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In one of DC's strangest comics ever, a werewolf, a vampire, a gorgon, and Frankenstein's monster fight the German forces during World War II. Originally published in the early 1980s, The Creature Commandos laid the groundwork for recent series like FRANKESTEIN, AGENT OF S.H.A.D.E.
Weird War Tales is a war comic book title with supernatural overtones published by DC Comics. It was published from September - October 1971 to June 1983.
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), created by J. M. DeMatteis and Pat Broderick. The team was composed of a human team leader, a werewolf, a vampire, a Frankenstein's monster, and a gorgon.
The modern team first appeared in their own miniseries Creature Commandos #1-8 (May–December 2000); this version was written by Tim Truman and drawn by Scot Eaton.[3]
Marc Singer portrayed team leader General Matthew Shrieve in the third season of the Arrowverse series Arrow. An animated series centered on the team is in development at DC Studios for the streaming service Max, as the first installment of the DC Universe (DCU).
Concept and creationAsked 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.[4]
DeMatteis didn't stay on the feature very long, and his replacement was Robert Kanigher, who wrote the series until Weird War Tales was canceled in 1983.The original title ran for 12 years and 124 issues.[1] It was an anthology series that told war stories with horror, mystery, fantasy and science fiction elements.[2] Changes in the Comics Code Authority made the use of horror elements possible.[3] The first seven issues were reprinted material. Each issue beginning with issue #8 was hosted by Death, usually depicted as a skeleton dressed in a different military uniform each issue. The title's name was inspired by editor Joe Orlando.[4] Walt Simonson's first professional published comic book work appeared in Weird War Tales #10 (January 1973).[5] Roger McKenzie and Frank Miller's first collaboration was on a two-page story published in Weird War Tales #68 (October 1978).[6] Recurring characters began to appear late in the series run, notably the G.I. Robot, and the return of "The War that Time Forgot" which originally ran in Star Spangled War Stories. Writer J. M. DeMatteis and penciler Pat Broderick created the Creature Commandos in Weird War Tales #93 (November 1980).[7]
Several issues featured a series of short vignettes titled "The Day After Doomsday" featuring largely doomed characters dealing with various threats and harsh ironies of living in a post-nuclear war apocalyptic landscape. The first few stories dealt with a society reduced to medieval ways seven centuries after a war but most others dealt with the near-term aftermath, with the unexpected results of radiation or infrastructure damage almost always catching the characters by surprise.
Other stories featured robot soldiers, ghosts, the undead, and other paranormal characters from different eras of tim
