Negation: Insecticide Squad (Vol. 1)

NEGATION: INSECTICIDE SQUAD #1
Event tie-in miniseries
Plot by EXCITER
Written by JOE KELLY
Art by RYAN OTTLEY
“SQUAD GOALS”
Dr. Valerie Cooper is a political animal. She managed to retain her position as Director of the Office of National Emergency, and if any problem falls within O*N*E*’s jurisdiction it’s this: the Negation Wave. Miles-wide pockets of anti-magic corruption are erupting throughout the United States, and within them appear hordes of ravaging insectoids. Worse still, the President is trapped within one. Cooper used to subcontract Steve Roger’s Stars and Stripes organization in times like these... but he’s gone, and she needs new options.
She finds them in “the Vault” - a prison filled with expendable assets. Many inmates there are otherwise “normal” but have experience fighting superpowered adversaries, a useful skill when sent to an area where superpowers don’t work. Plus, if they die fighting alien bugs, no big deal! What could go wrong?
Meet the Insecticide Squad:
“Paste Pot Pete” Petruski. Brilliant chemist; not so brilliant crook. Has a gun that fires a patented mega-adhesive. Who better to kill bugs that the man with glue traps?
Thursday Rubinstein, a.k.a. “Ruby Thursday.” Replaced her whole head with malleable “organic circuitry” that can shape itself however she wants. Gotta respect that level of commitment.
Clifford Michaels, better known as “Turner D. Century.” Wants to restore the “values” of the early 20th Century. Pretty good at fisticuffs.
Manslaughter Marsdale. Yeah, his mom named him that. Street level thug that can’t feel pain, but highly skilled at dishing it out!
Gordon “Typeface” Thomas. Ex-special forces that... puts letters on his face. “I” is for Insecticide!
“The Matador” Manuel Eloganto. If he can fight bulls, he can fight bugs.
Toughy Tomcat, an anthropomorphic feline carton character come to life... and gone feral.
“Pink Pearl” Gross. Big woman, deadly at any size.
Jihad, some kind of genie-type wizard. Magic still works, right?
And last but not least, the most dangerous among them: Eric Hertz - the notorious Armless Tiger Man! Missing limbs, but armed to to the teeth!
There’s no more time to waste. This misfit villains are going to either earn commuted sentences by killing bugs and rescuing the president... or they’re gonna die trying! Don’t get too attached...
32 PGs./Rated T+ …$2.99
NEGATION: INSECTICIDE SQUAD #2
Plot by EXCITER
Event tie-in miniseries
Plot by EXCITER
Written by JOE KELLY
Art by RYAN OTTLEY
“FUBAR”
Okay, so the Insecticide Squad’s mission to rescue the POTUS from the D.C. Negation Zone has suffered some... rather considerable setbacks that have caused Valerie Cooper to repeatedly punch a wall in her office at O*N*E* Headquarters.
The team’s sorcerer, Jihad, was quickly exploded by a magic missile shot into the darkness by mage bugs. Pink Pearl used her girth to block the pursuing swarm, sacrificing herself to allow the team to escape down a narrow alley. Typeface changed all his letters to “F” to pay respects, before he too was Xed out.
On the positive side, Paste Pot Pete’s traps have proven massively effective against the insectoids! And the team has reached the outer walls of the White House.
Problem: Queen Eradica, one of Annihilus’ Arthrosian consorts, has made the White House her nest. Reaching the President, currently blockaded in the Oval Office and upset about all this malarkey, will require the team to split up.
The Matador, Toughy Tomcat, and Manslaughter Marsdale will distract Eradica. While her attention is elsewhere, PPP will take Ruby Tuesday, Armless Tiger Man, and Turner D. Century to extract POTUS. Then they’ll all converge, take out Eradica (which will make all her drones stop too, right? That’s what happens in movies!) and escape. What could go wrong?
32 PGs./Rated T+ …$2.99
NEGATION: INSECTICIDE SQUAD #3
Plot by EXCITER
Event tie-in miniseries
Plot by EXCITER
Written by JOE KELLY
Art by RYAN OTTLEY
“BUGS CHECK IN, YOU DON’T CHECK OUT”
The Insecticide Squad’s plan to extract POTUS to safety has seen most of its own members exterminated - but the mission isn’t a failure yet!
Turner D. Century formed a quick bond with POTUS due to their mutual affection for anachronistic old-timey jargon. But Annihilus’ double-dutched ham hoarders made Turner take a bad deal on a half acre in the donnybrook and he ended up on the wrong side of the grass.
And when the Matador gets gored by an insectoid bull, the remaining team is divided (and so is the Matador)! Can an isolated Paste Pot Pete trapster his way out of D.C. with Joe Biden in tow?
Featuring back-ups aplenty:
Manslaughter Marsdale in “To Manslaughter a Mockingbug”
Manslaughter Marsdale feels no pain, physically or emotionally. That’s his thing. So he feels nothing when he decides that Queen Eradica ain’t leaving DC alive… even if it kills him! Which it will! But also her?
Toughy Tomcat in “The Nine Lives of Toughy Tomcat”
He’s a 1940s carton cat come to life… nine lives to be exact. In the course of the Insecticide Squad’s mission, Toughy Tomcat had a piano fall on him, was blown up by dynamite, and ran full-speed headfirst into a wall with a tunnel painted on it. Combined with a previous auto-erotic asphyxiation incident, that means he only has five lives left… and cut off from his team with insectoids in pursuit, he’s running out quick!
Armless Tiger Man in “Armed to the Teeth”
There’s a secret O*N*E* armory in D.C. Armless Tiger Man could smell the weapons. Now he’s got them in his teeth… and the bugs are about to bite off more than he can chew!!
32 PGs./Rated T+ …$2.99
NEGATION: INSECTICIDE SQUAD #4
Plot by EXCITER
Event tie-in miniseries
Plot by EXCITER
Written by JOE KELLY
Art by RYAN OTTLEY
“SQUAD GOALS”
Remember when we all thought the Human Torch died in the Negative Zone but it turned out that they had bug medicine that could bring him back to life? Well that’s happening here - to the whole team!
Paste Pot Pete thought the entire Insecticide Squad was dead dead (like, Uncle Ben dead), but instead they’ve been brought back to life as negative versions of themselves to serve the Lawbringers just like Anti-Nova!
Jihad is now Anti-Jihad!
Ruby Thursday is now Jade Tuesday!
Turner D. Century is now Zoomer D. Century, a straight fire big mad yeeter! Periodt!
Manslaughter Marsdale is now First-Degree Premeditated Murder Marsdale!
Typeface is now Free-Handface!
The Matador is now a bull!
Toughy Tomcat is now Wimpy Femmecat!
Pink Pearl is now Baby Blue Pearl (but still really fat)!
And Armless Tiger Man is now Multi-Armed Liger Man!
What a dilemma! Paste Pot Pete is within sight of his objective: getting POTUS clear of the D.C. Negation Zone. But when his choices become save the President or free his squad-mates from mind control, what’s he gonna choose? (Yeah, it’s extremely likely that he’ll choose to just get out of danger as soon as he possibly can. Can you blame him? Would you want to risk getting turned into Dissolving Dish Dan?).
Prepare for the (anti)climactic conclusion to the essential Negation tie-in!
32 PGs./Rated T+ …$2.99
Category:Event Tie-Ins
Category:Age of Marvels Title
Category:Negation