Review: Stormwatch Vol. 4- Reset

Quick Summary

Pros: The story is well structured and details an epic space odyssey. The ending to the major plotline is fantastic.

Cons: Intense continuity changes happen twice and make it harder to become invested in the story.

Overall: This is a book that is great in some ways, yet remarkably confusing in others. It provides a solid and well structured space adventure with an excellent conclusion. However, it also resets and alters the status quo twice, often without giving any sort of explanation. If you can get over the bizarre nature of this book, you may end up enjoying the final product.

Story

Stormwatch Vol. 4: Reset is a complete and total departure from the previous three volumes in terms of both continuity and style. The first issue reboots the entire series with a mostly different team and goes on to tell an epic space odyssey rather than an Earth based adventure. At first, this culture shock is hard to move past, but once past it readers will find a lot to enjoy in this book. It is a clear homage to the 90s in both characters and style; however, like books of the 90s, it still has flaws when it approaches ridiculousness. Overall though, Jim Starlin manages to pull off a solid quest across the galaxy despite the somewhat jarring changeup.

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The first thing readers learn in this book is that the universe we have come to know is gone, replaced by the one we are about to see. The initial few pages of this are quite enigmatic and confusing. For a while, I had a tough time focusing on the story and character development because I was focused on simply regaining my grasp on the entirety of the situation.

However, the way the reset is tied into the overall narrative makes it so that understanding the reset becomes part of understanding the story. It is a clever way to justify the jarring introduction and help push readers into the story immediately. It is also a unique plot device, as a villain who can reset the timeline of the entire universe is a noteworthy villain indeed. So, while not optimal, the harsh reset in this book may actually help in serving up the book’s other positives.

Moving on to those, putting Jim Starlin on all but one issue of this book allows for one continuous and well developed narrative, which has been a huge problem for this series so far. We have plenty of time to get to know the characters and situation in this book in a more intimate way than ever before. It helps enhance the story because you feel a real connection with the characters and actually get to see their progress.

The story does have its pitfalls though. Small portions of the book feel boring and over explained, while other portions defy explanation, such as why Lobo is the source of such strange power. Plus, the connection with Martian Manhunter and the JLA is a stretch and seems to come out of nowhere. Some of these are easier to overlook than others, but they still do affect the reading experience.

The real highlight to the book is the conclusion of Jim Starlin’s run. One villain defeats another villain and then tries to tempt a member of Stormwatch with ultimate power over the universe. The Stormwatch member rejects it and the villain actually understands them, leaving the two to part ways as friends. It is a unique and poetic ending that is as unexpected as it is touching.

This ending though is contrasted with the book’s actual ending. The last chapter of the book returns the status quo of Stormwatch to what it was in the last volume, and gives absolutely no explanation for how this was done. It is a good story about the previous Stormwatch team but it is so quick and unexpected that readers barely have time to get their bearings before it is over. It is possible that this was done to setup something in the future but the lack of major Stormwatch stories directly after this make it feel like a strange and unnecessary creative decision.

(spoilers end here)

Art

Yvel Guichet’s work throughout this collection is hard to classify. From a technical aspect, his work looks great. The paneling and structure of the entire work is impressive and makes the whole book feel very well done and polished. He draws intense and meaningful action sequences where a lot is going on, yet everything is clear.

However, the actual artwork leaves a little to be desired. Specifically, characters faces look weird and don’t measure up well with modern standards. This lack of detail is noticeable, especially when characters attempt to express intense emotion. These emotions lead to contorted facial expressions rather than sincere reactions to events. All of these artistic negatives add up by the end of this book and really cast a shadow on how this book looks overall.

Continuity

Stormwatch Vol. 4: Reset takes place directly after Stormwatch Vol. 3: Betrayal (Review). However, since most of the story involves a brand new version of Stormwatch, not much of the events of last volume carry over to this one.

At the conclusion of this volume, this series was canceled. The majority of the characters disappear for a while; however Midnighter’s adventures start back up in Grayson Vol. 1: Agents of Spyral (Review) and then again in Midnighter Vol. 1: Out (Review).

This volume also makes a brief reference to another comic book, detailed below:

• Martian Manhunter’s status in the Justice League of America is explained in Justice League of America Vol. 1: World’s Most Dangerous.