As part of its ‘DC Rewinds to the 90s in November’ initiative, DC has announced a dark new spy epic, Waller vs. Wildstorm, as the Suicide Squad‘s merciless leader takes on the grittiest heroes of the ’90s. Set in an alternative 1980s, this title will explore how Amanda Waller looks to cement her mark on a world locked in political stalemate, no matter the cost.
Created by Jim Lee and Brandon Choi, the Wildstorm imprint was created as a founding studio for Image Comics, and is best known for the series WildC.A.T.s and StormWatch. Wildstorm later became part of DC in 1999, with Jim Lee joining the company. However, apart from the occasional crossover, Wildstorm’s characters didn’t enter the DC Universe proper until 2011’s New 52 initiative. Amanda Waller was introduced in 1986’s Legends #1 by John Ostrander, Len Wein and John Byrne, and has since become a staple of DC’s Suicide Squad. Now, with DC celebrating the 1990s throughout the month of November, the publisher has announced a formal combination of DC and Wildstorm in a new prestige miniseries which explores a twisted alternate history.
Written by Pulitzer Prize winning national security reporter and author Spencer Ackerman and comics and video-game writer Evan Narcisse, and drawn by Eric Battle, Waller vs. Wildstorm is a new four-issue DC Black Label miniseries exploring the rise of Amanda Waller in an alternative 1980s featuring both DC and WildStorm elements. Issue #1 releases November 15 2022 and melds together classic DC and Wildstorm characters alike in a Cold War thriller that shows the literal and ideological battle raging throughout security organization Checkmate and the intelligence states of the world. An adult-oriented imprint, Black Label has far fewer restrictions on sex, violence, and bad language, promising to adopt the tone of a pitch-black spy thriller. Enjoy Jorge Fornés’ cover to Issue 1 below, along with the issue’s official synopsis.
WALLER VS. WILDSTORM # 1 – In the early 1980s, as the Cold War stubbornly refuses to thaw, a new battle heats up…for the soul of the intelligence agency Checkmate. As the agency’s super-heroic public face, Jackson King – a.k.a. The armored Battalion, former leader of Stormwatch and the symbol of American might – has long suspected that Adeline Kane is up to dirty tricks overseas, engineering horrors that betray everything he believes about service to one’s country. But King doesn’t know that Kane has a clever new ally—an ambitious young woman named Amanda Waller. She has her own ideas about how metahumans can serve their country. And honor, dignity, and long lives don’t factor into them… National-security reporter Spencer Ackerman (The Daily Beast, Reign of Terror), comics and video game writer Evan Narcisse (Black Panther, Spider-Man: Miles Morales, Batman: Gotham Knights -Gilded City), and veteran artist Eric Battle (Aquaman, Kobalt) celebrate WildStorm’s legacy of espionage-flavored superhero morality plays, pitting Stormwatch against the deadliest people in the DCU – including Deathstroke himself!
- Written by SPENCER ACKERMAN and EVAN NARCISSE
- Art by ERIC BATTLE
- Cover by JORGE FORNÉS
- Variant cover by ERIC BATTLE
- 1:25 variant cover by MIKE PERKINS
- $5.99 US | 32 pages | 1 of 4 | Prestige Plus 8 1/2″ x 10 7/8″(all covers are card stock)
- ON SALE 11/15/22
The series promises to put Waller in conflict with not only DC mainstays such as Lois Lane and Deathstroke, but also classic WildStorm characters such as Stormwatch leader Jackson King, aka Battalion. While DC hasn’t been shy about having characters like WildC.A.T.S fan-favorite Grifter appear in DC Comics lately, Stormwatch’s cast have often been relegated to their own publishing pockets, so it’s exciting to see DC showing love to this universe through the prestige format of Black Label.
Spencer Ackerman is best known for his reporting with The Daily Beast and his book Reign of Terror, while Evan Narcisse is known for his work on Black Panther for Marvel Comics and Spider-Man: Miles Morales among others. With these writers at the helm, the series is sure to combine action with realistic espionage with cutting political commentary as it transforms the worlds of DC and WildStorm through the lens of 1980s Cold War Politics. Complemented by the gritty, expressive art of Eric Battle, this series promises to be something truly special. Fans are used to Amanda Waller’s brutality as part of the Suicide Squad, but now Black Label will reveal the dark deeds Amanda ‘the Wall’ Waller pulled off to reach her position as DC’s near-unbeatable queen of black-ops skullduggery.
Waller vs. Wildstorm #1 releases November 15 from DC Comics.
