The first commission I'm posting in 2013 is actually the last commission I received in 2012 -- and to say I went out last year on top would be an understatement.
Every successful super-team in comics has spinoff teams. You know all about New Avengers, Secret Avengers, Dark Avengers, Justice League Dark, Justice League International, etc. I decided to create my own spinoff creation, so I took a cue from Secret Avengers and decided to the Brotherhood: Black-Ops team. This would be the group that took on all those undercover missions that the main, higher-profile public team wouldn't or couldn't handle. Sneaking into sovereign nations and taking down dictators -- that sort of thing. I've always loved Mission: Impossible -- the tv series, not the movies --so the idea of a team with a rotating membership really appeals to me. Having characters rotate in and out depending on what the mission is. That gives me a lot of room to bring in heroes that I can't always fit into my main Brotherhood commissions.
I felt that the Falcon would be the natural choice for leader. For one thing, he's perfect for doing surveillance because he has the ability to see through the eyes of any bird on the planet. Secondly, he's on the main Brotherhood team which is led by the Black Panther. Panther himself wouldn't serve directly with this group because he's a head of state. He can't go into, say, Latveria and just start kicking ass because it would be seen as an act of aggression by his country. But he COULD create and sponsor a stealth operation, put the Falcon in charge of running it, and then send THEM into Latveria to start kicking ass. Man, it writes itself!
Based on a Jim Lee drawn page from Justice League #8, I got the idea to do a scenario showing the Falcon and his recruits in a strategy session. The team members for this mission are:
Black Lightning -- I'm going to assume you know who he is.
Technique -- She's the female counterpart to Milestone's Hardware character.
Muhammad X (seated) -- A one-shot character that appeared in an issue of Superman, the Man of Steel and hasn't been seen since.
Cardiac -- A character that used to appear in the pages of Spider-man occasionally. That's him standing behind Muhammad X.
Invincible -- or more accurately, his replacement who has temporarily taken over his identity until the original returns. He previously went by the name Bulletproof and has his own costume.
Prowler -- Also a character that debuted in and occasionally appeared in the pages of Spider-Man.
The villains whose holographic images they're being briefed on are the Serpent Society, specifically King Cobra (top), Anaconda, Rattler, Coachwhip, Cottonmouth, and Bushmaster.
I can't wrap this up without commenting on the unbelievably brilliant pencil work of DC penciler Allan Goldman. The detail here is just astonishing. I could not have asked for a better commission experience. Thanks to Allan for making it happen. Special thanks to Michael F. Finn -- he of One-Minute Later and Victory Parade fame -- for introducing me to Allan and to Brian Sagar -- aka the Marvel Two-in-One 76 Guy -- for helping me connect to Allan. Last but not least, a special thanks to Aidan Lacy -- the best friend the Legion of Super-Heroes ever had -- for his assistance in getting this piece shipped.
Coming soon: Bob Almond has a nervous breakdown trying to ink all this.
