10:50 - This totally goes somewhere. Particularly with characters like Tao. This paves the way for Joe Casey's exceptional and stunning WildC.A.T.S. 3.0! And Brubaker/Philips legendary Sleeper run (after they do a Grifter one-shot)!! Ed, pls give this universe another shot, it really picks up from this issue, which is a perfect jumping on point.
Nice! Going to check that out. I was a diehard Wildcats kid for first 20 issues + trilogy. Can you explain the different versions of the series? I'm so confused and can't find a consistent explanation across the different Wildcats series...
Agreed! Joe Casey's run and 3.0 is fantastic! And if you ever only read one Wildstorm book let it be Sleeper! (and Point Blank of course). Great art and great writing!
Man I really hope one day you guys do Tom Strong #1. One of the best first issues ever and such a classic old school type character with neat modern sensibilities see thru the genius 👁 and 🧠 of Alan Moore.
Nice one, lads! Always meant to check out the Moore Charest run. Got me digging out my copy of Weapons of the Metabaron now for Charest at his almost stupidly detailed best.
The Alan Moore stuff was good (they really did Moore wrong when they sold to DC) but I really loved the issues when James Robinson was writing the book. Travis was doing the art and it was the point where his art was getting next level. You can really see the experimentation and searching/finding and defining his art style as each issue came out. Side note...those issues of Stormwatch : Team Achilles were fantastic with Micah Ian Wright writing and C.P. Smith doing the art!
Loved this Moore run at the time, still a fun read today. Wildcats volume 2 was better for me. Charest draws the first 5 or 6 with James Robinson writing then it really amps up with Joe Casey and Sean Phillips completing the volume. Steve Dillon does a few fill-ins that are notable too.
I was following Travis Charest's work in the 90's. Became a huge fan when he was on DarkStars. Really interesting artist, like a blend of Jim Lee and Larry Stroman* with a clean twist. Has been an amazing artistic evolution if you look at his recent stuff. EDIT: *Makes sense that Charest filled in/followed for both Jim Lee and Stroman on some Marvel stuff like X-Factor. Alan Moore was able to write Image books so quickly because he could write stories like those in his sleep. It wasn't his best work, but obviously, it was ten times better than their previous efforts. The collection "Wild Worlds" was an interesting time capsule, and an illustration that Moore at his worst was better than the best most writers of the time could do. Especially the sad jobbers writing the X-titles at the time.
Does anyone remember back when Image was going strong and they went around in tour buses like rock stars and showed up at comic book stores? I think it was Silvestri, Danny Miki and others coming to my store in Jacksonville, Florida. I remember there was one dude an inker I think, with them signing books and I asked which one was his and he was “Well my book hasn’t come out yet.” And then he scribbled on one of my books… 🤪 that was the first and last time I ever bothered getting books signed.
I used to own the original copies of the entire run of this series but I had to sell them during my own purge. Hopefully the entire run will get collected in a nice Absolute edition someday...
Alan Moore's image/extreme stuff is sick! I've recently almost finished collecting all of it in the dollar bins. You guys need to do violator, spawn/wildcats, violator vs badrock, spawn blood feud, youngblood, judgement day, glory & supreme next 😅
Colonel Slayton is Backlash. I loved this particular book you guys are looking at today--this particular issue was probably my favorite of the WildC.A.T.S. books I had. I have some of the earlier Charest issues-including one where he finishes Jim Lee's layouts. But this one really feels like he's arrived, with a pretty different approach to Lee. But I think what moved me about this "B"-team of WildC.A.T.S. was Moore's writing--the way they goofed around and couldn't agree on how to do their heroics together. Really amusing and fun. I have a bunch of Backlash books from the time, too. I know people like Brett Booth, but some of those early Backlash issues are pretty dicey-looking. I thought all of these characters got put together in a way that made way more sense in that Warren Ellis/Jon Davis-Hunt series, The Wild Storm, a few years back. That book was really intriguing, and it was funny to have read through these early WildStorm books, and then to see someone put it all together into a tight story that had things to say. Thanks for looking at another cool book today!
I have a friend that was working at wildstorm at the time and he said Travis was was always pissing off Moore. When Moore writes scripts he gives specific directions for page layouts and for each panel. Apparently Travis would ignore the direction and just draw the pages however he wanted.
You guys mention the Voodoo mini series, and there’s a sick variant cover for that by Jason Pearson. It’s really tough to find as it was a Comics Calvacade exclusive. Actually I just checked eBay and I guess there’s 2 versions. I was only aware of the platinum one which looks like it’s colored better for some reason. Anyways check that cover out, I loved it and remember finding it years after release for Pennie’s on the dollar at a con
yeah Micah Ian Wright lied about being an Army Ranger. R.I.P. Stormwatch Team Achilles. The Portacio issues were great, including the 5 page preview in Wizard
Looking forward to seeing you work through all the Image and Image adjacent books Moore did. His run on Supreme is something of a proof of concept that would be distilled to perfection in Promethea
I LOVED Stormwatch: Team Achilles. I was really into Wildstorm around the Authority era and it did seem like it was building to something. I left when Micah Ian Wright got the boot from Stormwatch Team Achilles.
Travis Charest isn't the Travis I grew up with. Those days have gone by. Dark stars forever! WildCats run was awesome. One day I want to mimic his old style before hitting it big. I still own my Venom sharpie sketch to this day. Meeting Travis was not a pleasant experience in my youth. But I believe he was and is a mad genius always striving to be the best at what he does. Hopefully I'll meet him somewhere again at a Con and get a real sketch from him.
It’s funny I was nearly opposite Ed And Jim. I didn’t care for savage dragon or shadow hawk, I couldn’t stand Extreme studios stuff, it was McFarlane, Lee, and Silvestri for me. Hey do you think y’all might check out the Wildcats X-men crossover Charest did?
At about 17:09 you pulled up an Alan Moore list of comics on your ipad he'd done. What website is that from. I've been searching for it and can't seem to find it? Just curious. Wanting to hunt these down!
I was very into the Alan Moore Image stuff when it came out. This WildCATS series starts out strong (I think Alan was channeling Quentin Tarantino in this series a bit, to try and make the book less generic), but completely falls apart when they have their big crossover ("Wildstorm Rising" I think it was). The quality of the art tanks, too. The Violator miniseries is fantastic (Bart Sears and Alan Moore turn out to be a great combo). Badrock/Violator is shockingly bad. I think Alan's main mistake when working with the Image guys is that he assumed that the fans were into Image characters and stories, when really they just liked the art.
Did a bit of reading up on Wildcats earlier and came across this on Moores run. It’s wiki so maybe take with a grain of salt “Moore himself, who remarked that he took on the series - his only regular monthly comic series since Swamp Thing - largely because he liked Jim Lee, admitted that he was not entirely happy with the work, believing that he had catered too much to his conceptions of what the fans wanted rather than being innovative.” There’s also this just before which refers to what you talked about. "after I'd done the 1963 stuff I'd become aware of how much the comic audience had changed while I'd been away [since 1988]. That all of a sudden it seemed that the bulk of the audience really wanted things that had almost no story, just lots of big, full-page pin-up sort of pieces of artwork. And I was genuinely interested to see if I could write a decent story for that market." What I got from this is that he played himself a little, rather than just be Alan Moore it ended up being Alan Moore does WildCats.
Man Charest is one of the best unsung artists. I love his work - his later WildCATS are stunning. thanks for highlighting him!
10:50 - This totally goes somewhere. Particularly with characters like Tao. This paves the way for Joe Casey's exceptional and stunning WildC.A.T.S. 3.0! And Brubaker/Philips legendary Sleeper run (after they do a Grifter one-shot)!! Ed, pls give this universe another shot, it really picks up from this issue, which is a perfect jumping on point.
Nice! Going to check that out. I was a diehard Wildcats kid for first 20 issues + trilogy. Can you explain the different versions of the series? I'm so confused and can't find a consistent explanation across the different Wildcats series...
Agreed! Joe Casey's run and 3.0 is fantastic! And if you ever only read one Wildstorm book let it be Sleeper! (and Point Blank of course). Great art and great writing!
Casey really was the Wildstorm mvp. Wildcats, Kafka, Intimates, Majestic.
Man I really hope one day you guys do Tom Strong #1. One of the best first issues ever and such a classic old school type character with neat modern sensibilities see thru the genius 👁 and 🧠 of Alan Moore.
Nice blast from the past. Cannot get enough Travis Charest artwork!
I really like his art in the X-Men/WildCATS one shot. That might make for a fun review for younz...
Yes! Love this. Thank you. James Gunn was just reading this.
Max Cash.
Adding to the list of Image titles that Alan Moore worked on, he also wrote an issue of The Maxx.
Nice one, lads! Always meant to check out the Moore Charest run. Got me digging out my copy of Weapons of the Metabaron now for Charest at his almost stupidly detailed best.
Can't wait for you guys to dive into Alan Moore's SUPREME!
The Alan Moore stuff was good (they really did Moore wrong when they sold to DC) but I really loved the issues when James Robinson was writing the book. Travis was doing the art and it was the point where his art was getting next level. You can really see the experimentation and searching/finding and defining his art style as each issue came out. Side note...those issues of Stormwatch : Team Achilles were fantastic with Micah Ian Wright writing and C.P. Smith doing the art!
Loved this Moore run at the time, still a fun read today. Wildcats volume 2 was better for me. Charest draws the first 5 or 6 with James Robinson writing then it really amps up with Joe Casey and Sean Phillips completing the volume. Steve Dillon does a few fill-ins that are notable too.
I was following Travis Charest's work in the 90's. Became a huge fan when he was on DarkStars. Really interesting artist, like a blend of Jim Lee and Larry Stroman* with a clean twist. Has been an amazing artistic evolution if you look at his recent stuff. EDIT: *Makes sense that Charest filled in/followed for both Jim Lee and Stroman on some Marvel stuff like X-Factor.
Alan Moore was able to write Image books so quickly because he could write stories like those in his sleep. It wasn't his best work, but obviously, it was ten times better than their previous efforts. The collection "Wild Worlds" was an interesting time capsule, and an illustration that Moore at his worst was better than the best most writers of the time could do. Especially the sad jobbers writing the X-titles at the time.
Does anyone remember back when Image was going strong and they went around in tour buses like rock stars and showed up at comic book stores? I think it was Silvestri, Danny Miki and others coming to my store in Jacksonville, Florida. I remember there was one dude an inker I think, with them signing books and I asked which one was his and he was “Well my book hasn’t come out yet.” And then he scribbled on one of my books… 🤪 that was the first and last time I ever bothered getting books signed.
I used to own the original copies of the entire run of this series but I had to sell them during my own purge.
Hopefully the entire run will get collected in a nice Absolute edition someday...
9:42 Cole Cash! lol.
Alan Moore's image/extreme stuff is sick! I've recently almost finished collecting all of it in the dollar bins. You guys need to do violator, spawn/wildcats, violator vs badrock, spawn blood feud, youngblood, judgement day, glory & supreme next 😅
I loved these issues. I can’t wait for you guys to get to Supreme and the Chris Sprouse artwork!
Colonel Slayton is Backlash. I loved this particular book you guys are looking at today--this particular issue was probably my favorite of the WildC.A.T.S. books I had. I have some of the earlier Charest issues-including one where he finishes Jim Lee's layouts. But this one really feels like he's arrived, with a pretty different approach to Lee. But I think what moved me about this "B"-team of WildC.A.T.S. was Moore's writing--the way they goofed around and couldn't agree on how to do their heroics together. Really amusing and fun. I have a bunch of Backlash books from the time, too. I know people like Brett Booth, but some of those early Backlash issues are pretty dicey-looking. I thought all of these characters got put together in a way that made way more sense in that Warren Ellis/Jon Davis-Hunt series, The Wild Storm, a few years back. That book was really intriguing, and it was funny to have read through these early WildStorm books, and then to see someone put it all together into a tight story that had things to say.
Thanks for looking at another cool book today!
I have a friend that was working at wildstorm at the time and he said Travis was was always pissing off Moore. When Moore writes scripts he gives specific directions for page layouts and for each panel. Apparently Travis would ignore the direction and just draw the pages however he wanted.
Ok glad I wasn't the only one who thought his name was Cha-rest not Char-aye.
You guys mention the Voodoo mini series, and there’s a sick variant cover for that by Jason Pearson. It’s really tough to find as it was a Comics Calvacade exclusive.
Actually I just checked eBay and I guess there’s 2 versions. I was only aware of the platinum one which looks like it’s colored better for some reason.
Anyways check that cover out, I loved it and remember finding it years after release for Pennie’s on the dollar at a con
yeah Micah Ian Wright lied about being an Army Ranger. R.I.P. Stormwatch Team Achilles. The Portacio issues were great, including the 5 page preview in Wizard
Looking forward to seeing you work through all the Image and Image adjacent books Moore did. His run on Supreme is something of a proof of concept that would be distilled to perfection in Promethea
Love to see you guys cover weird reboot of wildcats with grant Morrison & Jim lee from 2006 only came out with one issue
Would love to see you compare this era of Charest with his WILDCATS/X-MEN crossover he did later...
I LOVED Stormwatch: Team Achilles. I was really into Wildstorm around the Authority era and it did seem like it was building to something. I left when Micah Ian Wright got the boot from Stormwatch Team Achilles.
I love . Love the whole run. Travis Charest is an incredible artist. Ive always felt that Alan Moore would have done a good job on the X-men!
"He's chompin' at the bit to do Violator!" - McFarlane via Liefeld
Travis Charest isn't the Travis I grew up with. Those days have gone by. Dark stars forever!
WildCats run was awesome.
One day I want to mimic his old style before hitting it big. I still own my Venom sharpie sketch to this day. Meeting Travis was not a pleasant experience in my youth. But I believe he was and is a mad genius always striving to be the best at what he does.
Hopefully I'll meet him somewhere again at a Con and get a real sketch from him.
It’s funny I was nearly opposite Ed And Jim. I didn’t care for savage dragon or shadow hawk, I couldn’t stand Extreme studios stuff, it was McFarlane, Lee, and Silvestri for me. Hey do you think y’all might check out the Wildcats X-men crossover Charest did?
Wait this is Ed piskor thee Ed from red room?!
That is Backlash.
Guys, have you any interest in talking to JH Williams III(thinking Promethea) or maybe Todd Klein(thinking Promethea, again)?
i think that fairchild might be from deathmate black
At about 17:09 you pulled up an Alan Moore list of comics on your ipad he'd done. What website is that from. I've been searching for it and can't seem to find it? Just curious. Wanting to hunt these down!
good fun stuff
🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥
please do some bart sears... justice league europe perhaps?
This was when I quit comics.
I was very into the Alan Moore Image stuff when it came out. This WildCATS series starts out strong (I think Alan was channeling Quentin Tarantino in this series a bit, to try and make the book less generic), but completely falls apart when they have their big crossover ("Wildstorm Rising" I think it was). The quality of the art tanks, too. The Violator miniseries is fantastic (Bart Sears and Alan Moore turn out to be a great combo). Badrock/Violator is shockingly bad. I think Alan's main mistake when working with the Image guys is that he assumed that the fans were into Image characters and stories, when really they just liked the art.
Did a bit of reading up on Wildcats earlier and came across this on Moores run. It’s wiki so maybe take with a grain of salt
“Moore himself, who remarked that he took on the series - his only regular monthly comic series since Swamp Thing - largely because he liked Jim Lee, admitted that he was not entirely happy with the work, believing that he had catered too much to his conceptions of what the fans wanted rather than being innovative.”
There’s also this just before which refers to what you talked about.
"after I'd done the 1963 stuff I'd become aware of how much the comic audience had changed while I'd been away [since 1988]. That all of a sudden it seemed that the bulk of the audience really wanted things that had almost no story, just lots of big, full-page pin-up sort of pieces of artwork. And I was genuinely interested to see if I could write a decent story for that market."
What I got from this is that he played himself a little, rather than just be Alan Moore it ended up being Alan Moore does WildCats.
Always hated those photocopies and zoomed panels from page 2, 5:34 . Those fat lines...