This version was penned by Micah Ian Wright, with illustrations contributed by Whilce Portacio, C. P. Smith, Mark Texeira, Tomm Coker, Carlos D'Anda and Clement Sauve.
Real-world politics often entered the book with a storyline where the team replaced a Strom Thurmond/Jesse Helms-like Senator with a shape-shifting African superhuman and another where George Washington, reincarnated as a patriotic hero resembling Captain America, tried to overthrow the American government.
The book threw potshots at President George W. Bush, mocked the ineptitude of the United Nations, and made light of modern pathos-driven corporate superheroes with mockeries of a Doctor Doom-like armored dictator character, the Justice League, the X-Men, Superman, and even Wildstorm's own premiere superhero team, The Authority.
Realistic weapons as well as tactics are used by the non-powered Team Achilles members to take down the physically superior enemies seen in the comic.
The book debuted to controversy from the first issue which, due to changes in DC's printing schedule, came out not in October 2002, but instead on September 13, 2002, roughly the one-year anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
In the charged political air, the book accurately reflected the disdain that President Bush and his administration displayed toward the United Nations.
Released during a time when the American public was 88% in favor of a military intervention in Afghanistan,[1] George W. Bush enjoyed a 65% approval rating,[2] and 72%[3] of the public supported the invasion of Iraq, the book took shots at conservative politics in general, "weapons of mass destruction", the Department of Homeland Security, America's paranoia about terrorism and the accompanying culture of fear and, some felt[citation needed], President Bush himself.
Although the President in the Wildstorm universe was not specifically named after any known politician, some readers stated online that they felt that the mumbling, incomprehensible, racist Southern murderer depicted in the book was a clear mockery of Bush[citation needed].
In 2003, gossip columnist Richard Leiby wrote a 2-page article extolling Wright's poster work for The Washington Post.
Team Achilles returned to the Wildstorm Universe during the World's End event in a two-part backup story written by Christos Gage with art by Ivan Reis.
The walk to Siberia having proven fruitless, Team Achilles has spent the last few years searching for a functional Stormwatch teleporter that can return them home.
After various events in the Wildstorm universe, Santini was later assigned to be the new "Weatherman" to the Stormwatch team, although it's later revealed he has his own agenda to the matter.
He was scheduled for a leave of absence due to his impending marriage, but ended up joining the team for one last mission on his wedding day.
Possessing superhuman strength and a high level of resistance nearing that of physical invulnerability, Flint is the team's door kicker.
Charles Cottsworth Pickney – Formerly of the British SAS, his military career stopped dead after he shot his CO in the head in front of the Queen.
It didn't seem to matter that his CO was possessed and attempting to assassinate the Queen, his upward mobility ceased and he ended up assigned to Team Achilles.
He was called into service following Citizen Soldier's attempt to overthrow the US government, and first saw action during the groups raid on Baron Chaos' castle.
Khalid Tefibi – Stormwatch's resident tech geek, and the individual most often made the butt of jokes by the more masculine, hard-charging members of the team.
Buzz Dixon is a quadrupedal being possessing compound eyes, large, fan-shaped ears, and chameleon-like skin that allows him to become nearly invisible.
He also has a "sixth sense" in the form of low-grade telepathy (He can mentally "speak" in others' heads and receive thoughts, but generally only if they are nearby.).
He is loud-mouthed, boisterous, swears quite a bit (he is partial to "fuck"), uses current slang, and has the sort of stereotypical mannerisms of a cowboy-type or jarhead-type character.