According to a fascinating interview with Brent Anderson on Morituri Mondays podcast (which I can no longer locate on the internet), Peter Gillis "had an idea of exploring just about every possible character type or personality type" over the course of a planned 50 issue run. Some characters naturally became fan favourites, others were less developed or harder to love. The third generation of Morituri proved a little of both from the start.
Strikeforce: Morituri #13 (1987)
Pencils: Brent Anderson
Inks: Scott Williams
With Beth dead, a new hardline commander is chosen in veteran soldier Yuri Pogorelich. His first task is to command a generation of six brand new Morituri to capture the original Strikeforce, who have gone rogue and just returned from space in a Horde ship. It's a bit of a stretch that Earth's government would treat the Morituri as traitors just for zooming off in the enemy's ship, but it provides a good excuse for that old classic misunderstanding, where heroes fight heroes in a giant smackdown. Here the frantic action is halted by Wildcard's sudden combustion at the hands of the Morituri process. Dressed like a New Romantic pirate with an attitude to match, he has the distinction of being the shortest lived Morituri to survive the Garden.
This packed double sized issue also features a fun backup parody, "How Peter & Brent Create (& Destroy) Strikeforce Morituri", in the style of the old "How Lee & Ditko create Spider-man" Annual backup strip. It's notable that Anderson's caricature of Gillis bears more than a passing resemblance to the new Strikeforce boss Yuri. On a side note, three members of the team, Louis, Will and Hardcase all have moustaches and dark hair, a bit like Anderson. It may be 80's fashion, but I find it makes them harder to tell apart at first glance.
 |
| Obviously they didn't actually create new characters by throwing darts, but it makes for a fun gag. |
Strikeforce: Morituri #14 (1988)
Pencils: Brent Anderson
Inks: Al Williamson
An epilogue to the Jupiter attack, as the surviving first (Aline and Louis) and second generation Morituri are put on trial due disobeying orders. Ruth (Toxin) resolves the debate on whether to ground them by threatening to poison everyone. As she dramatically points out, they're all already dead people walking, so what difference does it make?
The B plot follows a stranded Horde, trying to make his way back to base. He kidnaps humans, but impressed their bravery, he lets them live. It's an intriguing attempt to humanise the Horde, who have thus far been solely portrayed as cruel, shouty barbarians.
Guest inker this issue is the legendary Al Williamson, who lends his usual brushstroke finish, bringing out the softer side of Anderson's delicate pencils.
Strikeforce: Morituri #15 (1988)
Pencils: Brent Anderson
Inks: Scott Williams
Back in #9, The Horde attempted to lure Louis with promise of a cure. With Aline now pregnant and unable to live long enough to carry the baby to term, Louis surrenders to the Horde, to see if there's any chance they're telling the truth. Despite having Black Watch member Bruce still alive in their custody, it turns out to be a hoax. I can only imagine they were keeping Bruce in some form of suspended animation to stop him from expiring, as it goes unexplained.
The Morituri confront Louis on his return, and Shear, a new angry violent member with a winning personality to match, slices Louis' heart in two, before spitting on him. It's a pretty brutal way to go out for a hero published by Marvel.
Also this issue, the Horde unleash their own monstrous super soldiers, having reverse engineered the Morituri process to some degree. It adds a new wrinkle, but I'm not fond of the Super Horde as a concept, or their body horror designs. It detracts from the uniqueness of the Morituri a little.
Strikeforce: Morituri #16-17 (1988)
Pencils: Whilce Portacio, Scott Williams
Inks: Scott Williams
Aline, now last of the original team, has been on the verge of a nervous breakdown since finding out she's pregnant. She escapes the hideout this issue and vanishes into the night. It completes the most stunning turnaround in team lineups since, well, Avengers #16.
 |
| A warm quiet moment of domesticity |
This two part story just reinforces the problem with losing a team member every few issues: it left Gillis a limited amount of pages to develop characters, having introduced 15 Morituri over the first 13 issues. Some of the new cast never had chance to develop past powers with an attitude. Silencer dampens all sound (and can also kill by silencing hearts, which makes no sense), but beyond that, I know next to nothing about her background or what drives her, as she barely gets a line of dialogue. I'm sure Gillis would've fleshed out her and Hardcase, Backhand and Brava if he'd stuck around longer, but as it is, it's hard enough to remember who's who.
This 2 parter with fill in art (including a rare turn from Williams on pencils) concerns the inevitable attempts to speed up the process and create more Morituri without the aid of Dr. Tuolema. Predictably it doesn't end well, with the unfortunate volunteers turning into fleshy monsters. It's not the strongest or most original of Morituri stories, but it's quietly effective all the same.
Next I look at the final few Gillis and Anderson issues, and why they left with over half the story left to tell...
Comments
Post a Comment