The Authority
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- This article is about the Wildstorm comic book. For other meanings see Authority (disambiguation).
The Authority is a superhero comic book. It was created by Warren Ellis and Bryan Hitch, published by Wildstorm and follows the adventures of The Authority, a superhero team comprising mainly of Ellis-created characters taken from Stormwatch - a title Ellis had previously written.
It is notable for its intense graphic violence and visual flair, often described as "widescreen" comics, and the uncompromising attitudes of its characters (leading to them often being described as fascists).
Contents
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Regular Series
Volume 1
In 1999, Warren Ellis and Bryan Hitch introduced readers to The Authority, a team of superheroes who promised to get the job done by whatever means necessary. They were: Jenny Sparks, the Spirit of the 20th Century; Jack Hawksmoor, the god of cities; Swift, a Tibetan woman with wings and sharp talons; Apollo, a bio-engineered gay Superman pastiche; The Midnighter, a Batman pastiche who was the lover of Apollo and possessed the ability to foresee his opponents' moves in combat; The Engineer, a scientist who replaced her blood with nine pints of nano-technology; and the Doctor, a Dutch junkie with the combined powers of hundreds of shamans who had come before him.
The Ellis/Hitch run of The Authority lasted 12 issues, divided in three story-arcs: The Circle, Shiftships, and The Outer Dark. They showed an increasingly dangerous enemy: an international terrorist (previously seen in Stormwatch), an invasion from an alternative Earth, and the creator of the Solar system, with corresponding high scale violence and property destruction. The usage of a narrative tool called decompression, taken mainly from manga and novel in American super-hero comic-books, was distinctive: big, panoramic panels were used to examine action in deep detail, with a slower rhythm and lighter plotting per issue.
The run was hugely successful with readers, providing a form of large scale superhero action which was (at the time) not common in comics. Ellis never obviously delved into the politics of his characters; he left that to the reader to decide. This was soon to change after Ellis and Hitch finished their run on the series.
Replacing Ellis and Hitch were Mark Millar and the pseudonymous Frank Quitely. The Millar/Quitely run kept the widescreen narrative and violence of its predecessor, and added an irreverent and somehow revolutionary attitude to the characters, who fought social injustice and, if needed, the status quo, not minding crossing some lines to pursue their own agenda: trying to make a finer world. Though not a deep or realistic analysis of the role of a super-hero in the society, it became increasingly popular but also polemic from the start.
In Millar's run the Authority, under Jack Hawksmoor's leadership now that Jenny Sparks had died with the end of the 20th Century, faced such foes as a thinly-veiled Marvel Universe, the Earth itself, and the US government who had grown tired of the Authority's ways and replaced them with a duplicate team of superheroes backed by the G7 group of nations. Also, Jenny Sparks' successor, Jenny Quantum, was adopted by a now-married Apollo and Midnighter, and the Doctor overcame his drug addiction after feeling guilty for not being around for one of the Authority's biggest challenges after suffering an overdose of heroin.
This run proved to be highly controversial and led into the title suffering from censorship by DC. The first instance of this censorship was a removal of a kiss between Apollo and Midnighter due to DC's concern that it would lead to negative media reports.
It had been noted that the title was becoming too much of a polemic under Millar and the sexual content and violence were also concerning DC. The matter would come to a head after the events of 9/11 during Millar's final story arc, "Brave New World". This happened in issue 22 and it proved to be Quitely's last issue as artist as issue 23 was to be delayed after the 9/11 attacks (Cancelled outright was a one-off special simply called The Authority: Widescreen) due to concerns about the violence in that issue. Image:Authoritywidescreen.jpg It is unclear how much of issue 23 Quitely completed (he did draw the covers for what would have been his next two issues) but as the title was now in hiatus Quitely had left to draw New X-Men for Marvel Comics.
To allow Quitely's replacement to catch up, a four issue fill-in storyline called "Transfer Of Power" written by Tom Peyer, was published featuring the G7 Authority team. The final Millar issues started with issue 27, it was this issue where the most serious censorship of story and art would occur. Scenes of necrophilia, extreme violence set in New York (which was felt to be sensitive to show after 9/11), and scenes of The Authority's members being humiliated and degraded were toned down from what was originally drawn by Quitely's replacement, Arthur Adams.
Also altered were panels clearly showing George W. Bush being portrayed as a cowardly figure. This was felt to be unpatriotic after 9/11 hence the editing of the panels. Further editing occurred in issue 28 which caused this issue to be delayed. These delays in shipping were now affecting the titles sales, causing them to drop. Millar's final issue was drawn by Gary Erskine after Adams had left the title unhappy with how his art had been censored.
Since his departure, Millar has completed only one other project for DC - Superman: Red Son released in 2004. Millar has since alleged he is blacklisted by DC and has been working for independent publishers and Marvel Comics.
Storylines
The Circle
The Authority's makes its first public appearance to stop Kaizen Gamorra, an old enemy of Stormwatch, who wants to take advantage of Stormwatch's breakup to take revenge upon the world. To do this he uses engineered supersoldiers to carve his mark upon the world, which results in the destruction of Moscow and then part of London. The Authority manage to stop the attack on London, but are unable to retaliate against Gamorra, because the island is protected by a forcefield which Apollo nearly crashes against.
The Engineer then discovers Gamorra was carving Clan Gamorra's signature symbol upon the planet, and the third knot is set for Los Angeles. While the rest of the team tried to stop the attack, Midnighter infiltrates Gamorra's island and finds a bioreactor pumping out superhuman clones. After being discovered by Gamorra, Midnighter escapes through a dimensional door and back to the Carrier which he takes out of orbit and uses it to destroy Gamorra's tower by crashing it into it.
Shiftships
The Authority has to stop the invasion by a parallel Earth, specifically a parallel Britain called Sliding Albion, whose ships appeared upon Los Angeles through a shiftdoor (a dimensional rift). As it turns out, Jenny Sparks has meet them before when the shiftships first appeared in 1920. Sliding Albion is a world where open contact between aliens (the blues) and humans led to interbreeding and an imperialist culture based upon the Victorian British Empire. Sparks considered them dead due to a bacterial attack in 1953 during their World War Nine, which they tried to send to Jenny's London through a shiftdoor to save themselves.
After The Authority manages to push them back through the shiftdoor, Jenny reveals the history of Sliding Albion to her teammates and forces British Intelligence (using her old rank of Colonel in the British Army) to give them access to the only native of Sliding Albion held prisoner on Earth. Jenny takes the Engineer and Swift with her, and surprises them by presenting him as her first husband, though they were only married for 15 minutes. Through him she discovers the blue Regis, whom she thought was killed, is still alive and probably behind the attacks. In fact, Regis plans to create concentration camps in this Earth and populate it with blues born from the women.
Meanwhile, a second attack wave hits northern Europe and the Carrier. The attack on the Carrier is neutralized, but Apollo exhausts himself due to him burning up his supply of solar energy. Jenny decides to take advantage of Apollo's ability to quickly recovery in direct sunlight and uses him to neutralize the attack on Europe while she takes the Carrier and the rest of the Authority to Sliding Albion. Meanwhile, Jack and Midnighter fight Regis. When they seem to have lost, Hawksmoor uses the strength of cities around the world to cut Regis in half. After this, Jenny makes the Doctor destroy Italy and what's left of the blues regime. In an all-frequencies message, she tells the people to take advantage of the second chance and "We are the Authority. Behave."
It was just before Apollo left to neutralize the last attack that Apollo and Midnighter's relationship was revealed, though it had been hinted at before.
The Outer Dark
A strange alien beings land in Africa and starts building something unknown. At the same time, in the moon some more creatures wake up and head for Earth. The previous Doctors reveal to the Doctor a vital secret: humanity inherited the Earth, they do not own it. And now the owners are back. While Apollo, Midnighter and Jack fight a second wave of creatures in Tokyo, Jenny, Swift and the Engineer discover that the ones that landed in Africa are starting a terraforming process which will be poisonous to humans. Jenny sends Apollo to sterilize the moon while the Doctor learns from the previous doctors that the being attacking Earth was its creator, but that Earth was very different then. It changed during its absence, making life possible, but the creator will now try to turn it back to what it was.
The Authority take the Carrier out of the Bleed and into Earth orbit, and then the Engineer manages to convince it to leave Earth's orbit and enter the moon-sized alien creator through a pore. They navigate to the creature's brain and Jenny uses her power to electrocute it. That's her last action as its December 31st, 1999 and her time as Spirit of the 20th century comes to an end. She dies in Jack's arms.
The Nativity
Under Jack Hawksmoor's leadership, The Authority is in the media spotlight after becoming more pro-active in dealing with humanity's problems . The Doctor warns Jack that Jenny has been reborn as the Spirit of the 21st century and that they're not the only ones looking for her. A maternity ward in a Singapore hospital is attacked by a team of superpowered beings (based loosely on the Avengers), but the Doctor managed to take baby Jenny Quantum away. Unfortunately, his enemies had cut him off from the team's radiotelepathy and his own powers. When they try to attack him, baby Jenny's defences kick in, injuring one of their attackers called Titan, who was blocking him and allowing the Doctor to call the Authority's for help.
The battle is hard fought but their enemies take baby Jenny away, and Apollo is seriously injured during the battle. The leader of these superbeings is Dr. Krigstein (based upon Jack Kirby) who wants Jenny so he can be able to shape the future through her.
With the help of former Stormwatch member Christine Trelane, the Authority discover who Dr. Krigstein is and the ultra-secret American military program he ran for years with the objective to create superheroes to protect all the American cities. He disappeared after the program was closed down after the end of the Cold War, spending the last years underground polishing his plans. The Engineer locates his secret invisible hangar in Manhattan just seconds before Krigstein launches a simultaneous superhuman attack on each major city in the world. While the rest of the team, alongside other superheroes, battles the attackers (and Apollo gets his revenge), Swift enters Krigstein's base and offers him a deal: they want him to help restructuring the societies destroyed when they removed their dictators, so he'll have a chance to put his ideas to use, while they keep Jenny Quantum. He accepts. Image:Authority18.jpg
Earth Inferno
A massive storm hits Italy, just the first of several bizarre natural events. The Authority is at the peak of its popularity, but the Powers-that-Be are getting nervous. The Doctor has just married and, when Midnighter and Jack find him, he's comatose from a heroin overdose. While helping with the relief efforts, the rest of the team, alongside Jackson King and Christine Trelane, are trying to find out who they're up against.
Their prime suspect is a renegade ex-Doctor currently in a temporal prison 20 million years in the past. As it turned out, it was Earth itself (with encouragement from the renegade Doctor) who was doing it. The Doctor got his powers back when he woke up, but Earth no longer listened to him. The Authority was forced to evacuate everyone on Earth to alternative Earths. The renegade Doctor asked for the Doctor to transfer his powers back to him for an hour to prevent Earth from reversing its magnetic poles. He fought against The Authority until the 15 new senses he just got kicked in and the empathy with every creature on existence overwhelmed him. Apollo then incinerated him, the Engineer kicked the head off the smoldering corpse and the Earth's population was returned
Transfer of Power
The G7 nations and the US especially have grown tired with The Authority's world changing actions, and decide to replace them with a group more akin to their interests. Using a powerful superhuman being called Seth to neutralize The Authority the G7 think The Authority destroyed, however Midnighter manages to escape with baby Jenny. Image:The Authority 22 - 21.jpg The new team (see the characters section below) takes the Carrier out for a ride, and they discover thousands of refugees The Authority was sheltering, some of them still alive. They dump them out into the Bleed. Soon later, the White House and all of the world wealthiest people are reduced to paupers. While The G7 Authority try to work out what happened, they're attacked by alien-looking ships, piloted by Asian-looking people. The Machine discovers the ships come from the Re-Space, the realm where they dumped the refugees on. As it turned out, the Re-Space gave them the power to re-imagine their world, and they re-imagined the magnates wealth as theirs. When the new Authority arrives here, the Re-Space people re-imagine as the original Authority, turning into them. But Last Call's homophobia surges up when the re-imagined Apollo touches him, and he beats up the leader of the Re-Space people, returning the team back to normal. The Colonel then takes control of Re-Space wish lamp, returning Earth to normal.
Brave New World
The G7 Authority is still in charge. The Carrier is full of advertising, the Garden of Ancestral Memory is open to multinationals and fast food chains and they have all they can wish. Last Call is enjoying torturing a captured Apollo, while the other members of the Authority had been mind-wiped and forced into humiliating positions. But Midnighter gets back into the Carrier, killing The Street and then Teuton, freeing his lover Apollo, who then kills Last Call. Rush, The Surgeon and the Colonel are next, leaving only Seth to deal with. Meanwhile, in a G7 reunion, Swift finds out Seth's "off-button" code, and proceeds to free herself and The Engineer. In the Carrier, Midnighter is badly hurt fighting against Seth, who then threatens baby Jenny. An enraged Apollo attacks Seth, but is unable to defeat him. Meanwhile, Jack, Swift and the Engineer return to the Carrier and try to save Midnighter's life, but Seth attacks them. In the end, is baby Jenny who speaks aloud the off-button code Swift found, turning Seth into a simple human again. The Doctor then proceeds to turn him into a chicken at his old farm, before returning to the Carrier and saving Midnighter's life. There's still the problem of the rip in the Bleed, caused when the Carrier was ripped off to replace the Authority, but Jack decides to do nothing, and forbid any other superhuman for doing anything, saying that the humanity caused this and they should deal with it. After everything's fixed, Apollo and Midnighter marry and adopt baby Jenny.
Graphic novels
This entire run is collected in four graphic novels:
- Relentless - Collects # 1-8
- Under New Management - Collects # 9-16.
- Earth Inferno and Other Stories - Collects # 17-20, the Annual 2000 and the Summer Special.
- Transfer of Power - Collects # 22-29.
The Authority # 21 is collected in The Monarchy: Bullets Over Babylon graphic novel, since it was the starting point for The Monarchy series.
The series was also collected in oversized slipcased hardcovers with extras:
- The Absolute Authority Vol. 1 - Collects # 1-12
- The Absolute Authority Vol. 2 - Collects # 13-20, 22, & 27-29
Image:Wildstorm the authority harsh realities.jpg
Volume 2
The series was subsequently restarted, and was written by Robbie Morrison with art by Dwayne Turner (except for the single issue "Behemoth", which featured art by Tang Eng Huat). This incarnation of the series lasted for 14 issues, and prior to issue 10, the series was part of the Coup d'état crossover that included The Authority, Stormwatch: Team Achilles, Sleeper and Wildcats v3.0. This crossover revolved around The Authority taking over the United States of America.
After the controversy that surrounded Millar's run, DC ensured this would not happen again by making the title a more traditional superhero title. This proved not a popular run with fans and the title was again relaunched in a new volume.
Storylines
High Stakes
The Authority battles an invasion from Alternate Earth 66. Behind the invasion is Madorra Chance, madame of Viceworld, a world-sized casino and pleasure complex cathering to people across the multiverse, who started the invasion who people could make high bets about if the Authority will be able to stop it. She tries to tip the result on her favor by using a shatterstar warhead, but the Authority transports it to Viceworld, starting the chain explosion that would destroy it. Midnighter kills Chance personally.
Reality Incorporated
After destroying the remmants of Kaizen Gamorra's superhuman army, who had turned trafficers of drugs, weapons and people across the globe, the Authority find themselves in the mist of an international controversy involving the UN and several governments concerning their actions, as well as the questioning of Apollo and Midnighter's adoption of Jenny Quantum and their fitness as parents. The Authority battles an attack by inter-dimensional suicide bombers in Chicago. After they destroy all of them but one, the last one has a change of heart and stops the exploding proecess. The US Army then tries to arrest them because the US government has declared them an hostile power. The Doctor turns all the soldiers into women before they leave.
In the carrier, the survivor bomber confesses (after receiving a beating from the Midnighter) that he comes from an alternate Earth that was conquered, her population almost wiped and terraformed into a vast resource of fossil fuel to be distribuited across the multiverse. And the ones who did it came from the Authority's Earth.
The responsibles turn out to be Reality Incorporated, a multiversal corporation with what amounts to multi-billon dollar interest in 36 parallel universes. They decide to attack the carrier with human/insect hybrids. This aren't going well for the Authority, until a terrified Jenny unleashes her powers, destroying almost all the invaders. But they take Swift with them. They then request a meeting with the Authority, where they explain who they are and what they do, basically acquiring and terraforming worlds for industrial explotation (slaughtering or enslaving the natives in the process) and creating pleasure worlds for the beings of the so-called higher dimensions to screw themselves senseless. Their representative, Wade Walker, threatens the Authority: Earth will become a war zone if they interfere. They can have Earth, Reality Inc. will have everything else. Swift tells them to go to hell, and Jack confirms it.
Thanks to some advancements the Engineer coded in the radiotelepathy bugs the team uses, they're able to locate Swift and Reality Incorporated battle fleet and they lauch an all-over attack. After a hard battle, they're able to destroy the fleet just when it was entering Earth's space, thanks to the sacrifice of the surviving suicide bomber.
However, Earth's media doesn't believe them and acuses them of wanting total world domination.
Behemoth
The Engineer tells Jenny how they confronted a giant monster who was attacking Kuala Lumpur, and that almost eat the Midnighter. The only problem was that the monster turned to be a six years-old boy that was subject with his mother to beatings from his father. During one of those beatings, to save his mother, his latent powers activated and became the monster, killing his father in the process. The Doctor, in an action he's not proud of, made him confront what he had done, forcing him to return to his human form, but leaving him in a catatonic state.
Godhead
Fractured World
Street Life
Coup d'état
Coup d'état was the Wildstorm crossover event that placed the Authority as the sole governing body of the United States (an earlier story arc had revealed that the Doctor had used voodoo dolls to cause George W. Bush and Al Gore to kiss each other on live television, and therefore, in the Wildstorm universe, neither won the 2000 election) and explored the reactions of the protagonists of other Wildstorm comics: WildCats, Stormwatch: Team Achilles, and Sleeper.
In this story, the United States government obtains an engine that can go through the Bleed, giving them the opportunity to explore, and exploit, other worlds. Although they have been warned by the Authority, the government launches the engine without knowing what will happen next. That ignorance became their doom because as the engine entered the Bleed it fell apart, revealing a small black hole and ripping through the Bleed. A shiftship that was there at the time was torn apart with its crew, which were actual giants, burning up as they entered through the atmosphere along with their ship. This catastrophe ends in the total destruction of the state of Florida since the Authority could not move or stop the ship's descent. During the subsequent investigation, the Midnighter finds out that the US government was behind it. Hawksmoor and The Authority then decided to take over the United States.
Unlike other crossovers of this nature, Coup d'état was only four issues long, starting with Coup d'état: Sleeper, in which it is revealed that it was Holden Carver and Miss Misery who led the government into possession of the engine, and then continuing with Coup d'état: Stormwatch Team Achilles, Coup D'état: WildCats, and ending with Coup d'état: The Authority. Although the first issue did not show much of Holden's reaction, the other books portray this event from the point of view of their respective protagonists.
Graphic novels
Three graphic novels cover this part:
- Harsh Realities - Collects Vol 2 # 0-5.
- Fractured Worlds - Collects Vol 2 # 6-14.
- Coup d'état - Collects the Coup d'état crossover.
Volume 3: Revolution
The series was again restarted in October of 2004 under the title The Authority: Revolution. This series was written by Ed Brubaker with art by Dustin Nguyen and Richard Friend. It focuses on the troubles the Authority faces as the rulers of America.
Storyline
The Authority are plagued by a group old superhumans called the Minutemen, consisting of old patriotic superheroes from the 40's, 50's, and 60's. They rally American citizens discontent with The Authority's take over of the US government and go on a series of riots across the nation and answer to a mysterious man in a hood who operates his own Carrier and has an entire alien race under his control.
The leader of the Minutemen, codenamed Paul Revere, challenges the Authority to face him and his comrades on the White House lawn. In the ensuing battle, the White House, as well as much of Washington, D.C., is destroyed. The Authority resign and disband due to the shame of their failure, as well as the manipulations of The Midnighter who believes he was told by a future Apollo that the Authority would go too far and become corrupted with power. By causing the Authority to disband, he believes he will prevent this future from happening. At the end of the fifth chapter, the mysterious man in the hood is revealed to be Henry Bendix himself, who then takes over the United States in the absence of the Authority.
Three years pass and much as changed in the Wildstorm Universe. Jack Hawksmoor and The Engineer have taken the Carrier for themselves and travel through the multiverse for pleasure. The Midnighter battles crime all over the world, leaving Apollo to look after their adopted daughter, Jenny Quantum. Swift has retired to a Buddhist monastery in Tibet. Tragically, The Doctor has apparently died from a drug overdose.
While visiting The Doctor's grave, Jenny Quantum, now eight years old, decides to travel to the Garden of Ancestral Memory where all the previous Doctors go when they die. She learns that the Doctor is not there and had never been.
Back at her home, she is visited by a future version of herself who brings her to a dimension similar to the Garden of Ancestral Memory, except it is for past Jenny's, not Doctors. There Jenny Sparks advises Jenny Quantum to recreate the Authority to stop Bendix's schemes. She then returns to her home, aged to the age of 14 much to her, and Apollo's, surprise. It is at this age that she is capable of handling the looming threat that has presented itself.
Jenny Quantum does so, bringing every member back even though they are reluctant to do so. They decide to go after Bendix, with Jenny Quantum at their head.
Meanwhile, Henry Bendix reveals how he overthrew the Authority to the newly reincarnated Rose Tattoo, the Spirit of Murder. The reader then learns that Bendix used Rose Tattoo to seduce The Doctor and overdose him with the juices inside of her. Bendix then captured his soul to point him towards the new Doctor: a young Palestinian suicide bomber named Habib Ben Hassan. Bendix then captured Habib and imprisoned him in a cell on his Carrier where the boy was cut off from his powers. Jenny Quantum then secretly freed the two Doctors, returning them to Earth.
Bendix then reveals himself to the Authority, appearing on their Carrier with Rose Tattoo and a legion of his alien followers. They fight and Bendix turns the Midnighter on his allies. Jenny Quantum and the Engineer are able to free the Midnighter from Bendix's control, and then bring the fight back to him. With the element of surprise on their side they are able to win and return America back to its rightful owners: Americans.
Habib is able to turn Rose Tattoo to the side of the angels, making her the Spirit of Life instead of the Spirit of Murder, and Jenny Quantum decides to let her on the team. The volume ends at a party Jenny has arranged between the past Jenny's and Doctors.
Graphic novels
This run has been collected in two graphic novels:
- The Authority: Revolution Book 1 - Collects # 1-6
- The Authority: Revolution Book 2 - Collects # 7-12
Miniseries, Specials and Crossovers
Jenny Sparks : The Secret History of the Authority (2000-2001)
A miniseries of five issues collected in a graphic novel of the same name. This series recalls Jenny Sparks' first meetings with her future teammates. Story by Mark Millar, pencils by John McCrea.
Ruling the World (2000)
Crossover with Planetary, edited first in prestige format and later collected in the Planetary: Crossing Worlds graphic novel.
"Kev Saga" (2002-2006)
The Authority: Kev (2002)
Single issue with story by Garth Ennis and pencils by Glenn Fabry. Kev Hawkins is a Special Air Services corporal turned assassin (due to a pesky affair when a tiger ate a cabinet minister under his protection) called in by the British government when they want someone removed. This time, they want The Authority removed. Surprisingly, this is done rather easily. The problems start after that. The British government wasn't behind Kev's orders, but rather an alien masquerading as his boss, with designs on Earth. Kev must convince the Carrier to rewind time and return the Authority to life so they can save Earth.
The Authority: More Kev (2004)
4 issue miniseries, also by Ennis and Fabry. Transdimensional aliens, called the Rakulai, threaten Earth. What do they want? The number-one archcriminal on their wanted list, B'eeef, who years ago flew to Earth and masqueraded as a British cabinet minister... the same one that got eaten by a tiger under Kev's protection. Apollo and Midnighter must team up with their favorite homophobic SAS agent to find B'eeef's remains, since the Rakulai can regrow themselves from a single cell. The two first Kev miniseries are collected together in the graphic novel The Authority: Kev.
The Authority: The Magnificent Kevin (September 2005-2006)
5 issue miniseries, written by Garth Ennis with art by Carlos Ezquerra and covers by Glenn Fabry. Kev has got another mission with his least-favourite allies: The Authority. But, this time, things take a darker turn. All of The Authority but the Midnighter get put out of commission by a bizarre intruder, and Kev is sent on a mission to pick him up. Kev tells about how he entered the British S.A.S., and he and Midnighter uncover underground dealings by the British military to create their own superhumans. At long last, Kev gets his chance to redeem himself and escape the pall hanging over his career -- but at a cost.
The Authority: Scorched Earth (February 2003)
Single issue, with story by Robbie Morrison and art by Frazer Irving. The Earth's Sun is suffering a major, potentially cataclysmic, upheaval. Its temperature is rising at an impossible rate and enormous solar flares are erupting from the photosphere, sending fireballs directly to Earth. The Authority finds out someone is behind this: Winter, the former field commander of Stormwatch Prime and an old friend of Jack's. After he piloted SkyWatch into the sun, his energy absorbing powers made him become one with it. Trapped in eternal agony and enraged by the cruelty on Earth, Winter wanted to destroy it. The Authority were forced to cage him inside the sun.
The Authority: Human on the Inside (2004)
Single volume by John Ridley and Ben Oliver, set before Coup d'état. Edited in hardcover and softcover. A confusing story of vengeance and despair, showing the Authority manipulated by various enemies, such as the father of Rush (one of the G7 superhumans who replaced the Authority) and "The One Who Has Lost All Hope". Jackson King, formerly Battalion of StormWatch, leads the Authority briefly after Jack Hawksmoor is wounded in battle. They are able to overcome their human faults (Apollo and Midnighter's insecurity about their relationship, the Doctor's drug addiction, the Engineer's fears of whether or not she is human, etc.) and stop the future itself from being destroyed.
Members of the Authority
- Jenny Sparks, founder of the Authority.
- Jack Hawksmoor, current leader of The Authority.
- Swift
- Apollo
- Midnighter
- The Doctor
- The Engineer
- Jenny Quantum
- The Carrier - in addition to being the Authority's headquarters, the Carrier is also an enormous living interdimensional "shiftship" existing everywhere on Earth at the same time and capable of moving to every imaginable plane of existence. Often referred to as female, the Carrier is sixty miles by thirty-five by two, large enough to put Jack Hawksmoor at the peak of his power.
Transfer of Power
During the Peyer-written story arc "Transfer of Power", the members of The Authority were temporarily replaced with analogues who had roughly the same powers. Their names were references to and/or parodies of the original characters' names. Unlike the original Authority, this group was intentionally selected by a council which sought to have heroes representing the G7 nations. During this story arc, the original members were believed dead or incapacitated in some fashion.
- The Colonel, a British ex-footballer who was the de facto leader of The Authority. He had abilities similar to Jenny Sparks', although apparently limited to producing electric shocks. He behaved like the classic football hooligan, and incorporated many of the more negative aspects of British lower class stereotypes. He was also quite demoralizing (and incompetent) as the group leader as he would insult every member of the team on a regular basis.
- Street, Jack Hawksmoor's black analogue. He was American.
- Rush, like Swift, had wings, the origin of which was later explained, in the graphic novel "Human on the Inside", to be the result of posthuman surgery at the behest of her father, Dr. Ledbedder. She was selected to represent Canada, and her name is possibly a reference to the popular rock band of the same name (see Rush (band)).
- Teuton, Apollo's analogue. He was German, more than a touch insane, and a closet homosexual.
- Last Call, The Midnighter's analogue, was reactionary homophobic as a result. He was from Italy
- The Surgeon, given control over the Doctor's powers, was never fully accepted by the collective consciousness of the previous Doctors. He was French.
- Machine, planned to be given the nanotechnology extracted from the Engineer's body (while Angela Spica's blood was temporarily replaced with that of a heroin addict), was eventually given "the finest of Japanese picotechnology". She was Japanese.
- Chaplain Action, self-proclaimed "He-Man of the Cloth," a superpowered religious figure affiliated with the team at The Colonel's behest in order to give The Authority a more pious, morally-grounded image as a PR stunt. The ruse backfires, however, as Chaplain Action takes his job much more seriously than anticipated. He demonstrates superhuman strength, as well as an invulnerability to The Colonel's electrical powers (to which he responds, "Nothing shocks me, Colonel.").
Human on the Inside
- Jackson King, previously known as Battalion and the third Weatherman. A powerful telekinetic, he led the team for a short time at the behest of the American government during the graphic novel Human on the Inside while Jack Hawksmoor was crippled. When Hawksmoor was healed, King left the team.
- Danny Chan, a seemingly Asian martial artist. In reality, he was a cybernetic spy sent by the U.S. Government to infiltrate the Authority and destroy them from within during Human on the Inside. He kissed the Engineer and then Midnighter, trying to create trouble inside the team. When he was discovered by the Engineer, she immediately destroyed him in a rage.
Awards & Recogntion
The series won the Squiddy Award for Best Character Team in 1999 and 2000.
Trivia
- Warren Ellis created a cognate of the Authority in Marvel's X-Man series made up of Nicola Zeitgeist (Jenny Sparks), City Dweller (Jack Hawksmoor), Nightfighter (Midnighter), Technocrat (Engineer II), Thor (Apollo), Whitebird (Swift), and Professor X (The Doctor). This team operated out of the Foldcastle capable of teleporting them anywhere. (X-Man #71-72)
- The critically acclaimed Action Comics #775 written by Joe Kelly with art by Doug Mahnke featured an analogue of The Authority called The Elite. The Elite come into conflict with Superman over their use of extreme and often fatal methods against supervillains. and are ultimately taken down by Superman (With help from the Justice League) The story is a clear allegory for the value of "old fashioned" heroics amidst the popularity of more extreme heroes.