“Waller vs Wildstorm” – Book Two
Artist: Jesus Merino
Color Artist: Michael Atiyeh
Letterer: Dave Sharpe
Review by Philip Clark
Waller vs Wildstorm #2 gives us some more insight into Waller’s past with Checkmate and her involvement in the creation of their metahumans.
After her success with Gamorra, Amanda Waller is taken in for questioning by Checkmate’s Inspector General Jackson King.
Playing Chess with Waller
As the newly appointed Inspector General, Jackson King has made it his personal mission to take Waller off the board. Building up a case to paint her into a corner, King gets one on one with Waller and presents the case to her. Believing himself to be in control, King keeps pushing Waller as she exposes her plans with metahumans and Gamorra specifically.
Game on.
The artwork in this series continues to be its strong point, and Merino delivers once again. The continued 80s action movie theme runs through this issue and the design of most of the metahumans is always something I look forward to, I feel like the artists are given more freedom with that.
As for the writing, however…
Once again things feel slightly heavy handed with the exposition and story. The majority of Waller vs Wildstorm #2 is just two people talking to one another, but the conversation they’re having is going right over the reader’s head.
Conclusion
It feels like Ackerman and Narcisse have created a world that they’ve just dropped us in the middle of. They name drop a lot of people, and places with next to no explanation. Why is everyone afraid of the Weatherman? Who was the previous Cybernary pilot? There are just a lot of unanswered questions.
Images Courtesy of DC Entertainment