking, I realized what I was doing wrong: I was looking for characters! I know this sounds really glib as if I'm trying to build up to a funny line. But I’m really not. That was my problem: I was looking for characterization, and there was none. 'There is no characterization! That's what you’re doing wrong here, Barry!' They’re all ciphers!" Windsor-Smith later learned that writer James Robinson was not pleased with Windsor-Smith's alterations to the plot. Groth, Gary (September 1996)
"The Barry Windsor-Smith Interview"
''

The Comics Journal ''The Comics Journal'', often abbreviated ''TCJ'', is an American magazine of news and criticism pertaining to comic books, comic strips and graphic novels. Known for its lengthy interviews with comic creators, pointed editorials and scathing r ...

'' #190. Retrieved July 28, 2013.

Plot

'' Stormwatch'' and '' WildC.A.T.S'' teams end up at odds but have to stop fighting long enough to stop '' Helspont'' and ''Defile'' from collecting all the keys to unlock the Daemonite ship which could destroy Earth, ship buried on Earth since centuries.

Collection

This crossover was later collected as the trade paperback ''Wildstorm Rising'' (272 pages,

, June 1996, , WildStorm, December 1998, )

References

External links

* {{Stormwatch (comics), Stormwatch