Matters have boiled to a head in the world of Wild Storm, as the cold war between the two factions has escalated. All their various operatives have begun to question who to trust, and for many of them, the answer is nobody. All I know is there is death, betrayal and collusion on all sides. Remind you of anything in particular?

I believe the ensemble of players is too large to provide adequate screen time for a monthly comic book. Maybe I’m wrong, but it seems as if we go several issues between appearances of most characters. This means there is very little primary narrative to follow, and it requires revisiting previous issues to fully understand the nuances of events.

I would drop the book in heartbeat if I could. I know Warren Ellis is an extremely popular writer, but I continue to struggle with who’s on what side, and why I should care either way. My only reason for not dropping the title is I made a commitment, and I feel obliged to live up to it. But life is too short to read comics one does not enjoy.

In the past, I haven’t found Ellis’ stories tend to be this complex, and I wish there was a re-cap page, or some sort of primer to convey the major characters and their individual roles. I know that’s not popular in comic books these days, but if it helps retain readers, maybe it’s in the best interests of the title.

Rating: 3/10