Authority

The Authority Vol. 3: Earth Inferno and Other Stories
$14.95
After Warren Ellis left "The Authority", Mark Millar arrived on the scene. Millar was the batman of his friend Grant Morrison throughout the 90s, working with him on such properties as Marvel's cult "Skrull Kill Krew" and DC's "JLA" and "Aztek: The Ultimate Man"; being exposed to Morrison's brand of high-octane weirdness is certainly a winning apprenticeship for following Ellis, and Millar gets his shot at the big-time here. For fans of his future Marvel work, the political themes and satirical characterization that would later mark "The Ultimates" and the like can clearly be seen. Ellis mostly left the characters' politics unsaid, but Millar puts it centre-stage through the course of his run (though this is the story arc where it is least-apparent).

Millar's first arc on "The Authority" dealt with the fallout of the death of Jenny Sparks in Ellis' final arc, leaving the team to be led by Jack Hawksmoor (the "god of cities", a man modified by aliens to exist in an urban environment), the rest of the team being Swift (basically DC's Hawkgirl, though Asian), Apollo (Superman analogue), and Midnighter (Batman analogue) (the two are also gay, which is handled as a background detail), members of previous groups, return; they are joined by two new characters, the Doctor (an incredibly powerful magician) and the Engineer (a woman with nine pints of nanotechnology in lieu of blood, which she extends over her nude body to form a metal skin and weaponry in battle); the gap in the roster was filled, in a sense, by the discovery of baby Jenny Quantum, the Spirit of the 21st Century, although it will be some time until she's old enough to take part in the group's adventures. Millar's second arc, "Earth Inferno", is also follow-up to Ellis' final arc, using "God"'s attempt to remake the Earth as its starting point: the Earth was frightened by this, and a rogue former Doctor who used his powers for evil takes advantage of this to convince the Earth to try and exterminate humanity. All this is part of his design to get out of prison, where, restored to his old powerset (which allows him to do essentially anything he can think of, including uncreating the universe), he faces off with the Authority in battle. The Evil Doctor is one of the series' best villains, a dry-humoured fat Englishman with a small penis who is aroused by destruction. There's nothing deep here, but then, if you're reading "The Authority", that isn't what you're looking for.

Bundled in this collection (the "Other Stories" of the title) are some random Authority-related material from a couple of one-shots released around the same time, by different authors; the most substantial is a Joe Casey-written segment from "Authority Annual 2000" that is part of their participation in Wildstorm's "Devil's Night" crossover; without context, it's a decent, though unexplained (the characters even call attention to this), action story about the Authority fighting some undead warriors from the Cold War. There are also two stories from the "Wildstorm Summer Special", the first a Jack Hawksmoor-focussed story written by Warren Ellis; this is an effective character piece, as Ellis reflects through Hawksmoor on the events on his run on the title, and on what motivates Hawksmoor to work as a hero (also commenting on the frequently high body counts the series depicts even when the heroes win); the second, written by Paul Jenkins and focussed on the Engineer, is more middling. Angie has always been a favourite of mine, but Jenkins' core premise, that her post-human nature prevents her from having a satisfactory sex life, simply doesn't jibe with any other story ever told about the character (it's flatly contradicted by Millar's own story *in this volume*). The art, by Georges Jeanty, is lovely, though.

Overall, recommended, for Millar's strong main story, though it is also nice to see Ellis return to the team, however briefly.

The Authority Vol. 4: Transfer of Power
$17.95
I picked up this comic in the library as I was not familiar with the premise for The Authority. I gathered that it was about a bunch of superheroes storyline.
Obviously I am missing something here as I couldn't understand the book nor did I bother to finish it as it was obviously part of a running series. If these heroes are world beaters, why do they have everyday problems? Stan Lee did it best with Spiderman. But Spiderman was no world beater.
Funny how comics has evolved to the point where it is all about niche interests and on-going cataclysmic events. What is there to do for a finale?

Authority: Rule Britannia (Authority (Graphic Novels))
$19.99
The WildStorm Universe has been shattered by an apocalyptic event and the world is devastated. Does the Authority have a hope of rebuilding their "finer world," or is that dream dead and gone? Don't miss this beginning of an astounding new direction for the super-team. Find out what the group that was created to protect Earth from threats of a global scale must do after they fail in their mission.

Authority
$18.95
I can't say enough how much this book has been a source of insight to me. It is a serious work, but it is very well written and quite accessible.He explores in this book as he does in others, the hidden and emotional sides of social bonds. Our ambivalence about athorinty is the subject of the book. John Locke thought all we had to do was get rid of kings to be free, but Sennet and the rest of us know we are still not free. why?read this and start to at least ask some of the right questions.