Freak Force #12
☆ Be the first to review + Add to your collection — Join freeFreak Force #12 is the middle chapter of the three-part 'Invasion' arc (issues #11–13) that serves as the dramatic climax to the series' first volume, pitting the team against the Cosmic Cops — an alien police force that had seized New York City — alongside two veterans of SuperPatriot's old Liberty League, Mister Big and Hornet. The arc builds toward the revelation of Horridus's half-extraterrestrial origins and the deaths of Mister Big and Hornet, making this issue structurally central to consequences that would ripple through the Savage Dragon continuity for years. As part of the broader Freak Force series, it reflects the early Image Universe's ambition to weave tightly interlocked shared-world storytelling across multiple titles — this storyline runs concurrently with Savage Dragon #14–16. Academically, the Freak Force series has been cited as a deliberate genre parody of Marvel's X-Factor and X-Force formula, and this arc exemplifies the book's willingness to permanently alter its cast.
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We Buy Collections ▸History
Freak Force was launched in December 1993 as a spinoff of Erik Larsen's Savage Dragon, published under Larsen's Highbrow Entertainment imprint at Image Comics, and ran for 18 issues through July 1995. The creative team throughout the volume was Larsen as scripter and co-plotter, veteran DC writer/artist Keith Giffen as plotter and layout storyteller, and Victor Bridges on pencils — a collaboration that grew directly out of Larsen and Giffen's prior partnership on the SuperPatriot miniseries. For issue #12 specifically, the inking duties were shared by Al Gordon, Chad Hunt, and Mike S. Miller, with lettering by Chris Eliopoulos and a cover co-inked by Karl Kesel — the same core production unit that handled the surrounding issues in the arc.
Trivia · 8 facts
- Issue #12 (cover-dated December 1994) is part 2 of the three-issue 'Invasion' arc spanning Freak Force #11–13, which the Image Comics Database and Savage Dragon Wiki both confirm runs concurrently with Savage Dragon #14–16.
- Written by Erik Larsen (script) and Keith Giffen (plot/storytelling), penciled by Victor Bridges, with inks by Al Gordon, Chad Hunt, and Mike S. Miller — the creative team consistent throughout the final arc of the first volume.
- The cover was penciled by Victor Bridges and inked by Karl Kesel.
- The central antagonists are the Cosmic Cops, an alien police force that landed in Central Park in issue #11 and sealed off a section of New York City; in issue #12, Freak Force launches its covert infiltration of the occupied city under Major Jake Farrell's direction.
- Mister Big and the Hornet — semi-retired members of SuperPatriot's former team the Liberty League — are recruited by Jake Farrell to join Freak Force for this mission, marking a significant expansion of the team's roster for the arc.
- Mighty Man is deployed solo as a deliberate distraction, theorized to be invulnerable to the Cosmic Cops' technology, while the other team members infiltrate in paired routes — a tactical structure that drives the issue's plot.
- The issue includes a bonus Freak Force pin-up by Mike S. Miller and Al Gordon.
- Across the full three-issue arc (of which #12 is the pivot), Horridus is revealed to be half-extraterrestrial, Mister Big and the Hornet die, Rapture's leg is broken, and Dart ultimately quits the team — making the arc a major turning point in the series' character dynamics.
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