International Operations

International Operations
Publication information
Publisher Wildstorm
First appearance WildC.A.T.s #1 (August, 1992)
Created by Jim Lee, Brandon Choi
In-story information
Type of organization Intelligence agency
Base(s) Black Towers, (McLean, Virginia).
Agent(s) John Lynch, Mark Slayton
Cole Cash, Holden Carver, Miles Craven, Ivana Baiul, Ben Santini, Frank Colby, Alicia Turner, Dominique Faust

International Operations (a.k.a. I.O., IO or I/O) is a fictional American Intelligence Agency in Wildstorm comics. I.O. first appeared in WildC.A.T.S. volume 1 #1 (August, 1992) and was created by Brandon Choi and Jim Lee.

Fictional history

International Operations was founded in 1964 as a branch of the Central Intelligence Agency with the mission to safeguard the United States' interests and safety abroad. It quickly became an independent agency under the leadership of Director Miles Craven. The appearance of Youngblood was the original reason for the restart of Project Genesis.

Miles Craven

Under Miles Craven, I.O. became a vehicle for Craven's obsession with superhumans. Craven wanted to control a group of superhumans himself and had the luck to come into contact with Dr. Simon Tsung. Tsung had found a baby with superhuman powers. This baby, Ethan McCain, was the reincarnation of Sigma, a superhero from an alternate universe. Tsung studied the baby and managed to isolate the source of its superhuman powers: the Gen-factor. Craven exposed many test-subjects to the Gen-factor, but most of them died or went insane. Others were physically mutated into monsters and Craven locked them away on Level Nine. During these tests Craven was assisted by Gabriel Newman, a telepath. When Tsung found out about Craven's experiments, he went into hiding with the help of Admiral Philip Cray, father of Michael Cray.

After many failed experiments, Craven decided to expose his best men to the Gen-factor. He sent Team 7 on a fake mission and exposed them to the Gen-factor, claiming later that it was a chemical weapon used by their enemy. Most of Team 7 started to develop superpowers, except for Michael Cray, whose powers wouldn't manifest till 20 years later. Other members went insane or committed suicide, but in the end seven members of Team 7 had developed superpowers while retaining their humanity. Craven sent them out on another bogus mission to test them, leaving Cray behind on a ship. He then fired a nuclear weapon at Team 7, but Cray managed to warn them in time (taking the ship into custody and holding the Captain as a hostage at the same time. For this, he spent time in Leavenworth). Team 7 combined their powers and formed a shield, allowing them to survive the nuclear weapon. They then went into hiding, except for team leader John Lynch who returned to work for Craven.

Team 7's successors, Team 8 were killed on a mission. Lynch managed to get Michael Cray out of prison and together they tracked down Team 7 to fulfill Team 8's mission. Team 7 returned to work for Craven to ensure Cray's freedom, but Craven's goals hadn't changed. A couple of years later Craven tried to capture the children of Team 7, believing that they had inherited their fathers' powers. Most members of Team 7 went into hiding again, though I.O. did manage to capture the children of Team 7 member Stephen Callahan. Matthew and Nicole Callahan were raised by I.O. to be obedient soldiers. Team 7 members John Lynch, Michael Cray and Mark Slayton made a deal with Craven: they would work for I.O. and Craven would leave the rest of Team 7 and their children alone.

Over the next few years, John Lynch worked his way up and became Director of Operations, charged with safeguarding the American people. A former KGB and CIA operative named Ivana Baiul became Director of Sci-Tech, I.O.'s Research and Development division. Alejandro Rios was Director for the department of intelligence. Dominique Faust became Director of Black Arts, I.O.'s division to research occult activity and brainwashing, but this division was kept secret and any ties to I.O. were denied, even to the other three Directors, who came to be known as the Triumvirate. All Directors reported back to Miles Craven, Director of I.O, now known as the National Security Czar. I.O. operated from its headquarters the Black Towers in McLean, Virginia.

With the rise of superhero team Youngblood, Craven decided to restart Project Genesis. He authorized Ivana Baiul, who had been training Matthew and Nicole Callahan as Threshold and Bliss, to fulfill this mission. Lynch, once the loyal, unquestioning soldier, had grown to distrust Craven and questioned the sanity of restarting Project Genesis. Baiul ignored his advice and nationwide tests were done on children and teenagers. If they tested positive on the Gen-factor or other genetic anomalies were found, they were taken to Project Genesis. Lynch saw an opportunity to find his own long lost son among the Project Genesis subjects and decided to interfere. He left I.O. and freed a group of children from Project Genesis. This group came to be known as Gen¹³. Ivana Baiul herself went rogue as well, taking another group of superpowered children with her. They came to be known as DV8 or The Deviants.

Baiul was replaced by Alicia Turner, while Lynch's tasks were taken over by Ben Santini, aided by Frank Colby. Despite Lynch going rogue, many agents within I.O., including Colby, retained some loyalty towards Lynch. Faust seemed to remain loyal to Craven, but had in fact closed a pact with Cardinal Lazarus and the Coda for her own profit.

Miles Craven, dying of old age, finally killed himself in order to be resurrected as a cloned body of Sigma. While uploading his memories into the clone, a member of Team 7 killed him. It turned out that Craven's obsession with the Gen-factor was just a way to immortality and power for him. Sigma, now a young adult, killed Craven's clone, Gen-Omega. Ben Santini became the interim Director of I.O.

Ivana Baiul

Ivana Baiul returned to I.O. shortly after Craven's death. She blackmailed a senator and became chief of I.O. Santini was demoted to Director of Operations again. Her tenure as Director of I.O. turned out to be a disaster: the insane scientist Tindalos experimented on Keepers and took control over many of her resources before his death, Max Faraday dismantled 93% of I.O.'s bases worldwide and she was extremely unpopular within I.O. She was forced to leave I.O. when Ben Santini, Frank Colby and Stephen Callahan (who had faked his own death years before) blackmailed her with recordings of DV8's illegal actions. Baiul had ordered the death of DV8, now a liability, but the team managed to escape. Baiul herself left I.O. first working purely for her private interests and she later became the head of the Civil Defense Administration. I.O. itself kept operating at reduced capacity for several months, but was finally shut down by the U.S. government. Many I.O. agents now formed their own rogue operations. Ben Santini applied with the United Nations to reform Stormwatch as Stormwatch: Team Achilles, taking various resources from I.O. with him.

Internal Operations

John Lynch had temporary returned as Director of Operations to I.O. just before it ended to stop the dangerous criminal Tao. When I.O. was disbanded he joined the Department of Paranormal Science Investigations (Department PSI) to continue his plans against Tao. Tao's machinations got Lynch shot and put him in a coma. The government, convinced that Tao was a major threat, recreated I.O., now known as Internal Operations. The goal of the new I.O. was to stop superhuman crime in general and specifically Tao's Syndicate. One of its high-ranking members was Team 7 veteran Marc Slayton. After spending a year in a coma, Lynch woke up and joined the head of the new I.O.

Divisions and projects

Notable members

If current status is unknown, no status has been given.

Directors and deputy Directors

Notable agents

Ordered alphabetically

Other intelligence agencies

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