Coup D

Updated Sunday 15 May, 2011 12:18 PM

Coup D'etat: Wildcats. There are few words I can say about this issue that really capture my feelings, but only one comes to hand: WOW! The art, the story and the dialogue were terrific. Many kudos to the author.

There are three different plots in the comic. The first one is the authority’s ongoing Coup D'etat in the United States. We see some of the most spectacular artwork as Apollo, The Doctor and The Engineer take out different parts of the US infrastructure, identified by a news report

(one of the nicest touches of the whole Coup D'etat series is the news reports we overhear) as the US strategic Defence system.

One does wonder why the Authority would bother to take out satellites – not to mention how quickly they were replaced after Stormwatch 14-19. It’s a little hard to see what the doctor is doing, to be honest, the picture looks a little wrong, somehow.

The second plot is the reaction of two of the Wildcats, Cash Cole (also known as Grifter) and Mr. Dolby to the takeover. Grifter goes ballistic and convinces Dolby to join him in a stunt to steal a super-weapon from an arms dealer, which they obtain after an adventure. There’s also some interesting conversation between the two over what the Authority means to them personally. Grifter’s plan hits problems, though, when they discover the size of the weapon involved and Grifter tries to convince Marlowe to use his abilities to transport the weapon to the Authority’s home base. After some thought, Marlowe refuses, believing that the Authority's coup won’t last and then the world can continue along the lines Marlowe has planned for it. There’s an interesting argument between the two over what the role of a superhero is;

Grifter being a traditionist, while Marlowe (ironically, like the Authority) defines it as helping to save the world in the long term. The two argue until Grifter leaves with a parting shot: “What makes you think they won’t come after you next?”

That leads nicely to the third plot. A contemplative Marlowe teleports himself on to the carrier (a stunt that the Authority should have managed to block by now, having been done at least twice before)

and confronts most of the Authority. Marlowe and the Midnighter really don’t get along for some reason – The Midnighter acts more like a thug than normal in these pages (I suspect that many writers don’t get the full depth of his personality). Marlowe’s basic message to the authority works on many levels: No matter the philosophical right and wrong of the Authority’s actions (Marlowe appears to agree with them on some level), their actions will, in practice, have serious consequences. The world is a far more complex place than the Authority knows and their failure to understand this means that their actions will have catastrophic consequences. This does tend to follow previous problems the Authority have had; leaving Gamorra to the mercy of the reminder of the circle (Authority V2 #1) and making it impossible for a new president to appear in some other country. (Authority, V1, #13-17 Naivety).

Marlowe is clearly far more of a thinker than Santini or the Authority, forcing the four Authority members to cling to their positions (for some reason the Doctor and Swift are not present), and the Authority are at a serious disadvantage. However, Marlowe is unable to convince them to stop and leaves with a parting warning.

As I said above, WOW! The artwork is far better here than the previous two issues. Apollo, for example, had the indignity of looking like a super-thug in Authority #13-25 and in Stormwatch (#5-6 + Coup D'etat). Here, he looks far more of a hero, as do the other characters. The picture of him blasting a satellite is a beautiful drawing. The cliffhanger page is fantastic – it made me want to read the conclusion at once.

The characters have also improved. The dynamics of the reactions to the Coup D'etat are very different; while Stormwatch had no choice, but to do their duty and react swiftly, Marlowe and co have the luxury of considering their actions before they do anything. Grifter’s preparation (apparently still held in reserve) of an anti-authority plan testifies to the skills and ingenuity of the character. There is little development of the Authority characters, sadly, but the most interesting development is that of Mr. Dolby.

The common man (as far as I know, Wildcats is not among the titles I read regularly) is clearly scared of the Authority, being worried about the implications and having a bitter conversation with his mother, concluding that the Authority think they can do anything they want.

So, in six days, it’s the final battle for Washington. I can’t wait…

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