Kathleen Keller's Wildcats 3.0 review

Okay, I pick up this comic in the floppies, and I think it fucking rocks.

This is for all of you wait for the trade people. Run, do not walk, to the LCS or Artbomb or Kephri and get your hands on it.

The trade collects issues 1-6 of the series and is one of the most "duh! that's so obvious and cool, why didn't I think of it?" takes on the superhero ever to come sliding down the pike.

Do not let the word "superhero" frighten you. It's really a science-fiction comic whose events revolve around Halo Corp. But it is a superhero comic, because the corporation is the superhero.

Lets step over to the mainstream DCU for a moment.

Every night Bruce Wayne puts on his cape and tights and fights a never ending war against crime. Every day Bruce Wayne walks into a large office complex and is more or less in charge of a billion dollar enterprise.

Imagine what a different place Gotham would be if Bruce Wayne poured the resources of Waynecorp into Gotham by revitalizing its economy, starting huge, city wide after-school programs, and even very discretely putting some money into the right places to find and root out corrupt politicians, policemen, etc? What if Waynecorp and not Batman was fighting the war to make Gotham a better place?

What kind of opposition would Waynecorp face? What kind of press would it receive? How would Waynecorp market itself? (And WTF does Waynecorp make anyway?) And what would Waynecorp do behind the scenes to grease its path as it hid in plain sight on its way to making Gotham (and the rest of the world a better place?)

And doesn't what I've outlined make a hell of a lot more sense than putting on a cape and tights? Wouldn't it be ripe with potential for a nice drama? Industrial espionage, conflicts with management, lawsuits, "cola wars", locking horns with goverments? (Because believe you me, if your product is batteries that never need to be recharged the OPEC people are not going to be happy when you start building cars powered by your batteries, are they?)

Okay, so Brand Building doesn't have all of that in it -- but it sure gets the ball rolling on it. (First rule of great drama, start small and build.) And it's got some great dialog, good character moments, intrigue up the wahzoo, plenty of action, and a few great gut buster funny moments.

And if the story's not enough to completely entertain your brain, the art in it is some really beautiful stuff.

I'm sold. I plan on picking this up after I get the Invisibles, Box Office Poison and Blankets.