At the time that this is being written, I’m hard at work putting together my second title and spin-off to The Stone Legacy, Codename: Equinox. Now…with The Stone Legacy, there were a vast number of influences that helped create what that comic has become. That is also true with the new comic. In a previous commentary (Action Comics 598) I gave a glimpse into one influential piece, but there is also another title that I enjoyed: The H.A.R.D Corps, which was also influential for me.
This was a title put out by Valiant Comics in late 1992 and lasted for thirty issues. Created by Jim Shooter and David Lapham, The H.A.R.D Corps followed a handful of men who have been technologically enhanced so that they are able to access an array of super human abilities for the purpose capturing people with super powers. They weren’t government controlled but instead existed as a a corporate strike team dealing with a specific individual with sinister motives for super powered humans.
For various reasons this comic book struck a deep chord inside of me and it’s influence reverberates throughout the creation of team Equinox, not the initial seed itself but rather the ways the stories were told. It was one of the refreshingly original comics that Valiant put out at the time (and continues to do for that matter). For example, i thought it was so interesting that the team members could utilize superpower but only one at a time and had to request a powers change by radio headset. If they were to lose that headset in the heat of battle that meant they were stuck with whichever power was uploaded to them last through their nuero-link. There was special about these characters which is why I’m glad they have been reintroduced Valiant Entertainment line. Although the continuities are separate, I like the current telling just as much as the original.
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