Creating a superhuman team is hard. The comic book world seems riddled with lesser manifestations of teams from other universes. But (creator and co-creator of several of several characters seen in ‘Supernatural Agents’) Jim Hachey is determined to make this team different from anything you’ve read before. These Supernatural Agents have an agenda. Their purpose is to stop demonic threats, unfortunately, they’ve met the biggest threat to your immortal soul – bureaucracy. Perhaps with a bit of corruption added in.
Apparently, they have a finite amount of time before they are officially dumped by the government. Meanwhile, the reader gets to know the team. Think of it as a roll call in action. Some threat that’s approaching one of the team member’s city gives these agents a chance to show off what they can do. Their powers are similar to other comic book worlds but they’re used in creative ways. Of course, evil scientists who have no business near a test tube are also involved giving the future backstories of these characters a myriad of original possibilities. With this first issue establishing the team writer Paul Beale has created mystery surrounding characters with wings, warriors of unknown origins, people who can shrink and are half-animal, half-human.
The second half of this comic book deals with a character named Stunray, a former hero who seems to be wanted and the former teammates who try to bring him in. Whatever Stunray did it might not have been under his own volition. There also appears to be disagreement in how to bring him in, or put him down. The final pages show artwork and allude to developing stories in the issues to come.
Remember ‘Defenders of the Earth’ the 1980’s cartoon based on the original characters of the Flash Gordon comic strips? Ming the Merciless comes to Earth to get his revenge on that blonde haired hero Flash Gordon. In this animated series, Ming gets his villainy on when he kills Dale (now Flash’s wife) and attempts to take over the planet. That’s where the title comes in. Flash gets the band together. Mandrake, Lothar, the Phantom and their kids along with Flash and Dale’s son make up the Defenders of the Earth. The cartoon will remind you of Advent Comics’ newest title to their universe. ‘Supernatural Agents’ is reminiscent of that over 30-year animation in a good way. It’s just dark enough to keep you invested. You’ll wonder about the alliances and friendships. More importantly, you’ll wonder how they became a government sanctioned team in the first place. Just how did this team get together and what are their secrets?
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