The Special Executive is a fictional group of time-traveling mercenaries appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The characters were decpicted in comic strips published by Marvel UK. The initial incarnation was created by Alan Moore and David Lloyd for Doctor Who Monthly; Alan Davis later expanded the line-up when they appeared in Captain Britain.
Publication history
Alan Moore has said that members of the Special Executive, including Wardog, originate from a massive, unpublished, unfinished space opera script that he began in 1977. Moore shelved the project after Steve Moore offered guidance in selling shorter stories in the British comics industry. In 1981, the Special Executive debuted in Doctor Who Monthly. Moore would later bring them into the Marvel Universe during his work on Captain Britain for Marvel UK.
The group first appeared in a short strip called "The 4-D War" in Doctor Who Monthly #51 (April 1981), published by the UK arm of Marvel Comics. The story was a follow-up to a strip called "Star Death" that Moore and Lloyd had produced for Doctor Who Monthly #47. They were created by Alan Moore and David Lloyd, and the initial line-up consisted of Wardog and Viridian the Brainfeeler - who was almost immediately killed. Moore planned a sequel strip, "Black Sun Rising", with Steve Dillon. However, Dillon was only able to contribute character designs for new additions Cobweb, Zeitgeist and Millennium. However, Dillon's schedule meant when the story appeared in Doctor Who Monthly #57 the art was again by Lloyd. Millennium was again killed off very soon after being introduced. Moore would refuse to allow the characters to be used in future Doctor Who strips due to what he perceived to be poor treatment of his good friend Steve Moore (no relation).
In 1983, Moore incorporated them into the Captain Britain strip running in Marvel UK's The Daredevils, with artist Alan Davis. Moore and Davis devised additional members, including Legion, Fascination, Oxo and Lady Burning Fish, and the characters played a supporting role in the "Jaspers' Warp" storyline. The trilogy of Doctor Who Monthly strips were also reprinted in The Daredevils. In keeping with those stories, several of the characters were killed during the story. Following the conclusion of the storyline, Moore would leave Marvel UK on unhappy terms, and as a result he blocked any future use of the Special Executive. The team was subsequently reorganised into the similar Technet, which featured a mixture of the characters created by Davis (with some renamed and given different abilities) and new co-creations with Jamie Delano. Due to both being time-travelling bounty hunters the overlap in membership was used as a plot point, with their exploits being out-of-sequence for both the reader and the main protagonists of the Captain Britain and Excalibur stories.
Group history
Centuries before the Technet was founded, there was the Special Executive, another group of time-traveling bounty hunters. Due to time travel though the Special Executive returned in time and tried to disband the Technet. The Special Executive at this time was led by an unnamed humanoid and members included Cobweb, Zeitgeist, Legion and several unnamed members. Despite the warnings of Cobweb that his plans would fail, the leader hoped to kill the Technet's leader Gatecrasher and recruit the powerful Fascination 300 years before she would join the Special Executive. The plan failed, and the Special Executive retreated.
At least a century later, the Special Executive's leader had died, and several members had been replaced. The new leader was named Wardog and they now worked for the Gallifreyans against the Order of the Black Sun. A member called Viridian the Brainfeeler was killed by the Order and Wardog lost his arm. Ten years later another member - Millennium - was mind-controlled by the Order against her team and Wardog was forced to kill her. Later, the Special Executive had recruited several members to its line-up, including Lady Burning Fish and Oxo, and went to Earth-616 in the late 20th century to recruit the Technet, now known as the N-Men. Cobweb told the N-Men that Earth was about to be destroyed and Wardog offered the N-men a place on the team. The N-men accepted and left with the team.