Let's Read Heroes Never End (LR: WildStorm)

[Stereotypical Villain]

 

[Vaarna_Aarne]

Uploading seven issues of WildCATs.

I'll also fill you in on the characters we encounter as they come along, breaking my usual "pics only" style. This way I don't need to start posting stuff Alan Moore wrote back in the mid-90's.

 

[Vaarna_Aarne]

Alright, so here are the first three cats. The dude with the mask and guns is Grifter, aka Cole Cash (best name evar), a gen-active from Team 7, which gives him telekinetic powers, improved physicality and slowed aging. Buddies with Deathblow and John Lynch, who were also in Team 7. Almost never uses his powers, prefers "playing fair" and using his marksmanship skill instead.

The woman with the sword is Zealot, also known as Lady Zannah. She's a full-blooded Kheran who arrived on Earth 3,000 years ago, and a member of the Coda warrior sisterhood from Khera. Like all Kherans, she is stronger, faster and more durable than human, but she's also Coda, who are the Shaolin equivalent of Kherans. Also the official total bitch of the WildStorm universe, being a self-absorbed, close-minded and arrogant bigot with pretty much the last real Kheran supremacist viewpoint among the ones on earth. Also something of a local bicycle, having had a relationship with almost every male near the series she's in.

The robot-chick is Ladytron, aka Maxine Manchester. She was a petty criminal on a killing spree who was crippled while being ambushed by the police in Neward, but was augmented with cutting edge experimental cybernetics while in prison. Was recruited to the second team of WildCATs despite objections by Majestic due to her being an unstable psychopath juvenile criminal. Eventually she became more stable and humane due to the influence of being around Majestic, who became a father figure for her (this was actually pretty touching commentary by Moore about how an XTREME 90's superhero would come to see an older Superman type). For those who care, she was created by and the stuff above happened during Alan Moore's run on WildCATs.

Halo Corporation was originally just a front for the Kherans under the command of Lord Emp/Jacob Marlowe (that short bastard who calls himself Baxter you saw in Jenny flashback and who shot Santini's knee). Though when Emp died he left the assets to his android manservant, Spartan, who took on a new identity as John Marlowe and turned Halo into an actual corporation and tried to use responsible, altruistic capitalism to make the world a better place. Most important effect on the large-scale was the Halo Battery, which is essentially a Duracell battery based on Kheran technology but that could give power for several hundred years.

The orange-haired guy is Spartan himself, aka John Colt, aka Hadrian, aka John Marlowe. He's a Kheran Spartan-model combat/guard android who has lived built on Earth by Lord Emp without AI restrictors, so he's a real person. Flies, is strong and durable, and shoots energy blasts, along with other machine abilities.

The guy with the green hair is Warblade, Reno Bryce. He's a Kheran/human hybrid with ancestry in the Kheran Shaper's Guild, which means he can alter his body in any way he wants and turn it into organic metal with monofilament edges. In civilian life he's an artist.

The skinny fuck is Jeremy Stone, who is a human/Titanothrope hybrid. Titanothropes are the indigenous sentients of the planet Khera, and are treated as slave-like underclass by the Kherans. Dan Abnett also added that Kherans themselves are not native to Khera at all, but a parasite species that usurps a new planet when they need to repopulate. They tried to do this to Earth, but Majestic stopped them and essentially doomed Kherans to a slow extinction as a species. Anyway, Maul can like all Titanothropes alter his body's size and mass at will, but he's limited by the diminishing brain/body ratio, meaning he gets more stupid as he gets bigger. At human size, he has genius-level intellect. He's something of a sulky nerd, and has absolutely no luck with women. Oh yea, he turns purple when he grows above his human size.

The chick with the bandana is Voodoo, an ex-stripper and a human/Daemonite hybrid. Though most artists forget it, she's supposed to be a second-generation mulatto as well. Has telekinetic powers and was briefly trained by Zealot, and can shift to a daemonite form. Also learned actual voodoo during an Alan Moore mini-series about voodoo loa, murder rituals and strippers.

The girl in the black armor is the new Backlash, so she's a human/Kheran hybrid who's got a measure of super-speed and an energy whip. Don't know much about her, since I haven't read WildCATs between 3.0 and this one.

The woman in the red-black armored robe is Nemesis, another one of the Kherans who landed 3,000 years ago on Earth during the Kheran-Daemonite Wars. She was Kheran underclass, which means she would with 100% live on garbage and amount to nothing. Though it happens that the also young Lord Majestros (Majestic) saw something in her and arranged her to be trained by Zealot at the Coda sisterhood, and she and Majestros would fall in love though as usual shit happens due to way Kheran marital unions are arranged, with Majestic being paired with the aristocratic Zealot. Though neither of them are really over the thing even after several thousand years. She's by far the most bitter and disillusioned towards Khera among the regular cast, having had pretty much a sampling of all the worst parts of Kheran culture.

Which brings us to Lord Majestros of Khera, or Majestic, or Mister Majestic. He's from the very zenith of Kheran caste system, and has been enhanced to be the evolutionary pinnacle of Kheran biology. This basically means that he's got the full Kryptonian set of abilities, making him the strongest being on Earth alongside The High now that Apollo is limited in his ability and Jenny Quantum and Doctor are AWOL. Then again, the SPB scale classifications highest category for StormWatch, Majestic Class, was defined based on him. He was a general among the force that landed on Earth 3,000 years ago, and became one of the world's first superheroes during the 20th century, and would eventually grow out of being a soldier to a faraway planet of douchebags into being a superhero (during Alan Moore's run + Dan Abnett's solo series for him. Though now he's gone back to his old ways as a Kheran Warlord in his attempt to salvage the situation on Earth.

Told you Zealot was an utter bitch.

 

[Vaarna_Aarne]

 

[Vaarna_Aarne]

EDIT: Btw, this is where I call bullshit as a fan of StormWatch: PHD. Paris is far more deadly at close range than Grifter ever was, among humans there probably isn't a hand-to-hand combatant as skilled as he is with the exception of Jukko. Not to mention Paris intuitively detects and exploits weaknesses in his opponents. Grifter would be demolished by Paris at this range due to how limited his physical improvements are.

 

[Vaarna_Aarne]

 

[Vaarna_Aarne]

Oh yea, that's Lord Defile, one of the Daemonite commanders from their crashlanding 3,000 years ago. He differs a bit from the other, Lord Helspont, by the fact he never really cared much about the war's outcome, he was far more interested in just sating whatever came to mind. Also, he's one of the few Daemonite sorcerers.

 

[Vaarna_Aarne]

 

[Vaarna_Aarne]

 

[abnaxus]

That's some real sucky art.

 

[Stereotypical Villain]

Kind of, yeah.

 

[Vaarna_Aarne]

That's some real sucky art.

I agree. The artist isn't really particularly good at anything except drawing Daemonites and Maul.

 

[Sceptic]

A few questions.
1. Is Emp/Baxter the guy from the Aliens crossover who got the team together?
2. Is Spartan the guy who goes on the Carrier to chat to the Authority early on in Coup D'Etat?
3. Who the hell is Majestic? was he mentioned or did he apepar earlier?
4. I'm still not entirely clear on the whole Zealot thing in the Wildstorm parallel universe thingies. Why was Hawthorne so intent on killing her when she got back on the ship? Why was it such a major plot point that Hawthorne didn't know Zealot was a Kheran? (King from the real universe makes it sound as if that's what'll determine whether the parallel Wildstorm will win or lose)

Also, why the hate for Zealot? From what I've seen of her in Aliens and here she's p. cool.

Also, plot hole. Mentions of Nevada Garden stuff being on old satellite - didn't the new Wildstorm go after the Garden and store stuff on the NEW satellite? The one still orbiting, as seen in the Authority World's End issues?

 

[Furious Flaming Faggot]

More.

 

[oldmanpaco]

Well I'm happy to see the fertile Kheran females left to... get fertilized?

Also the stripper has not seen the video.

 

[Vaarna_Aarne]

A few questions.
1. Is Emp/Baxter the guy from the Aliens crossover who got the team together?
2. Is Spartan the guy who goes on the Carrier to chat to the Authority early on in Coup D'Etat?
3. Who the hell is Majestic? was he mentioned or did he apepar earlier?
4. I'm still not entirely clear on the whole Zealot thing in the Wildstorm parallel universe thingies. Why was Hawthorne so intent on killing her when she got back on the ship? Why was it such a major plot point that Hawthorne didn't know Zealot was a Kheran? (King from the real universe makes it sound as if that's what'll determine whether the parallel Wildstorm will win or lose)

Also, why the hate for Zealot? From what I've seen of her in Aliens and here she's p. cool.

Also, plot hole. Mentions of Nevada Garden stuff being on old satellite - didn't the new Wildstorm go after the Garden and store stuff on the NEW satellite? The one still orbiting, as seen in the Authority World's End issues?

1. Yea, that's him.
2. Yea, that's him.
3. Majestros is a Kheran High Lord and one of the generals of the Kheran force that crashlanded on earth 3,000 years ago. Also one of the world's first superheroes. Majestic appeared way back in the 90's comics, and was one of the main characters in Alan Moore's run, and has had his own solo series.
4. Because she was a total bitch and in that universe her species was responsible for his modifications and intent on annihillating earth. Also, on that world no one knew aliens outside of the Aliens existed.

Yea, she is cool and all, but you gotta recognize that she's one hell of bitch.

 

[Vaarna_Aarne]

Oh yea, it also bears mention that (due to Alan Moore again), there's a robot/cyborg religion in WildStorm universe, the Church of Gort. Ladytron was a nun of it at some point, but got excommunicated. They're essentially robot christians, who believe in things like the Eternal Quality Control.

 

[Stereotypical Villain]

Aarne, you claim that the art on the blueberry and the daemonites is "good"... well... uh... It's just a fucking muscular blob he's drawing. Christ, they both look like something that came out of Proper's hidden laboratory.



The "art" is comparable to the shitty Hulk series written by that moron Loeb, but thankfully the story in Wildstorm isn't as terrible as the art.

 

[Sceptic]

3. Majestros is a Kheran High Lord and one of the generals of the Kheran force that crashlanded on earth 3,000 years ago. Also one of the world's first superheroes. Majestic appeared way back in the 90's comics, and was one of the main characters in Alan Moore's run, and has had his own solo series.

Thanks. For Majestic/Majestros I was specifically wondering if he got a mention in something you posted. I distinctly remember seeing his name but don't remember the context or if it was important.

He sounds like a complete douche btw.

They're essentially robot christians, who believe in things like the Eternal Quality Control.

POST IT. POST IT NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOW

 

[oldmanpaco]

I also notice that the world in The Authority seems quite a bit bleaker than in the WS comic. Isn’t the world supposed to be covered in some kind of cloud? And what about those soul storm things and mutants popping up? And wasn't all tech destroyed by emp pulses?

Why are these not the same in both comics? Why!

 

[Cassidy]

I suppose it's because LA is an ocean and one continent away from where the carrier crashed and fucked up things even more than they already were by warping reality.

But it's most likely typical comics logical coherence.

 

[Vaarna_Aarne]

Yea, in this update Majestic will explain that the British Isles apparently got on the ITZ shitlist and got the full course in Bad Shit (tm). But yea, there's a cloud covering much of the earth.

It also bears mention that things are particularly well in the Halo Tower because it was shielded by Kheran technology and Spartan during World's End.

Anyway, uploading new stuff, and Sceptic can rejoice for the next issue is one devoted entirely on Ladytron getting pissed off about whiny fleshbags and their drama and goes out to find some robots.

 

[Vaarna_Aarne]

 

[Vaarna_Aarne]

Anyway, that'd be Savant, who was mentioned earlier. You know, the daughter born out of the politically arranged union of Majestic and Zealot? Anyway, she's your usual full-blooded Kheran, but also possesses teleport-capable boots. She was seduced by TAO during Alan Moore's WildCATs, and as for TAO, suffice to say he's one helluva manipulative asshole.

 

[Vaarna_Aarne]