Resource

• StormWatch PHD series index
• List of StormWatch PHD characters

Overview

In a world where criminals can be shape-changing aliens, cyborg assassins, or truck-tossing powerhouses, authorities can’t always count on super-humans to deal with such threats. StormWatch’s Post-Human Division (P.H.D.) is a pilot program to develop methods for ordinary human law enforcement to apprehend post-human offenders at a relatively light cost—trading billion-dollar battle armor and weapons for more ingenious, “street smart” techniques in apprehension. Initiated by former StormWatch Weatherman Jackson King, the Post-Human Division is the future of super-powered being law enforcement…if they can survive the first week!

SPOILERS BEYOND THIS POINT!

Publishing History

Stormwatch was one of several comic books to have been restarted following Wildstorm Comics' WorldStorm event. The first issue shipped in November 2006, Stormwatch: Post Human Division was written by Christos Gage with Doug Mahnke handling the pencils for the first seven issues, and Andy Smith illustrating #8-12.

Several dead characters are back for this series, their resurrection being explained in the series. In this new series, Stormwatch is sponsored solely by the United States, but a branch office has been set up in New York. Entitled Stormwatch: P.H.D. (Post Human Division), they are underfunded and overworked, their mission is to find "cost-effective" methods of saving the day. The series follows the branch office as their leader, former Weatherman Jackson King, tries to defeat superhuman menaces and balance the tight budget. The team consists of King, NYPD officer John Doran, a depowered Fahrenheit, a former Stormforce soldier codenamed Paris, a master manipulator and former moll to supervillains called Gorgeous, a former sorcerer's apprentice named Black Betty, a shape-shifting ex-supervillain and forensics expert named Dr. Mordecai Shaw a.k.a the Monstrosity, and an ex-supervillain and technology expert called the Machinist.
Christos Gage's run lasted twelve issues, plus the StormWatch PHD: Armageddon one-shot, before the series went on hiatus. It returned in August 2008 with #13, after the WildStorm Universe was destroyed by the events shown in Number of the Beast. The new creative team was writer Ian Eginton and artist Leandro Fernandez.

Ben Abernathy on StormWatch PHD #13 and beyond:

The final piece of the World's End puzzle is complete today…with the long-awaited return of STORMWATCH: POST HUMAN DIVISION! I know it's been a long time coming and some of you might have started to lose hope, but the book is back with a new creative team and totally re-vamped line-up!

So now that you've read it, I know you're wondering why the team membership's changed and what happened to the human operatives from the first PHD team. Well, in time, those answers will be delivered (assuming you haven't read the ARMAGEDDON issue—which you still should, if you haven't!), but a careful eye should also be paid to the other WildStorm Universe titles. Ultimately, the goal of this new StormWatch group is to try and save what's left of humanity and go about doing what super heroes are supposed to do—make the world a better place. Weatherman Jackson King has assembled a motley crew of operatives aboard the newly-constructed SkyWatch III, featuring some old and new faces. They'll be coping with new, dangerous problems—like powerful rogue nations, terrifying new plagues, old adversaries—while trying to maintain a semblance of a life under the most extreme conditions.

In approaching the creative team, like the other books, everything came together fairly seamlessly. I've long admired the work of writer Ian Edginton (even worked with him briefly when I was an assistant editor back in my Dark Horse days in the late '90s) and wanted to find the right project to re-integrate his skill into the WSU. I'd enjoyed his work on THE ESTABLISHMENT as a fan, so I knew he could handle team dynamics, and the guy's about as creative as you can get, so he took to the material immediately.

On the art side, the long lead-time on our new direction (as mentioned in an earlier post) gave me the opportunity to work with some artists on ARMAGEDDON with an eye toward bringing them aboard for World's End. That's exactly how it worked with Leandro Fernández and Francisco Paronzini. They illustrated the ARMAGEDDON issue of STORMWATCH: PHD—and really, after the first page was finished, I KNEW I had to convince these guys to do the main book. Fortunately, despite offers from bigger companies, I convinced them to commit to the first year…and seven issues in, their work has gotten EVEN better. Plus they're a pair of nicest guys you could ever meet and it's been a dream book realized.

News:

• Newsarama: Christos Gage on StormWatch PHD #5
  
• Newsarama: Inside StormWatch PHD #1 with Christos Gage
• CBR: Saving the World on a Budget: Gage talks StormWatch PHD
  
• Newsarama: Taming the Coming Storm...Watch
  

Sources:

• MySpace: WildStorm
• Wikipedia: StormWatch PHD