The Authority # 12 - This Happens

All things come to those who wait.  In the previous issue of Abnett & Lanning's excellent Authority run, we finally found out why Apollo's been MIA since being bitten by an Incubite in issue #5.  These creatures, misshapen human carriers of the Warhol Virus (15 minutes of rage and biting before self-destruct!), looked like a fun but shallow plot device when they appeared in issue #1, something to generate fight scenes and provide horror moments.  They've strayed into all the other World's End titles, but they've mostly remained a mysterious threat, showing up to rampage, infect people, or get zapped by the good guys.  Unfortunately for Apollo, zapping stuff in World's End takes a greater toll on him than usual, hence the bite.  Issue #11 confirmed he was infected, but the sting in the tale was what infecting a post-human had done to the virus.  Now it has a mind and a voice and a name for itself:  the Burn.  And as the movie 'The Thing' has taught us, no good can come of a virus with personality.

Issue #12 is all about the payoff, as the infected and possessed Apollo crashes into the Carrier and attacks his team-mates.  As you 'd hope, it's a hell of a fight, with several distinct stages and some clever flourishes with Angie's nanotech (her generous loan to the group is especially fun, and Coleby's drawing of her versus the virus is the stuff of shiny nightmares).  As ever DnA write some great, snippy fight dialogue, and The Burn/Apollo is an enjoyably nasty piece of work.  The resolution to the fight seems a bit convenient at first, until you reach the end and see that it's not a resolution at all.

One of the consistent appeals of this series is the way Abnett and Lanning balance chunks of fast-moving plot with character moments and pathos.  Predictably this action-heavy issue rests some emotional weight squarely on Midnighter's shoulders.  His sparsely-expressed anguish is very poignant, especially his realisation that, even when he can't bear to think of something, his fight-mind will still tell him a million ways to do it.  There's also a nice snappy moment between Angie and Jack harking back to his behaviour in issue #5.

If I have one reservation it's that Apollo's been out of the major story threads for quite a while now, and although this has made for some wonderfully written emotional drama, his absence is starting to seem a little over-constructed.  I have plenty of confidence in DnA's planning and storytelling, but now that Apollo's back on the Carrier, I hope his stay in the not-so-proverbial refrigerator will be brief.

Drew Johnson provided some pages of artwork in this issue.  He's a highly competent artist and some of his compositions are very striking, but Simon Coleby is a hard act to follow.

(No Spoilers)

Last week’s Wildcats and this week’s The Authority bring us 12 issues into the World’s End storyline.  A lot of story threads are being tied up with, of course, several new ones being laid out.  As indicated by the cover of the issue, The Authority finally fight the infected Apollo.  The confrontation begins very dramatically and harkens back to the “wildescreen comics” Ellis wrote when he was on The Authority.  I would have thought the fight with Apollo would be more brutal considering how strong he is, but when you realize the motive behind everything (especially concerning the Warhol Virus) then the fight makes more sense.  Speaking of the Warhol Virus, when we first got a peak at it in issue 1, I had no idea it was going to become so central in the World’s End storyline.  The revelation shows us why, for a while there, Incubites (the creatures people turn into when infected by the Warhol Virus) seemed like they were running around in every World’s End title.  It is definitely something that’ll come to bear quicker for people who read the World’s End trades versus following it a single issue at a time for an entire year.

Several things DnA set up in previous issues play out here, including the resolution to The Authority/Apollo fight.  If there’s any complaint it’s that as readers, we already knew where this was going.  But DnA’s run still has 3 issues left and it looks like they’re going out with a bang as The Authority takes on Kaizen Gamorra next month!