Waller vs. Wildstorm
Writer: Spencer Ackerman & Evan Narcisse
Artist: Jesus Merino
Inks: Vicente Cifuentes, Pgs. 9-26
Colors: Michael Atiyeh
Letters: Dave Sharpe
Book Two
Cover: Waller, Jackson King, and Adeline Kane over a map of Gamorra, while Deathblow hangs down from a helicopter.
Page One, Panel One: "Gamorra. Six days earlier." This entire issue takes place six days prior to the first issue. Where the first issue is mainly from the perspective of Lois Lane and Jackson King, however, most of this issue is from the perspective of Amanda Waller.
Page One, Panel Panel Five: This is Yumiko Gamorra, daughter of Kaizen Gamorra, former dictator of Gamorra.
Page Three, Panel Three: The golden statue is of Kaizen Gamorra shaking hands with JFK. The broken window in the background acts as a halo of sorts and might indicate that things still aren't as stable as they want in Gamorra, especially since last issue we learned that there is still an underground resistance against Yumiko.
Page Three, Panel Six: "Commander Kamarov." Nikolas Kamarov, Winter. He's standing next to Slade Wilson, Deathstroke.
Page Four, Panel One: "The Cybernary chassis." As explained last issue, Cybernary was the name of the cybernetic resistance hero in the Wildstorm Universe made up of the body of Katrina Cupertino, with cybernetic implants and the digitized personality of Yumiko Gamorra. Here, it seems like the Cybernary chassis was implanted in Katrina first before before forcibly removed and will now be implanted in Yumiko, as a reversal of the original story.
"Left-seat right-seat training" is a military term specifically about transitioning an incoming person or team to take over for an outgoing person or team. The "left seat" is the driver's seat, while the "right seat" is the observer's seat.
Page Four, Panel Four: The golden horns of Cybernary. She's not always seen with these, but they are the most iconic version of her look:
Page Six, Panel Three: The "DS Logistical" plane indicates that this is the same place that Battalian and Deathblow raided in the flashback last issue.
Page Seven, Panel Three: "Adeline." Adeline Kane, Deathstroke's ex-wife and commanding officer. Apparently, she is the Bishop to Waller's Knight in Checkmate.
Page Eleven, Panel One: "Ignacio Rivas." The boy from last issue that Team 7 was seen abducting.
Page Eleven, Panel Three/Four: The man escorting the boy is Jackson Dane from Team 7 and Wetworks.
Page Twelve, Panel Two: Atlácatl Battalion was a real counter-insurgency battalian from El Salvador that the United States helped set up after a coup by the military junta (of which the US had been covertly involved). According to Wikipedia, it was implicated in the "most infamous massacres of the Salvadoran Civil War" and disbanded in 1992.
"Fort Bragg" is the former name of Fort Liberty, a large military base in North Carolina.
Page Fourteen, Panel One: Adeline Kane injecting Slade Wilson with the super soldier serum that gave him super strength, durability, and agility.
Page Fourteen, Panel Two: This is either Maul from WildC.A.T.s or another Titanthrope. The Titanthropes are a subspecies of Kherubim who can increase their size, but at the expense of their intelligence.
Page Fifteen, Panel One: I don't recognize the bad guy Battalion is fighting, but his costume (aside from the mask) looks very similar to Deathstroke or Ravager.
Page Seventeen, Panel One: "But Checkmate has a lot of contractors. Some of them are married to Bishops." A reference to Slade Wilson and Adeline Kane, who are currently still married.
Page Twenty-One, Panel One/Two: "You've known rivers, huh?" "Quoting Langston while you do." Jackson is referring to the Langston Hughes poem "I've Known Rivers" which is about Black heritage and perserverence.
Page Twenty-Two: Like Lois Lane previously stated, Jackson doesn't think that Checkmate is corrupt, just that Amanda Waller is. Waller (like Lois, ironically) is trying to disabuse him of that notion.
Page Twenty-Three: "A Merc squad." These are the Mercs, a team of superpowered mercenaries introduced in StormWatch #1 as enemies of Stormwatch. From left to right: Deathtrap, Hellslayer, Brutus, Kilgore, and Razer.
Page Twenty-Seven, Panel Five: That's Fuji, a member of Stormwatch Prime.
Page Twenty-Eight, Panel Three: And that's Diva, another member.
Page Twenty-Nine, Panel Two: That's Christine Trelane, another member of Stormwatch and Jackson's romantic partner. She has the power to activate "Seedlings."
Page Twenty-Nine, Panel Three: Behind them are Fahrenheit, Diva, Fuji, and Cannon. The inclusion of Cannon is interesting, since he was also shown to be a member of Team 7 in the previous issue.
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