Stormwatch #1

Mar 1993 · Image · 1.95 USD; 2.45 CAD

📊 ~46,397 copies sold its debut month

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★ 1st appearance — Jackson King★ 1st appearance — Fuji★ 1st appearance — Hellstrike★ 1st appearance — Henry Bendix★ 1st appearance — Diva

About this Issue

Stormwatch #1 (March 1993) is the foundational text of the WildStorm Universe, introducing the entire core cast of the United Nations-sanctioned superhuman strike force that would anchor Jim Lee's imprint for years to come. Its premise — a UN-run super-team answering to an orbital command station, Skywatch, rather than a national government — deliberately pushed against the flag-wrapped heroism that dominated the era, giving the Wildstorm line its distinctly paramilitary, internationalist flavor. The series planted seeds that later bore fruit far beyond its own pages: characters born here became central to Warren Ellis's career-defining run, and the wreckage of the Stormwatch concept gave rise directly to The Authority in 1999, one of the most influential superhero comics of the following decade. The title also lent its name to the imprint itself — WildStorm is literally a portmanteau of WildC.A.T.S. and Stormwatch — marking how central this book was to Lee's entire publishing identity.

writer Brandon Choi · writer Jim Lee · artist Scott Clark · inker Trevor Scott · inker John Tighe · inker Joseph H. Mendoza · inker Rod Mojica · colorist Joe Chiodo · colorist Wendy Fouts · colorist Chameleon Prime · letterer Michael Heisler · cover Jim Lee

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VF/NM $1 NM+ $2.79 VF $2.99 NM- $2.99 VF $2.99 NM- $4.99 VF/NM · Newsstand $6 GD $7.95

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History

Stormwatch was created by Jim Lee and co-written with Brandon Choi as one of the launch titles from Lee's Wildstorm studio, itself one of the founding imprints of Image Comics, which Lee had helped establish in 1992 after departing Marvel. The early series was published in cooperation with Malibu Comics per the indicia, a common distribution arrangement for Image titles in that period. Interior pencils were handled by Scott Clark, with inking credited to Trevor Scott alongside John Tighe, Joseph Mendoza, and Rod Mojica, while Lee provided the cover; editorial duties fell to Deborah Marvin. After the initial Lee-and-Choi era, the series passed through several writers — including H.K. Proger and Ron Marz — before Warren Ellis took over with issue #37 in July 1996 and radically refocused its themes, a transformation that would ultimately spin off The Authority.

Trivia · 8 facts

First appearance of the Stormwatch team and its core Stormwatch One squad: Battalion (Jackson King), Diva (Alessandra Fermi), Fuji (Toshiro Misawa), Hellstrike (Nigel Keane), and Winter (Nikolas Kamarov).
First appearance of Christine Trelane / Synergy, whose power to activate latent 'seedling' superhuman abilities is central to the issue's plot and is used in the climax to trigger Malcolm King's powers.
First appearance of Henry Bendix / Weatherman One, the cybernetically enhanced director who runs Stormwatch from the orbital space station Skywatch — a character who would later be reconceived as a manipulative villain during the Warren Ellis era.
First appearance of Malcolm King (Battalion's younger brother), whose latent superhuman powers are activated by Synergy after he is shot by the villain Deathtrap — setting up his eventual role as the hero Strafe.
First appearance of the Mercs, a rival team of superhuman mercenaries led by Deathtrap, whose roster in this issue includes Razer, Kilgore, Brutus, and Hellslayer; Deathtrap kills UN envoy John Windsor during the Sarajevo mission.
Written by Brandon Choi and Jim Lee; pencilled by Scott Clark; inked by Trevor Scott, John Tighe, Joseph Mendoza, and Rod Mojica; cover art by Jim Lee; published March 1993 by Image Comics in cooperation with Malibu Comics.
The issue exists in at least four versions: a Direct edition, a Newsstand edition, a Gold Logo edition, and a Red Ashcan — making it one of the more variant-rich debuts of the early Image era.
Stormwatch lent half its name to the WildStorm imprint itself: when Jim Lee renamed his studio from Aegis Entertainment to WildStorm, he coined the word as a portmanteau of WildC.A.T.S. and Stormwatch, reflecting how foundational this title was to the entire publishing line.