1992: Strike Force America

Strike Force America (1992) #1 by Daniel de Vries, Scott Clark and David Mowry

Heh, Sam Kieth gets top billing on the cover — which is understandable, but he only did the cover… and seems to have phoned that in, doesn’t it?

And… “Printed in the USA”? Is that a selling point?

Anyway, the editor (or somebody) explains what this (presumably long-running) series is going to be: Intelligent super-heroes that’s not just action (because that’s the “statis quo” (sic)), so to do that, they get a gofer from Jim Lee’s studio. I mean, somebody who “works out of” that studio. Perhaps an art assistant?

Well, OK, that’s not bad artwork…

OK, I spoke too soon — that’s kinda bad artwork. But the inker’s pretty good.

And… this is yet another Elementals spin-off! I didn’t know that.

OK, now we’re getting an awesome introduction to an awe-inspiring super-hero that’s going to awe us!!!

…

OK, this is pretty bad. I guess much of the problem is that Scott Clark isn’t very good at, you know, putting a page together.

These pages are just bewildering. I mean, you can go through them panel by panel and then guess, perhaps, that… the priest? somehow was torched by being in the presence of that demon dog? A demon dog that is zzwoosh!-ing out of the building before scrash!-ing out of the building, too?

And… the dog head-butted the giant man to death? What?

“We stopped you!” How… what… is the point here is that that shouty guy is deranged? Because they didn’t stop the dog — the dog killed a couple of then and then went on its way? What did they stop? Is he deranged?

This book reads like something a bunch of teenagers would put together. It’s incoherent.

But the inking’s quite good.

The writer, an Australian, explains what makes US culture so rich: They call biscuits cookies.

To round out the issue, we get some stats. All of them have “Distinguishing features: Does not age”. How does that distinguish them, then?

This is the kind of book I was expecting to read from the post-bankruptcy Comico, really — just pure stupid and amateurish dreck, but as you’ve seen over the past few blog posts, they managed to publish some books that were kinda good? So it’s nice to get my prejudices confirmed by this book, at least.

The series only lasted one issue, because c’mon — who’d buy more of this. Unfortunately, we have two more Strike Force books to cover: Strike Force Legacy and then the one where they just remix the name from “Strike Force America” to “Strikeforce: America”. I bet that colon is going to make all the difference! People love colon comics!

Hero Illustrated #22, page #88:

“Hope lying in the proles” wasn’t the
only thing to come out of 1984. Bill
Willingham’s Elementals debuted as a
back-up feature inTexas Comics’
Justice Machine Annual #1-four ordi-
nary people who lost their lives and
returned from the grave with powers
given to them by elemental spirits.
Years later, the number of super-
powered characters in the Elementals
Universe exploded, leading to the gov-
ernment forming their own team, Strike
Force America. This June, Comico
gives the team their own ongoing
series. Dave DeVries, who’s worked on
Marvel’s Phantom series, will be writing
the title and Scott Clark (StormWatch
and Warblade: Endangered Species) is
the penciler.
“Major Chaos is the
leader of Strike Force.”
Azzarello comments. “He
is a military man who’s
leading a group of people
who have no respect for
authority-including his
own. So that differs from
a lot of other team books
because it’s a team book
without a sense of team-
work. There’s a certain
amount of interplay that is
just based on tension. It’s
kind of a lot like having a
job.”

OK, Scott Clark wasn’t an assistant? He’d done actual books for Image? Huh.

Overstreet’s FAN #1, page #75:

Inton the heels of Elementals is Strike Force
rica, another ongoing monthly title, that is
linduled for this summer. You want action? You got
Written by veteran scribe Dave DeVries (most
Willy of The Phantom mini series for Marvel
(8), Strike Force America is Comico’s take
the traditional super hero team books and, since
la being published by Comico, you can bet that it’s
whing but traditional. With art by Scott Clark (
ImmWatch and Warblade: Endangered
wries), along with R.R. Phipps, this looks suspi-
undy like an Image comic, but…
Truh, it sort of does have an Image feel, doesn’t
I wonder how that happened…” muses editor
wello. ‘In overall scope, this book is a lot like
Wengers comics of the 70’s. Remember those?
thus, those issues were the heyday of that particular
On closer inspection though, readers may be
with the way things are handled. This is not
in ordinary team book.”

Comics International #58, page #4:

Williams at Comico
AWARD-winning Image inker Scott
Williams and fellow Wildstorm
penciller Scott (Stormwatch) Clark
are the artists for the new Comico
monthly, Strike Force America.
The series is written by Australian
creator David DeVries and centres
on a group of paranormal Strike
Force members commandeered for
America’s last-stand fighting unit.
Their first assignment is to prevent
a super-powered psycho destroying
Rhode Island.
This is Scott Williams’ first work
outside Image’s Wildstorm titles
since his reportedly acrimonious
split with Marvel, in 1992.
The first issue will ship with three
different covers and retail for $2.50.
It features bound-in trading cards to
accompany a set scheduled for later
this year.