Revenge of Graphic Content #5: Creature Commandos – S1E1 –  “The Collywobbles”

Welcome to Revenge of Graphic Content; this week begins my coverage of a show that I’ve been curious about since it was announced: Creature Commandos. I have also been looking forward to having some ongoing material to write about as well, as I have done my fair share of reviews for ongoing series over at Haunted MTL and other sites. This seemed like a perfect way to kick off some ongoing material for the website that isn’t my existing fiction or projects.

So, how does DC Studios’ new Creature Commandos series fare? Let’s dive in.

Creature Commandos Season 1, Episode 1 – “The Collywobbles”

Creature Commandos is being marketed (to a degree) as the first project released in the new DCU continuity under the guidance of James Gunn and Peter Safran. There is a little bit of a question on that, but we’ll get to that in the continuity notes ahead.

What we do know is that a lot is riding on the success of Creature Commandos as a foray into the new universe that is meant to link a whole slate of DC projects.

So, is the show any good?

Largely, yes. Yes, it is. 

But there are some elements I am unsure about in the first episode titled, “The Collywobbles.” With that said, this was the first episode of a two-episode premiere and also has the thankless task of establishing an entire premise amid some baggage from a studio and continuity shakeup.

The Good

There is a lot to like about Creature Commandos. At a very basic level, you could call it “Suicide Squad with monsters” and you wouldn’t be too far off-base. However, the show does go to lengths to set itself apart and suitably justifies its presence as a project for the new DC Universe. 

The premise of the US government taking entities more frightening than the average criminal metahumans typically associated with Task Force X and spinning them into their own Task Force M as a result of a government crackdown makes sense. One way to make monsters sympathetic is by presenting man’s inhumanity toward them – a trope seen time and time again. The show gets into that pretty quickly.

These monsters (they are literal monsters, this is not necessarily a judgment on their respective characters in this case) all have their traumas which are going to be explored, judging by the structure of the second episode. Each monster will have its sympathetic element and much like James Gunn helped the ragtag Guardians of the Galaxy become sympathetic assholes, or how we cared for the C-lister villains of his Suicide Squad, we’re likely in for much the same here.

The Unusual Suspects

The lineup of characters is appropriately wacky, combining elements of different eras of the Creature Commandos and the larger DC Comics catalog with just enough of the brand-synchronizing required for an introduction to the DCU. Among them, we have Frank Grillo’s  Rick Flag, Sr., A.R.G.U.S.-operative and normal who runs the show, with his trauma. There is also the Bride (Indira Varma), DC’s take on the Bride of Frankenstein, whose primary attitude is tsking and scoffing. There is also G.I. Robot, a WWII-era android who delights in shooting Nazis, and Weasel, one of the survivors of the Suicide Squad mission on Corto Maltese. Both of them are voiced by Sean Gunn. Alan Tudyk voices the atomic skeleton known as Doctor Phosphorus. And rounding out the team is Zoe Chao’s Nina Mzursky, an amphibian and the most inherently sympathetic of the group.

The lineup is good, albeit with some changes and some flexibility as David Harbour voices Eric Frankenstein who will eventually find his way into the orbit of the Commandos at some point.

Also present are Amanda Waller, played by the iconic Viola Davis, and a holdover from the DCEU. And for larger DCU connections, Wonder Woman nemesis Circe (Anya Chalotra) seems to be involved in the action as the apparent big bad.

The Story

The episode is the place setter needed for a high-concept series; multiple monsters must be introduced and there must be a mission. The episode quickly establishes the stakes: an incel cult known as the “Sons of Themiscyra” has been raising trouble in the nation of Pokolistan, and Rick Flag, Sr. is set to lead Task Force M to help aid the country and the ruling family, represented by Princess Illana Rostovic (Maria Bakalova). It is simple. It is effective. There are beats that are familiar to fans of Suicide Squad. Yet the nature of the protagonists this time around adds further complications – enjoyable ones.

The real complications, however, are some of the issues that result in a somewhat uneven introductory episode.

The Bad

The runtime of the episode is merciless toward the overall pacing of the episode. The series needs to get the ball rolling quickly, and in doing so frontloads the exposition, introductions, stakes, and, more problematically, the continuity baggage of the new DCU. The episode’s pace is very, very rough. In an era where a superhero cartoon such as Invincible can do 40 to 50-minute episodes, it’s not unreasonable to expect something like that run time for something like Creature Commandos given the amount of work it is required to do.

But Creature Commandos has to do a lot in 23 minutes, and those constraints are a huge problem with the pacing of the show. The transitions between the mission briefing, monster introduction, and arrival to Pokolistan are brutal and breathless. The show could have benefited from an additional ten minutes of breathing room. I found myself comparing the introduction of the monsters to the introduction of the prisoners in Gunn’s Suicide Squad and wishing the pacing was closer to the film. The episode could have really benefited from a little back-and-forth and walk-and-talk between the monsters and Flag.

Tone

A concern I’ve seen thrown around given the nature of the project and the seemingly nascent DCU is the tone of the show and how this might fare as an introduction. This is a pretty tough conversation and deserves further exploration, but the continuity question also plays a role here.

This new series is a show for mature audiences, undoubtedly. It’s violent and horny, and that is perfectly fine by me. It suits the characters and from what the plans are with the DCU as laid out in interviews and articles, diversity of tone is paramount in the new sandbox. The question is whether leading off with something so adult-oriented to represent the house that Superman built is the right move.

I am not in James Gunn and Peter Safran’s shoes, so I cannot speak for them, but I believe that Creature Commandos is in a weird position as a holdover of the DCEU and the scheduling and production pipeline when the studio leadership changed. I think that once Superman (2026, again, Gunn) is out next year we’ll get a better sense of the broader tone of the DCU experiment, but for now, the immediate two projects most people will think of will be Creature Commandos and Peacemaker’s second season.

But is that actually the case?

Continuity Confusion

The DCU is a continuity mess to begin with. The foundation of a reboot that contains elements from the existing universe may ultimately confuse a lot of casual viewers in the long run, but that is the studios’ basket of cats to sort. This first episode does an admirable enough job to lay down some of that, specifically, by laying out some facts about how Suicide Squad’s Corto Maltese mission played out, with the death of Rick Flag, Jr. and weaves in the first season of Peacemaker by referencing the actions Leota Adebayo took is revealing the illegal nature of the work A.R.G.U.S. was doing.

So there, two of Gunn’s DCEU projects are included to various degrees and occupy a fuzzy continuity.

This brings me to a point – these two projects are also part of a decidedly more adult-oriented DCU, which I do not have a problem with, but where is the material for a broader audience on which comic tentpoles thrive?

Last I heard, elements of Blue Beetle (2023), starring Xolo Maridueña, will be canon to the DCU; but therein lies the issue of the DCU, if we incorporate those DCEU projects are part of a canon still skews the whole larger franchise as decidedly edgy, which was one of the chief complaints about how the DCEU played out in broad connection to the influence of Zack Snyder.

There isn’t much to be done now, given the production pipeline, but Superman will be essential to Gunn and Safran’s plans working. I think Blue Beetle is a good inclusion to the rough continuity, but it’s not quite the same. As it stands, the DCU feels more like the DCGU – The DC Gunn Universe. I don’t hate it, but I am craving some variance in tone here.

The Gunn of it all

This is not me disparaging James Gunn, here. As far as directors go, I have been a fan prior to his work at Marvel, and I think his work within the superhero and comic book genre has been impeccable. I am legitimately a fan of his work and his approach. When he was announced as one of the creative figureheads in the DC studio reorganization I was legitimately excited. All the moves I have seen so far, to me, feel right. Well, to a few degrees.

I wouldn’t say my excitement has waned, per se, but I do think there is a level of overexposure associated with him in the launching of this cinematic universe. Even Kevin Feige at Marvel Studios tended to be a little more behind the scenes in the first couple of phases.

With Gunn, however, the overall feeling of the DCU, through his public statements and terminally online nature, in addition to his baking in his existing works into the new continuity, has me a little anxious for Superman. The tone should be miles away from Creature Commandos and Peacemaker, but it’s still very much his vision. I think it’ll be fine, but again, so much of the DCU is on his foundation and I am desperate for some more concrete to be poured.

I think what struck me as a little odd in Creature Commandos was the fact that Gunn himself figures prominently in the opening credits, given a dynamic, animated appearance akin to the characters of the show itself; positioning him as a personality within the DCU as much as these new monster characters are meant to be. Is it a cute nod to the director and writer? Absolutely. I am also aware it was not his choice. 

But I’ve not seen Matt Groening, Robert Kirkman, or Seth MacFarlane animated and inserted into the opening credits of their respective animated shows.

It feels a little much.

The Monstrous – A.R.G.U.S.

For a series about monsters, it seems fitting to start the analysis by looking at the monstrous entities of our Task Force M. This time around, let’s look at A.R.G.U.S. The intelligence organization is terrifying in concept, and in its leadership, Amanda Waller. 

“The Wall” is among my all-time favorite antagonists in the DC Universe and presents an example of how powerful and intense one’s will can be in a world of “Gods and Monsters” (to ape the branding of this first phase of the DCU). The fact that a seemingly normal woman would exert so much power and influence over a setting of super-powered weirdos says a lot about her character, and her willingness to use whatever tools necessary to ensure her plans for the world. Fanatics are scary, self-assured fanatics with black-ops funding, power, and literal monsters are even scarier.

I appreciate the continued presence of Viola Davis as Waller, who plays the character so well. I also appreciate that we get so much of the groundwork of the current continuity laid out by her dialogue with Flag at the beginning of the episode. Waller was among one of the parts of the DCEU that I felt was handled perfectly. It is good that the DCU is off on such a strong foot.

I also feel like I will be revisiting Waller and A.R.G.U.S. and their unique horrors in future reviews. A DC Universe without A.R.G.U.S. is no DC universe at all.

Continuity Notes

There are a lot of interesting continuity notes to consider given the strange connection this series has to the prior DCEU and now current DCU. We’ll explore these a little more in-depth in the weeks ahead, but here are some brief notes.

• I wish the Bride had four arms as she did in the comics, but I suppose an ambulatory corpse could always equip some additional arms later on in the season. I think being a walking corpse is enough of an oddity to start the series.
• My dead pool for this current group has the odds in favor of Phosphorus, Frankenstein, and G.I. Robot dying by the end of the season.
• Wild theory Time: The Princess is Clayface in disguise, which makes a sequence in episode 2 even wilder in context. We know Clayface is appearing from the season preview.
• Speaking of the preview, who did you identify in the apocalyptic vision? I saw Superman and Starfire. I also think I may have seen Captain Atom.
• There was a lot of Gogol Bordello, not that I am complaining.

Creature Commandos Mission Rating

Overall, Creature Commandos S1E1 “The CollyWobbles,” is a solid start for the DCU and a decent start to the show. The baggage of continuity, tone, and pacing drags it down, but I can already confirm things even out by episode 2 a great deal. It’s 3 out of 5 Ghost Emoji.

👻👻👻

Creature Commandos is currently streaming on MAX.

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Thanks for reading, I will be adding a review of the second episode later this weekend. In the meantime, if you enjoyed the review or any of the other writing on my site, please consider supporting what I do on Ko-Fi.