Creature Commandos #1-8

Creature Commandos #1-8

Originally released in 2000

Written by Tim Truman

Art by Scot Eaton

The first two episodes of the Creature Commandos show release tomorrow, kicking off a new cinematic universe for DC. Hopefully it's an improvement over the previous cinematic universe - I generally liked it, but I'm aware of how uncommon that opinion is, and it had some major flaws that shot the idea of a shared universe in the foot almost immediately. (The casting/treatment of Lex Luthor and the Joker; having Batman and Superman commit murder in their first appearances; having Superman of all characters be gloomy and serious almost all of the time; establishing that Wonder Woman gave up hope in humanity for a century; and all of that was just in the first three movies) Hopefully the James Gunn-helmed reboot will be better; working on this blog has gotten me more excited for Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow and Swamp Thing, at the very least.

While I'm guessing there have been several incarnations of the team, there was only one Creature Commandos series on the DC Universe Infinite app, which was from the year 2000 (and seems to carry a lot of baggage from the 90's).  A conqueror from an alternate universe/dimension is invading the main DC universe, and a group of soldiers based around classic monster movies are the universe's first line of defense.  The main protagonist is a World War 2 soldier who was brought back to life as a cyborg who can turn his arm into a gun.

The series is heavy on action and light on characterization; by roughly the halfway point, I gathered that the team consisted of the nameless soldier (who is called "grunt" but eventually takes on the name Gunner), a Frankenstein's monster-like man named Patch (who's big, strong, and not very smart), Medusa (the only woman on the team, which frustrates me a little - I'd understand it back in the 60's, but this was made in the year 2000, so you'd think there'd be more than one woman on a team, like a harpy or a fish-person that's like a mix of a mermaid and the Creature from the Black Lagoon), Velcoro (who might be a vampire or a demon), a werewolf, and Hunter, the closest that the team has to a normal person.  Given the nature of the team and the foes that they're facing, it can be a little hard to tell the heroes and villains apart at times.

As the Commandos discover, Earth has been betrayed, with shady human real estate developers (who somehow have access to interdimensional technology) working with the invaders in exchange for prime real estate spots on other planets.  It seems like there are a lot of flaws in that plan - there's seemingly nothing to stop the invaders from killing the real estate developers and taking their technology, for one.

Medusa spent five years in the domain of the conqueror, Saturna, though only six months passed on Earth due to the time difference between universes.  As a result, she serves as their guide once they arrive in a universe that Saturna controls.  While traveling with a supply caravan, they're attacked by a group of raiders whose leader bears a strong resemblance to Conan the Barbarian.

Saturna's forces attack to save the caravan, but in the process, Gunner and Velcoro are split off from the rest, taken by the raiders.  Naturally, there is unrest among Saturna's forces, with Saturna's lieutenants plotting to kill him and take power for themselves.

Despite his reputation and appearance, Saturna is almost buffoonish, more concerned about media attention than the lives of those around him.  He only seems to stay in power through the weapons that the real estate developers provide him with, which are cheap military surplus but enough for him to have an advantage in worlds of swords and sorcery.

The Commandos have distinct personalities, but they're fairly one-note.  Patch is simple-minded, Medusa is serious and focused on the mission, Wolfpack the werewolf tries to lighten the mood but none of his teammates find him funny, etc. They're all right, but many of them are the types of characters that I've seen a dozen times before, and they don't have interesting or creative powers to make up for it. (They mostly just use guns, with the vampire being the occasional exception)

The story ends with a western-like feeling - with the day saved and the land liberated, the heroes ride off into the sunset. This series was okay, though I'm expecting the streaming series will be very different in terms of characters and tone. (The Creature Commandos here are soldiers who were loosely inspired by Universal monster movies, whereas the show will have Frankenstein's Monster and the Bride of Frankenstein, who DC used in Seven Soldiers, among others) I felt like it could have leaned more into the supernatural aspect, but given the name Creature Commandos, I could see that the intent was to go for the quasi-realistic military vibe but with monsters.