Story: "The First Casualty" (22 Pages)

Credits:

Ty Templeton (plot, script)
Clement Sauvé Jr (pencils)
Juan Vlasco (inks)
Guy Major (colors)
Jack Morelli (letters)
Valerie D'Orazio (assistant edits)
Dan Raspler (edits)

Feature Characters:

Specialist First Class Montgomery Kelly (also in flashback to a Khund invasion)
Private Eric Stewart
Specialist Colin Mitchell
Private David Page
Sergeant Chad Solomon Kiyahani (grandson of 'Little Sure Shot' of the Easy Company, first name not revealed until #4)
Colonel Skynner (next in #4)
Lieutenant Reno Rosetti (next in #3)
Bradley (first appearance of all; Stewart, Mitchell, Page and Kiyahani seemingly die)

Villains:

Demons

Guest Appearances:

Lois Lane
Jimmy Olsen
President Lex Luthor

Other Characters:

Colonel Gehr (of the Bulgravian army)

Comment: Two weeks elapse between p20 and p21 of this issue. Montgomery Kelly, Reno Rosetti and Lois Lane are the only characters who appear in both sections. The demons, Human Defense Corps personnel and Colonel Gehr appear only on pp1-20, while Olsen and Luthor appear only on p21.

Synopsis:

After giving an interview to Lois Lane, Montgomery Kelly of the newly formed Human Defense Corps finds himself the first man on the ground in the Corps' first mission. They are fighting what appear to be Durlans in Eastern Europe, but soon find themselves under attack from enemies invisible to their night vision goggles, beings which tear through Kelly's colleagues while he basically stands and watches. He is saved when a Bulgravian army man realises the Corps is facing some kind of vampire and creates bombs of 'holy napalam' which rids the forest of the creatures. As the sole survivor, Kelly finds himself decorated by the president, although he knows it is a meaningless medal as he is no hero.