If there was any doubt in my mind that the trade paperback format is the ideal one for Wildcats Version 3.0, Full Disclosure pretty much erases it. I've enjoyed these stories in their single-issue form, but put all together they pack a much more powerful punch. The slow shift of relationships and status quo for two accountants introduced early on, the spiral into depravity of Agent Wax, the mounting frustration of Grifter as he goes from operative to operator and any number of other character developments provide a strong undercurrent to the always-interesting corporate intrigue that is the raison d'etre of the book. So much happens in these six issues that it could make one's head spin, and yet Casey lays it all out with such precision that you'd think he was as much an android as his lead character Jack Marlowe, and Dustin Nguyen and Richard Friend continue to impress art, whether the situation calls for sunny beaches, dimly lit parking garages, gala events, cutting edge high-tech corporate environments or gunfire-laden infiltrations of federal buildings.
Wildcats has mutated considerably from its origins, and while Casey still includes the action elements of the book, they're there to serve his overriding theme, which is about the power that modern-day corporations have gained, and what might happen if a noble-minded person, one free of human flaws like the android Spartan, were to try to use that power. The characters in Wildcats 3.0 are not your average brand of super-heroes. One of them is a corporate tycoon who seems bent on benevolent world domination, and isn't above giving in to blackmail by crooked information brokers. Another is a former mercenary and killer who hires beefy enforcers to beat up targets now that he's stuck in a wheelchair and can't do it himself. And yet another uses his mind control powers to sleep with his boss's wife, which is at the least betrayal and could very easily be considered a form of super-powered rape. These aren't nice people. But what they are is undeniably fascinating to read about.
The dark and unusual tone of the series is reinforced by the artwork of Nguyen, Friend and Mayor. The characters have a clean line and some of the most complex, fascinating facial features to be found in comics, and the art shows influence from sources as varied as Travis Charest, Mike Mignola, Walt Simonson and Eduardo Risso. The look is shadowy and dark, but without the oppressive coloring that often accompanies that style, as Mayor gives everything a nice splash of color, whether it's the glow of lights, the pink energy effect of Marlowe's teleportation or the antiseptic lighting of Marlowe's inner chamber. These artists are called upon to tell stories that revolve around quiet desperation and personal disintegration, big budget style action, dirty sexual rendezvous and conflicts of will, and they never let the story down. In addition, while the design sense that informs the covers is a pretty good indication of the talents of Nguyen and designer Rian Hughes, that sense can also be seen in Nguyen's work on such unusual characters as the Beef Boys or his clever tweak of the Grifter outfit for Dolby's use, not to mention a wide array of non-costumed cool such as Wax's bright blue suit, C.C. Rendozzo's sexy, quirky trenchcoat, hat and big gun motif or Marlowe's oh-so-symbolic white suits.
At the same time, while these characters live in a pretty dark world, there's an element of nobility to the goals they pursue. Forget The Authority, which has become a loud parody of itself that isn't even funny anymore, Wildcats Version 3.0 is the book about heroes who want to change the world. Full Disclosure is less involved in the larger implications of Marlowe's plan, being focused largely on moving the chess pieces into place, but one still gets the sense of a larger story at work. The really fascinating stories in this trade are Dolby's transformation from supporting character accountant to being one of the smartest, toughest and most interesting characters in the book who is more dangerous with a business proposal than all the hardware Cole Cash can outfit him with or the parallel story of the paranoid disintegration of Dolby's friend Sam. There are plenty of stories revolving around the lead characters as well, however. Agent Wax engages in some very questionable activities, made less reprehensible by Casey portraying the victims as spoiled rich who deserve what they get but still raising a lot of ethical questions and leading into a very interesting culmination down the line. And the battle of wills between Cash and Marlowe not only indicates how much longer they've known and worked with one another but the level of stakes at which this game is played, where a man's psyche and indeed his life is essentially made into an object lesson in how to use the power that the Halo Corporation is trying to wield.
Wildcats Version 3.0 really does have the whole package, as it is by turns smart, fun, action-packed, cerebral, sexy and a little bit subversive. Not bad for a bunch of characters who started out as (let's face it) X-Men clones fighting a generic alien menace. Alan Moore and Warren Ellis gave the Wildstorm universe a bit of a kick in the pants with their stories, turning the raw material that Jim Lee and his cohorts had come up with into a more cohesive, darker-edged superhero universe where the status quo can really change, and books like Wildcats Version 3.0 are taking that wide open field and running with the ball.
