The Creature Commandos by J.M. DeMatteis
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Publisher Site – DC

Having recently heard about the impending animated series being made under James Gunn’s aegis, I read this book to learn who, exactly, were the “Creature Commandos.” This volume collects eighteen issues of “Weird War Tales” from the 1980’s and is where this superhero team got its start. It’s not a complicated premise: a team consisting of characters based on classic horror figures is assembled to carry out challenging missions on behalf of Allied powers during World War II. It should be pointed out that these aren’t the original horror characters, but rather were mostly made in the lab using “science.” The core team of Lucky Taylor (Frankenstein’s Monster-like,) Sgt. Velcro (Dracula-like,) and Griffith (a Werewolf) were all produced in such a way by “Project M.” A fourth member of the team, Dr. Medusa (Myrra Rhodes,) got her powers in a laboratory accident (yes, this wasn’t exactly sophisticated storytelling.) An occasional fifth member J.A.K.E., the robotic infantryman, appears in only a few issues.

This collection is definitely from another era. It is written with an audience of children in mind. It’s not just the “science” that lacks cleverness, but also much of the dialogue and some of the story elements. It is also different in that there is no overarching story continuity. Each episode is standalone. This is probably in part because the Creature Commandos didn’t have their own title at this point and were appearing in “Weird War Tales.” In early issues there is a fair amount of repetitive exposition to catch new readers up, but that became less prominent as the series progressed.

Having said all that, many of the stories are compelling and — despite the campiness — the authors do succeed in making the reader sympathize with the core group and their plight as humans turned monster. My only complaint about character development would be with respect to the team’s leader, Lt. Shrieve. I’m sure they were aiming for “gruff, war-hardened, but fundamentally decent,” but through the first three-fourths of these comics Shrieve is completely detestable and has no redeeming value whatsoever. The authors did start to make course corrections toward the end, planting seeds to make Shrieve less loathsome, to make him someone that you can understand (despite his rough edges) why his team might save him instead of fragging him. I suspect that they wanted to make the most physiologically human character the least humane of the characters, but they took it too far.

All and all, I found this collection enjoyable to read — despite being juvenile and camp — and am looking forward to what they will do in the animated TV series. [Note: It is a different slate of characters and is otherwise updated to appeal to an adult audience, but – I suspect – draws from the original source material in some ways.]

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