Solicit and cover for issue 4 has been posted, and it's craaaaazy:
The earth is being eaten alive! As the unstoppable alien antibody continues consuming everything in its path, Stormwatch awakens a slumbering [information redacted] buried deep within the earth. But has the team found an ally or a threat greater than the antibody? However it plays out, the DC landscape literally will be changed forever! Plus: Don’t miss a major change to the Stormwatch roster!
Apollo's looking damned hot on that cover, imo. I also note he is leaving Martian Manhunter to rot. Served him right for being an ass in issue 1. I personally was expecting the Moon Antibodies to be more like the constructs the Eminence was fighting on the surface of the moon, not a slime monster. I wonder what they've awakened.. I've seen people theorizing Doomsday, but you know what else has a consciousness and has been found buried deep under the earth? a Shift Ship. Could they be digging up The Carrier? a Shift Ship is also large enough to literally change the landscape, the Carrier was 50 miles long. the Shift Ship from Planetary was smaller, but still pretty fucking huge.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v720/ ... t-ship.jpg
That's the Planetary shift ship rising out of the ground, it left a MASSIVE hole in the middle of Death Valley. it's tiny compared to the Carrier.
I still don't know quite how it would work, but things keep pointing towards an eventual Authority spinoff, from the chosen cast of characters to the solicit for issue 4. But if it means someone else draws the ex-Authority characters, bring it on. :p Cornell has introduced one thing that could actually make the Authority work in the DCU without breaking it. The Projectionist. If she can sway the media, and make their actions be seen on the same level as those of the Justice League, and the Authority refrain from taking over the USA this time around... It could actually work without us constantly wondering why the Justice League doesn't (attempt to) stomp them into the ground. It could also work if, instead of Jack or Jenny (who is 11 here, after all) it was Apollo who led the team. Though that may prevent it from feeling like the proper Authority... but they're setting Apollo up for *something* it's getting absurd how prominently he's been featured on the covers.
Not that I'm complaining, since he's my favorite, but it is strange given how he was treated in the last few years in Wildstorm. I expected the star to be Midnighter, he was the only character here to support an ongoing solo series, besides Martian Manhunter... and Midnighter's lasted longer. But look at the covers, which, you would think, would want to showcase all the team members, but no.... Central figure on issue 1, Apollo, with Martian Manhunter and Midnighter in the background. Issue 2 is a group shot with everyone except the Eminence of Blades, but Apollo is the central figure. Issue 3, Apollo yet again is the central figure as he catches a meteor or something, with The Engineer and Martian Manhunter hanging out in the background. Issue 4, Midnigher finally steals the spotlight from Apollo, but Apollo's still there, saving Jenny from the slime, Martian Manhunter and Adam One also appear. And an alternate cover for issue 1 has Apollo as the central figure yet again, with Martian Manhunter, Jenny, Engineer, Midnighter and Adam One in the background.
appearance count: Apollo = 5, Martian Manhunter = 5, Midnighter = 4, Jenny = 3, Engineer = 3, Adam One, 3, Projectionist = 1, Jack Hawksmoor = 1 (a shame really, I like Jack) Eminence of Blades = 0
Central character: Apollo = 4, Midnighter = 1
This also supports my theory that The Eminence of Blades is gonna die. one - he got his brain fucked with in issue 1. two - He's a new character, may as well put a red shirt on him. three - he steps on Midnighter's toes as far as team role goes.
Unless they're messing with us via covers. We do know that the cover for 1 was misleading, Midnighter only appeared for 2 pages, and neither he nor Apollo were recruited by the end of the issue. But Apollo did get a lot of face time in that issue....
Maybe DC is setting up an alternate Superman incase the court battle over the Superman copyright goes poorly? Though if that were the case, you'd think they'd have brought over
Majestic...
sorry had to get fangirl theorizing out of my system.
*edit - becuse there has been some debate over the quality of the art, I wish to present the following images to help explain why I and some others are so turned off by the art in Stormwatch.
Here is a panel from Stormwatch, Apollo (who is very strong and nigh invulnerable like Superman, but lacks the 'grounding' secondary power some bricks have, and can be knocked back fairly easily. if you play City of Heroes, it's like an Invul tank without Unyielding) has just been knocked back by Martian Manhunter:
Here, from The Authority, is a panel where Apollo has just been knocked back by a character (who he wants it be known 'has WAY MORE than the strength of ten men') and has smashed into a wall:
Similar positions, similar scenarios, but the Dustin Nguyen one looks so. much. better. to me. the one from Stormwatch, his shoulder is dislocated and his far leg does not even connect to his hip! and it just all round lacks definition and structure, and the colours are gaudy...
[Edited on 18/9/11 by Bamfette]