Strikeforce Morituri Day!

Brent Anderson was born on yesterday's date in 1955. I first became aware of his work when he was the artist of Ka-Zar the Savage. But I grew to love his work when he drew Strikeforce Morituri, a series he co-created with writer Peter B. Gillis. He has been the key interior artist on Kurt Busiek's Astro City series since its inception nearly two decades ago. 

Vyking, Radian, Adept, Blackthorn, Marathon and Snapdragon are the names. Strikeforce Morituri was one of the finest comic book series in the history of the medium. It seems a little obvious now, but in the 80's such realistic storytelling was an up and coming thing. Science fiction was notoriously a low-sales effort for comics, for whatever reason. Though science fiction concepts underlay nearly all superhero series to some degree, the pure stuff did not find purchase save for a few clear exceptions, usually linked to movie or TV franchises.

But Strikeforce Morituri pushed into all of that. Adult-themed stories set firmly in a science fiction setting and gave us a delightfully fresh take on superheroes. One of the failings of most superhero books is the limited motivation which makes the heroes take such risks. They are given altruistic attitudes which work well enough but don't really speak to the broad spectrum of human motivations. This book dives right into that and gives us a range of answers to the question of why risk your life for others. In fact it goes further and asks why one would willingly and knowingly lay down your life for others. The reasons are patriotism, self-aggrandizement, love of family, and more.

These stories by writer Peter B. Gillis and artist Brent Anderson are superb. The pacing is amazing as we meet and follow the "heroes" involved with the Morituri process. Inker Scott Williams adds some wonderful gloss and Whilce Portacio steps in on a few issues to help out. This first volume collects up the first year of the series, thirteen issues which give us the stories of of these young people who could die at any moment. Some of them do as we see in the very first issue which shows the "Black Watch", the first humans to undergo the process and attack the invaders.

And now volume two. 

Scaredycat, Scatterbrain, Toxyn, Backhand, Hardcase, Sheer, Backhand, Silencer, Brava and Wildcard -- these are the names of the Morituri who followed the first generation. In the latter issues of the series we follow them and see as some of them come to the end of their personal stories. To my mind the saga of Strikeforce Morituri lasts twenty issues. That's when writer Peter B. Gillis and artist Brent Anderson leave the title. They have told the stories of the original volunteers and the second and third generations who sacrifice themselves for their fellow men. None end in quite the way you'd have imagined and that's the cold beauty of this story which makes you feel for these characters very deeply as they confront the ultimate. Not all the individual stories end by the time Gillis and Anderson leave the saga. The story goes on by other hands and it's fine, but it never felt like the same series to me.

I have been rather vague in my reviews of this series because it's crucial that the reader come to it without being spoiled. Don't cheat yourself, get some and enjoy!

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