The Creature Commandos

I was gonna call this post "Why I hate DC" but changed my mind...I'll explain...

If you're on this blog and reading then by now you've figured out that I love monsters so way back when DC Comics put out the first "Who's Who" series I was shocked to read about the Creature Commandos

Cool Looking ain't they? Here I'll let Wikipedia sum them up...

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

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. 

Of course I had to collect every issue of Weird War Tales that they (Weird War Tales #93, 97, 100, 102, 105, 108-112, 114-119, 121, 124.) and GI Robot appeared in. And I love them all. Then....

DC decided to try a relaunch of the characters in a mini-series titled "The Creature Commandos....again lets let Wkipedia explain this...

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.


Aten - The Mummy like communications specialist.
The Bogman - An amphibian grunt resembling the Creature from the Black Lagoon.
Gunner - A cyborg named Gunner MacKay, who died during World War II.
Hunter - Seventy-four year old Captain Lucius Hunter formerly of Hunter's Hellcats.
Medusa - Myrra Rhodes whose body has mutated since her first appearances.
Patchwork - Elliot "Lucky" Taylor who's pretty much the same.
Velcoro - Vincent Velcoro, who like Myrra has mutated even further due to his treatments.
Wolfpack - Warren Griffith, who is even more feral and out of control in this incarnation.

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 MacKay, who—along with his partner "Sarge"--died during World War II. Both Lucius Hunter and Gunner MacKay were feature characters in Our Fighting Forces.

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 Velcoro).

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, Velcoro 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.

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

And here's hoping that's the last anyone sees of that mess of horrifically 90's stylized characters. Over-sized guns and a ridiculous amount of pouches on the designs and a complete spit in the face to the original storyline just makes this whole thing awful. I own it but I'm ashamed to admit it...

Ignoring (thankfully) the modernized version, the original Creature Commandos reappeared in Action Comics #868, having spent the time from when their rocket was lost until the present in suspended animation aboard the Superman villain Brainiac's Ship.... continuity out the window

The Commandos appeared again in the series JLA: The Lost generation, I don't own this, just found out about it....looks like the original designs mixed with the modernized ones...I'll reserve judgement until I get my mitts on it.

This brings us to why I hate DC....Flashpoint

Some nonsense "buy every issue" debacle that has Flash screwing up the DC universe to things didn't happen right and some heroes are villains and vice versa. 

Anyone one of the titles in the line is "Frankenstein and the Creatures of the Unknown". Now I have seen DC's Frankenstein and wasn't too impressed with him, too much a Hellboy wanna be character. Anyway in this alternate reality Lt. Matthew Shrieve was ambushed by Nazi soldiers, and then saved by Frankenstein. Later, Shrieve and Frankenstein are invited by Project M to join the Creatures of the Unknown; Griffith the Werewolf, Velcoro the winged Nosferatu like Vampire,   and Nina, the creature from the black lagoon stand in. After the end of World War II, however, Project M was deemed obsolete by Robert Crane's government services and forced into suspended animation by the newly created GI Robot. Over 65 years later, Frankenstein and the Creatures of the Unknown revive and escape from the lab facility where they were imprisoned. General Adam then contacts Shrieve's daughter to hunt the Creatures of the Unknown down.

Sounds cool hunh...well it ends after the third issue to be replaced by one of DC's new #1 books Frankenstein and the something or other but it ain't the Creature Commandos so who cares.

Screw you DC for getting my hopes all up then dashing them.

...And don't get me started on the samurai "Sword of the Demon" Etrigan and Twilite styled "I, Vampire" books or a "Dark JLA" book without the Blue Devil...

Here's my version of the Creature Commandos to cheer myself up...