WWC: Remender and The Corps at Devil's Due

Can lightning strike twice?

Devil’s Due sure hopes so.

The publisher, perhaps best known for bringing GI Joe back to comics with a line of licensed titles in the ‘90s has announced that it will be launching a new, toy-based comic series later this year, The Corps, written by Rick Remender with art by Roberto Carlos and a cover by Tony Shasteen.

What, you ask, is The Corps?

“The Corps is a line of toys that's been around for a couple of decades as I understand it,” Remender says. “To be honest I'd never heard of it until Devil’s Due editor and long time friend of mine Jim Demonakos called me to see if I'd like to write a comic based on them. He told me the basic concept, a few of the artists they'd lined up and that I'd have a lot of creative freedom to develop the book. When Jim calls asking for a favor I comply, the additional treat of having an open playing field and great art didn't hurt.”

While the property itself may be a couple of decades old, the concept sounds like it could have fallen off the evening news.

“Self-made billionaire, Renton Des saw in the governments around the world a need to be able to order covert operations while maintaining deniability,” Remender says. “The complicated modern world stage offers a unique and profitable opportunity for a privately owned team that can accomplish these delicate assignments. With the help of a disenfranchised mercenary Renton formed The Corps employing only the very best operatives from around the world. The Corps work for any ethical and free government... provided they can pay.

“Thematically The Corps is a merging of the intrigue of Mission Impossible, the ugly wartime realism of Band of Brothers and the high adventure of a 007 film, The Corps will be a high tension, high stakes, shotgun blast of adventure set all over the world; from the frozen planes of the arctic, to the unexplored depths of the Atlantic, to the treacherous slums of Brazil and as far as the cold vacuum of space. The action will be enormous in scope with the fate of the world on the line. As the many shocking treacheries are revealed the tension will mount. No one is beyond suspicion of espionage. No one is to be trusted.”

But you may find yourself thinking...”But Rick Remender? He writes like 45 other books...”

Well, it’s only 23, but each one offers him something new.

“The appeal of the book for me was the freedom it offered to tell a story free of restraints or continuity,” Remender says. “It's a large cast of fun characters that I get to do whatever I want with and get paid. Freedom and money can do wonders.

“Also, the thing about this license is that no one is very familiar with it. This means that I can do a lot of character flipping to keep readers guessing and always on their toes. It's a spy book at heart and that means a lot of intrigue and treachery. It's a challenge to continually surprise readers in a way that not only shocks but also further immerses them in the tale. That the challenge I’ve focused on with this job. “