the_mighty_monarch's Stormwatch #17 - The Men Who Fell to Earth review

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    Stormwatch Soap Opera

    OH MY GOD FINALLY! This series' artwork has been wildly inconsistent since Milligan took over, either changing artists constantly, or just having multiple artists each issue, and lately it seemed Will Conrad was taking over, but this is the first issue he's been able to complete without the need for a fill-in artist. I'm not a fan of the way he draws Harry Tanner or especially his blades, but the consistency was a nice improvement.

    I guess it's because Milligan's run is wrapping up in one more issue, but the plotting in this issue is a mess. Milligan was setting up a lot of big plotlines, and it seems he doesn't trust anyone else to follow up on them because he's smashed all the conclusions into one big pile. After having Harry Tanner slowly built up as the final villain, that spot has been ripped away right as his big moment came and given to Engineer. At least Engineer as a villain isn't totally out of the blue based on the foreshadowing, and her former relationship with Harry Tanner makes for some interesting interactions, but it's a shame to see Harry Tanner get all that setup only to have it fizzle out and make him somewhat heroic again. I barely even remember what his plan was, but Engineer's is too crazy for him, so his couldn't have been THAT awful.

    Of course Milligan gives most of the spotlight to, you guessed it, Midnighter and Apollo. It's frustrating me, I can't really figure them out. They went from hinting at a relationship to suddenly being in one without us seeing the initiation, to both of them acting as if they were never actually in a relationship just always on the verge of one. PICK ONE AND STICK WITH IT! You can give them relationship troubles, but but you have to have us know if it's actually a relationship or them trying to figure it out; I have no idea which at this point and its frustrating. And then they meet up with Zealot who too quickly decides they're shapeshifting aliens, and then too quickly realizes they're not. But at least Zealot isn't the terrible terrible bland sex symbol she was in Liefeld's Deathstroke.

    It's clear that Milligan just hates Jack Hawksmoor, which is a shame because he's one of my absolute favorite characters in this series. He FINALLY starts to give him some prominence, only to have Engineer go "LOL NOPE" and drop him out of the ship.

    In Conclusion: 3/5

    There's a lot of stuff that's good in this issue, but it's all a very basic average kind of good, stuff not to hate, but not stuff to get super excited about. There's some negatives too, but the good just manages to outweigh the bad. Milligan might as well call this series "Midnight and Apollo's Soap Opera" with special guest star "Stormwatch always infighting."

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