DV8 is a comic book published by
Wildstorm. The series revolves around the lives of a group of
Gen-Active people (Called DV8, or referred to as "The Deviants"), initially living in
New York under the supervision of
Ivana Baiul, who sends them on life-threatening
black ops assignments.
The series lasted 32 issues, and was a best seller, until later issues in the second half lagged in sales. Because of this, Wildstorm cancelled DV8, but allowed the creative team to bring a proper end to the comic, instead of ending the comic and leaving many questions unanswered. The story of most DV8 members continued in the pages of Gen-Active, an anthology-series featuring various Wildstorm characters. Gen-Active lasted 6 issues.
The title returns in June 2010, as an eight-issue limited series called DV8: Gods and Monsters, written by Brian Wood with art by Rebekah Isaacs.[1] The project is something Wood had been trying to get commissioned for years:
Characters
- Ivana Baiul - Leader of the antihero group. She is not fully human because cybernetic technology was integrated into certain parts of her body. Generally she is amoral and very evil. She was the head of International Operations until Operation: Divine Right occurred.
- Threshold (Matthew Callahan) - Field commander of the Deviants until he betrayed the team and went rogue. He has psionic powers and is very powerful and very psychotic. Until going rogue, he was Ivana's, and occasionally Bliss', sex toy. He is also the older brother of Bliss (Nicole Callahan) and half brother of Sarah Rainmaker.
- Sublime (Rachel Goldman) - Has the ability to alter the density of her body from intangible to rock-hard. Generally she is tough and does not take crap from anyone.
- Bliss (Nicole Callahan) - Has the ability to stimulate human senses to the point of cardiac arrest and some psychic abilities. Generally she is amoral and very capable of getting men to give her what she wants. She even attempted to seduce her older brother, Threshold (Matthew Callahan). She may be very dangerous, though the Deviants are unaware of that.
- Frostbite (Leon Carver) - Has the ability to absorb heat from any source and leave it ice-cold. Generally he is the least screwed-up member of the Deviants. After Threshold went rogue, Frostbite was appointed as the team leader, but he was let go by Ivana after losing his powers. Later he faked his death to get off Ivana's radar.
- Powerhaus (Hector Morales) - Has the ability to convert emotional energy into raw power, which increases his muscle mass as well. He was killed in "DV8 Slipstream Annual".
- Copycat (Gem Antonelli) - Has the ability to take control of a person's mind and make him/her do whatever she wants him/her to do. Through an earlier incident, she has four split personalities in addition to her normal persona, as evidenced by a change in the word-balloon font:
- Soldier (tough)
- Nihilist (rebellious)
- Spy (methodical)
- Little Gemma (cowardly and sweet)
When ex-team-leader Threshold betrayed the Deviants, he altered Gem's mind and isolated Gem's main personality, preventing the real Gem Antonelli from ever speaking, leaving Gem's body to be occupied only by her other split personalities.
- Evo (Michael Heller) - Has the ability to change into forms similar to a wolf, bat, or amphibian. Generally he is very insensitive and sometimes dark.
- Freestyle (Jocelyn Davis) - Has the ability to affect probability by psionically choosing the most favorable course of action based on a number of timelines. She is also very acrobatic and flexible. Originally frozen in a cryogenic tube for the first few issues. Generally she is upbeat and not unstable like the others.
- Sideways Bob - Guardian of the group. He has no powers and is psychotic and dangerous. He's missing an eye and his hair, and he carries around a disembodied mannequin head he calls Lucille. He told Sublime that she could be his "special awake friend". She didn't know if that was good or not.