Creature Commandos

Origin

Professor Mazursky of Project M conducted medical experiment on several soldiers and transformed them into the living embodiments of the classic archetypes of fear. A mental patient suffering from the delusion that he is a wolf named Warren Griffith is turned into a werewolf, a soldier court martialed for crippling his commander named Vincent Velcoro (originally spelled Velcro) was turned into a vampire and a soldier grievously injured by a landmine in the Pacific Theater named Elliot "Lucky" Taylor was patched back together as a Frankenstein's monster. They were put under the command of Lt. Matthew Shrieve, a cold yet perfectly human commander who might be the most monstrous of them all.

Creation

The Creature Commandos was created by J.M. DeMatteis and Pat Broderick.

Team Evolution

Bronze Age/Original Team

The Commandos are first deployed into France, wherein they come up against Nazi created android duplicates of various world leaders, including Roosevelt, Stalin and Churchill. On their next mission, they escort a prominent scientist, Dr. Renee Frederique, who had been kidnapped by the Nazis. As it turns out, the woman the Commandos rescued was a Nazi stand-in, but she sacrifices herself to save Sgt. Shrieve after leading them into a trap and feeling remorse. Much to the Commandos chagrin, this display of humanity from an enemy does little to change Shrieve's overbearing hatred of the Germans. The Commandos later find the real Dr. Frederique after being captured and held prisoner in a death camp. She befriends Lucky, but he is forced to kill her so her knowledge of never gasses won't fall into the Nazis' hands. Lucky attempts suicide in anguish, but is patched back together by Project M. He is given rudimentary vocal chords this time.

Post-Zero Hour / New Earth

The team returned to Earth, however, and was reborn as M-Team Alpha. The Commandos recruited new members and a new leader, Captain Hunter of Hunter's Hellcats. The new Creature Commandos helped stave off an invasion by the alien alliance Terra Arcana. The original members are with the new incarnation. When they came back from space it looks that they have gone through varying degrees of changes. The new members are made up of Aten, a mummy, Bogman, an amphibian hybrid, Gunner, from the Losers, who is a cybernetic zombie, and Colonel Ben Hunter, who's aging has been slowed. It seemed that Lt Matthew Shrieve has died while waiting for the team he led to come back from space. The team combated Hyathis, Sayvar, Simon Magus and other early threats of the Justice League. They also encountered Claw the Unconquered. By the changes made to several characters from the Justice League earlycharacters, this series is considering not official canon anymore.

Post-Our Worlds At War/New Earth

An aborted intent to create a new Creature Commandos was done in Superman #180. After the attack of Imperiex on earth and the successful triumph thanks to pokolistanian Gen. Zod, the ruler of Transylvania, Dracula tried to transform Superman in a vampire to use him as a deterrent against the expansionist strategies of Zod, but the blood of Superman was poisonous to Dracula, causing his decease. After this set back, the monsters of Transylvane prepared themselves for the invasion of Pokolistan on their territory, arming themselves as military commandos. The story was left in a cliffhanger.

Post-Infinite Crisis / New Earth

After being shot into deep space, the Commandos plus G.I. Robot are eventually collected by Brainiac. Aboard his ship, they are kept in stasis for potentially decades until Superman encounters the real Brainiac. After Brainiac releases all of his stasis held subjects, the Commandos, alongside Superman, his aunt Alura, cousin Supergirl and Ultra the Multi-Alien, whom had been somehow taken from the future by Brainiac, fight against several Brainiac drones.

Post-Flashpoint / Earth 0

In the Post-Flashpoint, The Commandos are now the product of a modern experiment, by Dr. Nina Mazursky, who modeled the team after Frankenstein. The new team does not include Lucky Taylor, since his position is occupied by Frankenstein. In addition, Velcoro is a product of a variant of the Langstron serum. A new member, a mummy named Khalis, is present, but little is known of the mummy medic as of yet.

Major Story Arcs

Bronze Age:

The Commandos venture out of Europe following this. In a small town called Freedom, New York, the Commandos terrorize the town, which is made of Nazi sympathizers. The Commandos regret this, as the sympathizers are still human, but Shrieve views them as sub-human and threats to America. Another morally dubious mission the Commandos takes involves a boarding school in Germany that is brainwashing kids. The Commandos are unable to harm children, but Shrieve opens fire on them. In the end, all of the children are killed by an experimental steroid that had been tested upon them. The Commandos more than redeemed themselves after saving a group of blind French children, earning Medals of Honor in the process. Shrieve ultimately left the group, as he decided his personality clashed too much with the Commandos. However, after saving a group of French civilians, it was decided to to allow him back.

Later, the Commandos are temporarily trapped on Dinosaur Island after trying to find out why scouts have gone missing over the Pacific. As they escape, Shrieve flaunts that he has taken pictures of the dinosaurs to give to high command. In the end, the Commandos were able to destroy a fleet of Japanese war ships by turning the dinosaurs on them. The Commandos, not wanting to let innocent beasts become war machines, destroy the pictures. Around this time, Project M is able to perfect Griffith's serum, allowing him to control his transformations.

Shortly after, Myrna Rhodes, a plastic surgeon who repairs Shrieve's face after it is damaged, is exposed to strange chemicals and grows snakes for hair. She joins the team as Dr. Medusa. Shortly after, they discover a lost colony of Atlantis that had been sinking ships over the Atlantic. The J.A.K.E. 1 model of GI Robot accompanies them and is ultimately destroyed when he destroys the colony rather than let it bomb allied ships. They later meet his replacement and defend France alongside him.

In the end, the Commandos and J.A.K.E. are charged with an unidentified charge and given a choice between a death sentence and piloting an experimental rocket to Berlin. The rocket goes grievously off course and flied into deep space. Conflicting stories about what happens next exist. Nelson Hunter, monster hunter, claimed to have the heads of the Commandos, plus GI Robot, on his walls. Velcoro appeared as a special consultant to STAR Labs. An entire alternate version of the commandos exist; see the second team. However, the main team's history is elaborated upon next.

Post-Infinite Crisis / New Earth:

Later, the Commandos are captured by General Sam Lane and held in his Project 7734. They are never deployed against Kryptonians. After the disbandment of the Project, they come under the control of Maxwell Lord and are pitted against the Justice League International. The team stops fighting when it is able to shake off the mind control and realize they have nothing to fight for.

Post-Flashpoint / Earth 0:

The team, along with Frankenstein, are dropped into Bone Lake, Washington to combat an army of giant monsters apparently coming from the lake for which the town is named.

Other Versions

Flashpoint

The Commandos appear in the Reverse Flash altered world of Flashpoint. Here, Frankenstein is a member instead of Lucky. In addition, Dr. Murazsky's daughter Nina is a member, having been transformed into an amphibious creature by her father to save her life. In this world, Velcoro is an RAF pilot instead of an American.

The team fight the Nazis in WWII, and ultimately end up killing Hitler. Following the war, they are superseded by the GI Robot program, with the Joint Acton Killing Engine being the prototype. The Commandos are put in suspended animation at Project M and ultimately are transferred to the Project Superman base in Metropolis. They are awakened after a large battle, and head to Slaughter Swamp to find Murazsky's secret lab. There, they are attacked by Shrieve's daughter Miranda and her commandos, as well as GI Robot. The Commandos are saved by the Bride.

In the time between being frozen and being awoken, Shrieve formed another team of Commandos, consisting of Doctor Phosphorus, Man-Bat, Solomon Grundy and Dr. Medusa. The new team betrays Shrieve and kills him and his family. It is later revealed that the new Commandos had done so at the behest of General Nathanial Atom, who was tired of Shrieve's obsession with the Commandos.

Batman: Brave and the Bold

The Creature Commandos made their debut on Batman: Brave and the Bold . They landed on Dinosaur Island and were locating Batman who had gone their to retrieve vital information. The Ultra Humanite had taken control of a T-Rex who ironically was albino. He was mind controlling the dinosaurs and lost control when The Creature Commandos destroyed his mind control machine. The dinosaurs turned on the Ultra Humanite and he was able to escape.

Other Media