Lost Comics Gems

I thought I would take a moment to look at a few titles from the past that I thought were pretty decent.

WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD

Strikeforce Morituri

Courtesy: Wikipedia

Strikeforce Morituri was published by Marvel Comics in the 1980s.  Set in a future where the Earth is being attacked by an alien race called the Horde, This series tells the story of Earth’s attempt to counter the invasion by creating super soldiers.  The drawback is that the process by which these super soldiers are created will most assuredly kill them.  The title itself comes from a phrase that gladiators were reported to say before combat, loosely translated, we who are about to die.

The series is set apart from others at the time in that it does not pull punches.  The Horde is truly villainous, raiding the Earth for whatever resources they can get.  Their brutality knows no bounds.  The first issue features what looks like a meteor shower, but are actually human prisoners that the Horde are ejecting from their space ships.  It also does not pull punches with the heroes of the book, all of which are destined to die for the Earth.  By the sixth issue, team leader and main character would actually die from the process by which he was created.

The series did spawn a sequel in the 1990s, but I remember reading every issue of the main series (which I still have).  It is starting to come back out in trades this year and definitely worth checking out.

U.N. Force

Courtesy: Wikipedia

I stumbled across U.N. Force in the 1990s when the first issue came out.  I ended up picking up four or five issue, along with a couple of one shots focusing on some of the characters.  U.N. Force told the story of the first United Nations sanctioned superhuman team, the members of which were composed of the member nations of the U.N.  What made this series stand out for me was that it was a truly international team, even though that some nations (the U.S., the Soviet Union, China) contributing multiple members.  In addition to this, these superhumans were reflective of their nations, often coming into conflict with other members over their political beliefs.  In fact, there was such animosity among the members of the team that the first story arc nearly ended with the team’s destruction.

D.P.7

Courtesy: TVtropes.org

D.P.7 was once of the first titles of Marvel Comics New Universe line.  While the line as a whole was considered a bit of a dud, D.P.7 was one of the titles which I worked to get every issue, and really the only title of the New Universe line that I stuck with.  The main focus of the book were the seven members of a support group for paranormals, those individuals who have been altered by “the white event.”  These seven learn that the facility they have come to help them does not have their best interests in mind and flee.  The series goes through twists and turns before it concludes with most of the group in New York, their fates left up in the air at the series end.

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