| Night Force | |
|---|---|
| Group publication information | |
| Publisher | DC Comics |
| First appearance | New Teen Titans #21 (July1982) |
| Created by | Marv Wolfman Gene Colan |
| In-story information | |
| Type of organisation | Team |
| Agent(s) | Baron Winters Vanessa Van Helsing Jack Gold Donovan Caine Zadok Grimm |
| Night Force | |
| Series publication information | |
| Schedule | Monthly |
| Format | Ongoing series |
| Genre | |
| Publication date | (vol. 1) August1982 – September1983 (vol. 2) December1996 – November1997 (vol. 3) May – November2012 |
| Number of issues | vol. 1 14 vol. 2 12 vol. 3 7 |
| Creative team | |
| Writer(s) | Marv Wolfman |
| Penciller(s) | vol. 1 Gene Colan vol. 2 Brent Eric Anderson vol. 3 Tom Mandrake |
| Creator(s) | Marv Wolfman Gene Colan |
Night Force is the name of threecomic book series published by American companyDC Comics. The first series, written byMarv Wolfman and illustrated byGene Colan, debuted in aspecial insert inTheNew Teen Titans #21 (July 1982).[1] The second series began in 1996 was one of four books that made up DC'sWeirdoverse group of titles. The third series began in 2012 as a seven-issue miniseries. It was again written by Marv Wolfman, this time with artistTom Mandrake.[2]
The main character of all three series isBaron Winters, a sorcerer who would assemble a team of chosen individuals to fight supernatural threats.[3] The Baron himself did not participate in the missions and would manipulate, sometimes unethically, others to do so for him. This was because, for reasons not revealed, he could not leave Wintersgate Manor, the labyrinthine mansion in Washington, D.C., where he lived. The mansion was located in a special juncture of time and space, allowing him to send his team to different places and times.[4]
The firstNight Force series was launched in August 1982 in the midst of a collapse in thehorror comics market, with most titles in the genre being either cancelled or on the verge of cancellation.[5] Despite this, writerMarv Wolfman felt (and publisherDC Comics agreed) thatNight Force could be a success:
Night Force was my idea, as I was looking for another book to do and felt I’d like to create my own horror title and push the boundaries a bit more than I had withTomb of Dracula. I really wanted to try something different and thought I had solved the problem of doing ananthology series by doing it with continued characters. The idea was to write for the older audience, with darker and more realistic stories than had been done at that point.[5]
Night Force was the first collaboration between Wolfman andTomb of Dracula pencilerGene Colan since Wolfman convinced him to join the staff at DC. Both Wolfman and Colan did extensive creative design work forNight Force before working on the actual issues, with Wolfman charting out the characters' astrology and Colan doing multiple drafts of each character's visual design.[5]
After only 14 issues,Night Force was cancelled due to an underestimating of the series's sales. Wolfman explained, "... DC wanted to haveNight Force be one of the first direct-sales books, where I believed it should benewsstand only. I felt thecomic shops appealed primarily to thesuperhero fans whileNight Force would appeal more to the casual mainstream reader, who might not have bought comics otherwise. We got the comic-book shops' sales early and it was canceled based on those, but when the newsstand sales finally dribbled in we actually sold pretty well".[5]
Thirteen years later,Night Force was revived as part of theWeirdoverse line. The creative team included Wolfman but not Colan, and did not carry over the plot threads from the original series.[5]
The team had a rotating membership, but notable members included:
In issue three of theTangent: Superman's Reign series, a version of Night Force is featured. This group is a mystically-powered branch of theNightwing organization, and its members areHex,Black Orchid, andWildcat.
[T]his issue...hid another dark secret: a sixteen-page preview comic featuring Marv Wolfman's newest team - Night Force. Chronicling the enterprise of the enigmatic Baron Winters and featuring the art of Gene Colan,Night Force spun out into an ongoing title of gothic mystery and horror the following month.