We're on the cusp of a new DC Universe. It doesn't start with Superman, Wonder Woman, or even Batman, though, and it isn't starting with a feature film--though all of that will surely come. Instead, it begins with an animated series following the misadventures of another one of Amanda Waller's ill-fated Task Forces. Mercifully, this doesn't mark the return of Harley Quinn; I like her, but DC's favorite anti-heroine needs a vacation. Instead, we're beginning with James Gunn's Creature Commandos, a team of incarcerated monsters. Note: Minor spoilers follow for the complete Season 1 of Creature Commandos.

Creature Commandos: Season 1

If there's one thing we know James Gunn loves, it's a ragtag team of weirdoes (who don't even want to be here) on a hopeless quest. Guardians of the Galaxy, The Suicide Squad, and now Creature Commandos. And for Gunn, the lesser-known the weirdoes are, the better. This team is made up of a bunch of monster characters, often inspired by classic monster movie characters.

For example, we have The Bride, an immortal woman created by Victor Frankenstein to be a bride for his other creation, Eric Frankenstein (no relation to the author of this review), but who rejects her destiny to strike out on her own. There's also Nina Mazursky, a woman who resembles the classic image of the Creature from the Black Lagoon, but who is far more gentle and may not be quite what she seems.

The heroes are tasked with protecting the princess of a fictional Eastern European nation from an attack by Circe and her army of men who call themselves the Sons of Themyscira.

Gunn's knack for bringing life to characters for whom the term "deep cut" is a massive understatement is on display here; Eric Frankenstein is a sort of an itinerant philosopher-monster who yearns to reconnect with The Bride. It doesn't matter that she has wholly rejected all contact with him; he waxes philosophical as he searches for her with absolute certainty that she's on the verge of embracing and accepting him. Voiced by David Harbour, Frankenstein is one of the show's funniest characters, and also one of the most absurdly violent. He's a perfect example of the talk-y nature of Gunn's favorite characters and their love for having intense conversations in the middle of battle.

This animated show sports a level of violence we probably won't be seeing in something like the upcoming Superman film. These characters are brutally violent and they look great doing it. Doctor Phosphorous' powerful radiation can burn a hole through nearly anything, be it a tank or a guy's face, almost instantly. The Bride is somewhat of a Black Widow-style character, acrobatic and unafraid of killing enemies as long as she gets paid. The animation, done by French animation studio Bobbypills, is mostly excellent, especially when there's action happening or body parts flying, and this is certainly one of the main attractors for the series.

The characters, meanwhile, are hit and miss. Frankenstein is fun, but Rick Flag Sr. is about as much fun as Rick Flag Jr. (which is to say he's the team's primary source of buzzkill). With just seven half-hour episodes, the show feels overfull as it tries to tell the back stories of nearly every member of the Creature Commandos team while also putting together a compelling mystery for them to punch, shoot, and investigate their way through.

There are some fun stories; G.I. Robot is a blast to watch as he blasts Nazis across the decades. Weasel finally gets some real character development that changes the way we look at him, and adds mystery to his origin and identity. But with all of these backstories, the main storyline feels like an afterthought--a way to justify telling each of the backstories for these characters more than a story unto itself. A few of these characters' stories could've been left for a second season, leaving more room to pull us into the current storyline.

There are a few aspects that fell flat with me. The Sons of Themyscira are a thinly-veiled prodding of tacticool guys who like to play army without ever joining up. We love to see it, but it's not very elegantly done here, and it isn't as funny as it should be. The relationship between Princess Ilana and Rick Flag feels tacked on and doesn't really enhance the story.

I ended up leaving Creature Commandos feeling a little lukewarm; considering that I was finishing up The Penguin and watching Superman & Lois at the same time, it isn't a huge surprise. Both of those shows have elevated live action portrayals of their main characters in ways we haven't seen, turning Penguin into a true villain and making Superman feel real in ways he never has. Creature Commandos isn't meant to run alongside those; it's a hyperviolent action-comedy cartoon. But the proximity makes it hard to miss how overstuffed and scattered the show feels at times.

If there's a season 2, I'll definitely be checking it out, because there's enough good here that I'm curious, and at 7 episodes Creature Commandos is a relatively easy binge. I just hope that Gunn can find a better balance between telling us about the characters' histories and letting us experience the present along with them.