The Authority #5-8

The Authority #5-8

Originally released in 1999

Written by Warren Ellis

Art by Bryan Hitch

I realized that I hadn't gone back to the Authority since the very early days of writing this blog, so I decided to continue reading their series.  In this four issue storyline, the world of the Authority is invaded by a parallel Earth, though it's not quite as bleak as the Incursions leading up to Marvel's Secret Wars - this invasion is intentional on the part of the other Earth, and the inhabitants of this other Earth (or at least its leaders) are generally awful people who are obsessed with acts of debauchery and conquest while their world is dying around them.

The first two issues of the storyline didn't hook me, largely consisting of big action scenes with not much focus on the characters.  While I feel like big city-spanning battle sequences against armies from a parallel world would have been groundbreaking when this was first release, and the art maintains its cinematic feel and pacing, it reminds me of how superhero movies (especially team-ups) overdid the "army of faceless goons" for a while. (Avengers, Avengers: Age of Ultron, Justice League...)

In the first two issues, only Jenny Sparks and the Engineer (which sounds like the basis of a great band name) get focus, with the Engineer only having focus briefly.  However, things pick up in the second half of the story.

Warren Ellis also wrote Nextwave, and the dynamic of the team consisting of a group of people who struggle to work together as a team also shows up here, though not played for laughs as much as it was in Nextwave.  Jack Hawksmoor, in particular, seems to have trouble with getting along with others, though Midnighter also has his moments.

After the first scouting party sent by the parallel world fails (Jenny Sparks encountered this world decades ago, though they've been quiet for the past fifty years, and she fends them off single-handedly), a second scouting party is sent to attack Norway.  Apollo, the team's Superman equivalent, is sent to handle that group on his own, while the rest of the team heads for the parallel Earth.

It's been made clear, from talks with a captured prisoner, that the leadership of this Earth is irredeemable - they've basically ruined their Earth beyond repair, poisoning its cities and turning entire countries into a brothel for its alien leaders, and they're looking to do the same to other Earths.  Their leader, Regis, is particularly vile, so Jack and Midnighter deal with him personally.

Meanwhile, the rest of the Authority throw the other Earth's Italy into the cold void of space, with all of the casualness of putting a candy wrapper into the garbage.  It's heavily implied that their version of making this world a better place would also apply to their own Earth if they step out of line, though no direct threats are made to their homeworld yet.

While some of the book's novelty may be lost on me, given how it likely inspired future series (from Marvel alone, the moral ambiguity reminds me of Hickman's New Avengers, while Hitch's style carried over to his work on The Ultimates), the second half of this story, in particular, was what I expected about this series based on what I had heard about it going in.