I’ve spent the better part of two years verbally peeing on The Wild Storm for it’s glacial pace, confusing characters, and vague motivations. I’m thankful to say that those days are behind me, as this slow roasted story has finally reached optimum temperature. It’s taken a long time to get here, and I am tempted to re-read from the beginning to see if it’s all been worth it.

The cold war between IO and Skywatch is heating up fast, with little regard for the innocent lives of every day citizens caught in the crossfire. After an initial skirmish in Utah, our small collection of meta-humans have been able to enlist Apollo and Midnighter to their cause, and the defense of New York.

As the stakes have increased, and we’ve moved beyond the standard covert organizations strategizing in hidden lairs, the action has become far more ambitious. Artist Jon Davis-Hunt has impressively stepped up to the plate, though it’s not as if he hadn’t cultivated this level of storytelling before. He merely hasn’t been given a chance to display it.

Credit must also go to colorist Steve Buccellato, whose talents enhance the renderings of Davis-Hunt, without diminishing the underlying illustrative quality. It’s a genuine collaboration, of each building on the strengths of the other.

If the series can maintain this level of momentum, DC Comics may have an entirely new universe of super-heroic characters for the next 100 years. Superman debuted more than 80 years ago, and it’s long past due that the super-hero genre be re-invented.