Wildcats (comics)
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Wildcats is the name of multiple incarnations of the Wildstorm comics superhero comic book. Creator Jim Lee previously worked on Marvel's X-Men series, of which many people at first considered this new comic to be a copy. The Wildcats evolved and changed into a quite unique product and became one of the backbones of the Wildstorm Universe. This is partially due to Alan Moore's involvement in the title, but mostly due to other writers taking over from Brandon Choi and Jim Lee and the fine detailing and integration of titles and characters in the Wildstorm Universe.
The first series was named WildC.A.T.s, and was about the Covert Action Team created by a group of immortal aliens stranded on Earth to fight the evil Daemonites. It was printed originally under the banner of Image Comics, in the mid 90s. After the team disbanded a new series called Wildcats started, a much grittier feature about the characters of the previous series. The third series - Wildcats V3.0 revolved around the HALO corporation, its CEO Jack Marlowe (formerly the individual identities Spartan & Void), Grifter and a gallery of new characters subverting corporation politics to their cause of creating a better world. This series culminated with the new team heading to Europe to fight the Coda and rescue Zealot in Coda War One.
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WildC.A.T.s - The Daemonite-Kherubim war
The comic book's premise revolved around the centuries long war between aliens called Kherubims and Daemonites. Kherubims, an alien race with exceptional powers and skills, eventually travelled to Earth and by breeding with humans populated the planet with "Half-Breeds". Daemonites, on the other hand, were introduced as a more savage race with a less humanoid form. They resemble the creatures who fought with Ripley in the cult sci-fi hit movie, Aliens. Daemonites, besides having a fearsome appearance, also possessed various superhuman abilities including body possession and mental control over human beings. In the first series, a Daemonite warlord had taken control over Vice President Dan Quayle. Initially, it was revealed that Daemonites could not breathe Earth's air but subsequent writers have ignored and revised the concept. Most of the villains and characters in the book were Half-Breeds or Daemonite warlords with half of the WildStorm Universe eventually turning out to be one or the other.
Alan Moore attempted to give the series depth and cohesion by following up on the initial premise of the Daemonite and Kherubim war. After Grifter resigned, the C.A.T.s had the opportunity to venture to Khera where they found what appeared to be paradise. The Kherubims had won the Daemonite-Kherubim war and were living in prosperity. Appearances were deceiving, however, and it was apparent the planet was run by power-hungry politicians who have ruthlessly subjugated the Daemonites as second-class citizens. Voodoo, with her Daemonite blood, experienced this firsthand. Maul's race was also treated unjustly and though Emp, Warblade and Zealot were seduced by promises of power and recognition, Spartan discovered the truth about Khera's corrupt leaders. It took the death of one of Maul's race to send the WildC.A.Ts leaving for Earth. Disillusioned by the outcome of the war offworld and their own selfishness, the team fell apart. Voodoo left and Emp fell into depression.
Although this period of the series was initially interesting with some great character development, the subsequent plot twists skewed the whole premise of WildC.A.Ts. The original team returned in pieces and despite having new members, they were defeated by the cunning traitor, Tao, who had manipulated them at each turn.
Wildcats - the Rogues
After the first series cancellation, WildStorm, now an imprint of DC Comics, resurrected the Wildcats under a whole different premise - Wildcats dealt with the lives of the original members after the team's breakup following a botched mission during which team-member Zealot apparently died. Lobdell didn't stay past issue 7, and Joe Casey took over the series, dealing with Lord Emp's Ascension, and Spartan's subsequent fusion with Void and his vision of bettering the world through the corporate resources left to him by Lord Emp, thus paving the way for volume 3.
The cast members of the new series were Spartan, Grifter, Jacob Marlowe (Lord Emp), Void, Maul, Voodoo and Ladytron as well as new characters Noir, Agents Wax and Mohr of the National Park Service. Former members Zealot and Warblade were featured very briefly. A few new villains popped in the series, namely Kenyan, C.C. Rendozzo and Slaughterhouse Smith (whose grandfather had appeared in Team One: WildC.A.T.s)
Wildcats v3.0 - Corporate culture for a better world
The third series dealt with Spartan's (now Jack Marlowe) agenda to better the world by proliferating advanced technology and power sources throughout the world via the HALO corporation. Grifter was his troubleshooter and Agent Wax was one of his first associates. The stories added a motley group to this proactive organisation including C.C. Rendozzo, her network Agent Orange and Grifter's unlikely pupil Edwin Dolby, one of HALO's lawyers. The series ended with a thunderous finale that finnaly closed the chapter on Zealot's creation on Earth, the female warrior order of the Coda. The whole series was written by Joe Casey and most of it was illustrated by Dustin Nguyen (not to be mixed up with the actor).
WildC.A.T.s/Wildcats Members
The original WildC.A.T.s (Covert Action Team) consisted of:
- Spartan: originally intended to be a highly sophisticated cyborg who could "die" and easily be downloaded to another body, Spartan's character has been revised several times. It was discovered he was designed after the Hadrian-series of cyborgs from the Kherubim's homeworld and there were plenty of similar androids like him. Spartan resembled the X-Men's stiff leader Cyclops in many ways but had an interesting angle by having "human emotions" towards Voodoo. Spartan's history grew even more complicated when latter writers explained he was an incarnation of a long-dead hero, John Colt.
- Zealot: a Kherubim and a Coda warrior, Zealot is the former Majestrix of the Coda and helped develop their virtues and practices. She has lived for thousands of years and has had many relationships with both humans and aliens alike. After failing to follow her own rules under the Coda, she left their clan and they have hunted her since. Zealot has a close friendship with Grifter though she is equally devoted to her sister, Savant.
- Voodoo: Priscilla Kitaen, a telepathic human-Kherubim hybrid with Daemonite ancestry, Voodoo has the ability to see Daemonites who have possessed humans. Voodoo was an exotic dancer before being rescued by the WildC.A.Ts from the Daemonites. She was later on trained by Zealot in combat and developed an attraction towards Spartan. Her Daemonite ancestry was not revealed until the latter part of the series when she was ostracized during their visit to the Kherubim's homeworld, Khera.
- Grifter: Former government operative and member of Gen-12, Cole Cash is the only male ever trained by the Coda. Grifter represented the loner of the group though he seemed devoted to his partner Zealot. His disagreements with Jacob Marlowe and the arrival of a second group of WildC.A.T.s led to his resignation and ill-fated solo comic book series.
- Maul: Human-Kherubim hybrid capable of increasing his mass at the cost of his reasoning capability. Some have argued that the Maul character is an imitation of the Hulk. Maul experiences powerful rage and is actually a Nobel-prized scientist named Dr. Jeremy Stone. In the second series, it was revealed he could increase his intelligence by decreasing his body mass, but this proved to be physically depleting.
- Warblade: Human-Kherubim hybrid capable of transforming parts of his body into any solid weapon. Warblade is an accomplished martial artist. Although a virtual killing machine, Reno Bryce also has the soul of an artist, having his sculpted work displayed in major art galleries.
- Lord Emp: Jacob Marlowe is a multi-millionaire who owns the media/technology conglomerate HALO Corporation. Although he was once a Kherubim warlord, Emp does not remember his past and has no control over the powers he once wielded. It was the woman named Void who took him from his life as a homeless man and made him into the wealthy financer of the WildC.A.Ts. It was revealed he has assumed other rich personas in the past, including that of industrialist Saul Baxter, during most of the 20th century.
- Void: A being capable of time travel, teleportation, and other cosmic stunts, Void has the ability to see various timelines due to her relationship with a cosmic Orb. Her persona was earlier revealed to be based on a Russian cosmonaut, Adrianna Tereshkova who died upon the arrival of the Orb from space.
A second team was introduced later in the series. They were formed after the original team, rumored to be dead, had left for Khera, the Kherubim homeworld. This unlikely group broke from the WildC.A.T.s usual anti-daemonite agenda and conducted a proactive war on criminals. This alienated them from many other characters in the Wildstorm universe.
- Mr. Majestic: The WildC.A.T.'s was another Kherubim warlord, Lord Majestros, one of four that had been stuck on Earth. Mr. Majestic is a Superman knockoff, with similar powers and physical characteristics. He recently crossed over into the Superman comics, replacing the Man of Steel, who was briefly shunted into the WildStorm universe in his place.
- Savant: Zealot's sister, an adventurer possessing many artifacts of mystic power and advanced technologies
- Condition Red: Max Cash is the younger brother of Grifter with excellent, if limited, fighting and marksmanship abilities.
- Tao: Tao is an artificially produced human being with peculiar thinking abilities that enables him to be inhumanly persuasive and incredibly intuitive.