My main complaint about Team Achilles has been the artwork, so a guest artist was as good an excuse as any to check out the book again. While I still have my problems with the book, the strengths of Wright stand out a lot more when he's not fighting against the artist quite so hard, and this self-contained story with links back to the events of the first six issues has the same dark sense of humor I've come to expect along with villains who I can legitimately believe the Stormwatch team could handle so easily.
It seems to me that Wright does not like to explain things to his readers. He drops them in the middle of the story this issue to save the surprises at the end, and that has its benefits and its drawbacks. The drawbacks are that it isn't the most accessible read in the world, as new readers may be wondering who these characters are and what they're up to. The benefit is that they may be wondering so much that they'll keep reading, even though there's a danger of frustration in not being able to figure out what's going on. I know the structure kept me reading, even though I still wish for a better definition of the characters in art and characterization so I can tell them apart more readily.
The book is written to some degree as wish-fulfillment military science-fiction. Though the heroes are undoubtedly bastards of the highest order with an almost sociopathic devotion to violence and revenge, they're presented as the good guys because their opponents are worse. Really, the villain of this piece didn't use tactics that Ben Santini and his team wouldn't, he just used them against the Stormwatch team. To make him seem a little more evil and deserving of the vengeance visited upon him, Wright makes him a parallel to a couple of the more right wing and unpopular politicians in the U.S. and invites us to engage in a little wish-fulfillment revenge as well. It's a bit manipulative, but for me it worked, largely because the revenge that Santini wreaks on the villain is so imaginative and delightfully ironic.
In terms of characterization and dialogue, Wright suffers from the same problem that has plagued Millar on Ultimate X-Men. The protagonists, and many of the antagonists, all have a generic badass characterization. However, while this makes it difficult to single out one or the other character, it does make for some highly entertaining dialogue. The love affair with guns and technology is funny and clever, and the confrontation between the villain and Santini at the end definitely speaks to the preparation and superior tactics that has become the hallmark of the Stormwatch team's abilities.
This is the first issue of Stormwatch to feature art by Mark Texeira, and it appeals to my sensibilities a great deal more than the monthly artist Whilce Portacio did. However, this still looks like either a rush-job or a changing style from Texeira, and it is on his shoulders that much of the blame for the indistinguishable characters can be laid. It's disappointing to look at the intensely detailed weapons or mansion and see the characters seemingly sketched out and shrouded in shadow.
