WildC.A.T.s: Covert Action Teams #2
WildC.A.T.s #2 is the second chapter of the opening arc that launched Jim Lee's creator-owned Wildstorm Universe — a shared-world experiment that ultimately grew into one of the defining non-Marvel/DC superhero continuities of the 1990s and beyond. The issue delivers a cluster of first appearances that would recur throughout the Wildstorm line for decades: I/O Director John Lynch and his assistant Alicia Turner make their true narrative debut here (their appearance in #1 was retroactively established as an alternate-future timeline), and the mercenary trio known as the Troika — Attica, Slag, and H.A.R.M. — show up for the first time, despite an erroneous source-book claiming otherwise. It is also notably one of the earliest gimmick covers Image Comics produced, its prism finish setting a production template the industry would repeat relentlessly through the speculator boom. Beyond its key-issue credentials, the issue's back-up feature — a six-page preview of Whilce Portacio's Wetworks — served as the first public glimpse of what was meant to be an Image founding title, making this a document of the company's original, disrupted launch plan.
Sell my copy
Have this issue — or a whole collection? Get a fair offer from us, skip the marketplace fees and the hassle.
We Buy Collections ▸History
WildC.A.T.s was created by artist Jim Lee and writer Brandon Choi as Lee's first creator-owned project and the flagship title of his Wildstorm studio within Image Comics, which was itself founded in 1992 by Lee and six other former Marvel artists seeking creative ownership of their work. Lee deliberately positioned the team as covert and celebrity-shunning, a conscious counterpoint to Rob Liefeld's government-sponsored, publicly visible Youngblood. Issue #2, titled 'Revelations!', was the second installment of the original four-part arc, published with a cover date of September 1992, with story by Lee and Choi and art by Lee and inker Scott Williams. The prism cover — a chromium-style foil enhancement — carried a $2.50 price point at a time when standard direct-market issues cost roughly half that, signaling the speculator-era premium-format trend that would define early Image output.
Trivia · 7 facts
- Story title: 'Revelations!' — Part 2 of the original 4-part opening arc; written by Jim Lee and Brandon Choi, art and cover by Jim Lee and Scott Williams; cover date September 1992.
- First true appearance of I/O Director John Lynch and assistant Alicia Turner: their prior appearance in issue #1 was established by this issue as an alternate future timeline in which the WildC.A.T.s were killed in the Georgetown explosion.
- First appearances of Troika members Attica (Maxwell Burns), H.A.R.M. (Charles Sweeney), and Slag (Heinrich Hester) — shown on a monitor screen; the WildC.A.T.s Sourcebook #1 erroneously credits these debuts to issue #1.
- First appearance of the Black Razors — I/O's armored special-forces unit dispatched to bring in the rogue WildC.A.T.s — and their commander Ben Santini, as well as a cameo first appearance of the Troika as a group and Master Gnome.
- Includes a six-page Wetworks preview by Whilce Portacio — the first public appearance of that team in any form; Portacio was originally intended to be a founding Image partner but a family illness delayed his entry into the company by two years.
- Direct market edition contains a coupon for Image Comics #0; the same coupon appeared in Brigade #2, Savage Dragon #3, Spawn #4, Youngblood #0, Cyberforce #1, and Shadowhawk #1, making this issue a node in Image's early cross-title promotional infrastructure.
- Story beat of note: Voodoo (Priscilla Kitaen) reveals to the team that she alone can perceive Daemonites in their true forms and is the only person capable of exorcising them from human hosts — establishing her central narrative function for the entire initial arc.
Cast · 40 characters
Full credits
Full plot ⚠ may contain spoilers
▸ Reveal full plot — may contain spoilers
Instructions on how to receive a copy of Image Comics #0 and the mail-in coupon for that issue.
Plot details indexed by the Grand Comics Database (CC BY-SA).