The Authority: Relentless

For Easter my good friend Simon gave me a copy of 'The Authority: Relentless' trade paperback. I wasn't familiar with the title but with a creative team of Warren Ellis and
Bryan Hitch the signs were good.

The book has sat on the shelf for the past week while I caught up with my regular monthly titles. Up-to-date, and with some free time yesterday evening, I sat down with the intention of maybe reading the first four-issue story arc.

Two and a half hours and 192 pages later the book was finished - what a cracking read!

Having witnessed the demise of StormWatch - another creation of Warren Ellis - Jenny Sparks creates a new super hero team dedicated to protecting Earth against global threats. Sparks is joined by former StormWatch members Jack Hawksmoor and Shen Li-Min, and recruits four new members, the Doctor, the Engineer, Apollo, and the Midnight. This edition collects their first two four-issue missions, battling a nation of super-powered terrorists in the first and stopping an invasion from a parallel world in the second.

Publishers Wildstorm (DC imprint) have included a number of The Authority volumes as part of their After Watchmen, What's Next promotion and you can download a preview of the artwork from their website.

As I say, a really good read. The writing and artwork is, at times, intensely violent, and the stories are told a grand scale - The Authority titles have in the past been described as 'widescreen comics' and this description sums the work up perfectly.

Another recommended read from The Savage Rabbit library.

The Authority: Relentless, paperback, 192 pages, published by Wildstorm, 2000.