When it comes to a comic book match made in heaven—or hell, depending on how you want to see it—there probably isn't a better fit than actor David Dastmalchian and DC's monster wrecking crew the Creature Commandos.
Dastmalchian has made a name for himself as a champion of genre filmmaking with memorable roles in films like The Suicide Squad, The Dark Knight, The Last Voyage of the Demeter, Dune, Late Night with the Devil and more. His love of complex storytelling is only matched by his passion for comics, including his own creator owned genre love letter, Count Crowley.
The actor and writer is now turning his hand to DC Comics with the brilliant DC Horror Presents: Creature Commandos. The limited series introduces a new team of supernatural soldiers made up of a vampire, Vincent Velcro; a werewolf, Wanda; the Frankenstein-like Lucky Taylor and his carer—who just happens to be a gorgon—Mina Rhodes. The first issue, out this week, is action packed and hints at deeper connections and ramifications for the wider DC Universe.
In the lead up to the release of DC Horror Presents: Creature Commandos, we were lucky enough to sit down with Dastmalchian to talk monsters, found families and making comics.
You and Creature Commandos really seem like a match made in heaven!
I'll tell you how much of a match it is. This was a team that changed my life as a kid—a team that I thought was so cool, that I thought was so special, and I just kept up with them, you know. The fact that I now get to bring my spin, my idea, my concept, into the world of the Creature Commandos is something that I still can't wrap my head around. It's really amazing.
I think a lot of people underestimate the original J. M. DeMatteis and Pat Broderick Creature Commandos. It's so emotionally charged. It's actually incredibly moving and it's kind of this statement on the way soldiers are used and abused and kind of left behind.
I'm glad you bring that up, because, of course, on the exterior, you go, “Oh sure, this is a buffet of monsters.” It's a comic book and they're heroes of a kind. It's also horror. This is DC Horror Presents—they're letting me really push the envelope with the gore and the frights. But in the original series, something that always really upset me and that I wanted to continue to explore is the way the leadership treats the Creature Commandos and speaks to them so dismissively and so cruelly. I believe these characters, these people—even if they look like they're not people—these people are riddled with the shame and the debilitating depression and anxiety that comes with having mental and physical afflictions that make you seem so monstrous and different than everybody else. So, it was really important for me to bring back the great bully, Lieutenant Matt Shreve, to push them around.
You're a comic book lover. You've gotten to star in multiple comic book movies. You've had this incredible journey as a fan, actor and creator. Now you're in the DC creator sandbox, so what's it like to get to write a DC comic?
To me, as an actor it's like going to work with Martin Scorsese or starring alongside Meryl Streep.
When I was younger, I collected monthly series, I liked Red Tornado and Green Lantern Corps. But I'll tell you what hooked me were the villains. DC villains were always my favorite, and not only because they were so visually striking and they had such original and unique and strange characterizations. There was always something so broken within them—something fallible and something tragic. Even with the Clown Prince of Crime himself, who has always been my favorite comic book character. That was someone I became quite obsessed with as a young boy, and that mythology is so entrancing to me.
So, it's wild looking back at stuff that I've loved since I was quite young—so many long boxes of just everything that the Joker has ever done. It's really wild. And now I get my name on there, and I hope and pray that readers respond to this, and that they have even 10% as much fun reading this comic as I've gotten to have dreaming it up and making it and seeing it come together. Then we're in business, baby.
Before we go, can you tease how the series is going to impact the wider DC Universe?
So, Wade Eiling, the general who's overseeing this mission and is being super shady about everything, is so convinced that he needs these monsters utilized because he knows the enemy that they're up against. He knows him better than we even realize. And he knows that the enemy is developing this awful thing. So, the most important thing for the US military and General Eiling especially is that no one finds out about this...especially not the Justice League.
You'll see why these monsters aren't just conscienceless killing machines. They're also very easily made out to be villains, if you need them to be. You can justify killing your own soldiers quite easily. We're all so dispensable. It's a really sad way of looking at our plight against the powers that be. But when we recognize that what afflicts us can actually be our own assets and the things that make us special, we realize that we do have value. All of us, even if we're a vampire.
DC Horror Presents: Creature Commandos #1 by David Dastmalchian, Jesús Hervás and Alex Guimarães is available this week in print and as a digital comic book.