One of Image Comics marquee titles, WildC.A.T.s went through many incarnations during its time, but nothing comes close to what Alan Moore did.
In the early ’90s, WildC.A.T.s, created by Jim Lee and Brandon Choi and originally published by Image Comics, and it was initially very much a product of its era. Featuring bombastic art and designs but minimal characterization, the book was very much a watered-down version of the X-Men franchise that Lee had cut his teeth on. Though it was a bit more consistent in its publishing schedule than many of its Image contemporaries, this didn’t do it much of a favor critically.
That changed when iconic comic book writer Alan Moore got a hold of the title. Bringing his signature brand of prestige to the title, while still keeping the fun action/adventure tone, Moore and his collaborators completely changed the WildC.A.T.s’ status quo forever by ending the WildC.A.T.s’ feud with the Daemonites for good.
One of Image’s founding books, WildCats, initially stylized as WildC.A.T.s, eventually was published via Jim Lee’s Wildstorm imprint. The premise centered around a team of superhumans with mostly extraterrestrial ancestry, hailing from the species known as the Kherubim. Their mortal enemies were the vile Daemonites, whose leader Helspont planned to undermine and eventually dominate human society via their race’s ability to possess people. Like many early Image characters, the resemblance to Marvel and DC characters were endless. Female warrior Zealot was essentially a combination of Wonder Woman, Elektra, and Psylocke, Voodoo was Jean Grey, Maul was Hulk and Warblade was Wolverine. The property’s most existing concept of the Kherubim and Daemonites inspiring human concepts such as angels, demons, gods and mythology was passed over in exchange for focusing on non-stop action and splash pages. This left next to no room to round the WildC.A.T.s out into actual characters, making the book interchangeable with any other flash over substance ’90s comic book.
There were several crossovers with properties such as Rob Liefeld’s Youngblood and Marc Silvestri’s Cyberforce, as well as other, non-Image series’. Spin-offs like Gen13 and Stormwatch were also born, eventually culminating in the crossover event “Wildstorm Rising.” Gaining control of the Daemonite warship and seemingly defeating Helspont for good, the main WildC.A.T.s team departed from Earth to return to Khera.
Starting with issue #21, Alan Moore wrote the series, with a series of artistic collaborators including Travis Charest, Ryan Benjamin and Mat Broome, and completely upended the status quo that the book had already worn thin. Upon returning to Khera, the original WildC.A.T.s discovered that the war between the Kherubim and the Daemonites had been over for centuries, with those on Earth simply being too far away to be informed. This left Khera a veritable paradise for the ruling class of Lords, which included the genetic subgrounds that Zealot, Emp, and Superman rip-off Mr. Majestic hailed from. For the planet’s other inhabitants, however, a new, far more volatile war raged underground through the planet’s alien apartheid system. Warblade’s subspecies were a race of esoteric artists, though they were still relatively respected among Kheran society. Maul’s species were in fact the original Kherans who had long ago been colonized by the more humanoid race that was now known by the name. Marginalized and treated as political nuisances on the best of days, these Titanthropes sought to again gain a place in the world that was once their own. Likewise, Daemonites still lived on the planet, albeit by being forced into dilapidated ghettos, one which Voodoo was also forced into for her Daemonite blood.
Back on Earth, Mr. Majestic leads a new team of WildC.A.T.s to deal with the planet’s growing source of non-alien threats. The team eventually added fan favorites such as Ladytron, a grungy cyborg who still rode the design schematics of the ’90s wave. Eventually, the original WildC.A.T.s’ own cyborg Spartan discovered the corruption of Kheran society, culminating in the death of an innocent Titanthrope. The WildC.A.T.s then returned to Earth, uniting with Mr. Majestic’s team to take down the surprising threat of a being named Tao. After the ensuing “Fire From Heaven” mega-crossover, Moore would leave the title, which wouldn’t achieve success again until Joe Casey’s tenure on the book’s third volume. The book would also never again repeat the status quo from its initial years, however, all thanks to Alan Moore moving the title forward into a completely new direction.
