The Authority #2 (June 1999)

Jenny Sparks sacrificing three children to the 20th Century.

Not all electricity represents Jenny Sparks' actions which is something I had to remind myself as I suddenly thought, "Jenny Sparks is responsible for all the people sent to death in the electric chair!" I was really getting worked up about how awful she is to be behind it when I remembered she just uses the tool of electricity and is sort of the "idea" of electricity but not electricity itself. But Jenny isn't just the new technology which was showcased and introduced to the world at the Chicago's World Fair, she's also the Spirit of the 20th Century! But what, exactly, is that? It's certainly made up of an amalgam of themes and ideas but if I had to pick one, I'd pick the death of the frontier. The 20th Century was the first century in which the humans of Earth had no more places to run from "modern" civilization (while, in many cases, destroying civilizations which already existed in the spaces "modern" people ran to). That meant no longer sneering at the current Church in charge, showing them your bare ass, and heading West. It no longer meant running from debt or warrants or abuse to re-find oneself in a brand new landscape devoid of, while not cultures and peoples (as I've noted and can't note enough, being on the Internet, and not wanting to get yelled at about erasure when I don't really want to explore every tangent of an idea. I'm discussing Western and European culture because they're the Imperialists who ultimately defined the frontier, not as a place without people but a place without white people. And the through line to be discussed when discussing the idea of "The Frontier" unfortunately follows the Imperialists who oppressed the peoples of the Frontiers) completely, the culture and peoples that have oppressed them until escape. That meant the 20th Century was a century where escape was no longer possible which meant we had to be ready to fight. This is also true of the other oppressed cultures but less on their terms, seeing as how their "Frontier" was constantly forced on them by, let's face it, mostly British Imperialists as they pushed and shoved them from place to place (when they weren't killing them). So Jenny's Spirit of the 20th Century can be thought of as one where people feel their backs against the wall and dig in for a long fight.

Although the 20th Century was a long time (100 years even!) so, eventually, people began seeing that fighting often was a no-win proposition. They sought ways to escape within the system. Modernist writing contains a lot of stories where the climax isn't a protagonist winning the battle they've been fighting but escaping the horrible system they've found themselves within: One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, Catch-22, possibly The Grapes of Wrath depending on your reading of it, I suppose. And what about postmodern thought?! Is Jenny that as well? Has Jenny escaped history and language and gone beyond the discussion of whether or not God exists to wind up well on the other side with a "Who cares?" and a satisfying shrug?

Are these questions Ellis answers? I've never read the earlier stuff that maybe explains Jenny a bit better when she's first introduced. And I don't remember this series that well. Will he get in the weeds about her "Spirit of the 20th Century" representation? Or will she just make loads of lightning happen?

"You wouldn't like the 20th Century angry!"

Jenny must be able to fart nukes, right?

The Gamorran terrorists have descended on London by the hundreds. To save as many people as possible, The Doctor walls off the section of London where the terrorists landed. They're trapped inside his magic box while the people of London who have yet to be killed are safely outside of it. The Authority, of course, remain inside to burn, blast, electrocute, punch the brains of, and disintegrate the Gomarran army. You'd think Jenny and Apollo kill most of the terrorists but I think Midnighter does that. Swift certainly doesn't. What the fuck can she even do?! She doesn't even carry an antique mace!

One side of The Doctor's box remains open to the Thames so that Apollo can dump them in.

For Off-Menu fans only: Are they going to defeat them by giving them all diabetes?

Once they're in the Thames, Jenny Sparks introduces herself to them. She claims to be 100 year old electricity. Is that as dangerous as new electricity? It's probably more dangerous, right? She says she's never, over 100 years, hated anybody as much as these terrorists. I guess Jenny Sparks didn't date much.

That was a cynical comment, wasn't it? To suggest that people would hate most people they once dated? I don't hate anybody I've ever dated. Mostly I just don't feel anything toward any of them in hardly any way at all. Oh wait! Is that the Spirit of the 20th Century? Ennui?!

For all the readers new to these characters and who didn't make the connection with the look and the grim attitude, Ellis gives Midnighter a scene where he explains that he's an over-the-top version of Batman.

Midnighter kills this guy just to show how he's different from Batman (who would have just given the guy so many internal injuries that he dies later at the hospital under the doctor's care and so, technically, his death can't be directly attributed to Batman).

If soldiers are dreaming of becoming what Midnighter is, then I think we should arrest all soldiers and/or throw them in insane asylums.

The soldiers wear something called "teleport netting" which I'm guessing is some kind of undergarments that allow them to be teleported. My reading comprehension is off the charts. Most of the bodies, dead or alive, begin teleporting back to Gamorra Island. But Apollo has destroyed the netting on one of the terrorists and pursues him as he tries to fly back on his own. But Jenny knows where the terrorist is going because of the intel she was given by The Weatherman and Christine Trelane. They don't need to chase one little insect with broken teleport wings. They teleport themselves to above Gamorra Island using The Carrier's Door technology. Gamorra Island has surrounded itself with a force field that even they can't get through. See, Kaizen saw how his terrorists got their asses handed to them and he was all, "Wut? Call off the Earth Tattoo! Let's rethink some shit!"

So they can't just open a Door past the forcefield?!

The team decompress aboard the Carrier for the last few pages where they get naked, shower, towel off sexily, and all the other stuff I'm making up in my own head. I mean, The Engineer does get naked meaning that she's more naked than she usually is when she's just covered with nano-slime. And I assume Jenny got naked at some point because she spends the whole time talking with Apollo while toweling her hair dry. She tells Apollo how she hates being a leader but she also hates not being a leader. Because not being a leader means there's nobody to save the world and then to change the world. So, being that there's nobody else, and seeing as how she's literally the 20th Century, Jenny Sparks decides to change the world into the 21st Century. But first she has to kill all those jerk on Gamorra Island.

The Authority #2 Ranking: A. This is one of those comics that can be read in just a few seconds if you don't really take your time and appreciate the art. Because there are whole sections with hardly any words at all as The Authority beat the shit out of things. But even so, it doesn't skimp on character building and discussions of why The Authority exist. Ellis squeezes those things into the corners so the reader feels they're not missing something by not having read earlier issues of Stormwatch. As long as none of the characters say, "Remember that time we had that five page orgy where we were all naked and our hair and other random objects never obscured the reader's line of sight to our naughty bits? That was fun!", I don't mind never reading Stormwatch.