DC Teams: N

The "New Bloods"

» SEE: Blood Pack

The New Gods / The Fourth World

» SEE: New Gods section

New Guardians

Created by Steve Englehart & Joe Staton

The New Guardians, also known as "the Chosen," were a group of men and women who were given superhuman powers and designated as the progenitors of a new race of immortal superhuman beings. They were appointed by — and meant to succeed — the Guardians of the Universe, who had hypothesized that their successors were destined to originate from Earth. Therefore, the Guardian Herupa Hando Hu and the Zamaron Nadia Safir decided to channel their energies into the "Millennium Project" — to gather ten individuals together, teach them about the nature of the cosmos, and endow them with immortality and metahuman powers.

Herupa and Nadia arrived at the Green Lantern Citadel in California and the Green Lanterns based there summoned other super-heroes to help protect the Chosen. The android race called the Manhunters were rivals to the Guardians and had gotten wind of the Millennium Project. Earth's heroes were mobilized against the Manhunters in order to prevent the murders of the Chosen. But the Guardians found many roadblocks to their plan. One of the Chosen was already dead (Terra), others were targed by the Manhunters, and others still rejected their offer of immortality. After an epic battle with the Manhunters, Herupa and Nadia spent the last of their energies empowering only six of the ten Chosen: Tom Kalmaku, Betty Clawman, Extraño, Gloss, Jet and Ram. This completed, they perished. Floro refused the elders' powers, but joined the group regardless. Harbinger joined them as well. (Millennium #1-8)

     

They called themselves the New Guardians and set up their headquarters in an old studio in Los Angeles. Harbinger and Jet soon began exhibiting parallel powers and bodily systems. So, when Jet was bitten by the monster, Hemo-Goblin, Harbinger manifested the same wound. The monster was destroyed, but the New Guardians learned that he'd had AIDS. (New Guardians #1) The initial tests on Jet and Harbinger revealed no signs of the disease, but it led Extraño to reveal that he, too, was HIV positive. (#2) Jet's symptoms quickly worsened. She spent her last breath destroying an Okaaran fleet during the alien invasion. (#6) Harbinger's body, however, eradicated the disease (perhaps from the combination of her unique metahuman abilities and the detonation of the Dominators' gene bomb). Extraño remained symptom-free. (#8)

When their original plan began to go awry, Herupa and Nadia revealed that they had put alternative plans in motion. One of these included monitoring one of their rejected Chosen, Janwillem Kroef. Kroef had created a new race of beings whom he enslaved. In this way, he also eventually enslaved the New Guardians and seemingly killed Thomas Kalmaku. Instead, he ignited Tom's latent power (which was to "bring out the best in people"). He used to sync with Betty Clawman and together, they unleashed the genetic potential in Kroef's creations. Herupa and Nadia briefly reappeared and explained that these beings would be the true Chosen — the next step in human evolution. The remaining New Guardians (except for Floro) agreed to help foster and teach this race.

The New Guardians the the new "Chosen" soon fell prey to the villain called Entropy (formerly Krona). Betty Clawman was reach out to Green Lantern Hal Jordan and give him the knowledge to defeat Entropy. Hal called upon the minds of the New Guardians, within Entropy, to help disperse Entropy's energies. Ram, Gloss, Harbinger and Extraño emerged successfully from this battle. Kroef's Chosen, however, did not return to corporeal form; they disappeared. (Green Lantern v.3 #32-35)

Tom Kalmaku went back to work for Carol Ferris at Ferris Aircraft. He has not demonstrated any metahuman abilities since his time with the New Guardians. Floro returned to a life of misadventure and was ripped apart by the Swamp Thing's daughter, Tefé. (Swamp Thing #170) His form was apparently being regrown (#171), and he's appeared sporadically since then. Betty Clawman and Gloss appeared once in aid of Wonder Woman against Circe. (WW #175) Ram was reportedly killed in combat in Roulette's casino. (JSA #28) Extraño's whereabouts are unknown.

At some point, Harbinger left them and rejoined Pariah to explore the nature of the universe. (JLA 80-Page Giant #3) She was recently invited by the Amazons to become their official historian, and went to live on the new islands of Themyscira. (Wonder Woman Secret Files #3) Sadly, she met her end here as well. When Darkseid's minions came to kidnap Kara Zor-El (the new Supergirl), Lyla was brutally ravaged. (Superman/Batman #10)

Recently, Jet has been mysteriously resurrected and is now the leader of the Global Guardians. Gloss has joined her. (Green Lantern v.3 #10)

VERDICT: Sigh. This series courageously attempted to deal with some big-time issues of the day: AIDS, apartheid, drug trafficking, multiculturalism. Overall, however, it was a really pointless creative endeavor. The whole premise was sabotaged from the start: there were supposed to be twelve but the Guardians settled for seven — some of them runners-up? At that, they were intended to procreate but Extraño was gay (and HIV positive) and Floro and Betty weren't human. Then Jet died. What the hell? The creators got carried away with the politics and eschewed the group's premise.

» FIRST APPEARANCE: As civilians: Millennium #2 (1987). As the New Guardians: Millennium #8

» FEATURED APPEARANCES: Green Lantern v.2 #32-35

» SERIES: New Guardians, 12 issues (1988-89)

» SEE ALSO: Manhunters

The New Olympians

Created by Mike W. Barr& Bill Willingham

Adapted from work by Tom Tomorrow

When Maxie Zeus needed agents to disrupt the 1984 Olympics he contacted the Monitor, who assembled the New Olympians. The New Olympians have the names of Greek and Roman gods, as well as corresponding powers. Their powers may or may not have come from the Monitor himself. The New Olympians arrived at the Olympics to abduct athlete Lacinia Nitocris and convince her to be Maxie Zeus' bride. The Outsiders II confronted them, and Maxie Zeus demanded that the teams compete against each other in olympic games to determine the fate of Nitocris. The Outsiders prevailed, and the New Olympians have not been heard from since. (Batman and the Outsiders #14-15)

Members included:

• Antaeus
• Argus
• Diana
• Maxie Zeus
• Nox
• Proteus
• Vulcanus

Maxie Zeus went on to attempt solo success, but was repeatedly foiled. He was apparently killed (Wonder Woman v.2 #166) but later resurfaced. (Robin #172) His cohorts failed worse. They were all killed by Gog. (JSofA v.3 #12)

» FIRST APPEARANCE: Batman and the Outsiders #14 (Oct. 1984)

Night Force

Created by Marv Wolfman & Gene Colan

Little is known about the history of Baron Winter, the mastermind behind the Night Force. Many of Winter's claims are suspect; he is known to tell lies as a means to an end. He is certainly long-lived, claiming to be over 300 years old. He met his first love, Katina, centuries ago when they were young and studying the occult. (Night Force v.1 #13) He also said that he fled Russia in 1917 for the United States.

At times, Winter is prone to assemble reluctant groups of individuals as a task force against evil supernatural forces. The first such recorded grouping included Vanessa Van Helsing (descendant of Dracula's killer). Whether Vanessa is his daughter (another of Winter's claims) remains unconfirmed. He also recruited Dr. Donovan Caine, and reporter Jack Gold. Caine, a professor at Georgetown College was experimenting to tap into the "energy of evil." This endeavor was subsidized by the Pentagon. To this end, he employed the abilities of Van Helsing, who was sensitive to malevolent forces. Gold was drawn in while doing an article on Winter himself. Winter referred him to Van Helsing as his associate. (Night Force #1)

Years later, an ancient evil surfaced, prompting Winter to again assemble the Night Force. This evil began infecting children, one of whom murdered his mother. Even before the murder, though, the woman's sister, Hally Davis, sought help from Dr. Caine, who refused her. Instead he referred her to Winter. Winter also culled the child's father, CIA agent Marc Diamond. Completing the team was a no-luck loser, Eddie Furlow. (Night Force v.2 #1) Winter later enlisted career bad guy Paul Brooks to do his dirty work. (#9)

Eventually, more was revealed about Winters as well. He has an unexplained connection to the early biblical figures Adam and Eve, Lilith and the serpent. His duties lie in the balancing between the forces of good and evil. Once a year, Winters must recruit someone to deliver an angel to Hell to ensure that mankind maintains its "freedom"; his most recent recruit was a priest. (Night Force v.2 #4) Jack and Vanessa (who suffered a tumultuous relationship) returned when Vanessa's anger at Jack created a serial killer. (#5-7) Baron Winters later learned that he was destined to be the host for all the spirits not claimed by Heaven or Hell, which would drive him insane for eternity. He was the thirteenth man to fill the role, after the eleventh man (Richard Nixon), and the twelfth man die. He escaped this fate by hiding out in a sort of Garden of Eden-like dimension.

Winter is content to remain in his house, and occasionally facilitates important magical rites. One such rite was performed on Archane, the secret 13th month on the sorcerers calendar. Zatanna had summoned a group of mystics (including Ibis, Taia, Timothy Ravenwind and Terrence 13) to investigate their dreams of the mysterious Sheeda. Zatanna hoped to find father Zatara's lost knowledge, but the group was attacked while on the astral plane and all but Zatanna perished. Winter was unmoved by this and bid Zatanna adieu. (Seven Soldiers: Zatanna #1)

Notes

Marv Wolfman stated in the letter column of the first series that he was attempting to employ the same formula that proved successful for him in Tomb of Dracula for Marvel. Verdict: I haven't read Tomb of Dracula, but the first Night Force series is surprising! Hard to believe Wolfman was writing something so adult while at the same time launching the New Teen Titans. It's very dark. Good solid horror/adventure.

» FIRST APPEARANCE:  New Teen Titans #21 (July 1982)

» SERIES:
Night Force v.1, 14 issues (1982-83)
Night Force v.2, 10 issues (1996-97)