Wildcats V3.0 #13 Review

Archive

Reviewer: Jesse Baker
Story Title: Tilting the Axis of the World

Written by: Joe Casey
Penciled by: Dustin Nguyen
Inked by: Richard Friend
Colored by: Randy Mayor
Lettered by: DC Comics
Editor: Ben Abernathy
Publisher: Wildstorm Comics/DC Comics

Wildcats V3.0 enters its second year. Will Spartan get a personality? Will Grifter walk again? Will Wax face the consequences for becoming a serial rapist? And will Ladytron actually do anything other than sit in the containment tube like she does or appear in Halo Battery commericals?

The Skinny

* Spartan and Dolby start working on getting Halo’s new automobile plants. Spartan, the android that makes Data look like an overly emotional drama queen, shows zero signs of being happy at his next phase of making the world a better place through capitalism. I have zero clue where this will go if anywhere, though given the recent introduction of Nascar into the world of Wildcats I wouldn’t mind if we get a subplot of Jack and Dolby getting involved in the world of pro racing for storyline or subplot.

* A pair of FBI Agents who look a lot like Mulder and Scully are assign to work with everyone’s favorite mute killing machine Agent Orange, to find out why the Coda are running around and getting into swordfights all over Europe. The two are totally unaware though that Orange has been wired for sound by Grifter, who’s still recovering from his legs being shot up by Orange, and hearing everything that has been said.

* For no reason we see Grifter and Agent Wax inspecting the dismembered torso of Ladytron, who is being held in stasis by Spartan. Wax tells Grifter that he’s been demoted by his boss and now is a pathetic limo-driver for his evil supervisor’s supervisor’s bitch of wife. This makes for an interesting question as to whether or not Grifter (who is already estranged from Spartan) will share this info with Spartan or keep it to himself. If Jack finds out, it would hurt Wax’s standing in the company, especially when the sh@t comes down over his using his powers to rape his boss’s wife.

* We get a boring action sequence as Zealot kills some Coda assassins who are out to kill her after a chase across the roofs of several buildings that serves as our re-introduction to the girl who everyone hates. A decent sequence, but it’s Zealot and the Coda and no one cares about them.

* Finally the issue ends Wax’s affair with the boss’s wife being exposed when love juice left over at an office party where everyone was at discovered and identified by the NPS scientists. The book ends with Wax’s evil boss learning that Wax has been sleeping with his wife, which means Wax’s rape spree will be exposed provided Wax doesn’t find a way to save his sorry butt.

A lackluster issue starting up the newest arc with the return of Zealot, the platinum-haired bimbo no one likes. Luckily the Agent Wax subplot is finally reaching a pay-off point and it should be interested to see how Casey takes the storyline from here.