With The Authority, Warren Ellis seems to want to start a conversation about its characters and its place in the genre, if not the genre itself. Yet it seems he’s not very interested in having his book actually have that conversation.
Relentless, the first volume of the series, compiles two story arcs, both written by Ellis. In The Circle, the Authority fights an army of superpowered terrorists intent on carving a symbol into the earth. In Slipships, a parallel earth launches an invasion. These stories pass by at a fast pace, the "decompressed" angle meaning that an entire page can be taken up by a ship blowing up a building or part of a montage of demonstrating a member’s particular powers. As a consequence, there’s a breathtaking blockbuster quality to the action, but it also means that not a whole lot happens in any given issue.
It also means, unfortunately, that relatively little time is given to actually developing characters. Characters speak formally and usually more for exposition purposes, singularly focused on the mission at hand. There are some small moments, such as Swift discussing why she decided to stop being a pacifist or the Engineer musing on the life she’s left behind. However, these take backseats to the utlraviolence.
The villains are perhaps less interesting. Ellis can write some good villain monologues, but they seem to obscure a lack of compelling characterization and motivation. Why does Kaizen Gamorra unleash a superpowered army onto three large cities? He just likes committing terrorism. An explanation given in a colorful monologue, but not one that adds depth to character.
Much has been made of the ultraviolence of the stories, as the first issue ends with Jack Hawksmoor gruesomely punching the head off of a super-powered terrorist. But apart from the aforementioned conversation with Swift (which happens alongside them taking care of survivors from the devastating city attacks) the actual ethical ramnifications are never explored. At the end of “Shiftships,” Jenny has the Doctor dump most of an alternate Italy into space. Another series might discuss the ethics of the action, or the psychological impact it might have on the characters, or the different ways the characters might react to it. Ellis, however, seems uninterested in such questions. “My superteam rammed their ship through a city ruled by a supervillain,” the book says, “discuss.”
Despite discussion of "making a better world," the only nods to the Authority actually making steps to trying to improve the world are a brief discussion in the first arc about handing the villain’s cloning technology over to the UN, and the impression they have in the second arc that their display of overwhelming force to the alternate earth might encourage them to clean up their act.
All in all it’s a colorful book, one with good art and an ease of reading, but in the end it feels more interesting as a discussion piece than an actual story.
ComicBook Volume 1: Relentless - More Noteworthy than Good
With The Authority, Warren Ellis seems to want to start a conversation about its characters and its place in the genre, if not the genre itself. Yet it seems he’s not very interested in having his book actually have that conversation.
Relentless, the first volume of the series, compiles two story arcs, both written by Ellis. In The Circle, the Authority fights an army of superpowered terrorists intent on carving a symbol into the earth. In Slipships, a parallel earth launches an invasion. These stories pass by at a fast pace, the "decompressed" angle meaning that an entire page can be taken up by a ship blowing up a building or part of a montage of demonstrating a member’s particular powers. As a consequence, there’s a breathtaking blockbuster quality to the action, but it also means that not a whole lot happens in any given issue.
It also means, unfortunately, that relatively little time is given to actually developing characters. Characters speak formally and usually more for exposition purposes, singularly focused on the mission at hand. There are some small moments, such as Swift discussing why she decided to stop being a pacifist or the Engineer musing on the life she’s left behind. However, these take backseats to the utlraviolence.
The villains are perhaps less interesting. Ellis can write some good villain monologues, but they seem to obscure a lack of compelling characterization and motivation. Why does Kaizen Gamorra unleash a superpowered army onto three large cities? He just likes committing terrorism. An explanation given in a colorful monologue, but not one that adds depth to character.
Much has been made of the ultraviolence of the stories, as the first issue ends with Jack Hawksmoor gruesomely punching the head off of a super-powered terrorist. But apart from the aforementioned conversation with Swift (which happens alongside them taking care of survivors from the devastating city attacks) the actual ethical ramnifications are never explored. At the end of “Shiftships,” Jenny has the Doctor dump most of an alternate Italy into space. Another series might discuss the ethics of the action, or the psychological impact it might have on the characters, or the different ways the characters might react to it. Ellis, however, seems uninterested in such questions. “My superteam rammed their ship through a city ruled by a supervillain,” the book says, “discuss.”
Despite discussion of "making a better world," the only nods to the Authority actually making steps to trying to improve the world are a brief discussion in the first arc about handing the villain’s cloning technology over to the UN, and the impression they have in the second arc that their display of overwhelming force to the alternate earth might encourage them to clean up their act.
All in all it’s a colorful book, one with good art and an ease of reading, but in the end it feels more interesting as a discussion piece than an actual story.