Love Creature Commandos? Here’s 5 DC Comics You Need to Read ASAP

The Creature Commandos have just hit the small screen thanks to their new animated series, but fans of DC’s squad of monster soldiers may not know where to start in looking for more spooky action. DC has a number of comics that would fit the bill, so Screen Rant is here to provide five of the best series to scratch that itch.

The Creature Commandos made their debut in the pages of Weird War Tales, DC’s classic anthology of horror and sci-fi stories set during war-time. Created by J.M. DeMatteis and Pat Broberick, the Creature Commandos were originally a group of monsters recruited by the U.S. military to fight the Nazis in World War II. While one of the more obscure DC properties, the Creature Commandos have gotten their widest exposure yet with the new animated series on Max. As such, there’s a lot of new fans who may not be familiar with the superhero/horror side of the DCU, so here are five comics perfect for readers looking for more after watching Creature Commandos:

5 G.I. Zombie: A Star-Spangled War Story

Collecting Star-Spangled War Stories #1-8 By Jimmy Palmiotti, Justin Gray and Scott Hampton

One of the better titles to come out of DC’s New 52 era was the revamped Star-Spangled War Stories, which starred the new character Jared Kabe, the titular G.I. Zombie. Kabe is the U.S. military’s greatest asset, an undead soldier who is able to literally die for his country again and again. Kabe’s assignment in his debut story sees him traveling the American South to break up a band of anti-government radicals bent on releasing a biological agent that turns the populace into flesh-hungry zombies.

The Jonah Hex writing team of Jimmy Palmiotti and Justin Gray bring a perfect mix of pulp and pathos to the story, while Scott Hampton’s beautifully-rendered pages bring the blood-splattered action to life in a vivid way. Kabe has barely appeared in the DCU since, although he was revealed to be a member of the Creature Commandos in Justice League United #14. If James Gunn and his animators are smart, they’ll bring G.I. Zombie into the fold, should Creature Commandos get a second season.

4 Tales of the Multiverse: Batman – Vampire

Collecting Batman: Red Rain, Batman: Bloodstorm & Batman: Crimson Mist by Doug Moench & Kelley Jones

This Elseworlds trilogy of original graphic novels sees Batman take on the ultimate vampire, Dracula, which leads the Dark Knight to become one of the bloodsucking undead. When investigating several murders among the unhoused of Gotham City, Batman discovers that it’s none other than Dracula and his minions using them as a food source. Seeing no other way to combat the supernatural threat, Batman becomes a vampire himself to defeat the Lord of Vampires.

Although becoming a vampire has its crime-fighting benefits, Batman’s bloodlust soon takes over, resulting in him killing and feeding upon the Joker. Alfred is forced to reckon with the possibility that the Dark Knight has become a monster, even as Gotham cries out for its newly empowered protector. Doug Moench and Kelley Jones make for the perfect creative team for this ghoulish tale and its sequels, which give fans a glimpse of a delightfully-twisted nightmare world where Batman takes drastic measures to defeat the greatest evil of them all.

3 Sgt. Rock vs. the Army of the Dead

DC Horror Presents: Sgt. Rock vs. the Army of the Dead #1-6 by Bruce Campbell & Eduardo Risso

Horror icon Bruce Campbell pens this tale, a riotously-fun romp that takes seminal DC hero Sgt. Rock and puts him up against a last-ditch effort by Hitler and his Nazi scientists that brings soldiers back from the dead. The title really says it all, as readers are treated to Sgt. Rock and Easy Company machine-gunning their way through the Nazi zombie hordes to prevent Hitler from succeeding in the final days of WWII.

Campbell proves himself adept at writing the classic, old-school pulp heroics that made Sgt. Rock the greatest of DC’s war heroes, and the always-dependable Eduardo Risso brings it all together in a visually-sumptuous opera of violence. The plot has just enough twists and turns to keep readers engaged, but the real selling point is seeing Rock & Co. lay waste to an army of zombified Nazis. Honestly, what more could fans want?

2 Frankenstein

Seven Soldiers of Victory: Frankenstein #1-4 by Grant Morrison & Doug Mahnke

The Frankenstein mythos gets a drastic reinvention in this series from writer Grant Morrison and artist Doug Mahnke, part of the larger Seven Soldiers of Victory metaseries masterminded by Morrison, where each hero’s adventures unknowingly dovetail to address a larger threat. Frankenstein’s monster is refashioned into a hulking, Milton-quoting warrior with a sword and pistol who works for SHADE, a government agency tasked with dealing with bizarre and supernatural threats.

Each story in this four-issue miniseries tells a self-contained adventure, while also building up to a dramatic final confrontation when Frankenstein and the other Seven Soldiers of Victory take on the interdimensional threat of the Sheeda. The series is classic Morrison, and Mahnke’s grizzled artwork is brimming with power and fury. The Frankenstein seen in Creature Commandos was visually based on this version, so fans who haven’t checked out the original Frankenstein miniseries should treat themselves.

1 The Creature Commandos

Collecting Weird War Tales #93, 97, 100, 102, 105, 108-112, 114-119, 121 and 124 by J.M. DeMatteis, Robert Kaniger, Mike W. Barr, Pat Broderick, John Celardo & Fred Carrillo

This entry might be the most obvious, but for fans who are enjoying the show thus far, going back to the source and reading the original stories is a must. The original Creature Commandos were assembled as a part of Project M, a secret government organization devoted to studying supernatural phenomena. Led by regular human Matthew Shrieve, the original line-up of the Creature Commandos included vampire Vincent Velcro, werewolf Warren Griffith, the Frankenstein-esque Elliot “Lucky” Taylor and gorgon Dr. Myrna Rhodes.

As some of the last stories produced for Weird War Tales, and some of the last comics made for DC’s long-running line of war comics overall, the Creature Commandos stories combine pulpy action with a horror twist. The stories can also be surprisingly dark, as J.M. DeMatteis wasn’t afraid to delve full-bore into some of the more uncomfortable subject matter of WWII. Even though they languished on the fringes of the DCU for decades, this comic proves they always deserved better – which is exactly what they’re getting thanks to the new Creature Commandos animated series.