Freak Force
Encyclopedia
Freak Force is the name of a fictional team of superhuman bounty hunters operating out of Chicago
, Illinois
. They originated in the Image Comics
series Savage Dragon
, but subsequently went on to star in their own series. All the characters were created by Erik Larsen
, many during his adolescence.
attempted to recruit super-powered police officers. Dart
, a vigilante from Detroit, was among the first recruited. Horridus joined soon after the Dragon rescued her from abusive captivity in her parent's basement. Ricochet and Barbaric were led to the program from a meeting with the Savage Dragon, although Ricochet was rejected as too young to be a police officer. While sulking, she helped rescue Rapture
from a homicidal pimp.
Their tenure as police officers was brief and fraught with disaster. Barbaric almost killed members of the Vicious Circle
criminal organization during a prison escape. Dart gravely injured the villain Cesspool, who later filed a lawsuit. The police department also wanted the crew to wear standard police uniforms, instead of superhero costumes. The heroes complained that this would restrict their fighting ability. This, and other factors, soon led to the team leaving the police department.
Issues #1 mostly set the scene and introduced the team's downtown headquarters as well as a shambolic fight against a nuclear powered character Major Disaster, and issue two tying into the long-running Covenant Of The Sword
sub-plot that would not be resolved until the 75th issue of Savage Dragon
some years later.
Chelsea Nirvana, the daughter of Mighty Man's old villain Dr. Nirvana, tricks her way into becoming the secretary for the group.
Issues #3, #4, and #5 featured the series' first story arc, with Chelsea Nirvana using one of her father's old inventions to clone Mighty Man, Ricochet and Barbaric (twice, after failing to remember Superpatriot was mostly robotic) resulting in a public battle between the clones and the originals. Vanguard
, an ally of the Dragon, was sucked into the fight. During clean up, Mighty Man, Barbaric and Ricochet were attacked by Inhabitor, who was able to stretch inanimate objects, mostly floors and walls.
Issue #6 detailed the origins of Mighty Man and Rapture, and so in turn, the fate of Chelsea's father, who was killed during experimenting on Rapture. This is the incident that gave Rapture her superpowers. Issue #7 featured an appearance of the dangerously insane Detroit hero Killkat (later of the Deadly Duo) who is obsessed with Dart. Chelsea and Inhibitor team up.
Issues 8 & 9 introduced Jake Farrel, a government agent and old 'acquaintance' of Superpatriot, who enlists them to defeat metal eating ants that crash landed in Brazil. The story again guest-starred Vanguard, and was a cross-over with Cyberforce
. Issue #10 was the only issue to feature The Dragon in any major way, in a stand-alone story featuring a bullied and abused teen Joey Finklebarr who wakes with incredible strength and murders his abusive father and classmates. He defeats Freak Force, but is talked into surrendering by the Dragon.
The final issues were divided up into three major story-arcs. 11, 12 and 13 had Jake Farrel once again drafting Freak Force, this time with two members of Superpatriot's old team The Liberty League Mr Big and Hornet to remove The Cosmic Cops, who had commandeered New York
with intentions of taking the populace. Horridus was revealed as being half extraterrestrial. She accidentally sabotages the Cosmic Cops, who flee. However both Mr Big and Hornet perish and Rapture's leg is broken. Annoyed at the team's performance Dart quits. Issues 14 and 15 feature Bludgeon, who was given powers by Johnny Redbeard. Mighty Man and Ricochet are in comas and it is Joey Finklebarr who saves the day. Dart and Mighty Man's friend, Phyllis Deeder, are captured by Chelsea and Inhibitor.
Issue #16 has a further confrontation with Chelsea, Redbeard and various other characters. Freak Force disbands, some of the group perform a rescue mission at a super-freak detainment camp and Chelsea changes genders.
This story continued on into the regular Savage Dragon series. Chelsea and Inhibitor’s gang, made up of her henchmen and other freed prisoners continued on with villainy. The Nixed Men, further creations of Johnny Redbead, joined up. She-Dragon
mistook Chelsea Nirvana for Johnny Redbead, for Chelsea had changed into that form. The gang-lead Cyber-Face killed a number of Chelsea's men, then had Negate, who could remove powers, neutralize Chelsea. She ended up looking exactly like her father. Chelsea later gained some measure of revenge by killing Mighty Man's human host. Dart soon gained Mighty Man's powers.
The Mini-series had one story, that of the attack of the 'Frightening Force', a new team of enemies organised by Chelsea Nirvana, now a normal powerless man attacking the group out of revenge shortly after they became funded by Peter Klaptain, a rock singer who likes to insinuate he is the vigilante Star (when in fact it was a policeman Chris Robinson, who was his bodyguard, and in this story, his Limo driver) and added Star to the team's roaster, there is one sub-plot that of a prison break by a villain Ultimatum that releases Joe Finklebarr, Finklebarr is essential to ending the battle between Freak Force and Frightening Force, killing Inhibitor and Star. Negate takes Finklebarr's powers from him returning him to a normal boy.
Dart is not part of the major story, she is on holiday with her lover Justice, one of Superpatriot's children, the other, Liberty appears heavily pregnant, having been impregnated by Martians during the Mars Attacks Image event, Ricochet is also revealed to be pregnant.
Freak Force were absorbed into The Dragon's S.O.S project, a government sponsored team replacing Youngblood
who were killed during the Mars Attacks Image event (in truth Rob Liefeld
creator of the team was no longer part of Image Comics
after being voted out by his co-founders) Barbaric and Ricochet were married in Savage Dragon issue 41 to help a lucrative merchandising deal, Rapture was killed an issue later while on an S.O.S mission and Dart was crippled in issue 47, she later gained the powers of Mighty Man.
Superpatriot has been the most featured, along with Mighty Man, originally under the control of the villain Cyberface, who was now running America. He is now a major support role. Anne Stevens, alive in this reality, had never realized she could become Mighty Man, and had to be shown by The Dragon and has been gradually getting more adept at superheroics.
Dart was recently killed during a battle between Mako and The Savage Dragon.
Barbaric and Ricochet were part of a gladiatorial arena that also included Madman
. Rapture was shown to be morbidly obese.
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
, Illinois
Illinois
Illinois is the fifth-most populous state of the United States of America, and is often noted for being a microcosm of the entire country. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal,...
. They originated in the Image Comics
Image Comics
Image Comics is a United States comic book publisher. It was founded in 1992 by high-profile illustrators as a venue where creators could publish their material without giving up the copyrights to the characters they created, as creator-owned properties. It was immediately successful, and remains...
series Savage Dragon
Savage Dragon
Savage Dragon is an ongoing American comic book series created by Erik Larsen, published by Image Comics and taking place in the Image Universe. The comic features the adventures of a superheroic police officer named the Dragon...
, but subsequently went on to star in their own series. All the characters were created by Erik Larsen
Erik Larsen
Erik J. Larsen is an American comic book writer, artist and publisher. He is best known for his work on Savage Dragon, as one of the founders of Image Comics, and for his work on Spider-Man for Marvel Comics.-Early life:...
, many during his adolescence.
Premise
With the exceptions of Superpatriot and Mighty Man, all of the team were part of a failed "freak force" program, in which the Chicago Police DepartmentChicago Police Department
The Chicago Police Department, also known as the CPD, is the principal law enforcement agency of Chicago, Illinois, in the United States, under the jurisdiction of the Mayor of Chicago. It is the largest police department in the Midwest and the second largest local law enforcement agency in the...
attempted to recruit super-powered police officers. Dart
Dart (comics)
Dart is a fictional Image Comics superhero. Created by Erik Larsen, she first appeared in 1992, in Savage Dragon #2 .-Publication history:...
, a vigilante from Detroit, was among the first recruited. Horridus joined soon after the Dragon rescued her from abusive captivity in her parent's basement. Ricochet and Barbaric were led to the program from a meeting with the Savage Dragon, although Ricochet was rejected as too young to be a police officer. While sulking, she helped rescue Rapture
Rapture (comics)
Rapture, real name Sharona Jackson, is a fictional superhero created by Erik Larsen for his Image Comics series Savage Dragon. Rapture was inspired by, and named after. The Knack's song My Sharona...
from a homicidal pimp.
Their tenure as police officers was brief and fraught with disaster. Barbaric almost killed members of the Vicious Circle
Vicious Circle (comics)
The Vicious Circle is a criminal organization of mutants, cyborgs, monsters, assassins, and magicians that serves as the primary opponents for the superheroes in Erik Larsen's comic-book titles, primarily the Dragon.-Overview:...
criminal organization during a prison escape. Dart gravely injured the villain Cesspool, who later filed a lawsuit. The police department also wanted the crew to wear standard police uniforms, instead of superhero costumes. The heroes complained that this would restrict their fighting ability. This, and other factors, soon led to the team leaving the police department.
The series
The initial Freak Force series ran for 18 issues, from December 1993 to July 1995.Issues #1 mostly set the scene and introduced the team's downtown headquarters as well as a shambolic fight against a nuclear powered character Major Disaster, and issue two tying into the long-running Covenant Of The Sword
Covenant of the Sword (comics)
Covenant of the Sword is a fictional, covert organization bent on global domination appearing in the Image Universe and created by Erik Larsen. Although appearing in Larsen's flagship title, Savage Dragon, the Covenant also appeared in a number of Extreme Studios comics by Rob Liefeld, most notably...
sub-plot that would not be resolved until the 75th issue of Savage Dragon
Savage Dragon
Savage Dragon is an ongoing American comic book series created by Erik Larsen, published by Image Comics and taking place in the Image Universe. The comic features the adventures of a superheroic police officer named the Dragon...
some years later.
Chelsea Nirvana, the daughter of Mighty Man's old villain Dr. Nirvana, tricks her way into becoming the secretary for the group.
Issues #3, #4, and #5 featured the series' first story arc, with Chelsea Nirvana using one of her father's old inventions to clone Mighty Man, Ricochet and Barbaric (twice, after failing to remember Superpatriot was mostly robotic) resulting in a public battle between the clones and the originals. Vanguard
Vanguard (Image Comics)
Vanguard is a fictional alien hero created by Gary Carlson and Erik Larsen for Carlson's self-published anthology Megaton. Vanguard is a white alien with small antennae who has been given the unenviable job of guarding Earth, which is viewed by the aliens as boring with little chance of anything...
, an ally of the Dragon, was sucked into the fight. During clean up, Mighty Man, Barbaric and Ricochet were attacked by Inhabitor, who was able to stretch inanimate objects, mostly floors and walls.
Issue #6 detailed the origins of Mighty Man and Rapture, and so in turn, the fate of Chelsea's father, who was killed during experimenting on Rapture. This is the incident that gave Rapture her superpowers. Issue #7 featured an appearance of the dangerously insane Detroit hero Killkat (later of the Deadly Duo) who is obsessed with Dart. Chelsea and Inhibitor team up.
Issues 8 & 9 introduced Jake Farrel, a government agent and old 'acquaintance' of Superpatriot, who enlists them to defeat metal eating ants that crash landed in Brazil. The story again guest-starred Vanguard, and was a cross-over with Cyberforce
Cyberforce
Cyberforce is an Image Comics super-hero team created by artist Marc Silvestri and writer Eric Silvestri in 1992. Silvestri would begin performing both the plotting and pencilling chores, but the series was subsequently drawn by other artists, including David Finch...
. Issue #10 was the only issue to feature The Dragon in any major way, in a stand-alone story featuring a bullied and abused teen Joey Finklebarr who wakes with incredible strength and murders his abusive father and classmates. He defeats Freak Force, but is talked into surrendering by the Dragon.
The final issues were divided up into three major story-arcs. 11, 12 and 13 had Jake Farrel once again drafting Freak Force, this time with two members of Superpatriot's old team The Liberty League Mr Big and Hornet to remove The Cosmic Cops, who had commandeered New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
with intentions of taking the populace. Horridus was revealed as being half extraterrestrial. She accidentally sabotages the Cosmic Cops, who flee. However both Mr Big and Hornet perish and Rapture's leg is broken. Annoyed at the team's performance Dart quits. Issues 14 and 15 feature Bludgeon, who was given powers by Johnny Redbeard. Mighty Man and Ricochet are in comas and it is Joey Finklebarr who saves the day. Dart and Mighty Man's friend, Phyllis Deeder, are captured by Chelsea and Inhibitor.
Issue #16 has a further confrontation with Chelsea, Redbeard and various other characters. Freak Force disbands, some of the group perform a rescue mission at a super-freak detainment camp and Chelsea changes genders.
This story continued on into the regular Savage Dragon series. Chelsea and Inhibitor’s gang, made up of her henchmen and other freed prisoners continued on with villainy. The Nixed Men, further creations of Johnny Redbead, joined up. She-Dragon
She-Dragon
Amy Belcher, also known as Sensation and mostly as She-Dragon is a fictional 'superfreak' and later police officer created by Erik Larsen for his series Savage Dragon as a She-Hulk like female counterpart for the series' main character The Dragon....
mistook Chelsea Nirvana for Johnny Redbead, for Chelsea had changed into that form. The gang-lead Cyber-Face killed a number of Chelsea's men, then had Negate, who could remove powers, neutralize Chelsea. She ended up looking exactly like her father. Chelsea later gained some measure of revenge by killing Mighty Man's human host. Dart soon gained Mighty Man's powers.
Mini-series
Concurrent with the end of the initial series, there was also a three-issue Freak Force mini-series, set after the "Mars Attacks Image" event, that ran from April 1997 to July 1997. Larsen was again involved overseeing the project, which was written by Larsen (with Eric Stephenson as co-scripter) and illustrated by Andy Kuhn.The Mini-series had one story, that of the attack of the 'Frightening Force', a new team of enemies organised by Chelsea Nirvana, now a normal powerless man attacking the group out of revenge shortly after they became funded by Peter Klaptain, a rock singer who likes to insinuate he is the vigilante Star (when in fact it was a policeman Chris Robinson, who was his bodyguard, and in this story, his Limo driver) and added Star to the team's roaster, there is one sub-plot that of a prison break by a villain Ultimatum that releases Joe Finklebarr, Finklebarr is essential to ending the battle between Freak Force and Frightening Force, killing Inhibitor and Star. Negate takes Finklebarr's powers from him returning him to a normal boy.
Dart is not part of the major story, she is on holiday with her lover Justice, one of Superpatriot's children, the other, Liberty appears heavily pregnant, having been impregnated by Martians during the Mars Attacks Image event, Ricochet is also revealed to be pregnant.
Freak Force were absorbed into The Dragon's S.O.S project, a government sponsored team replacing Youngblood
Youngblood (comics)
Youngblood is a superhero team that starred in their self-titled comic book, created by writer/artist Rob Liefeld. The team made its debut as a backup feature in the 1987 one-shot Megaton: Explosion before later appearing in its own ongoing series in 1992 as the flagship publication for Image Comics...
who were killed during the Mars Attacks Image event (in truth Rob Liefeld
Rob Liefeld
Rob Liefeld is an American comic book writer, illustrator, and publisher. A prominent artist in the 1990s, he has since become a controversial figure in the medium....
creator of the team was no longer part of Image Comics
Image Comics
Image Comics is a United States comic book publisher. It was founded in 1992 by high-profile illustrators as a venue where creators could publish their material without giving up the copyrights to the characters they created, as creator-owned properties. It was immediately successful, and remains...
after being voted out by his co-founders) Barbaric and Ricochet were married in Savage Dragon issue 41 to help a lucrative merchandising deal, Rapture was killed an issue later while on an S.O.S mission and Dart was crippled in issue 47, she later gained the powers of Mighty Man.
This Savage World
After killing Damian Darklord, The Savage Dragon caused an alternate Earth to exist, and the Earth the previous Freak Force inhabited was destroyed. However all of the Freak Force existed on this world:Superpatriot has been the most featured, along with Mighty Man, originally under the control of the villain Cyberface, who was now running America. He is now a major support role. Anne Stevens, alive in this reality, had never realized she could become Mighty Man, and had to be shown by The Dragon and has been gradually getting more adept at superheroics.
Dart was recently killed during a battle between Mako and The Savage Dragon.
Barbaric and Ricochet were part of a gladiatorial arena that also included Madman
Madman
Madman is a fictional character, a comic book superhero created by Mike Allred and most recently published by Image Comics. He first appeared in Creatures of the Id...
. Rapture was shown to be morbidly obese.
External links
- SavageDragon.com - Larsen's official site