WorldWatch #1
Wild & Wooly Press
Writer: Chuck Austen
Pencils: Tom Derenick
Inks; Norm Rapmund
Cover Colors: Daniel Brown
Price: $2.95

Rating: 3 ? stars

WorldWatch is the controversial lovechild of X-Men scribe Chuck Austen and Tom Derenick. Written for mature readers and featuring more hot naked chicks then an issue of Playboy, WorldWatch goes to the edge of what is acceptable to today?s comic readers. Seen through the eyes of War Woman, the book serves as a graphic novel adaptation of her autobiography. Giving no quarter, this first issue shows how egos clash, and how super stars act when their loving public is nowhere in sight.

I have already seen several scathing reviews of this book based on the naked boob factor of this book, and I beg to disagree. WorldWatch takes the fa?ade of super heroes and shatters it to pieces. This isn?t Identity Crisis by any means, and the book has a mature readers label on it, so I expected to see things I wouldn?t have children looking at. From Sergeant Mercury?s naivety to Omnia?s vanity, the women of this book are certainly physically perfect, but it is obvious that there are holes where their sense of self should be. The men are no less catty, as seen by The Interceptor and Doc Gulliver?s interaction when discussing their views of life in general.

WorldWatch is presented as a GN of War Woman?s life, and as someone who has read a lot of autobiographies, I know to expect a lot of human frailty and failings. The first issue gives an overall view on the key characters and how they deal with each other in their remote satellite station. From calling each other names to disagreeing on killing a criminal, there is a definite division in the team. As the book is told from War Woman?s perspective, there is a tell-all tone to her opinions of her peers that plays havoc with the sense of morality that might play well in any standard super hero comic.

Austen?s script surprised me with its violent, hardcore nature. I am so used to seeing him right under the auspices of an all age?s book that his tell-all style was at first startling. The more I read and understood the nature of where he was going with the story, the more I had to appreciate his point of view. If I had Tom Derenick doing the art I my book, I would want to show more flesh too.

Speaking of Derenick, his pencils with Norm Rapmund?s inks have never looked better. War Woman is commanding and inscrutable, and Doc is powerful in his physicality. For sheer size and scope of the tale being told, Derenick is definitely the man for the job. I do wish the interiors would have had color, but I understand that this is an independently published title with a budget.

There are naysayers calling this book porn, and I do agree that there is a great deal of nudity, but I would have to say that these are the people that probably think Wonder Woman?s boobs are too big in continuity too. World Watch is an adult themed book, and therefore up to the reader to decide if they wish to read or not. I rather liked the adult themes portrayed as I felt is was an angle brushed upon but not laid so bare in Watchmen. Super heroes have hormones just like we do, so who is to say what would really go on behind their closed doors?

Personally, I plan on giving issue 2 a look to find out if there is more story to come behind the titillation. The concept is compelling, and the characters are interesting, so I plan to keep picking it up for the foreseeable future. I like the idea of a super hero book having a romance edge. The header of the book says it all ?They fought, they cheated, they loved?and sometimes they saved the world?.

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