The Authority

This first volume collects the original 12-issue run of The Authority by series creators Ellis (Transmetropolitan) and Hitch (StormWatch) to treat readers to a transition from the team members of Ellis's StormWatch to this new iteration, featuring a slightly revised cast of characters under a new purview. The team had once been a subsidized branch of the United Nations' Superhuman Security and Intelligence Bureau, but now StormWatch has been disbanded and reformed under its own "Authority," unofficially serving as its new name. The result is a very hard-edged series that explores the role of superhero teams as fascist enforcers of the common good. Ellis and Hitch test the newly minted authoritarian group against a rogue, superpowered terrorist state, an alternate, transdimensional, imperialistic Britain, and a mechanized race that created the earth itself. These threats are far from bush-league, and each tops the last in scale. Verdict Ellis delivers a stark superhero drama of epic caliber that plays off the nature of unfettered power in the hands of a small number of individuals on the verge of a new millennium, while artist Hitch provides dynamic, psychedelic art to complement the narrative's overarching themes.-Alger C. Newberry III, Genesee Dist. Lib., Flint, MI (c) Copyright 2013. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.