Page 45 Review by Stephen
"Take it from me: there's no such thing as being alive too long.
"There's always something new."
There speaks the futurist in Warren Ellis, constantly scanning the technological, literary and political horizons for what's coming next.
This time, however, the creator of INJECTION, TRANSMETROPOLITAN, TREES et al is concerned with new iterations, specifically of old Wildstorm characters like those he himself introduced in THE AUTHORITY and its predecessor, STORMWATCH. It was a broader science fiction than its subgenre of superheroes, whilst keeping some of its more prominent trappings - the costumes, HQ and action - right out in front in order to please its readers. It did please its readers including me. I recommend THE AUTHORITY unequivocally.
This veers even further away into purer science fiction with a far more European sensibility aided by Jon Davis-Hunt's clean detail and spirit of place, and Ivan Plascencia's cool blue and brown, sky and earth palette slashed with mere traces, tiny trickles of blood which make them all the more painful and worrying.
You need have read nothing before: Ellis is starting from scratch as if nothing had gone before, although there's no point in throwing the babies with some potential out along with the cold, dirty bathwater. Deliberately, then, I'll mention no more of the imprint's prior incarnation and simply suggest some of what is presented here.
Covert civic operations seeking to keep gene-spliced blood out of the city's water supply. Overt economic operations seeking to make big bucks from cleaner energy sources while keeping the alien nature of their corporation's head under wraps. Covert International Operations seeking to keep quietly running the world while wizened Henry Bendix aboard Skywatch keeps tabs on them suspiciously from above. Miles Craven, director of I.O., seeking to share a street-side citron pressé with his husband Julian without being harassed by a clumsy, scatty and intense scientist / employee called Angela Spica determined to raise the bar on their ambitions exponentially in order to enhance lives worldwide in a whole new way.
Each one of those goals is compromised, in one way or another, by the chain reaction within.
For a start, Angela's already experimented on herself.
I'm going to leave it there for fear of spoilers, but I'll just return, if I may, to Jon Davis-Hunt and that "tiny trickle of blood". There's a slash in Angie's t-shirt suggesting the experiment hurt plenty, but that's nothing compared to a small sequence of panels after Angie sees a man bursting out of a plate glass window high above the HALO billboards advertising "Solar For Homes", "A Battery Cell For Life" and "We're Making The Next New World". It is excruciating, as jagged shards of cellular meta-metal rearrange themselves and multiply, tearing through tissue then skin. The skin is just under one of Angie's eyes. Every element there has been designed to emphasise the personal price and pain.
So:
HALO wants to make the world cleaner.
Angie wants to make the world safer.
International Operations wants to keep the world broken: it's easier to control that way.
I was going to expand my re-edited review of the first issue to the whole collection but then I read this on the back cover and vomited: "These legendary antiheroes transformed the way superhero stories were told. Their return will rip the system once again".
Typical hype-monkey lies, through and through.
Corporate hype-monkeys: you are transparent. How do you even live with yourselves? You'd fit in so well at UKIP and the Tory party.
I bet they sell insurance on the side.
