Warren Ellis and Stormwatch Vol. 2
Warren Ellis's run would refocus the stories and redefine the cast of characters while tying-up the first volume (with issue #50) and spanning the entire 12-issue run of the second volume. His version of Stormwatch injected sexual and horror elements, thinly-disguised political commentary and criticism of the United States government into the stories. The accompanying art was toned down from the more-exaggerated 1990s superhero-style, which dominated the early Image Comics, helping to emphasize the science fiction aspect of the storylines. During this period Ellis used Stormwatch to introduce the concept of the Bleed, a space between parallel universes which later featured in Planetary and other comics set in the Wildstorm Universe. By the end of volume one Ellis made Henry Bendix a manipulative villain.
Ellis continued to write the book into Stormwatch volume 2, until the August 1998 WildC.A.T.s/Aliens crossover (also written by Ellis) which saw the Stormwatch team decimated by xenomorphs (the creatures from the Alien film series). Most of the Stormwatch characters Ellis had not created were killed off in this story while the surviving characters he had created became the main cast of Ellis' new series, The Authority, including Jenny Sparks, Jack Hawksmoor, Apollo, the Midnighter, and Swift (who debuted in Stormwatch vol. 1 #28, written by Jeff Mariotte) as well as two new characters who were successors of the Engineer and the Doctor from Ellis' "Change or Die" storyline. Stormwatch volume 2 ended with a story, set after WildC.A.T.s/Aliens, in which the United Nations disbanded Stormwatch. The last scene, a conversation between former members of Stormwatch Black, introduced The Authority and promoted its first issue. Other survivors from the original team (including Battalion, Christine Trelane, and Flint) appeared briefly in The Authority, and King and Trelane became central characters of The Monarchy.
Ellis's use of concepts and characters he developed in Stormwatch extended into other WildStorm projects as well. Notably, Planetary. In the 11th issue of Planetary, John Stone, a secret agent modeled after a combination of James Bond and Nick Fury (of Jim Steranko's Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D.) works for a 1960s precursor of Stormwatch named S.T.O.R.M., working out of a command center known as S.T.O.R.M. Watch. References were also made to Jenny Sparks, the Bleed, and the ability to teleport via "doors."
