Creature Commandos

Creature Commandos

Weird War Tales #93, the first appearance of the
Creature Commandos. Art by Joe Kubert.
Publication information
Publisher DC Comics
First appearance Weird War Tales #93 (November 1980)
Created by J. M. DeMatteis (writer)
Pat Broderick (artist)
In-story information
Type of organization Military unit
Base(s) Project M (modern version)
Agent(s)

The Creature Commandos are a fictional DC Comics team of military superhumans originally set in World War II.[1] The original team was introduced in Weird War Tales #93 (November 1980).[2]

The modern team first appeared in their own mini-series Creature Commandos #1 May 2000; this version was written by Tim Truman and drawn by Scot Eaton.

Concept and creation

Asked how the Creature Commandos came about, writer J. M. DeMatteis recalled,

I was doing War Tales[sic] for about six months before the DC implosion put me out of work for almost a year. And the last idea I had... I took a look at the title, Weird War, and I said, "Ya gotta have a lot of monsters." ... then after I was getting work there again was when they were trying to revivify the mystery books by putting series in them. So I went to Len [Wein, editor] with the Creature Commandos - the actual title may have been Len's; I think it was - and he said the same thing. "That's so silly that it will work. Let's do it." And we did it and it was silly and nothing came of it and the book died anyway.[3]

Fictional team history

Project M

Project M is a secret government organization which began during World War II and specializes in experimental biotechnology and necromancy. Known creations of the Project beside the Creature Commandos include Miss America and the G.I. Robot. The Project's main scientist is one Professor Mazursky. He was aided by Robert Crane. As told in Young All-Stars #12, they operated from a secret underground complex on mythical Ferris Island in New York.[1]

Panel from Weird War Tales #119 (January 1983). Art by Jim Craig.

In 1942, Project M created the Creature Commandos. They were: Lt. Matthew Shrieve (a normal human), Warren Griffith (a werewolf), Sgt. Vincent Velcro (a vampire), Pvt. Elliot "Lucky" Taylor (Frankenstein's monster) and Dr. Myrna Rhodes (a gorgon).

Project M yielded other interesting specimens. Most notably, they were behind the creation of the heroine, Miss America. Prof. Mazursky kidnapped her after his original subject perished. At first, his experiments appeared to have left her incapacitated. He later returned her unconscious form to the surface world. After that, she began a career as a masked heroine but was critically injured while fighting alongside the Freedom Fighters. Project M recovered her and nursed her back to health. While there, Project M was visited by the Young All-Stars, who had discovered that Project M had been infiltrated. A criminal named Deathbolt was there seeking a new physical host for the disembodied brain of the Ultra-Humanite. The Ultra-Humanite took over the body of a dinosaur recovered from Dinosaur Island.

During the same visit, the All-Stars witnessed the unfinished body of the creature that would later be known as G.I. Robot.[4]

World War II

The team's first mission was in France, where they destroyed Nazi manufactured android duplicates of the Allied leaders. In their next mission to France to free scientist Dr. Renee Frederique. The Commandos ultimately found her in a death camp, and they had no choice but to kill her. Her knowledge of a chemical nerve gas was too risky to be left in Nazi hands. Because of his part in the killing, Taylor attempted suicide. Although the doctors attempted to repair him, he remained mute for the rest of the series. On another morally dubious mission the team caused the deaths of dozens of super-soldier children.

In 1943, the Commandos were deployed to Dinosaur Island in the South Pacific. They were supposed to solve the disappearance of several Allied spotter planes. They discovered a hidden Axis naval base and were able to trick the dinosaurs in turning on the Japanese navy. Shrieve took pictures for his commanders as proof of the island's existence. But Taylor destroyed them, he believed that the war would bring destruction to the dinosaurs.

When next they returned to Dinosaur Island, they met the first J.A.K.E., the G.I. Robot. He met the Commandos when their plane was attacked by a dinosaur and crashed into the beach. Together, the soldiers discovered an underwater civilization, a supposed lost colony of Atlantis situated in the Pacific. The lost colony had created a group of robots to carry on the work of Atlantean conquest, and these androids took control of the G.I. Robot's mind. J.A.K.E. ultimately overrode their commands and sacrificed itself to destroy the colony.

At the end of the war, the remaining Creature Commandos and J.A.K.E. 2 (and his cat and dog) were forced to man a rocket aimed at Berlin. But the rocket went radically off course and headed out of the atmosphere into deep space. Much, much later, they (with J.A.K.E. as of Action Comics #872) appeared as captured in Brainiac's ship (Action Comics #868).[4]

Modern Era

Cover of Creature Commandos #1 (May 2000). Art by Scott Eaton and Ray Kryssing.

The team, with JAKE, is freed from the confines of Brainiac's ship, which is now under control by Kandorians. Frankenstein, whose sense of time is not the same as his comrades, convinces his group to trust Superman and they join in with a fight against the threat that freed them, an attack by the villains Reactron and Metallo.[5] The American military conspiracy that has attacked the Kandorians sweep up the Commandos, though they are not quite sure of the value of the group.[6]

Somehow the original team later returned to Earth and to Project M, where they continued to serve as a special operations force. To keep pace with their aging physiology, Mazursky, the doctor who had originally transformed them, continued to perform a series of body modifications. This process extended their lives, but at the cost of their humanity.

At an unspecified date in the near future, the various original team members adopted code names. Project M continued to grow in size, and the originals came to form the core field team codenamed M-Team Alpha. The Alpha team was sporadically infused with new operatives as attrition took its toll. Presumably, Lt. Shrieve died or retired along the way. In his place came Capt. Lucius Hunter formerly of Hunter's Hellcats. Hunter was said to be 74 years old, and a recipient of extensive body modifications and rejuvenation therapies. Other new members are: Aten, a mummy-like communications specialist; the Bogman, an amphibian grunt resembling the Creature from the Black Lagoon; and recently revived cyborg Gunner Mackey, who—along with his partner "Sarge"—died during World War II. Both Lucius Hunter and Gunner Mackey were feature characters in Our Fighting Forces.[1]

While deep undercover, Medusa discovered that Earth's dimension was in danger of invasion by a military alliance from the alternate Earth of Terra Arcana. This other-dimensional conglomerate of warlords included Lord Saturna, Hyathis of Alstair (killed by Tazzala), Tazzala of Korrl (Queen Bee III), Sayvar reptile lord of Llarr, Kraad of Kranaal, Simon Magus of Blackstaff, Xotar the Weapons Master, Kromm of Mosteel (killed by Saturna), and the Troll King (killed by Velcro).

In order to conquer Earth the one remaining free dimension, Saturna's alliance enlisted the assistance of a powerful consortium on Future Earth. This group from Earth gave weapons and teleportation technology to the alliance in return for alien real estate. Tazzala and Magus soon betrayed Saturna, cutting their own deal with Murray. In the M-Team's raid on Terra Arcana, Velcro and Gunner were captured by Claw the Unconquered. Claw was convinced to ally with them, and his people joined the battle against Saturna. In conclusion Tazzala killed Saturna and was, herself, killed. Terra Arcana's future was then left in the hands of its people.[4]

The modern Creature Commandos later appeared in the OMAC Project mini-series, 2005–2006.

During the "Infinite Crisis: Villains United" one-shot, a metahuman prison named "Enclave M" was shown in New Mexico. Its connection to Project M is unclear at this time. In the Booster Gold 2008 miniseries, Maxwell Lord mentions Project M as still active, at least in the times of his cyberization, and claims he was able to use their resources to give himself a new human body, free from the manipulations of Kilg%re.

In the Justice League: Generation Lost storyline, Maxwell Lord took control of the Creature Commandos to attack the old JLI embassy.[7] During the battle Max reveals himself while posing as one of the Creature Commandos, in which he captures the Blue Beetle and escapes.[8] Shortly thereafter the Creature Commandos were broken free from Max's influence, realizing they do not know why they are so far from their Project M base.[9]

The New 52

In The New 52 (a reboot of the DC Comics universe), a new version of the Creature Commandos were introduced and featured in the pages of Frankenstein, Agent of S.H.A.D.E.. This incarnation of the team works as field agents for the secretive organization S.H.A.D.E., and are led by Frankenstein. The rest of the team consists of Khalis (who appears to be an Egyptian mummy), Warren Griffith (a werewolf), and Vincent Velcoro (given vampire-like powers through a modified version of the Langstrom formula). Griffith and Velcoro were both originally humans who volunteered to be transformed by Dr. Nina Mazursky, who later transformed herself into an amphibious creature resembling the Gill-man in order to fight alongside the team.[10] Frankenstein's estranged wife The Bride was also a member of the team until leaving after learning the fate of her child.[11]

Membership

Original Team

Modern Team

Agents of S.H.A.D.E.

Continuity

Other versions

Flashpoint

In the alternate timeline of the Flashpoint event, Lt. Matthew Shrieve was ambushed by Nazi soldiers, and then saved by Frankenstein. Later, Shrieve and Frankenstein were invited by Project M to join the Creatures Commandos. After the end of World War II, however, Project M was deemed obsolete by Robert Crane's government services. Over 65 years later, Frankenstein and the Creatures Commandos revive and escape from the lab facility where they were imprisoned. General Nathaniel Adam then contacted Shrieve's granddaughter, Miranda to hunt down the Creatures Commandos.[13] The Creatures Commandos then travel to Gotham City, where Dr. Mazursky last lived and find his cabin, only to learn he has moved to Romania. The group is then ambushed by Miranda, along with the G.I. Robot and a platoon of soldiers. Miranda's tells them that her grandfather attempted to assemble a second incarnation of the Creatures Commandos, consisting of Solomon Grundy, Man-Bat and Doctor Phosphorus, who turned on him and killed him. Miranda blames monsters for ruining her life. Velcoro saved Frankenstein from the G.I. Robot and Miranda shot Griffith with silver. The team is then saved by Bride, Frankenstein's wife, who is still alive.[14] After Miranda was taken captive, Bride explains to the Creatures Commandos that she is working as an agent of S.H.A.D.E. She then reveals to Miranda that the second Creatures Commandos had been working for General Sam Lane, who is truly the one really responsible for the deaths of Miranda's family. Later, the Creatures Commandos travel to Romania, where they found a small village populated by monsters. The village is then attacked by a giant G.I. Robot. Frankenstein and Bride combat the G.I. Robot, while Miranda helped Nina attend for Griffith's wounds, and suggest to the nearby castle where Dr. Mazursky is alive, who is then reunited with his daughter. Mazursky explains that the village's inhabitants were peaceful, and that they were the basis for creating the Creature Commandos. When Project M was deemed obsolete, Dr. Mazursky escaped and returned to the village for eternal life. After Frankenstein and Bride destroyed the G.I. Robot, Velcoro died from the sunrise, Griffith is recovering to being human again and developing a relationship with Nina. Frankenstein, the Bride, and Miranda depart from the Creature Commandos and participate in the Atlantean/Amazon war.[15]

In other media

Television

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 Jimenez, Phil (2008), "Creature Commandos", in Dougall, Alastair, The DC Comics Encyclopedia, New York: Dorling Kindersley, p. 88, ISBN 0-7566-4119-5, OCLC 213309017
  2. ↑ Manning, Matthew K.; Dolan, Hannah, ed. (2010). "1980s". DC Comics Year By Year A Visual Chronicle. Dorling Kindersley. p. 189. ISBN 978-0-7566-6742-9. A battalion of horror icons created by the U.S. government to aid the American war effort made its debut in an off-beat story by writer J. M. DeMatteis and penciler Pat Broderick.
  3. ↑ Salicrup, Jim; Higgins, Mike (September 1986). "J. Marc DeMatteis (part 1)". Comics Interview (38). Fictioneer Books. pp. 20–35.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Cosmic Teams Creature Commandos
  5. ↑ "Action Comics" Vol. 1 #872 (Feb. 2009)
  6. ↑ "Action Comics" #873
  7. ↑ Justice League: Generation Lost #15 (December 2010)
  8. ↑ Justice League: Generation Lost #16 (December 2010)
  9. ↑ Justice League: Generation Lost #17 (January 2011)
  10. ↑ Frankenstein: Agent of S.H.A.D.E. #1 (September 2011)
  11. ↑ Frankenstein: Agent of S.H.A.D.E. #8 (April 2011)
  12. ↑ Cyborg #3-4, (2008)
  13. ↑ Flashpoint: Frankenstein and the Creatures of the Unknown #1 (June 2011)
  14. ↑ Flashpoint: Frankenstein and the Creatures of the Unknown #2 (July 2011)
  15. ↑ Flashpoint: Frankenstein and the Creatures of the Unknown #3 (August 2011)
  16. ↑ Blake, Emily. "Marc Singer joins 'Arrow'". Entertainment Weekly. Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved Dec 15, 2014.

External links

Interviews

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