Wildstorm: Michael Cray
Author: Bryan Hill, N. Steven Harris, Dexter Vines
Publisher:
Date: 2018
Pgs: 160
Dewey: 741.5973 WIL V.1
Disposition: Irving Public Library - South Campus - Irving, TX
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REVIEW MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS

Summary:
Cashiered out of military service by a shadowy extragovernmental organization and put to use doing wetwork for that organization, Michael Cray went from Special Ops soldier to Black Ops operative. When that organization discovers that he has a brain tumor, they toss him to...right into the arms of an even more shadowy organization. The tumor is more than it appears. It’s alive and sentient and gives him powers and abilities. Abilities that if his current masters find out about will put him on their hit list...since what he’s been doing is killing metahumans for them. Takes place in an alternate DC universe where some of the names and faces you know pop up in parallel existences, not all of them heroic...or sane. What happens when Michael realizes that the devil he serves is as bad as the devils he is erasing...

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Genre:
Manga
Comics
Graphic Novels
Superheroes

Why this book:
Always been a fan of the Wildstorm characters. Glad that DC didn’t give them the Ultraverse treatment like Marvel did when they bought Malibu.
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Favorite Character:
I like Michael Cray. Though I will admit that I had him confused with Jackson King for a bit.

Least Favorite Character:
Cray’s team appear as cardboard characters. Only there to be brushed off. And they don’t appear loyal to him at all. Black Ops cadre with this kind of self-interest is probably a Dead Ops cadre. Leading to his using them as bait instead of as team members.

The Feel:
If feels like the Wildstorm universe, even with the DC characters popping up in alternate universe roles.

Favorite Scene / Quote:
Every interaction with Michael’s dad gives me that other shoe about to drop feeling. This may have been me foreshadowing on my own since I had him confused with Jackson King aka Battalion and his dad, Isaiah King aka Despot.

Love Cray’s team building exercise on top of the parking garage in Boston. IE: You’re all bait.

Barry’s de-evolution accellerating after Cray reveals his “trap” to him. The drugs, the superspeed, and the suit, an unholy trinity unbalancing Barry.

What Cray does to Barry’s data, nice. He suspects the organization, at last.

Pacing:
Very well paced.

Plot Holes/Out of Character:
I’m sure it will be addressed in Volume 2. But, we leave Leon missing an arm, bleeding out on the beach on a cult infested island. And the team is in limbo.

Hmm Moments:
The heroes being the bad guys. Or are Cray and his organization the bad guys. Didn’t seem that Cray was questioning nearly enough. But he comes around.

An early days Green Arrow would be a much easier target than a more experienced one. This tracks as a character exercise. Well done.

Aqua-Gillman is pretty Black Lagoon. But the backstory is awesome.

The Unexpected:
I was more than a few pages in before I realized we weren’t in the mainstream DCU. I thought alternate JLAers, but my guess now is more in line with alternate Crime Syndicators. Alt Barry is scary bad assed. He’s like a smarter version of the junkie Johnny Quick of Earth-3...or whatever the Crime Syndicate of Amerika’s world designate is now.

Was surprised when I figured out the alternate DC character paradigm and that they didn’t go Trinity. Glad they didn’t. Just surprised.

Why isn’t there a screenplay?
If they did this, they shouldn’t say that it’s an alternate world. Just let the audience go into shock when they realize that Green Arrow is in the movie...and that he’s a Most Dangerous Game serial killer.
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Last Page Sound:
Conscience on Cray’s part. Wonder if his “team” will come for him in Volume 2? Considering how badly they meshed and worked with him, my money would be on them not standing a chance.

Author Assessment:
I want more.

Editorial Assessment:
Well done.

Knee Jerk Reaction:
really good book
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