The Authority

This is the Authority. Pay allegiance, or get your head kicked in. Whether they’re up against an invasion from an alternate Earth, an international terrorist who is laying waste to major cities, or a hostile alien intelligence who calls himself God, the Authority are ready for action. Collects The Authority #1-12, Planetary/The Authority: Ruling the World, and a story from WildStorm: A Celebration of 25 Years.

As the 21st century dawns, a battle-hardened Authority turns its attention to a previously unchallenged class of villains-the invisible power brokers who manipulate the world’s political figureheads to advance their own selfish interests. The powers that be, however, didn’t get where they are by playing nice. They’ve made plans for every contingency-including teams of insanely powerful superhumans with sentient, city-size, interdimensional spaceships. So when the Authority begins to seriously upset their hard-won networks of control, the backlash that results is as swift as it is devastating. But as bad as things get, these attacks are still comprehensible on a human scale. The same can’t be said for what is following in their wake. This volume collects The Authority #13-29, The Authority Annual 2000 #1, and stories from WildStorm Summer Special #1, along with an introduction by Tim Miller, director of Deadpool.

An incisive, intersectional look at the mother of all gender biases: a resistance to women’s authority and power. Every woman has a story of being underestimated, ignored, challenged, or patronized in the workplace. Maybe she tried to speak up in a meeting, only to be talked over by male colleagues. Or a client addressed her male subordinate instead of her. These stories remain true even for women at the top of their fields; in the U.S. Supreme Court, for example, female justices are interrupted four times more often than their male colleagues—and 96 percent of the time by men. Despite the progress we’ve made toward equality, we still fail, more often than we might realize, to take women as seriously as men. In The Authority Gap, journalist Mary Ann Sieghart provides a startling perspective on the gender bias at work in our everyday lives and reflected in the world around us, whether in pop culture, media, school classrooms, or politics. With precision and insight, Sieghart marshals a wealth of data from a variety of disciplines—including psychology, sociology, political science, and business—and talks to pioneering women like Booker Prize winner Bernardine Evaristo, renowned classicist Mary Beard, U.S. Secretary of the Treasury Janet Yellen, and Hillary Clinton. She speaks with women from a range of backgrounds to explore how gender bias intersects with race and class biases. Eye-opening and galvanizing, The Authority Gap teaches us how we as individuals, partners, parents, and coworkers can together work to narrow the gap. Sieghart exposes unconscious bias in this fresh feminist take on how to address and counteract systemic sexism in ways that benefit us all: men as well as women.

"The Authority created by Warren Ellis and Bryan Hitch; Planetary created by Warren Ellis and John Cassaday"

A sitting justice reflects upon the authority of the Supreme CourtÑhow that authority was gained and how measures to restructure the Court could undermine both the Court and the constitutional system of checks and balances that depends on it. A growing chorus of officials and commentators argues that the Supreme Court has become too political. On this view the confirmation process is just an exercise in partisan agenda-setting, and the jurists are no more than Òpoliticians in robesÓÑtheir ostensibly neutral judicial philosophies mere camouflage for conservative or liberal convictions. Stephen Breyer, drawing upon his experience as a Supreme Court justice, sounds a cautionary note. Mindful of the CourtÕs history, he suggests that the judiciaryÕs hard-won authority could be marred by reforms premised on the assumption of ideological bias. Having, as Hamilton observed, Òno influence over either the sword or the purse,Ó the Court earned its authority by making decisions that have, over time, increased the publicÕs trust. If public trust is now in decline, one part of the solution is to promote better understandings of how the judiciary actually works: how judges adhere to their oaths and how they try to avoid considerations of politics and popularity. Breyer warns that political intervention could itself further erode public trust. Without the publicÕs trust, the Court would no longer be able to act as a check on the other branches of government or as a guarantor of the rule of law, risking serious harm to our constitutional system.

Following the dramatic events of ÒCoup DÕetat,Ó the Authority has settled into its role as governing body of the United States. The other major world powers have adjusted to the regime change and are slowly coming to terms with what that means for the future. But many Americans are unhappy to lose their inalienable rights. Can a second American Revolution be far behind? Collects The Authority: Revolution #1-12.

It has been some time since Catholic and liberal Protestant theologians stopped writing seriously on bibliology. Meanwhile, conservative evangelical theologians guard against the introduction of new ideas. In an effort to make headway through this gridlock, Carlos Bovell has commissioned a roundtable discussion on the prospect of whether the inspiration of Scripture might extend beyond authors and texts, and if so, what this might entail for the authority of Scripture. Taken together, the essays in this volume make an invaluable contribution to contemporary literature on the inspiration and authority of the Bible.

Fan-favorites Superman and the Authority are brought together by comics superstars Grant Morrison and Mikel Janin! Collecting Superman and the Authority #1-2.