Warren Ellis and Bryan Hitch– it was the kind of pairing widescreen superhero dreams were made of. And in 1999, when The Authority was launched as a revamp of Ellis’ and Hitch’s groundwork that was laid within the second volume of Stormwatch.

Thus, the cinematic era of the cape comic was born. It’s harder to envision this twenty years on, but there’s an argument to be made that the first volume of The Authority was almost as groundbreaking in how it shaped popular modes of storytelling within comics as the 1986 two-fer of The Dark Knight Returns and Watchmen. Frankly, thanks to the titanic metahuman vistas provided by Hitch and Ellis’ ahead-of-their-time concepts, The Authority wasn’t just reflective of how we wanted our superhero comics to look; it was also how we dreamed our superhero movies would look until they finally caught up about a decade later.

This year, in celebration of the 25th anniversary of Wildstorm, DC will be releasing the hardcover collection – Wildstorm: A Celebration of 25 Years this Wednesday (10/25). Priced at $29.99, this new graphic novel collection features a reunion of a number of classic Wildstorm creative teams from throughout its history, one of which will be a brand new short-story by Ellis and Hitch, reuniting them on the very team in which they *made* history. The new short features inks by Paul Neary (making it the original trio that’s brought back together), colors by Laura Martin, and letters by Josh Reed.

And The Beat has an exclusive preview of that very short, give it a look below ahead of its arrival on shelves tomorrow:

Writer: Warren Ellis

Artist: Bryan Hitch

Inker: Paul Neary

Colorist: Laura Martin

Letterer: Josh Reed

In 1992 Jim Lee changed the course of comics history with the founding of WildStorm Productions, which would revolutionize the business and launch the careers of so many top creators. Now, the WS crew is back to celebrate 25 years of WildStorm with new short stories of the imprint’s greatest heroes by their classic creative teams, including WildC.A.T.s by Brandon Choi and Jim Lee; the Authority by Warren Ellis and Bryan Hitch; Gen13 by J. Scott Campbell; WildCats by Christos Gage and Dustin Nguyen; Backlash by Brett Booth, and more!

This new hardcover also includes a massive pinup gallery featuring new art by WS alumni including John Cassaday, Tim Sale, Adam Hughes, Carlos D’Anda, Adam Warren, Tony Harris, Lee Bermejo, Ryan Benjamin, Neil Googe, Fiona Staples, Cully Hamner and more, plus behind-the-scenes material that will blow your mind, and epic reprints of some of WildStorm’s greatest stories! This new hardcover is a must-have for old fans and new readers alike!

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4 COMMENTS

  1. The Authority was ahead of its time? Yeah, I can remember reading the first collection around 2000 and being pretty surprised by it, and it became pretty status quo over the next decade, especially in Brian Hitch widescreen comics.

    “Jim Lee changed the course of comics history with the founding of WildStorm Productions”?! That’s some press agent BS. If a single person on the street knew who Grifter or Voodoo were, I might grudgingly tolerate that blurb, but Wildstorm was garbage, and articles like this are press releases. With the purchase of the Beat, here’s hoping press releases as articles can dissipate.

  2. Jesus, that’s like a pure shot of 1999 right into the veins. I’m going to have to go and buy this bloody book because I refuse to rebuy the Absolute Authority HC that’s coming out just to get this story.

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