Wetworks:where are we?

There's seems to be (to put it mildly) a PR mix-up as to where Wetworks fits in to the Worldstorm relaunch and whether Worldstorm is a relaunch or what.

Let's handle that quickly, as stated Wetworks in this new incarnation is a collaboration by Mike Carey and myself. We started it awhile ago and then were asked to postphone it for what was then strictly a relaunch of only the original books of Wildstorm from the Image days. In the context that an event would happen prior to the launch of the new books that would render all continuity that went before it to naught. Meaning we would re-start each book as if new with whatever continuity we wanted to keep from the old books or not. It was to be a mature readers line so as to give creators space to really modernize the books.

That having been established we were told to write our books totally within their own world. Meaning it was decided editorially that there would be no need of prefacing or acknowledging the big event that would create this new status quo. There was actually talk of rewriting Wetworks issue #1 (four months after we did it) to incorporate said big event, but that was soon deemed unnecessary. So Wetworks proceeded.

But since we needed to postphone Wetworks to coincide with the new Universe

(I mean if we launched Wetworks months before the big event then when said event actually happened we'd have to start Wetworks all over again. If not we'd look silly being the only book that didn't react in some way to the fact that there was a new status quo. In essence we'd have Rebooted the book twice.)

All this time since Wildcats would return to be the flagship book everything about the event and relaunch would center around this book. It was therefore promised to keep Wetworks in the tail end of the relaunch's if not the last as originaly planned.

So it was decided that in between said big event and way back when there would be released small back-up stories to gear up the audience for the new Wetworks books. Ergo our preface lead-ups to the launch of the book, which were originally written for issue one.

Now we jump ahead in time to two weeks before Wetworks is scheduled to come out and we find due to circumstances Wildcats is not ready but Wetworks is so to my surprise Wetworks is the first book in the relaunch and labeled such. The book that was decided a year ago would not need to acknowledge the Worldstorm event.

So Wetworks (the most thought out and planned of all the books, years in advanced) gets slapped for not having aything to do with Worldstorm and therefore not being planned and in fact being downright confusing.

Now these things happen, we're all human so you take what you can and make the best out of it. So we plow ahead with Wetworks as planned as per how Mike and I have mapped this whole Wetworks tale.

My only real regret is to not have pushed for the republishing of the back-up preface stories that set-up issue #1. I am working on that, even if I have to make a flash storyboard using those panels and retell those short stories online. For clarities sake and for the total package it should be done. At the very least the TPB should have it all in it.

(to be continued)...next post retelling of the back-up stories...