Fire from Heaven (comics)

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"Fire from Heaven"
Cover of Sword of Damocles 1 (Mar 1996) Art by
Publisher	Wildstorm Comics
Publication date	March – July 1996
Genre	Superhero Crossover
Title(s) Backlash #19-20 Deathblow #26-28 Fire From Heaven #½-2 Gen¹³ vol. 1, #10-11 Sigma #1-3 Stormwatch vol. 1, #35-36 Sword Of Damocles #1-2 Wetworks #16-17 WildC.A.T.s vol. 1, #29-30

"Fire From Heaven" was a company-wide comics crossover event story arc published by American company WildStorm in 1996. The story ran across at least one issue of most WildStorm titles at the time and several independent one-shots. The story tied into many events happening in the WildStorm universe and, unlike many major crossovers of the time, Fire From Heaven had a lasting impact on many of the characters involved.

History[]

The crossover was one of the biggest ever in comics, but had its share of problems; for example, delayed issues caused the planned reading order to change almost monthly, so much that the finalé, planned to take place in Fire from Heaven #2, had to take place in Deathblow #28. Also, mandated participation in the crossover meant that many writers had to stop their own storylines to follow the storyline of the crossover. This had the side effect that none of the issues involved were self-contained and readers had to buy the whole crossover to understand the story, even with short recaps in each issue.

Plot[]

The story dealt with the coming of Damocles (an alternate reality version of Dr. Tsung), an insane villain from another universe. On Earth, Damocles' opponent from his homeworld had been reborn as the superhero Sigma. Damocles was assisted in his quest by the Sword (an alternate reality version of ), a group of alien bounty hunters, including One-Eyed Jack, Jade, Rake, Hardball and Tode, the fake and . Most of the story took place on the island-state , with a finale on the moon that involved most of Earth's superheroes.

Consequences[]

• Deathblow sacrificed himself to defeat the main villain of the event, Damocles.
• Miles Craven, head of and a major villain in the Wildstorm Universe, died.
• , another major villain, was unmasked as an imposter and killed. The real Kaizen Gamorra would be restored as ruler of Gamorra and would prove to be even more of a villain.
• DV8 was sent on its first mission.
• Gen¹³ member was reunited with her father.
• found out his father was .
• Grifter rejoined the WildC.A.T.s. Spartan recovered memories of his life as Lord and member of Team One.
• came out of retirement, leading into a new series for the hero.
• Stormwatch member was revealed to be a traitor to the team and was killed.
• The origin of the Gen-Factor was revealed: Sigma. The Gen-Factor was the source of superhuman powers for many characters in the Wildstorm Universe, including Team 7, Gen 12, Gen¹³ and DV8.
• Cyberjack, the long-running member of Backlash's supporting cast, died during the incident.
• Backlash discovered that he had a son, Aries.

Reading order[]

1. Fire From Heaven #½

Prelude

1. Sword Of Damocles #1
2. Sigma #1
3. Deathblow #26

Chapters

1. Fire From Heaven #1
2. Backlash #19
3. Gen¹³ #10
4. Wetworks #16
5. Stormwatch #35
6. Sigma #2
7. WildC.A.T.s #29
8. Deathblow #27
9. Gen¹³ #11
10. Backlash #20
11. Wetworks #17
12. Stormwatch #36
13. WildC.A.T.s #30
14. Sigma #3

Finale

1. Sword Of Damocles #2
2. Fire From Heaven #2
3. Deathblow #28

References[]