Stormwatch #7

The world is attacked by alien race from another dimension known as the Daemonites who travel through dimensions in search of gravity which they mine and sell as a commodity. If they are aware of damage done to the lifeforms in the dimensions where the gravity miners strike they are unconcerned about it.

The title gets a new artist and writer but it may be too late to save the title, at least for me. Paul Jenkins makes a couple of nice changes. First, we don't get any awkward juvenile allusions to Midnighter and Apollo's relationship. Second, Jenny Quantum finally gets in on the action.

New artist Ignacio Calero also makes a tremedous difference. Although he's still stuck with the New 52 design of the characters they look much cleaner and better defined than in all previous six issues of the title.

However, there are some issues. The narrative forces the Martian Manhunter to be vague about his knowledge of the aliens for no other reason that to give us a final page reveal of the threat - even though this puts his teammates in danger.

The aliens themselves are also somewhat unimpressive and unfinished as if no one could decide what they should actually look like. Also troubling is Jack Hawksmoor's journey to talk with another manifestation of a city who has two scarred Asian servants named Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Well, it would be a Stormwatch comic if it didn't have a few groan-worthy moments.

In places it seems like the new creative team might be able to make something of the title, but right around the corner are more groans and examples of questionable content and/or execution that have plagued the title since its launch. Hit-and-Miss.

[DC, $2.99]