Creature Commandos


The Creature Commandos is the name of several military special forces groups appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. Co-created by writer J. M. DeMatteis and artist Pat Broderick, the team first appeared in Weird War Tales #93.
The Creature Commandos are a special forces group consisting of individuals either resembling or are in some way a monster or robotic entity. Led by, in most instances, a seasoned human general officer, the team tackles missions that are often fantastical or too dangerous for ordinary soldiers.
The team has been adapted into a HBO Max animated series of the same name, which served as the first installment in the DC Universe series of films and television shows.

Concept and creation

Asked how the Creature Commandos came about, writer J. M. DeMatteis recalled:
DeMatteis did not stay on the feature very long, and his replacement was Robert Kanigher, who wrote the series until Weird War Tales was canceled in 1983.

Fictional team history

Project M

Project M is a secret government organization that began during World War II and specializes in experimental biotechnology and necromancy. Known creations of the Project beside the Creature Commandos include Miss America and G.I. Robot. The Project's main scientist is Professor Mazursky. He was aided by Robert Crane. As told in Young All-Stars #12, they operated from a secret underground complex on the mythical Ferris Island in New York.
In 1942, Project M created the Creature Commandos. They were: Lt. Matthew Shrieve, Warren Griffith, Sgt. Vincent Velcro, Pvt. Elliot Taylor and Dr. Myrra Rhodes.
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 the Freedom Fighters. Project M recovered her and nursed her back to health. While there, Project M was visited by the Young All-Stars, who had discovered that Project M had been infiltrated. A criminal named Deathbolt was there seeking a new physical host for the disembodied brain of the Ultra-Humanite. Ultra-Humanite took over the body of a dinosaur recovered from Dinosaur Island.
During the same visit, the Young All-Stars witnessed the unfinished body of the machine that would later be known as G.I. Robot.

World War II

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, 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 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. 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 were forced to man a rocket aimed at Berlin. However, the rocket went radically off-course and headed out of the atmosphere into deep space. Much later, they appeared as captives in Brainiac's ship.

Modern era

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 of Kandor. Frankenstein, whose sense of time is not the same as his comrades, convinces his group to trust Superman and they join in with a fight against the threat that freed them, an attack by the villains Reactron and Metallo. 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.
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 humanoid amphibian grunt resembling the Gill-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 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, Tazzala of Korrl, Sayvar the reptilian Lord of Llarr, Kraad of Kranaal, Simon Magus of Blackstaff, Xotar the Weapons Master, Kromm of Mosteel, and the Troll King.
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 by Claw 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.
The modern Creature Commandos later appeared in The OMAC Project #1-6.
During the Infinite Crisis: Villains United Special #1, a metahuman prison named "Enclave M" was shown in New Mexico. Its connection to Project M is unclear. In Booster Gold, 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 of Kilg%re.
In the Justice League: Generation Lost storyline, Maxwell Lord takes control of the Creature Commandos to attack the old JLI embassy. During the battle, Lord captures Blue Beetle and escapes. Shortly thereafter, the Creature Commandos break free from Lord's influence.

''The New 52''

In The New 52 reboot of DC's continuity, a new version of the Creature Commandos was introduced and featured in the pages of Frankenstein, Agent of S.H.A.D.E.. This incarnation of the team works as field agents for the secretive organization S.H.A.D.E. and are led by Frankenstein. The rest of the team consists of Khalis, Warren Griffith, and Vincent Velcoro. Griffith and Velcoro were both originally humans who volunteered to be mutated by Nina Mazursky, who later mutated herself into an amphibious creature to fight alongside the team. Frankenstein's estranged wife the Bride was also a member of the team until leaving after learning the fate of her son, with Shrieve returning later on to re-team.

Membership

Original team

  • Warren Griffith – A timid farm boy who suffered from clinical lycanthropy, irrationally believing himself to be a werewolf. Project M gave Griffith the ability to change into a true werewolf, but the metamorphoses were erratic and uncontrollable due to a flaw in the serum that created him.
  • J.A.K.E. – The first G.I. Robot. Destroyed itself and a lost Atlantean colony.
  • J.A.K.E. 2 – The second G.I. Robot, lost in space with the Creature Commandos.
  • Dr. Myrra Rhodes – Also known as Dr. Medusa. After inhaling strange fumes, she grew living snakes for hair and superficially resembles Medusa, one of the Gorgons.
  • Lt. Matthew Shrieve – Matthew was their team leader. He was a fully human hard-as-nails soldier.
  • Pvt. Elliot Taylor – Lucky barely survived stepping on a mine. He was stitched back together against his will, so he resembles the Frankenstein Monster and has damaged vocal cords.
  • Sgt. Vincent Velcro – Velcro volunteered for the project in order to commute a 30-year sentence in the brig for crippling an officer. His powers come from a compound that contains vampire bat DNA. Like a vampire, Velcro can now change into a bat and requires human blood to survive.