Set in shared superhero setting The New Universe, it's a sequel of sorts to a previous Wham Episode one-off, The Pitt, in which Pittsburgh was annihilated by a powerful superhuman. As with The Pitt, it's a double-length prestige format book heralding changes across the wider New Universe line.
The New Universe was unrelated to the existing Marvel Universe and The Pitt (and its related stories) saw it pivot from “the world outside your window” to a setting where paranormal powers had significantly changed the world - a shift continued by the events of The Draft.
With the American government unable to identify the Pittsburgh attacker, the Cold War becomes increasingly tense and the United States Army reintroduces conscription, discreetly searching for conscripts with paranormal powers.
Keith Remsen (star of the cancelled New Universe title Nightmask) is a Dreamwalker who profiles the army's new paranormal recruits, trying to ensure that none of them are unsuitable or unstable.
The Draft introduces three new paranormal characters, showing their powers manifest for the first time, then follows them into the army and basic training (alongside some existing characters from other New Universe titles).
This time, though, Keith's profiling made a mistake. One of the new recruits is anything but stable - and his conscription's going to have deadly consequences.
An Immediate Sequel to The Draft, The President's Face is Missing, was published as a back up-story in Psi-Force.
The Draft includes the following tropes:
- Assassination Attempt: Harlan Mook uses his explosive teleportation to try to assassinate the President while he's live on television. The only reason it doesn't work is because the President is secretly a paranormal himself.
- Boot Camp Episode: The core of the story. New and existing New Universe characters are drafted and go through basic training.
- Conscription: As you might expect from a comic called The Draft, this is the policy driving the plot. It's positioned as a general draft, but the army's actually looking for paranormals.
- Covers Always Lie: Dave Landers (aka "Mastodon", one of the leads of D.P. 7) is one of the pre-existing characters prominently shown on the front and back covers. He appears in two panels and gets one line of dialogue.
- Despair Event Horizon: Sgt. Haldeman's power uses some form of telepathy or empathy to inflict this on his target. It's apparently how he sees the world all the time. He copes.
- Drill Sergeant Nasty: Sgt. Haldeman plays the role well, even when not using his powers. Pitbull and Harlan get the worst of it.
- Extra-ore-dinary: A very downplayed version. Chris can mentally control a metal hubcap he found one day - he can even levitate it and and ride on it. He may have wider control over metal, but in The Draft he's convinced that it's a special hubcap, so doesn't entirely attribute its abilities to his own power.
- Foreshadowing: When Harlan's power first manifests, he's far more worried about his damaged notes than the people killed in the explosion.
- Genius Loci: A variant. When Nightmask walks through Sgt. Haldeman's dreams, he can't find Haldeman. There's a hopeless world full of horrors, and a voice, but no personification of the dreamer himself. Haldeman, whose powers can push a Despair Event Horizon into other people's minds, is one with the world.
- Hard Light: Garth's power is a variation. He can manifest geometric structures - a framework of identical linked rods - seemingly made of hard light or a similar energy form. They’re inert and don't emit harmful energy or injure those who touch them. They can be used as obstacles, restraints, for scaffolding and support or as a platform.
- Having a Blast: A side effect of Harlan's Teleportation. He triggers an explosion in the location he leaves. The longer the teleportation distance, the larger the explosion.
- Mugging the Monster: Pitbull, always quick to pick a fight, gets a double dose of this. On both occasions he gets into trouble because he doesn’t know what his target's paranormal power is.
- When he talks back to Sgt. Haldeman, the sergeant offers him a chance to take a shot. He gears up to take a punch, but Haldeman projects a Despair Event Horizon into his mind before it can connect.
- Pitbull hassles and bullies Harlan Mook. When Harlan tries to fight back he lifts him into the air one-handed. That's when Harlan reveals his explosive teleportation power. Pitbull only survives because speedster Blur gets him out of the blast radius.
- The Nose Knows: Major Zentner can literally smell paranormals. He uses this ability to weed out any normal humans accidentally caught up in the draft.
- The Reveal: The President of the United States of America is a paranormal.
- Super-Soldier: The aim behind the draft is to build a fighting force of paranormals. In practice, most of the recruits have quite limited powers.
- Teleportation: Harlan Mook's power is teleportation with an element of Having a Blast. He triggers an explosion in the location he leaves. The longer the teleport distance, the bigger the explosion.
