Reviewer: Jesse Baker
Story Title: N/A
Written by: Ed Brubaker
Penciled by: Jim Lee
Inked by: NA
Colored by: Alex Sinclair
Lettered by: Phil Balsman
Editor: Scott Dunbier
Publisher: Wildstorm Comics/DC Comics
“Coup D’Etat” is the first major crossover to hit the Wildstorm Universe in ages. So how does the first installment line up?
Synopsis
The issue opens with death raining down from the sky upon the state of Florida. As the Authority try desperately to stop the catastrophic rain of giant, burning bodies of aliens and the gigantic space vessel that is threatening to wipe out the entire state if it hits. As the Authority fail to save Florida from being wiped off the face of the Earth, we learn that the entire crisis has been orchestrated by the evil criminal mastermind TAO and his minion Agent Carver. Through a flashback sequence, we see Agent Carver arrange for the US government to acquire a top-secret interdimensional engine that has been rigged to explode when used in a probe to allow exploration into the interdimensional reality nexus called “The Bleed.†The explosion creates a massive rupture in the Bleed and takes out the mothership of an ancient alien race known as the Vigil.
As the Authority seek to find out what happened, the group uses the Carrier to spy on the infamous “Shadow Government” running things in Washington and discovers a group of military generals interrogating Gen 13’s John Lynch. Lynch is properly torn a new asshole by the generals for Carver’s defection and activities as a double agent without alerting his superiors. Lynch’s response is rather cold, as he blames the US Government for the destruction of Florida and claims that TAO is not the figure that everyone should be blaming.
Now the Authority, who as individuals have been:
- Raped Repeatedly
- Infected with STDs
- Been reduced to a state of mental retardation
- Passed around as a humiliation toy to Bill Gates and Ted Turner
- Used as a punching bag by a group of homophobic assholes
- Been repeatedly attacked both with cyborgs, evil dopplegangers, and in the press as being degenerates
Both the United States Government and the evil Shadow Government, decide to go along with John Lynch’s cries of “Don’t blame TAO, Blame America!” and blame America for the destruction of Florida. Hijacking all forms of communication, they announce to America that the government was to blame for the carnage and that they now are going to take over things in America. Cue ominous music as the issue ends.
Vivisection
Am I the only one who finds the basis of the crossover nonsensical? TAO manipulates the US into sending a probe into the Bleed where it nukes a spaceship of a very powerful and ancient race of peaceniks and wipes out Florida to boot and the Authority puts all of the blame on the US Government? Even AFTER they get evidence from Lynch implicating Tao as the real bastard behind this?
Sure the US sent the probe with the engine into the Bleed but they didn’t intend any harm. They didn’t intend to use the probe to destroy the Vigil (a group of Watcher-esque aliens) and their ship or to wipe out Florida from the face of the Earth. And even though the US Government in the Wildstorm Universe is run by a bunch of monstrously evil men and women and backed up by the evil Shadow Government, this is not their evil scheme. It’s TAO’s evil plan. So why the devil are the Authority putting all of the blame on the US Government? Or at the very least, why aren’t they hunting down and killing TAO and Agent Carver and then chewing out the US Government and announcing that they are considering a hostile takeover of America? That would be the sensible thing to do especially since TAO has the most proverbial blood on his hands in this whole situation.
Pulling art duty on this issue is Wildstorm’s very own Jim Lee. Really. Honest! It’s Jim Lee instead of regular Sleeper artist Sean Philips except that Jim has totally ditched his regular drawing style in order to desperately ape Sean Philip’s art to such an extent that Jim’s art is virtually unrecognizable. Which defeats the whole purpose of having Jim Lee draw this issue since people picking up this issue expecting Jim Lee’s artwork will not recognize it, which makes me wonder why they didn’t just get Sean Philips to draw this book in the first place if Lee was going to not draw the characters in his trademark style?
