The long-awaited James Gunn & Peter Safran relaunch of the DC Universe has finally taken flight. Not with Gunn’s upcoming Superman movie, mind you, but with “Creature Commandos,” an animated series centered around a monster team going on globe-trotting missions to save the world. It may seem like a new version of Gunn’s “The Suicide Squad,” but animated and with a team of lesser-known stature. And in several cases, “Creature Commandos” is exactly that. However, James Gunn, who penned all eight episodes, capitalizes on his unique skill set as a character writer/storyteller and delivers an exciting series that’s sure to make this C-tier DC team into the newly minted DCU’s “A-Team”.
Funnily enough, Gunn’s new overhaul starts with canonizing The Suicide Squad and the Peacemaker spin-off. Following the events of “Peacemaker,” A.R.G.U.S. (Advanced Research Group Uniting Super-Humans) director Amanda Waller (Viola Davis, the only ‘close-to-day-one’ cast member to survive a whole franchise reboot) was restricted by congress to use humans from any task force missions. She enlists the late Rick Flag’s father, Rick Flag Sr. (Frank Grillo), to take a team of super-powered prisoners at Belle Reve on a mission to a US-ally country, Pokolistan. There, they must provide security for Princess Ilana Rostovic (Maria Bakalova) against an Amazonian Sorceress named Circe (Anya Chalotra) and her band of militia operatives called “The Sons of Themyscira.”
The team is made up of beings who look monstrous on the outside, but when centralized, have tragic, tortured souls. There’s Doctor Phosphorus (Alan Tudyk), a radioactive skeleton with plasma flesh and a snarky attitude, and GI Robot (Sean Gunn), a robot programmed to kill Nazis, no matter what timeline and what country they appear in. In addition, there’s the return of Weasel from “The Suicide Squad,” who is given an empathetic characterization through speaking only in grunts, growls, and whimpers. There’s also an empathetic fish woman named Nina Mazursky (Zoë Chao), and, lastly, a temperamental, hard-edged corpse named The Bride (Indira Varma). Unlike all the other corpse “Brides,” she wants nothing to do with her Frankenstein (David Harbour), for he’s an incel stalker committed to chasing her down and making her love him, no matter how many times she rebuffs throughout centuries. (Think an immortal Pepé Le Pew.)
“If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it,” plays somewhat as the motto to “Creature Commandos.” It’s all about playing the beats to the mission formula that Gunn mastered on “The Suicide Squad.” In his typical fashion, the series is a gory, gonzo, raunchy, vulgar thrill ride bolstered by music cues as niche as the titular team. Yet, Gunn’s humanizing of his motley monster crew amid the excessive bloodshed surrounding them is the fuel that keeps the engine running. Each episode dedicates proper time to exploring the backstory of each team member and how their various unfortunate circumstances round them up at Belle Reve. Even Weasel has an origin-story episode that, embarrassingly, left me choked up.
The characters all share an interesting albeit familiar camaraderie, but given their distinctive traits, they’re an entertaining, radical bunch to follow. I found myself mostly enticed by the budding friendship between the hard-edged Bride and the too-wholesome-to-be-here Nina, for some of the most poignant character moments and humorous bits stem from their dynamic.
The French-based animation studio Bobbypills, which describes itself as a studio “full of depressive, beautiful, f–ked up people making cartoons for depressive, beautiful, f–ked up people,” is an ideal match for Gunn’s sensibilities. So it’s not surprising to say the animation is superb. The character’s designs bear a stylish geometric, sharp-edged structure reminiscent of Bobbypills’ other series, “Captain Laserhawk,” and that of Hellboy creator Mike Mignola. The animation pops and feels like a kinetic graphic novel when ultra-violent action sequences ensue. It is one that stands on its own alongside “Invincible” or “X-Men ’97“‘s distinctive style.
The series suffers from a low episode count (only seven). Episodes in the back half of the season seem to race towards their conclusion, resulting in a moderately anti-climactic finale. Otherwise, the show is a bloody and brash good time. If “Creature Commandos” is the first showcase of what’s to come in the Safran/Gunn DC universe, then color me excited to see what’s next.
Whole season screened for review. Premieres on Max on December 5th.