| Creature Commandos | |
|---|---|
 Weird War Tales #93 (November 1980), the first appearance of the original Creature Commandos, art byJoe Kubert. | |
| Publication information | |
| Publisher | DC Comics |
| First appearance | Weird War Tales #93 (November 1980) |
| Created by |
|
| In-story information | |
| Type of organization | Military unit |
| Base(s) | Project M (modern version) |
| Agent(s) |
|
TheCreature Commandos is the name of severalmilitary special forces groups appearing inAmerican comic books published byDC Comics. Co-created by writerJ. M. DeMatteis and artistPat Broderick, the teamfirst appeared inWeird War Tales #93 (November 1980).
The Creature Commandos are a special forces group consisting of individuals either resembling or are in some way amonster orrobotic entity. Led by, in most instances, a seasoned humangeneral officer, the team tackles missions that are often fantastical or too dangerous for ordinary soldiers.
The team has been adapted into aHBO Maxanimated series of the same name (2024–present) and appeared in thethird season ofArrow (2012–2020), with the former being the first installment in theDC Universe (DCU) series of films and television shows.
Asked how the Creature Commandos came about, writerJ. M. DeMatteis recalled:
I was doing[Weird] War Tales for about six months before theDC 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 toLen [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.[1]
DeMatteis did not stay on the feature very long, and his replacement wasRobert Kanigher, who wrote the series untilWeird War Tales was canceled in 1983.
Project M is a secret government organization that began duringWorld War II and specializes in experimental biotechnology and necromancy. Known creations of the Project beside the Creature Commandos includeMiss America andG.I. Robot. The Project's main scientist isProfessor Mazursky. He was aided byRobert Crane. As told inYoung All-Stars #12, they operated from a secret underground complex on the mythical Ferris Island inNew York.[2]
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 Taylor (a Frankensteinian 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. 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 theFreedom Fighters. Project M recovered her and nursed her back to health. While there, Project M was visited by theYoung All-Stars, who had discovered that Project M had been infiltrated. A criminal namedDeathbolt was there seeking a new physical host for the disembodied brain of theUltra-Humanite. Ultra-Humanite took over the body of a dinosaur recovered fromDinosaur Island.
During the same visit, the Young All-Stars witnessed the unfinished body of the machine that would later be known as theG.I. Robot.[3]
The team's first mission was inFrance, where they destroyedNazi-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 toDinosaur Island in theSouth Pacific. They were supposed to solve the disappearance of several Allied spotter planes, but 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 Velcro destroyed them; he believed that the war would bring destruction to the dinosaurs.
When they returned to Dinosaur Island, they met J.A.K.E. 1, 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 ofAtlantis situated in thePacific. 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. 1 ultimately overrode their commands and sacrificed itself to destroy the colony.
At the end of the war, the Creature Commandos and J.A.K.E. 2 (and both its robot dog C.A.P. and C.A.P.'s robot cat) were forced to man a rocket aimed atBerlin. But the rocket went radically off-course and headed out of the atmosphere into deep space.[4] Much later, they (with J.A.K.E. 2, as ofAction Comics #872) appeared as captives inBrainiac's ship.[3][5]
The original team, with J.A.K.E. 2, is freed from the confines of Brainiac's ship, which is now controlled by the inhabitants ofKandor. Frankenstein, whose sense of time is not the same as his comrades, convinces his group to trustSuperman and they join in with a fight against the threat that freed them, an attack by the villainsReactron andMetallo.[6] 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.[7]
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 mutated 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 original team came to form the core field team codenamed M-Team Alpha. M-Team Alpha 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, a humanoidamphibian grunt resembling theGill-man; and recently-revived cyborg Gunner Mackey, who — along with his partner "Sarge" — died during World War II. Both Hunter and Mackey were featured characters inOur Fighting Forces.[2]
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 (also known asQueen Bee), Sayvar the reptilian 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 M-Team Alpha's raid on Terra Arcana, Velcro and Gunner were captured byClaw the Unconquered. Claw was convinced to ally with them, and his people joined the battle against Saturna. In the end, Tazzala killed Saturna and was herself killed. Terra Arcana's future was then left in the hands of its people.[3]
The modern Creature Commandos later appeared inThe OMAC Project #1-6 (June–November 2005).
During theInfinite Crisis:Villains United Special #1, ametahuman prison named "Enclave M" was shown inNew Mexico. Its connection to Project M is unclear. InBooster Gold (vol. 2),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 ofKilg%re.
In theJustice League: Generation Lost storyline, Maxwell Lord takes control of the Creature Commandos to attack the oldJLI embassy.[8] During the battle, Lord capturesBlue Beetle and escapes.[9] Shortly thereafter, the Creature Commandos break free from Lord's influence.[10]
InThe New 52 reboot of DC's continuity, a new version of the Creature Commandos was introduced and featured in the pages ofFrankenstein, Agent of S.H.A.D.E..[11] This incarnation of the team works as field agents for the secretive organizationS.H.A.D.E. and are led byFrankenstein. The rest of the team consists ofKhalis (amummy), Warren Griffith (a werewolf), and Vincent Velcoro (given vampiric powers through a modified version of theMan-Bat formula). Griffith and Velcoro were both originally humans who volunteered to be mutated byNina Mazursky, who later mutated herself into an amphibious creature to fight alongside the team.[12] Frankenstein's estranged wife theBride was also a member of the team until leaving after learning the fate of her son, with Shrieve returning later on to re-team.[13][14]
An alternate universe iteration of the Creature Commandos appear inFlashpoint: Frankenstein and the Creatures of the Unknown, consisting of Frankenstein, Lt. Matthew Shrieve, Nina Mazursky, Sgt. Vincent Velcoro, and Warren Griffith. This version of the group was inspired by a Romanian village of peaceful monsters that ProfessorMyron Mazursky had encountered. Following the end of WWII, Project M was shut down byRobert Crane while the Creature Commandos were captured and placed in stasis. In the intervening years, Matthew recruitedSolomon Grundy,Man-Bat, andDoctor Phosphorus to form a new iteration of the Creature Commandos, only for them to betray and kill him on GeneralSam Lane's orders. In the present, the original Commandos escape, only to be hunted by Miranda, Matthew's granddaughter who blames monsters for ruining her life.[15] Nonetheless, they head to Gotham City to find Myron, only to learn he had moved to Romania before they are ambushed by Miranda,G.I. Robot, and a platoon of soldiers. However, the Commandos are saved by theBride.[16] Taking Miranda captive, the Bride reveals the truth behind Matthew's death while the original Commandos travel to Romania, where they find the village of monsters before it is attacked by a giant G.I. Robot. While Frankenstein and the Bride fight it, the others find Myron. He explains that when Project M was shut down, he returned to the village to find eternal life. Frankenstein and the Bride eventually defeat the G.I. Robot, though Velcoro dies during the sunrise. Afterward, Griffith works to become human again and enters a relationship with Nina while Frankenstein, the Bride, and Miranda leave to participate in theAtlantean/Amazon war.[17]
 | This sectiondoes notcite anysources. Please helpimprove this section byadding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged andremoved.(September 2016) (Learn how and when to remove this message) |
The original team's adventures have been collected in the following trade paperback:
| Title | Material collected | Publication date | ISBNT |
|---|---|---|---|
| The Creature Commandos | Weird War Tales #93, 97, 100, 102, 105, 108-112, 114-119, 121 and 124 | 2014 | 978-1401243821 |
The Creature Commandos appear inDC Showcase: Sgt. Rock,[22] consisting of Lt. Matthew Shrieve, Pvt. Warren Griffith, Sgt. Vincent Velcro, and Pvt. Elliot "Lucky" Taylor.