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(051525) The long anticipated
first entry of James Gunn’s new, revised, and rebooted DC Universe has begun and
is currently streaming on Max. Creature Commandos, which was released at the end
of 2024 is much better than anyone had a right to expect, and it rarely failed
to impress me. I’ve already seen it twice and it was even better the second
time.
Gunn is credited as creator, but he was helped immensely by Matt Peters who
served as the director of four of the best episodes. Gunn directed the best of
the two Suicide Squad
films, and he also did all three Guardian of The Galaxy films which many
regard as among the best of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). In addition,
early in his career Gunn wrote the script of the fine splatter punk film: Tromeo
and Juliet. If readers would like to read my interview with the
director/producer of that film they can check out the new Lloyd Kaufman
Interviews book.
Creature Commandoes is a surprisingly imaginative and involving adult animated
action series. This version has less horror elements in it than the original
comics version. But it has much more gore, although it is animated which makes
it a little less shocking. The series also draws from two other comic series:
Suicide Squad and Frankenstein: Agent of Shade which I enjoyed immensely.
The original comic version was an interesting horror/combat series which was
created in 1980 by J. M. DeMathias and Pat Broderick after both genres in the
comics had begun declining in popularity, The original team consisted of humans
that were scientifically altered so that they resembled legendary and
supernatural monsters. The first team members were: Velcro the vampire, a
sympathetic werewolf, a human like robot named JAKE, a Frankenstein monster like
character and a Gorgon from Greek mythology.
The series here includes a few characters that look like ones in the original
comic
series, but aren't. There is another version of Frankenstein Monster (here an eviler version
of the monster from the novel) and another different DC robot: GI Robot. The
Weasel, a character who had a minor role in
The Suicide Squad
and kind of takes the place of the werewolf as the team’s misunderstood beast.
He also provides gross out comic relief when he does repulsive animal-like
behavior like licking himself. Both The Bride who is the
show’s most exciting character and Nina Mazursky, the humanistic gill woman came
from the late, lamented Frankenstein Agent of Shade comic series-one of my
favorite series from DC’s the New 52 relaunch. Here they are complementary
opposites in many ways. The Bride is violent, cynical and unsentimental while
Nina is meek and gentle. The two eventually become unlikely friends. There is
also another Colonel Flag here, the father of the Flag character killed in
The Suicide Squad by
Peacemaker and is again occupying the role of the normal guy the audience can
identify with.
Creature Commandoes is a sideways sequel to Gunn's
The Suicide Squad
, which
was itself a sequel to 2016's
Suicide
Squad, In that
film the tough as nails military leader, Amanda Waller (Viola Davis)
assembles Task Force X, a team of villains that she could kill in an instant
with the explosive chips that were put in their heads. When her daughter exposes
her actions to the public in the Peacemaker series, the government passes
legislation forbidding her from using humans in her operations. In Creature
Commandoes she exploits a loophole in the law by using “monsters" and "non-humans",
and she names this new program: Task Force M (for monsters). Whether these
beings are more monstrous than the government official’s who enslave them is of
course questionable. She also has explosive chips inserted into these creatures
heads-just in case because they are of course "monsters".
In their first case they go up against Circe, an Amazonian sorceress who is
attacking Pokolistan, a DC Universe country that the USA is allied with. But the
situation is not quite as black and white as it seems, and Circe is not the true
villain or biggest menace here. The Task Force goes over there and meets up with
Princess Llana who is surprisingly cordial, generous, and attractive. Sparks fly
immediately between her and Flag, and he almost immediately risks jeopardizing
his mission by sleeping with her.
From here each episode splits into two narratives: The "A" story about Circe
and Pokolistan and a "B" story that spotlights the origin of one team member.
All of these "secret origins" are tragic and fascinating and successfully flesh
out each character. Most of the Commandos are of course misfits who have suffered
persecution at the hands of humanity caused by misunderstandings or rotten luck.
The episode
“Chasing Squirrels” explores the past of the Weasel and might be the
saddest and most moving of all the origin stories. “The Tourmaline Necklace”
plays out like a clever variation of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein novel as well
as The Bride of Frankenstein film. In this re-imagining of the novel, the Bride
is brought to life and rejects The Monster who expects her to fall for him
before she even gets to know him, following the beats of the Universal classic
film. He later kills "their maker" who had been sleeping
with The Bride, a tone-deaf story element by Gunn that is uncomfortable on many
levels. The Monster then spends the next 100 years pursuing her all over the
world, becoming her grotesque stalker. This stalker element is the best
variation of the Frankenstein story since
Poor Things,
and The Bride is by far the most assertive. badass, and well-developed character
in the series.
There shocking scenes of violence which are usually accompanied by
extremely appropriate music, and the soundtrack serves as a nifty alternative
rock jukebox. When G I Robot kills a room full of modern day Nazis (we see parts
of their bodies shatter under gunfire) the song Coin Operated Boy, sung by the Dresden Dolls
led by Neil Gaiman’s ex, plays. The song could have been written about Neil himself even
if it wasn’t. In another scene we see a horrific vision of the future apocalypse
while fast gypsy punk music by Google Bordello plays which creates a perfect
anarchistic tone that goes with the image. In the most graphic scene Dr.
Prosperous sticks his hand through a former friend in a car as he quips *What a
shame I really liked him,” again while Google Bordello is playing. His
completely casual attitude to violence makes him the biggest sociopath in the
group, but his tragic origin make his actions and madness partially
understandable.
Compared to this show, Marvel’s recent attempts to bring life to new female
characters and empower them like
The Marvels
and
Ant-Man Quantumania
look feeble and unimaginative. Unlike the seemingly arbitrary changes to the comics characters in
recent MCU films, almost all these changes here make the series more logical,
lively and most importantly watchable.
Creature Commandos is highly recommended for fans of action and superheroes
stories as well as monster buffs. Although Peacemaker was also wonderful, this
is surely the best and most entertaining comics related adaptation since
Guardians of
the Galaxy 3.
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