Stormwatch #2 – Review

By: Paul Cornell (writer), Miguel Sepulveda & Al Barrionuevo (artists), Alex Sinclair (colorist)

The Story: I’m guessing none of these people played “Follow the Leader” very well as kids.

The Review: Paul Cornell has certainly set aside for himself a quirky territory in the world of comics.  Almost everything he writes has a sincerely strange flavor, but one that can also be strangely sincere.  Whether you’re dealing with Skrulls disguised as the Beatles, a bar where heroes and villains of varying quality rub shoulders and share a hot toddy, or a genius with a fetching robot companion, you can always count on Cornell to deliver the very odd goods.

It doesn’t get much odder than opening on the beginning of all beginnings, the Big Bang, and finding a member of Stormwatch already there.  Adam One appears as befuddled to discover himself in existence as we are, as well as a bit disgruntled at his craving for a “pint,” though “pints” haven’t been invented yet.  An off-panel voice observes, “Ah, so this is the moment you age backwards from the start of the universe!  One day you’re going to try to kill me.”

Cut to a little over a dozen billion years later, and we find Harry looking quite dapper in his middle ages (relatively), but also harried from the multiple demands of his team.  Any group that gathers for a higher calling rather than kinship will have its conflicts, and Stormwatch has plenty, with Engineer brazenly vying for leadership, and Harry Tanner referring to his team in quotes.

Harry becomes increasingly compelling over the course of the issue.  In comparison to the more expansive abilities of his teammates (Jenny Quantum: “Hey, I can do force fields!”  Engineer: “Yes, your dark matter DNA means you can do anything at the moment.”), he doesn’t come off as the most valuable Stormwatcher.  But as Engineer perceptively remarks, “…he’s the greatest at misdirection.  That’s his main power—he’s the prince of lies.”  And so it seems, as he pulls the wool over even the big giant eye of the lunar monster who’s got its tentacles inside his brain.