James Gunn has announced the first slate of DC movie and TV projects under his aegis and it would be a massive understatement to say I was surprised when I found out one of them is an animated TV series—all episodes written by Gunn—based on the Creature Commandos.
Creature Commandos was something I created when I first got into the business. I cooked it up as a pitch for Paul Levitz, editor of Weird War Tales, maybe six months after I started selling stories to the DC anthology books. It was a no brainer. The book was called Weird War—so what would be more perfect than classic monsters fighting Nazis in World War II?
Then came the infamous DC Implosion—when a good chunk of the comics line was gutted—and I was out of work there for something like nine months. After I got back in the door, I started working with the brilliant writer/editor Len Wein (who went on to become both my mentor and dear friend), who'd taken over Weird War. Len was looking for an ongoing series for, the book, I pitched Creature Commandos (don't think it had that title then. Len and I might have come up with it together) and he went for it, assigning the great Pat Broderick to bring the characters to visual life.
It’s amazing that, after all these years…decades!...these obscure characters from so early in my career are having a comeback. (In what form? Time will tell. And, no, I have no insider info.)
I look forward to seeing what Gunn & Company have planned.