Cyclone!

Cyclone! was an Australian superhero anthology comic book originally published in 1985.^[1]

The title featured four ongoing stories:

• The Dark Nebula a cosmic superhero by Tad Pietrzykowski
• The Golden Age Southern Cross superhero by Tad Pietrzykowski & Glenn Lumsden.
• The Jackaroo (known as Harry and the New Heroes in the first issue) by Gary Chaloner.
• The Southern Squadron, a superhero team by David de Vries and Gary Chaloner.

The initial run of Cyclone! was eight issues, after which the anthology format was dispensed with and it was renamed Southern Squadron.^[1] The Southern Squadron, comprises:

• Lieutant Smith, a female Australian military operative who commands the team.
• Nightfighter, a beer-swilling ocker from Melbourne who gains in strength whenever he gets excited (according to his creator, David de Vries, he is a combination of Hulk and Batman). The Nightfighter's battle cry being "Hold on to your braincells!", a rip-off of the Thing's trademark "It's clobbering time".
• Southern Cross, a young, trendy North Shore fashion designer from Sydney with psychokinetic powers. Southern Cross has a power-cane, which he needs to amplify his powers so he can fly.
• Dingo, the werewolf son of a Serbian immigrant (who fills a similar sort of role to that of the Beast in X-Men, or the Thing in the Fantastic Four, according to de Vries).

The Southern Squadron was formed by the government of Australia, in 1982, to deal with superpowered crime and to give local superheroes guidance, training and legal authority. The Southern Squadron are based in Canberra, Australia. They cooperate closely with their New Zealand counterparts, the Waitangi Rangers.

The Southern Squadron was also published in a four issue mini-series by Aircel in America in 1990, reprinting stories from the original Australian stories.

The Dark Nebula, and The Jackaroo were given their own titles in February and May 1989 respectively.^[1] The Dark Nebula lasted eight issues and The Jackaroo was a single issue. The Jackaroo was also released as a three issue mini-series published by the American company Eternity, reworked from various stories originally published in Australia.

In 1989 Cyclone Comics also published a limited run called G.I. Joe Australia, reprinting stories from the Marvel series with some additional Australian material.

The Cyclone name returned in 1992 when Gary Chaloner launched Cyclone Comics Quarterly with new characters. It ran for four issues. The first issue included a solo adventure of Flash Damingo, a member of Southern Squadron, and a new character Morton Stone: Undertaker.

The original Cyclone! Characters have undergone something of a revival with the launching of The Dark Nebula webcomic in 2006. The website has been operation for a little over two years. This webcomic currently includes Dark Nebula, the Golden Age Southern Cross and The Southern Squadron.

The new series of The Dark Nebula, The Southern Cross & The Southern Squadron graphic novels are also available on-line through [1]

References

• Cyclone Cover gallery
• Interview with David de Vries in which he talks extensively about Cyclone!
• Interview with Tad Pietrzykowski which also touches on the Cyclone experience