Wildcats, Vol. 2: Vicious Circles

Wildcats, Volume II #2

by Joe Casey

This collection finds the Wildcats taking on a new direction as Lord Emp leaves the team for good with the remain members relocating to California.

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Fiction, Superheroes

144 pages, Paperback

First published February 1, 2001

About the author

Librarian note: there is more than one author with this name

Joe Casey is an American comic book writer. He has worked on titles such as Wildcats 3.0, Uncanny X-Men, The Intimates, Adventures of Superman, and G.I. Joe: America's Elite among others. As part of the comics creator group Man of Action Studios, Casey is one of the creators of the animated series Ben 10.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joe_Casey

Reviews

[Brad · Rating 3 out of 5]

As a new reader of Wildcats, this stuff is still unnecessarily confusing (only one of the aliens looks like an alien and this team has yet to really be much of a team), but it's a definite improvement over the first volume. Sean Phillips's shadowy art is great, and it seems like Joe Casey's trying to slowly reintroduce and make sense of a bunch of odd characters created by Jim Lee to draw something cool.

[47Time · Rating 5 out of 5]

47 is present, so 5 stars are a-comin'. But really the story is a fun read. At last we understand the relationship between Kenyan and Emp.

Cole believes that the team isn't doing enough to track down Kenyan. He has his own plan that involves Noir. Spartan soon joins him out of concern for his employer Emp who has some secret dealings with Kenyan. Emp's physical transformation of late has to do with his Ascension that he believes will fulfill his destiny.

Emp created Kenyan many years before and has since hunted him down across the globe. Now he dares Kenyan to kill him and end the game of cat and mouse. Kenyan suspects something is at play and kills himself instead. Emp wanted Kenyan to kill him and trigger his Ascension which leads to a journey into the Eternal Light and also releases energy that would kill Kenyan. Spartan realises the importance of the event and carries it out himself - his physical resilience prevent him from being destroyed.

[John · Rating 3 out of 5]

"This is Joe Casey's creative breakthrough work where he took his writing to that next level by taking a bullshit Image concept and writing it in a mature and sophisticated manner. People tend to cite Wildcats Version 3.0 as the better work, but it all began here with Sean Phillips (and Steve Dillon). Casey examined what it would be like for these people to live without a war to fight any more, struggling to break free of their old ties but always bound by them. It's a book about family and what happens when everything you've dedicated your life to goes away."

[Koen Claeys · Rating 2 out of 5]

I hope Wildcats will be firing on all cylinders in Volume 3.

[Gabriel James Maurice Rodriguez · Rating 3 out of 5]

its okay. Closing down the garbage stories from lobdell so Casey can move onto what he wants to write about

[Neil Carey · Rating 3 out of 5]

More an interesting read (in that it's a look at early 00s superhero comics trying to slough off tired conventions & try new avenues) than a truly great one, but the potential is there, once the job of work clearing away what is arguably the last deadwood in the series is done. Joe Casey certainly knows how to keep a story cooking, and this run of WildCATs is what helped to show the world Sean Phillips' skills as a quiet dramatist.

[Shannon Appelcline · Rating 5 out of 5]

Casey takes the Wildcats and suddenly turns them into a team of living, breathing human beings in these sometimes daring tales that do what Scott Lobdell tried to do (and failed) at the start of volume two. The Void story that ends the volume is particularly great.

[Patrick · Rating 4 out of 5]

Finally, the Wildcats feel like developing characters! I followed Joe Casey and Sean Phillips' careers because of this book. I'm glad to report this first volume is as good as my nostalgic memory. The creators quickly address the series' previous ongoing plots and make the story their own.

[Camille · Rating 3 out of 5]

More balanced writing and art. Casey is way better than Lobdell while Phillips is a better storyteller though lesser artist than Charest.

[Jay Rox · Rating 3 out of 5]

the first half of this really dragged u had Emp begging to be killed repeditly talking about how he changed the game & never did mush explaining how. seemed like new writer (Joe Casey) was just trying to wrap up the story previous writer (Scot Lobdell) left unfinished. Once you get started on the second half things start picking up & you get introduced to a new character Void. The art by Sean Phillips was enjoyable a lot of dark shading & more realistic look to the character's but I felt the way he moved the story along & facial expression's didn't always match the tone the dialogue was setting .. also the action scenes were not the most dynamic .. I give this a 7/10