A troubled woman, barred by her employer from continuing her research, walks miserably through New York City. It takes her a moment to notice that everybody else is looking up. A man has been thrown from the upper floor of the Halo skyscraper.

And that woman-Angela Spica, sick from the transhuman implants she’s buried in her own body-is the only person who can save him.

What she doesn’t know is that the act of saving that one man will tip over a vast and secret house of cards that encloses the entire world, if not the inner solar system. This is how the Wild Storm begins, and it may destroy covert power structures, secret space programs and even all of human history.

Warren Ellis returns to DC to guide a new WildStorm universe with new iterations of Grifter, Voodoo, the Engineer, Zealot, and more.

When the proto-WildStorm universe began decades ago it was an average superhero world with flashy characters and a grand conspiracy involving an alien invasion. Over the years it evolved into one of the most interesting and forward thinking superhero worlds challenging readers with adult concepts and much more than spandex, punching, and kicking. WildCats 3.0 saw an evolution as the team turned into corporate leaders attempting to deliver clean and cheap energy to the people. It still stands as one of my favorite comic arcs ever.

Now, with this reboot (or is it reimagining), Ellis is taking his stab at taking the world Jim Lee built and bringing it into modern times where the world looks a lot like it’d be the Wild Storm universe (minus the spandex superheroes). Corporate and global conspiracies mixed with political maneuvering is what Ellis delivers with a first issue that feels like it takes a lot of what has worked in the past and giving us enough new that it feels fresh and different.

I’ll admit, I’m Ellis’ writing is hit and miss for me, but when he’s on, he’s on, and he’s on here. The first issue is what I was hoping to see with a debut that’s full of mystery and a story that feels like it’ll have a hell of a lot to say about the world we live in.

But, what I like the most is Ellis’ move that those who are unfamiliar with previous works are no worse off. This feels like a fresh start in so many ways with characters that are familiar, but also different enough from the previous incarnations.

The art by Jon Davis-Hunt is solid giving us a world that you can feel the paranoia through the art. The details is sharp and the characters look familiar, but Davis-Hunt puts his own spin on them. The first issue has a good mix of action and more chill scenes to give Davis-Hunt a chance to show off his style, and no matter the situation it’s fantastic to look at.

I had no idea what to expect going into the first issue, but Ellis and Davis-Hunt deliver an intriguing start that feels like it’s an updated take on superheroes perfectly fit for today’s crazy world. Many have pondered how you tell stories in today’s world when things are so off the rails already, but Ellis in this first issue feels like he’s cracked the code.

Story: Warren Ellis Art: Jon Davis-Hunt
Story: 8.45 Art: 8.3 Overall: 8.40 Recommendation: Buy

DC Comics provided Graphic Policy with a FREE copy for review