David Dastmalchian Talks New DC Horror Series CREATURE COMMANDOS

Before heading to DC fans’ screens, the Creature Commandos are hitting comic book store shelves this October thanks to veteran DC actor David Dstmalkhian. Dastmalchian, who has taken to writing horror comics with aplomb, sat down with ScreenRant to discuss his first DC writing project, DC Horror Presents: Creature Commandos.

The classic DC The horror team returns to comics this October in DC Horror Presents: Creature Commandos By Dastmalchian and Jesús Hervás. The six-issue miniseries, published under the DC Horror Presents imprint, stars members of the classic Creature Commandos team, like Lucky Taylor, as well as brand new characters – and some surprise cameos.

DC HORROR PRESENTS: CREATURE COMMANDOS #1 (2024)
Release date:	October 2, 2024
writer:	David Dstmalkhian
Artist:	Jesús Hervás
Cover artist:	Tirso conc
Variant covers:	Charlie Adlard, Jim Lee
A vampire, a werewolf, a gorgon, and an undead soldier walk into a grocery store… and all hell breaks loose! This is the Creature Unit, a team of misfits assembled by a crazy talented scientist for a dangerous military mission. In this brand new era of Creature Commandos, written by Count Crowley creator David Dastmalchian (The Suicide Squad and Late Night with the Devil), the claws are out, fangs are bared, and blood is spilled – lots of it!

Dastmalchian spoke with ScreenRant about the new series, which he calls “One of the greatest achievements of [his] Career“- no small feat for A noted comic book fan who has starred in DC projects like The Suicide Squad. Check out the full, lightly edited conversation—including details about the new Creature Commandos team, their military origins, and some cameo teases—and new preview pages below.

David Dastmalchian talks all things creature commandos

Dastmalchian’s love of DC started early

ScreenRant: Correct me if I’m wrong, but this is your first time writing a DC project, although of course you’ve been involved in many DC projects in your acting career. So what was it like to move from the screen to the comic page in your work with DC and its characters?

David Dastmalchian: This is one of the greatest achievements of my career. The fact that I’m now a comic book creator and writer for a number of publishers that I’m really proud to be associated with, like Dark Horse and Image, but that DC gave me the opportunity at DC Horror Presents—it’s such A special division of this legacy publishing company that shaped my life.

[Gestures to comic book short boxes behind him] The number of DC boxes here extends all the way across the top row. And I think back … the first comic I ever held in my hands that I bought was – actually, sorry to say it was a Marvel. It was Avengers 249 and I started collecting the Avengers. Actually, I really like weird heroes, so I was more into the West Coast Avengers as a kid.

But Red Tornado, Firestorm, JLA, Green Lantern! These were the first collectible comics in my life. And then I discovered the magic that is detective comics. I had a local comic shop where I grew up in Kansas called Clint’s South. It was the satellite store of Clint’s comics, which is still in existence today in its 55 years. But Clint’s South, there was a veritable Smithsonian of long boxes in the back of the store that I would just comb through, and I discovered so many of the horror comics that I love, including the weird War Tales, which Featuring the creature commandos. It was one of the first images I think I ever remember seeing of the Creature Commandos, lucky busting through the wall, kicking so much Nazi ass.

The Creature Commandos have a long DC history

First appearance: Funny War Tales #93 by JM DeMatteis, Pat Broderick, John Celardo, Adrienne Roy, Todd Klein and Ben Oda

SR: Yeah, it’s a great cover.

DD: And now I’m an adult! And I get to tell stories that are part of the world with the characters that are my favorite characters that have ever existed in comic books. It’s really hard to quantify how surreal my journey has been as an actor and as a storyteller, because if you know me and you know the things that I love, the fact that I get to be a part of all this storytelling is like— My friend calls it Nord-Wana. It’s pretty big.

SR: There’s really something about working with the things that informed our childhood, right, that to have that be fulfilled in adulthood – it’s a strange feeling. A good feeling! Get to talk about comic books all day, it’s really great.

I actually saw you speak at the Dark Horse horror panel at New York Comic Con last fall, which was a real treat, and if I remember correctly, you talked a lot about horror as a genre, as something that’s really special. For you, and personal. So how do you feel that kind of personal connection to horror in your work with Creature Commandos?

DD: When I first pitched my idea for Creature Commandos, it was directly to the master himself, Jim Lee. I shot Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania [in London]. Jim was there doing some DC work, and I saw, because I follow him on social media, that he was there and I just sent a message. I said “Thanks for your support of Suicide Squad and glad you like Polka-Dot Man and I hope you have a good time in London, I’m here too.” And he said “Great! We should meet!” So I got out of bed and ran, got dressed and went over and I sat with him. All night long.

And I told him, you know, about my love of DC and the importance of DC in my life and the value and meaning that stories like The Long Halloween and Death in the Family had on my childhood. I mean, I screamed when I saw Batman come to carry Robin out of the ruins after the Joker hit him with a scrap and knocked him out. That stuff lasts! It lives in your heart.

And I pitched him the idea for Creature Commandos, which lives in my heart. Of course I love monsters, and I love the mythology of monsters. The idea of ​​monsters fighting in battle and being their own kind of superhero is just rife with all kinds of fun things you can do in this genre. But underneath it all, I wanted to tell a story about these animals, the people who are afflicted with circumstances, with circumstances, with illnesses, where have transformed their bodies, their minds, and their personalities into a state of The rest. From the world looks like terrible, like monster.

And yet within them is this burning desire, the desire to find purpose or meaning or value in their own lives. So in crafting this idea, I introduce a new character to the DCU, who is now heading the unit. It was funded by the Army Futures Lab and a very secretive project that mostly made fun of the brass. But her name is Doctor Barbara West, and she’s a genius. She is a little on the border between a bit of a Jekyll and Hyde, which we will get more into later.

She is not just a scientist. She cares so deeply for the people, and she believes that between science and the supernatural there is only more science to be done, that all things defined as supernatural are ultimately quantifiable, and we can manage them through the scientific method. And that’s her goal. She does not see these beings as monsters. She sees them as valuable people. And to continue her research, she had to do several unethical things.

Who is on this version of the Creature Commandos team?

Variant cover by Jim Lee

SR: This is a great moment to talk a little about the team and the issue itself. I got a chance to read the first issue, and it’s what I might call a “pick the troops”, which I think is always fun. I love this kind of storytelling early in a series. It’s great stuff. So we spend some time putting the team together. Who exactly is on this iteration of the Creature Commando, and what can readers expect from the team vibe?

DD: The series opens on the immediate heels of a major tragedy in the camera at the lab, but our readers still won’t know exactly what happened. All we know is that there is only one surviving member right now of Doctor West’s, for lack of a better term, experimental soldier.

Private Lucky Taylor, who is a reanimated soldier who has been put together again and again by different parts and organs of soldiers, and exists similar to the way you would think of Doctor Frankenstein’s monster. Lucky is the walking embodiment of trauma, he doesn’t even remember his past, but he knows there is deep pain in it. He is also one of the most dangerous monsters in our history.

Because [Dr. West] Only one member of the team at this point, and General Eiling, who you may know from previous DC stories, sticks her neck out and says “We need a team right now. There’s a mission that needs to happen and I’m bringing in Lieutenant Matt Shrieve. He hates everything about this project, but he’s the best for it.” So they go on a recruitment mission with some of the people that Doctor West is tracking You research, and they find, to add To the team, Vincent Velcro, who is a vampire now supplemented his income as a hitman, mostly and for a secret trade, which our readers will learn more about later, he decides to opt in and help Doctor West with this project. .

Then they go to Detroit, Michigan, and the character I’m really excited about in this story, our werewolf Wanda, is someone who uses this Monstrous powers that she has no control over to try to fight against injustice. And it’s not going well. So once again, even though Doctor West represents the military establishment and things that the werewolf would not want to participate in, she offers a deal. Of something very valuable and an opportunity.

And the opportunity that I think the readers will find really interesting here is that the technology that Doctor West develops includes the cyber technology, which is basically a mechanism by which the monsters can begin to control their transformation. As with our wolf. It’s just like you’d imagine a pump someone with diabetes might have on their stomach, but it can flood your system with lunar isotopes, which can help you transform as you please. That she does not wait for the mercy of the moon.

For our vampire to go into full vampiric mode, a system that drains his blood into a pump and causes him to go into a feeding frenzy. For lucky Taylor, who is like Frankenstein’s monster, has a deep fear of fire – the flashes of flame erupt around his neck when he is triggered into frenzy mode.

And that leaves us with a necessary member of the team. Although Doctor West doesn’t want her to participate.

Mina, for me, is the spirit of the team. She worked as a scientist in Doctor West’s laboratory. She is Doctor West’s surrogate daughter and acolyte and cares deeply about the work. She was also struck by a traumatic event, which we’ll get to, that turned her into a gorgon. She has the power not only of the spectral snake, but she has great abilities with mind control, telekinesis and mind reading.

And there is our team! When they pick up, it’s not a buddy story out of the gate. I will tell you this much. There is a lot of sibling rivalry between the monsters. Angling for who is the leader, who is in charge, who really knows what they are doing, who is responsible, who is in it for what reasons. So let’s just say there’s a lot of tension between the team out of the gate, especially between Vincent and Wanda, who seem to really enjoy each other.

But once they are in hell – and they will go to hell together – and their backs are against the wall, they come to realize that there can be no one who recognizes them as people of value other than each other and Doctor West.

Creature Commandos is a military history as well as a horror tale

Variant cover by Charlie Adlard

SR: As you mentioned earlier, the characters debuted in an issue of Funny War Tales, And they have always, always, from the beginning, been associated with the military, and the version of the US. When we have the military in a superhero story, it raises questions of power. Who has power? Who has no power in this situation? Wanda is a really interesting character for me, I’m excited to see what you do with her. How do you feel about the way DC’s version of ​​the military is used in this story, especially the military as another kind of genre layer on top of horror?

DD: That’s like the added slice of the pie that makes it so exciting for me. I love monsters and horror, and because it’s DC Horror Presents, they gave me the complete freedom to really indulge in the gore and the gruesome nature of this kind of storytelling. I really want it to be side turning where you are shocked by what you see.

But it is a superhero tale. This is a story of heroism, even though it may look different from the kind of heroism we’re used to, and in the end, in the end – the part of the triangle, the part of the pyramid that makes it work is that it’s a War history. These are military stories. And so you have people of great skill, of great integrity, and some of ​​not so great integrity, working in an operation that serves the purpose of a power structure that most of these people are threatened by.

So, what’s really cool to me, and it justifies this – and it makes it stand apart from, say, other similar dirty dozen-type narrative motifs where you go, we’ll take a bunch of misfit never-do-wells and Put them on a good mission. Because I love these kinds of stories.

But the government – and as you will see, what the general is doing may not be exactly what it seems – the American government has certain assets, certain missions, certain goals that no one knows about. Not the public and certainly not the Justice League. Because what it is, the technology and the horror that they are still in as the story kicks off, is something that they are trying desperately to keep seen by as few eyes as possible.

Send monsters in this, you might say: Well, what does it matter? Because of the enemy they will be facing, they need soldiers who can decimate [these enemies] With no conscience so that they can get to the weapon as quickly as possible. And if they need to, perhaps, they could just eliminate the team. Because they’re monsters, so it’s very easy to dismiss them, just like saying they’re villains, like you would in, say, a Suicide Squad mission.

But these people do it for more than just getting some time off their prison sentences. These are soldiers. These are beings who, whether they can even consciously admit it to themselves or not, are so desperate to find a sense of meaning and purpose in the pain and suffering they experience because of their afflictions.

SR: The monster metaphor always clicks, right? It always gives.

DD: It’s so great. And it’s something I can relate to. I am someone who has struggled with a number of conditions and troubles and things that make me feel – is my existence worthwhile? Is there a purpose in this life? And it is. For all of us, every one of us. It is so easy to fall into the trap of thinking that we have no value or that the things that are broken in us make us a liability to the world. They don’t. If we can be willing to do what we can for ourselves and others, there is ultimately a purpose in it. I truly believe that, and I think that the soldiers, the monsters, the wonderful beings, will hope to learn this about themselves.

We will see! They’re up against a pretty formidable enemy that’s really good at getting into people’s brains, so…

Dastmalchian teases future DCU cameos in Creature Commandos

Cover art for DC Horror Presents: Creature Commandos #2 by Tirso Cons

SR: I want to ask one last question a little related to what you just said. Me Have Get the solicitation for issue 2, which includes the main cover, and Brainiac Does appear on that cover. Without giving us too many spoilers, what can you say about why Brainiac appeared on the main cover of issue 2? And are there any other fun DCU cameos we can expect for our beloved readers and fans of DC Cameos?

DD: I don’t know how soon you will be able to post the article, but I want to say, because there are still only a few days to participate, but – two-part answer to your question. Number one: if you go to your local comic shop today and put on your pull list the comics I’ve written coming out in the next month, which includes Creature Commando #1 and Knights vs Samurai and Headless Horseman, you’ll be entered For a chance to win the very special print of Jim Lee’s variant cover that was given away exclusively at San Diego Comic Con and signed by Jim and I, as well as some other cool prizes.

But I say that because if you get your hands on issue 1, you won’t just get to meet all the Creature Commandos and get teased about what happened before That which was so terrible, so tragic, you are not even I will want to see it, but you will not be able to turn your eyes away from it, because it is a Complete incorporation of monsters that have never been in Creature Commandos before, and I can’t wait for everyone to see that, but it leads us To two very special characters in the DCU that I was given the opportunity to play with. One of them is Zatna, who I love, and you will see why I wanted to bring her into the story.

And finally, a villain! An enemy! A mind so maniacal – but also so human feeling that he sees beyond the six steps of a chess game, and he sees beyond the sensitivity and weakness of human life when compared to the biggest picture, say the biggest development, of technology , of the development – the promotion – of science. So the very maniacal mastermind behind one of DC’s greatest villains, Brainiac himself, along with his incredible sidekick that we all love

Coco will play a part in the story that I don’t want to reveal yet because I want you to be as shocked when you read it as I was when I came up with the idea. It’s really…pretty awful. And it hopefully makes you root for the Creature Commandos that much more, and why we really hope they succeed in their mission.

DC Horror Presents: Creature Commandos #1 Is available October 2, 2024 from DC Comics.