Special Executive

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The Special Executive
MarvelSpecialExecutiveAlanDavis.jpg
Selected Special Executive members - [l-r] Cobweb, Wardog, Fascination, Zeitgeist; [front] Legion. Art by Alan Davis.
Publication information
Publisher Marvel Comics
First appearance Doctor Who Monthly #51 (April 1981)
Created by Alan Moore (writer)
David Lloyd (artist)
In-story information
Type of businessMercenaries

The Special Executive is a fictional group of time-traveling mercenaries appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The characters were decpicted in comic strips published by Marvel UK. The initial incarnation was created by Alan Moore and David Lloyd for Doctor Who Monthly ; Alan Davis later expanded the line-up when they appeared in Captain Britain . [1]

Contents

Publication history

Alan Moore has said that members of the Special Executive, including Wardog, originate from a massive, unpublished, unfinished space opera script that he began in 1977. Moore shelved the project after Steve Moore offered guidance in selling shorter stories in the British comics industry. [2] In 1981, the Special Executive debuted in Doctor Who Monthly . Moore would later bring them into the Marvel Universe during his work on Captain Britain for Marvel UK. [3]

The group first appeared in a short strip called "The 4-D War" in Doctor Who Monthly #51 (April 1981), published by the UK arm of Marvel Comics. The story was a follow-up to a strip called "Star Death" that Moore and Lloyd had produced for Doctor Who Monthly #47. They were created by Alan Moore and David Lloyd, and the initial line-up consisted of Wardog and Viridian the Brainfeeler - who was almost immediately killed. Moore planned a sequel strip, "Black Sun Rising", with Steve Dillon. However, Dillon was only able to contribute character designs for new additions Cobweb, Zeitgeist and Millennium. However, Dillon's schedule meant when the story appeared in Doctor Who Monthly #57 the art was again by Lloyd. Millennium was again killed off very soon after being introduced. [4] Moore would refuse to allow the characters to be used in future Doctor Who strips due to what he perceived to be poor treatment of his good friend Steve Moore (no relation). [5]

In 1983, Moore incorporated them into the Captain Britain strip running in Marvel UK's The Daredevils , with artist Alan Davis. [2] Moore and Davis devised additional members, including Legion, Fascination, Oxo and Lady Burning Fish, and the characters played a supporting role in the "Jaspers' Warp" storyline. [1] The trilogy of Doctor Who Monthly strips were also reprinted in The Daredevils. In keeping with those stories, several of the characters were killed during the story. [4] Following the conclusion of the storyline, Moore would leave Marvel UK on unhappy terms, and as a result he blocked any future use of the Special Executive. The team was subsequently reorganised into the similar Technet, [6] which featured a mixture of the characters created by Davis (with some renamed and given different abilities) and new co-creations with Jamie Delano. [7] Due to both being time-travelling bounty hunters the overlap in membership was used as a plot point, with their exploits being out-of-sequence for both the reader and the main protagonists of the Captain Britain and Excalibur stories. [1]

Group history

Centuries before the Technet was founded, there was the Special Executive, another group of time-traveling bounty hunters. Due to time travel though the Special Executive returned in time and tried to disband the Technet. The Special Executive at this time was led by an unnamed humanoid and members included Cobweb, Zeitgeist, Legion and several unnamed members. Despite the warnings of Cobweb that his plans would fail, the leader hoped to kill the Technet's leader Gatecrasher and recruit the powerful Fascination 300 years before she would join the Special Executive. The plan failed, and the Special Executive retreated. [8]

At least a century later, the Special Executive's leader had died, and several members had been replaced. The new leader was named Wardog and they now worked for the Gallifreyans against the Order of the Black Sun. A member called Viridian the Brainfeeler was killed by the Order and Wardog lost his arm. [9] Ten years later another member - Millennium - was mind-controlled by the Order against her team and Wardog was forced to kill her. [10] Later, the Special Executive had recruited several members to its line-up, including Lady Burning Fish and Oxo, and went to Earth-616 in the late 20th century to recruit the Technet, now known as the N-Men. Cobweb told the N-Men that Earth was about to be destroyed and Wardog offered the N-men a place on the team. The N-men accepted and left with the team. [11]

The Special Executive was hired to capture Captain Britain so that he could testify on Saturnyne's behalf in a cosmic trial. Saturnyne was accused of causing the chaos on the alternate world Earth-239, which was caused by a version of Mad Jim Jaspers. The world was destroyed, including all evidence of Saturnyne's innocence. Captain Britain was enraged by the trial and found it a farce; he fought the Captain Britain Corps and the Special Executive, feeling responsible for him, helped the hero out. Together they freed Saturnyne and returned to Earth-616, home of Captain Britain. The team stayed with Captain Britain in Braddock Manor, but Zeitgeist disagreed with Wardog on this course of action; Wardog felt obligated to help Captain Britain, whose world was menaced by another Mad Jim Jaspers. However Zeitgeist felt that they were mercenaries and had no obligation to anybody. Shortly after, the Fury attacked the manor, as the Wardog led his group to attack the creature. Oxo and a future incarnation of Legion died in the battle, and Wardog himself was badly injured. In the end, it was Zeitgeist who blinded the Fury long enough for the group to retaliate against it, but the Fury escaped. With his team in ruins, Wardog apologised to Captain Britain and the Special Executive left Earth. [12]

Members

Alan Moore wrote the Special Executive group similar to a superhero team. In a 1982 interview, Moore cited John Byrne's 1970s work on Uncanny X-Men as an inspiration. [13] [14] [15] During a discussion with X-Men author Chris Claremont about the role of an artist in comics writing, Moore partly attributed the scope of the team to artist Alan Davis. Before Moore began writing for Captain Britain, Davis had already done scripts and continued to have plotting input. Moore said they expanded the team to improve the artwork. [16]

[Alan Davis] liked the idea of bringing in the Special Executive and adding about six more members to them, and he liked the idea of having lots of characters around because it gave him new characters to design, new characters to draw.

— Alan Moore [16]

Unconfirmed members

In other media

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References

  1. 1 2 3 Nolen-Weathington, Eric, ed. (March 2007). The Modern Masters Volume One: Alan Davis. TwoMorrows Publishing. ISBN   9781893905191.
  2. 1 2 Parkin, Lance (7 November 2013). Magic Words. UK: Aurum Press. pp. 59–61, 138–140. ISBN   9781781310779.
  3. ↑ Parkin, Lance (2001). Alan Moore. UK: Pocket Essentials. pp. 17–18. ISBN   1-903047-70-6.
  4. 1 2 Alan Moore  ( w )."About the Special Executive" The Daredevils ,no. 5(May 1983). Marvel UK .
  5. ↑ Arnold, Jon (4 February 2019). "Alan Moore's Doctor Who Strips » We Are Cult". We Are Cult.
  6. ↑ Comments, Rich Johnston (10 June 2020). "Excalibur #10 Brings Us A Very Different London - Or Does It?". bleedingcool.com.
  7. ↑ Comments, Rich Johnston | Last updated (22 June 2018). "Deadpool and the Technet Comes to Mr. & Mrs. X, in New Updated Solicitations". bleedingcool.com.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  8. ↑ Jamie Delano  ( w ), Alan Davis  ( a )."Alarms and Excursions" Captain Britain ,vol. 2,no. 12(December 1985). Marvel UK .
  9. ↑ Alan Moore  ( w ), David Lloyd  ( a )."The 4-D War" Doctor Who Monthly ,no. 51(April 1981). Marvel UK .
  10. ↑ Alan Moore  ( w ), David Lloyd  ( a )."Black Sun Rising" Doctor Who Monthly ,no. 57(October 1981). Marvel UK .
  11. ↑ Alan Davis  ( w ,  a ), Mark Farmer  ( i )."Crisis of Infinite Identities" Excalibur ,vol. 1,no. 46(January 1992). Marvel Comics .
  12. ↑ Alan Moore  ( w ), Alan Davis  ( a )." Jaspers' Warp " The Daredevils ,no. 5-11(May - November 1983). Marvel UK .
  13. ↑ "Doctor Who and the Genesis of Alan Moore". Comics Forum. 5 September 2012.
  14. ↑ Moore, Alan (1982). "Curt Vile Interview". Cerebro (Interview). Vol. 3, no. 15. Interviewed by E Stachelski.
  15. ↑ Saffel, Steve (2007). "Weaving a Broader Web". Spider-Man the Icon: The Life and Times of a Pop Culture Phenomenon. London, United Kingdom: Titan Books. p. 72. ISBN   978-1-84576-324-4.
  16. 1 2 "Moore and Claremont speak out on writing". Speakeasy. No. 54. 1985.
  17. ↑ "Special Executive". www.internationalhero.co.uk.
  18. ↑ "Doctor Who Short Stories". 23 June 2010.
  19. ↑ "Special Executive (Captain Britain foes)". www.marvunapp.com.
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