Random Happenstance

The Youngest doesn't read a ton of comics, but he seems to watch a lot of YouTube about them, and brought this one up the other day; so I was surprised to find it in the quarter bin! From 1990, Brute Force #2, "Black Gold!" Written by Simon Furman, pencils by Jose Delbo, inks by Mike DeCarlo.

Brute Force, as a title, was described to me as Marvel trying to reverse-engineer their success with licensed titles like G.I. Joe and the Transformers; trying to create something they could turn into toys, a cartoon, whatever, and keep all the money themselves. Brute Force, the team, were animals kitted out with cybernetics to make them more toyetic--er, to increase their intelligence. Their "creator," Dr. Pierce, worries he's already starting to lose control of them, as they have their own wills and agendas; like Lionheart, who really wants mutton for dinner. (Let's give the apex predator thumbs! I'm sure that won't be a problem; but only because it's a kid-friendly book.) Possible team leader Slipstream changes his name to Soar; which is either to express his individuality, or because there was already a Joe with that name. This issue introduces the bad guy team, Heavy Metal, which features similarly augmented animals, who seem only slightly angrier than Brute Force.

I only found three issues in the quarter bins, but the first is probably not particularly hard to come across. Brute Force has turned up a couple of times since, particularly in a Deadpool Bi-Annual.