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Comic Reviews, Dragon's Claws

DRAGON’S CLAWS #2: COLOUR ME iMPRESSED

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It’s been a long time coming but Dragon’s Claws’ sophomore issue is finally here. After spending the first couple of years on the blog covering fortnightly and weekly comics (the one exception being the short-lived Visionaries right at the beginning of the blog) it’s strange to find myself in a position where, at the time of writing this, both Dragon’s Claws and even the site’s namesake comic OiNK are monthly. I’ve gotten so used to what came before that the four-week wait between issues feels so long!

Could this have been an attributing factor to Marvel UK’s new range of US-sized comics not being the success they may have deserved to be? British comics were often more frequent, and if any did become monthly you always knew that meant they wouldn’t be lasting much longer. Things would change a lot in the 90s of course when most comics became monthly but sales figures also declined drastically across the board at that time. A month was a very long time to wait for us back then, especially when computer and videogames were now grabbing our attention.

If last month’s debut felt like a typical yet very enjoyable 80s action flick, this feels like it could actually be the second half of that movie. The threat of The Evil Dead teased in the premiere issue’s opening pages comes full force this time around. The opening pages once again see that Game team take on a trained group of fighters, this time at a weapon’s depository that was apparently built to withstand an entire army. Over the course of these first seven pages they decimate the defence and make off with the weapons.

What I particularly like here is just how very ‘English’ The Evil Dead are, especially their leader Slaughterhouse. Shouting “Orf with their heads” before two soldiers get brutally decapitated, tutting when others put up a fight, using drawn out proper grammar and such words as “splendid” while all around is death and destruction. Believe it or not, there’s even a funny moment used to lighten the dark opening when they win their battle and dead bodies are strewn everywhere.

There’s something of note right off the bat with this issue’s story. The government is referred to as that of ‘Greater Britain’. Now for any readers of an international flavour who may not be aware, ‘Great Britain’ as we know it today is made up of England, Scotland and Wales. I live in Northern Ireland and that’s part of ‘The United Kingdom (UK) of Great Britain and Northern Ireland’. Northern Ireland is separate from ‘Great Britain’, a mistake many make. The fact the Dragon’s Claws comic refers to the government of Britain rather than the UK makes me think we’ve scarpered and rejoined Ireland away from the dystopia of the land within which The Game is set. Thank goodness! But anyway, I digress.

The one surviving soldier is taken to N.U.R.S.E. where Dragon, his team and the already irritating Deller (he’s meant to be irritating) are assigned their first mission by Stenson to kill The Evil Dead, as if they were nothing more than an irritant rather than murderers. The order is given in such a blasé way it’s clear N.U.R.S.E. care not for those they’ve hired. They give the orders and the foot soldiers must obey. This results in Dragon losing his temper because as far as his was concerned his team were independents, going out into Britain to clear up the mess of the government’s Game on their own. But Stenson has them over a barrel, he knows their lives felt meaningless without The Game and they back down.

“Mercy – you let your father’s business go bankrupt while you chased vendettas”

Stenson

We find out a little more about the various members of Dragon’s Claws here after last issue concentrated almost solely on Dragon. The most interesting one for me is Mercy, the sole woman of the team. Since they withdrew from The Game she’s used all the money from her father’s business to chase after those lawbreakers who had enough money to stop any potential repercussions from occurring. In the current climate we find ourselves in I do hope we find out more about her time doing that, it’s quite topical after all. (There’s also something very ‘Knight Rider‘ about that, a show where the hero chased after “criminals who operate above the law”.)

Dragon takes off and over the next couple of pages we see him back at his farm, now a desolate, abandoned wreck after the battle with the Wildcats last time. It’s these little quieter moments that have made these first two issues for me. It would’ve been very easy to have action from cover to cover but in such a fantastical set up these scenes ground our characters, the result being we believe in them, and care for them and the outcome of the story more. His family haven’t returned and then Scavenger turns up to warn him Deller has pulled rank and taken the team out in search of The Evil Dead.

Dragons Claws were opponents worthy of his skills, now he sees them as mere government lackeys

Deller is desperate to be the hero, the leader responsible for bringing them in or killing them, obsessed with personal glory. Of course, we can immediately see where this kind of character will end up leading the team, and that’s into immediate danger. The team’s protestations and attempts to quell his blood lust and self-importance fall on deaf ears. Seeing the lion-like Feral feasting on a dead body out in the open Deller immediately gives chase into an enclosed area, the Claws trying to stop him but it’s too late. Of course it’s a trap.

Another little moment here is the area this is taking place in is referred to as ‘The ‘Pool’. Clearly meaning Liverpool, it’s an area Steel stays away from because it’s known as The Evil Dead’s home, somewhere they know like the backs of their hands and would obviously have the advantage. One-by-one this advantage see the Claws fall. Captured, Slaughterhouse is more disappointed than angry. Dragons Claws were opponents worthy of his skills, now he sees them as mere government lackeys.

As you can see Dragon appears at the last moment, saving Deller’s life. He’s no stranger to having an advantage himself and as the Grim Reaper-esque Kronos sneaks up behind him Feral notices Dragon has no scent. He’s a hologram and there’s a pressure pad just behind it, which Kronos steps on, instantly exploding. The other members of The Evil Dead are Hex, a circus showman with poisonous darts and hypnotising eyes and Death Nell, Slaughterhouse’s other half who appears to have had some kind of romantic history with Steel!

Anyway, the battle we’ve been building up to is rather short and sweet but no less entertaining and ultimately satisfying. On one page Slaughterhouse’s order to kill the Claws falls on deaf ears, or rather dead ears. Scavenger, a master of stealth if last issue’s cameo and the fact he was able to sneak up on Dragon on his farm are anything to go by, has quietly severed his team mates’ bindings (without even them knowing how), meaning Steel can surprise Nell in a moment that initially confused me. Initially, I questioned why he didn’t just hit her earlier? It hadn’t been clear from previous panels they’d had their hands tied behind their backs until Mercy’s explanation made me go back and check.

Dragon is sniping from scaffolding on top of a very tall building nearby and as Slaughterhouse lunges at him he’s apparently taken by surprise, getting scraped by huge nails and kicked in the head in the process. But like the hologram there’s a bit of clever misdirection here on Dragon’s part. Riling Slaughterhouse up until his anger takes over and he leaps through the air, Dragon doesn’t dodge out of the way or put up a fight, instead grabbing Slaughterhouse and letting his momentum push them both over the edge.

Special mention must be made of Steve White’s colouring. It’s glorious!

Then, as we turn to the final page we can see he’d actually tied his ankle to the building, stopping him as Slaughterhouse falls to his apparent doom.  Of course with a team made up of such characters as The Evil Dead, and with hints in the story that they may actually be dead already, there’s no sign of his body. As for Feral, it looks like Scavenger made a meal out of dealing with him! Their leader and his girlfriend may be the only ones to have survived now that Dragon’s Claws have been sanctioned to kill.

Written by Simon Furman and enthusiastically brought to the page by Geoff Senior, with editor Richard Starkings on lettering (under the pseudonym ‘Zed’), special mention must be made of Steve White‘s colouring. It’s glorious! His work on Transformers was always exemplary but this surpasses even that. His backgrounds are atmospheric, shading can be subtle in places like faces and in-your-face in others. It’s big, brash and bold in the very best possible way. (Check out his colour work for Xenozoic Tales in an issue of Jurassic Park too!) This is a collection of creative people that could give Dragon’s Claws a run for their money in the teamwork stakes.

Strangely one of the Marvel UK adverts in this issue is for the comic the reader was actually holding. Weird. There’s also a humour strip, a constant in most of the publisher’s action titles. The Reverend P. Gunn’s debut last issue wasn’t great but this one is funny and the art is great fun. Along with Richard and Steve, writer John Carnell and artist Andy Lanning were well known to me at the time from The Real Ghostbusters and this is a perfect outlet for their bizarre sense of humour that I loved so much in the licenced comic. Would further strips have been funny or more like last month’s? Who knows? This was also Gunn’s final appearance!

So yes, Dragon’s Claws has produced another dynamite issue. It feels very much like the second part of last issue’s introduction and I am perfectly fine with that. I want to find out so much more about these characters already and I know there’s the real potential here for that to happen while not skimping on the action, thanks to Simon’s writing. If I’d known about the comic at the time these first two issues would’ve had me hooked and placing a regular order at my newsagent. Today I’m hooked and you can look forward to regular coverage, the next bit of which will be the review for #3 on Sunday 13th August 2023.

iSSUE ONE < > iSSUE THREE

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Comic Reviews, Dragon's Claws

DRAGON’S CLAWS #1: SiNK YOUR TEETH iN

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The start of a new real time read through is always an event on the blog, this one particularly so because I’ve never read a single issue of Dragon’s Claws before. So why is it here when all previous read throughs have been based on comics I collected (or tried to) as a kid? I may not have started buying Marvel UK’s Transformers in time to see the Dragon’s Claws hype, but I was aware of its final few issues and was always intrigued by these smaller, US-style comics by the publisher.

However, with a maximum on the number of comics I could reserve, and only 50p pocket money for any more beyond that, I only ever bought the first issue of Death’s Head out of the whole range. Despite wanting to read them that pocket money got spent on more familiar comics every time. I feel like I missed out, so this is the start of me catching up on what appeared at the time to be excellent comics. It’s off to a good start with that Geoff Senior cover.

The Dragon’s Domain editorial page introduces us to the concept. (To be honest, I’m surprised the human race lasted another 6000 years!) So in the year 8162 Earth is dying. The governments of the world could work to do something to help people but instead they just distract the populace (surprise, surprise). This distraction is The Game. A violent event in which teams basically kill each other while it’s all broadcast live, The Game kept the civilians in line with something to enjoy as the world crumbled around them and off the government’s back.

Created by writer Simon Furman and artist Geoff Senior, legends with the Robots in Disguise, their new creation starts off hard

When it descended into chaos it was cancelled and sure enough the public, with no outlet for their fears and anger, turned to rioting and civil unrest. The Fastfax (with a date that was meant to coincide with #1’s launch before it was delayed) gives us an update on the state of the country and it’s a shock to see how many civilians died during a sanctioned game. How many innocent casualties did The Game have? I’m guessing the government nor the viewing public actually cared, this is meant to be an 80s dystopian future after all.

Richard Starkings was the editor of Dragon’s Claws. He was also the launch editor of a comic I was collecting at the time, namely The Real Ghostbusters. Also going by the name ‘Zed’ when lettering there were very few Marvel UK comics I bought as a kid that he didn’t have a hand in. Also listed is designer John Tomlinson, writer for Rogue Trooper: Remembrance Day in #2000 of 2000AD, Armoured Gideon and one of those other oft-advertised-in-Transformers US-size comics, Knights of Pendragon. Dragon’s Claws itself was created by writer Simon Furman and artist Geoff Senior, legends with the Robots in Disguise and their new creation starts off hard.

“Earth 8162. Not a nice place to live… But a good place… to die!” Thus starts a three-page teaser as a military group are pinned down and under fire. Obviously highly trained, they’re no match for the five individuals hunting them. We see glimpses of large guns, huge claws and even bigger hair as the team are all picked off one-by-one, like a scene from Aliens. This is the Evil Dead mentioned in the Fastfax, the group who appear to be the main cause for The Game’s cancellation.

Their visual identity is kept secret for now but it’s confirmed it’s them when we pay a brief visit to the headquarters of the National Union of Retired Sports Experts (N.U.R.S.E). Officially created to help former game players into post-career employment, it reeks of a shady government department with an ulterior motive. They hire former player Deller to track down and reactivate the Dragon’s Claws team to stop the Evil Dead. He isn’t happy. He wanted that job for himself.

This is when we meet Dragon. The top team of The Game have all gone their separate ways and their leader has been living a happy life on his farm with his wife Tanya and their son Michael. A very happy life actually. What with real fruit and vegetables being so rare they’ve got quite the happy life together growing their produce and selling it at the ginormous Marketplace. Michael is seven-years-old, which gives you some indication of how long after The Game this is for them.

But as we’re introduced to Dragon it’s clear something is very wrong. He’s not sleeping, he’s tense, stressed, quick to lose his temper and he’s become obsessed with viewing old recordings of The Game in which the Claws were undefeatable. He doesn’t know why he’s doing this (as he subtly hints at above) and no answer is given yet, so already we’ve got an interesting character plot point to build upon. Not knowing Michael has sneaked out of bed and is watching from behind, Dragon replays the team’s final victorious game.

This is the only time we see any of his teammates Mercy, Steel, Digit and Scavenger in the issue despite their appearance on the cover. As such, I think the strip advert for the comic actually did a better job of introducing them (and included their dog). What this does very successfully is show how well they worked together as a team. With Dragon seemingly making an unwise solo run for the finish all the other teams ganged up to kill him. Not that any of them could’ve won the trophy with The Evil Dead in such a close second place, they just wanted to stop the Claws from winning yet again.

But it was all part of the plan and as each team member makes an appearance the tide of battle turns, just as they planned. But Tanya isn’t happy. Angry that Michael is being exposed to such violence and frustrated at Dragon’s recent behaviour a huge argument is interrupted by the arrival of Deller, who calls Dragon “old man”, emphasising again the passage of time since the action we’ve just seen. He’s already visited the others to recruit them and every one of them has said they’ll only join if Dragon does. But Dragon turns Deller away, explaining that when he retired he meant it, and returns to his family.

It’s clear you’d need to be of a certain mindset to want to take part in The Game

We started the story with an action teaser to show the dire situation and set up the hero’s replacement who doesn’t want the hero back, but has no choice but to work with him. We saw the hero now a shadow of his former self, surely unable to be that hero again and he turns down the opportunity. So far, so typical of many classic action movies. What would happen next in those films is the former hero would find himself in a situation where he has no choice but to fight, which he discovers he’s missed, leading him to change his mind and return to being the hero once more, albeit reluctantly. Well, it just so happens the next day at the Marketplace things don’t go too well, coincidentally enough.

The Wildcats are also a former Game team who’d let the power go to their heads. Terrorising the market one of them tries to steal from the wrong stall. Easily beating him up and scaring the rest of them off for now, Dragon is chastised by Tanya for resorting to violence so easily and they pack up and leave, along with Michael and their farm hand Saul. But on the way home the Wildcats catch up and try several times to kill them. Trying to save his family Dragon drives too fast, losing control and crashing into their home.

Tanya is convinced this is all part of some wider plot to lure Dragon back to The Game. She just wants them all to flee together and find somewhere peaceful to live. But Dragon can’t. He struggles with the decision but ultimately feels he can’t back down, he has to fight back, so he orders Saul to take his family and run. One by one he picks off the Wildcats until one of them panics and turns the huge turret on the whole home, including one of their own in a darkly funny moment here.

It’s clear there’s some psychological issue at play with Dragon. His teammates all seem like very unique individuals to say the least, and the other teams we’ve seen so far are way out there. Given what The Game is, it’s clear you’d need to be of a certain mindset to want to take part. Dragon had been genuinely happy for a long time, so maybe something triggered this mental issue he’s been suffering recently, or maybe it was just inevitable. I hope we get to see plenty of character development in future issues to explore this and the reasons he (and the rest of his team) think like this.

I’m not doubting Simon’s ability to develop character, after all he took small plastic robots and turned them into incredible three-dimensional individuals for years. But with hindsight we know Dragon’s Claws only lasted for ten issues, so it’s whether or not Simon had the time to delve into his characters. This initial chapter certainly sets things up in a way that shows there’s plenty of scope for such development, not just with the people he’s created but with the wider world including the suspicious N.U.R.S.E. It’ll be interesting to see how the next nine months play out.

That “Nuff Said” phrase was really overused by Marvel UK at the time! Anyway, the beats of the story may not be that original but the fact it feels like a bit of a clichéd 80s action flick just makes me love it more, and remember this is only chapter one. I can’t wait to see how Simon develops this initial idea. Geoff’s art is sublime throughout too. (Even if a story is rubbish I think Geoff would have the ability to make it enjoyable.) His clean lines, hard edges and ability to not only produce highly animated action scenes on the static page, but also emotive characters so effectively adds the kind of depth those 80s movies could only have dreamed of.

Alongside Steve White’s colours this was a winning team on Transformers and so far that’s translating perfectly to this original property. No wonder it was so hyped in the pages of Transformers (even if they didn’t mention the creative team to begin with), this was right up the readers’ alley. There are enough little details to establish a complete world too, such as a ‘Game Tax’ where every citizen must pay towards the games whether they want to or not (and you thought the Licence Fee was bad?). I’m left with the overriding feeling of a solid foundation that’s ready to explore some really interesting possibilities.

I have every faith that what lies ahead will just get better and better

The strip takes up 22 pages of this 28-page comic, the remainder including a humour strip called Reverend P. Gunn and a few adverts for other Marvel UK publications. First up is Speakeasy, the ‘Comics Newspaper’. I actually have #76 of this because it contains an article about OiNK. I like how it’s sold at the same size as a regular comic or magazine only to fold out to actual newspaper size. Anyway, that’ll be added to the blog at some point so watch out for it.

The first issue of the new Action Force Monthly (another of the US-size comics launched) doesn’t exactly have the most inspiring cover for new readers. For fans like me who had been following along with the back up strip in Transformers, before it was unceremoniously yanked mid-story, it’s great to see certain characters together again. But for potential new readers it doesn’t exactly get across the action-packed storylines, does it? Action Force Monthly would last for 16 issues and get repackaged for the states as G.I. Joe The European Missions.

Much better is the advert for the publisher’s ongoing top-seller and a real favourite of mine, Transformers. I mentioned in the introductory post for Dragon’s Claws how Richard Starkings had requested one-page stories from a range of their comics, each in the style of the strips they’d normally create as a way of promoting what they contained. I’ve already shown you the ones produced for both Dragon’s Claws and Death’s Head and this next one takes pride of place on the back page of this issue.

Written by Simon with art by Lee Sullivan, letters by Glib (Action Force, Doctor Who, Digitek) and colours by Steve I think this perfectly sums up where the comic was at this point, with the hype machine really making its mark in that final panel. Very exciting times! Speaking of summing up its time I did so for #1 of Dragon’s Claws which has had a very strong start.

Ten issues doesn’t feel like enough time to fully explore the amount of possibilities this one issue has shown us, but I have every faith that what lies ahead will at the very least just get better and better. From the feedback and site views already received I can tell this is one read through many others are looking forward to as well. You (and I) can look forward to the review of #2 on Sunday 9th July 2023.

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Comic Reviews, Death's Head

DOCTOR WHO MAGAZiNE #135: READYiNG DEATH’S HEAD

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When this edition of Doctor Who Magazine hit newsstands I hadn’t even watched a single episode yet! It wouldn’t be long before I was a fan though and today I most certainly am, but I’ll get to that at the end of this post when I point something out in the news column of the issue. That’s not why we’re here though. We’re here for the comic strip starring a certain Freelance Peace-Keeping Agent, yes?

The last anyone saw of Death’s Head was when he disappeared through an exploding time portal in the pages of Transformers #151. While we saw the others he shoved through the portal survive the implication was clear he was missing rather than dead and readers eagerly awaited a surprise return at some point. That inevitable return was only two months later, but what was even more surprising was where it happened: in a different publication.

Written by Simon Furman and drawn by Geoff Senior with letters by Zed and edited by Richard Starkings (actually Zed is Richard), The Crossroads of Time was a one-off eight-page strip in #135 of DWM (which is at #588 at the time of writing). The magazine was a very different publication back then, with 36 pages and only the covers and middle four in colour (as opposed to the 84 full-colour pages it has today, complete with regular Lew Stringer Daft Dimension strip), but just like the best of the black and white stories in later issues of Transformers I think this really highlights Geoff’s inks and gorgeous details, some of which are very funny.

The opening page sets things up straight after The Legacy of Unicron with Death’s Head still travelling through space and time and crashing into the TARDIS. Soon both he and the Doctor (their seventh television incarnation, portrayed by Sylvester McCoy) find themselves on a random, barren planet along with a Time Warden, an impartial arbitrator. The warden weighs up the situation by taking one look at Death’s Head and decides they’ll have to come to an agreement without him.

Ever the opportunist, Death’s Head gives the Doctor a choice between bargaining or dying, and asks if he has anything to trade. Realising jelly babies aren’t going to cut it the Doctor realises he has one of the Master’s Tissue Compression Eliminators. This is a device his evil counterpart would use to shrink people down into tiny little toy solder-esque versions of themselves, effectively killing them.

It was actually seen in one of the more recent series when my own personal favourite Doc, Jodie Whittaker’s take on the character, went up against Sacha Dhawan’s highly memorable Master. In it he used the compressor to kill quite a few people in a particularly nasty fashion. Indeed, back in our strip the Doctor acknowledges it’s a horrible device but that “desperate situations call for desperate measures”. But the fact Death’s Head is already so huge has an unexpected result.

Despite wracking his body with pain, instead of shrinking him to minuscule size its power only brings him down to the same size as the Doctor. While it’s not a large image of Death’s Head’s face, you can clearly see his shock even from the side angle. After being a Transformer-sized mechanoid who could strike fear into his targets just by being there I find his face here so funny! The Doctor’s reaction is also meant to be funny, but I find it rather out of character.

Yes, he was obviously in danger but he hadn’t even really tried to talk himself out of the situation at hand before turning to a device he hoped would “eliminate” Death’s Head? That sounds more like something a Dalek would do. Even when I started watching Doctor Who with season 25 it was clear he didn’t go around simply killing the villains when he first bumped into them. This story was set during McCoy’s first year as the Doctor when he was still very much a slapstick, comedy version of the character with some elements of Colin Baker’s previous, darker incarnation thrown in, so I think this is just a joke comment rather than anything else.

Death’s Head would pop up in one more Marvel UK comic before his starring role, namely Dragon’s Claws

The following season (my first) he was a mysterious, thoughtful Doctor, often initialising the stories rather than reacting to some evil doer. I absolutely loved that portrayal, so reading this from the year before feels strange to me. But hey, I should’ve started watching it earlier! There’s a fast-paced chase to add some action, culminating in the Doctor finally getting an idea as to how he can turn the situation around and he calls out to Death’s Head that he has a trade to make.

I love that moment. It perfectly demonstrates the character of Death’s Head, his disappointment that he can no longer kill the Doctor because business always comes first. I’m sure I can look forward to a lot more of this humour in his own comic.

But what does the Doctor have that could possibly be of any use in a trade? Obviously, the TARDIS. We know he’ll have no intention of honouring this trade and anyone who has seen the show in recent years can probably predict what happens next. First of all though, it’s a bit of a thrill for this fan of both these characters to have Death’s Head get that enjoyable moment usually reserved for new companions, when they get to see the interior of the phone box for the first time.

The Doctor successfully bluffs his foe into his own fate by quickly running through some technobabble by means of instructions on how to time travel (remember, Death’s Head wasn’t a time traveller, he used others’ tech to do so in Transfomers), before pretending to leave it in the hands of its new owner. Death’s Head stops him, convinced if he did as instructed it would turn out to be a trap and tells him they’ll travel together for the first trip. Of course, this is what the Doctor planned all along and he sets the controls for Earth in the year 8162, concentrating the time circuits on the mechanoid who dematerialises accompanied by the text of that famous sound effect.

Why did the Doctor choose Earth to send a dangerous bounty hunter to? (…Ouch!! Sorry! Freelance Peace-Keeping Agent!…) He’s spent most of his life trying to save us daft humans and the strip even ends with him telling us our home is his favourite planet. Oh well, it’s still been a fun strip even if it’s left me a bit confused with The Doctor’s actions at times. But most importantly it’s set things up perfectly for Death’s Head’s monthly and that was its purpose in the end. (UPDATE: Actually, three months after writing this post, having now reviewed the first issue of another comic that date suddenly seems awfully familiar.)

So he’s now ready to interact with all manner of human characters and by the looks of the advert in the introductory post he even gets a human sidekick. In fact, I think I can just about remember him. I’ll find out in November I guess. I do know from seeing images of the covers over the years that he meets a couple of Marvel’s superheroes along the way so it’ll be interesting to see those interactions, what with his single-mindedness and dark sense of humour. (Kind of makes me think of Deadpool actually.) The TARDIS is even on one cover so there must be a rematch to come!

Before I round things up I wanted to show you the news story that stood out to me.

The story Remembrance of the Daleks was my first encounter with the series. It was a brilliant introduction! Made to mark the 25th anniversary of the Daleks I’d never seen anything like it and I was a fan straight away. This issue breaks the news of the new season’s opening story and it really took me back to that evening sitting in front of the portable TV in my bedroom when I decided on a whim to tune in. There are other points of interest in the magazine too.

It’s edited by Shiela Cranna who was the launch editor of Transformers and friend of the blog John Freeman is the designer and gets plenty of praise on the letters page. On those pages there’s also evidence nothing changes though, with some readers complaining others who like the new Doctor and the current show runner “aren’t true fans”. (Sigh.) It’s like Twitter before Twitter. There’s also a mention of a new Holywood movie which as we know would eventually become the 1996 TV movie pilot. I always find it interesting to read old magazines like this when I know how things turned out.

But anyway, back to the main subject at (detachable) hand.

Things may be all set for a brand new monthly comic starring one of the greatest comics creations of all time (in my opinion) but we’ve a while to wait, what with the first issue’s release date being 5th November. That TARDIS would come in handy. But actually, we haven’t got quite that long to wait and this is where I break the news of the next real time read through to come to the OiNK Blog. Death’s Head would pop up in one more Marvel UK comic before his starring role, namely Dragon’s Claws also created by Simon and Geoff.

For now don’t forget there’s an introductory post showing highlights from Death’s Head’s stories in Transformers (and links to all of the Instagram posts from that multi-year read through too) along with more details about his creation and some insights from the comic’s editor Richard Starkings who very kindly contributed. The Dragon’s Claws will join the blog on Sunday 14th May 2023, #5 featuring Death’s Head will be reviewed on Sunday 17th September and then his own debut issue will be here on Sunday 5th November. I think it’s going to be a good year, yes?

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Comic Reviews, Wildcat

WiLDCAT WiNTER SPECiAL: GLOSSY GALACTiC GAMES

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With this review we tie up the Wildcat real time read through. Yes, there are two recent graphic novel collections and the merge with Eagle to round up, but for the original comic this marks the end and I can’t help but feel a bit sad about that. The Wildcat Winter Special has a lot to live up to then, it’s been a long time coming after all. The comic finished in March and we’ve had nothing since the Holiday Special in May. So did it satiate the cravings for fans?

Earlier in the year Eagle announced there would be a Wildcat Holiday Special and an annual. While the latter never materialised I think it’s clear the content for it ended up in the Winter Special instead. (Just like the OiNK Winter Special in that regard.) Things kick off inside with a reprint of the preview issue’s cover and strip, a black and white reprint of a former gorgeously coloured Joe Alien pin up by Ron Smith (which results in his eyes looking hauntingly dead) and then two whole pages are taken up with a ‘Spot the Difference’, which boils down to a page from Eagle (I presume, I’ve never seen it before) reprinted twice.

In fact we don’t get anything new until page 16! Not a reassuring start for a special which cost a little less than the thicker, hardback annuals but it does come on lovely glossy paper throughout and a nice, thick (even shinier) cover, hence the price. I suppose we could call it a premium special of sorts (like the Super Naturals Adventure Book from the previous year) and various titles in Fleetway’s range would get one of these over the next few years. It’s strange reading the preview strip again, before the character of Turbo Jones softened and developed in the fortnightly. Here he comes across as a bit of a nonce.

The gorgeous new Ian Kennedy cover portrays the first original strip inside which stars all of our team leaders, the first time this has happened since the preview issue in fact. The Games, drawn by John Gillatt (Jet-Ace Logan, Billy’s Boots, Ring Raiders), is a six pager that is annoyingly split into two-page chunks throughout the first half of the issue. It quite clearly wasn’t written to be read this way, meaning it keeps stopping mid flow. Still, it’s nice to see the whole team together and the first couple of pages do get the blood pumping.

Unfortunately it never really develops beyond this initial excitement. The idea of aliens forcing the humans into a death match against their will isn’t original even for Wildcat. In the Holiday Special Loner was already put through something similar in a quite brilliant prose story and later in this edition the same thing happens to him again(!), so the fact he’s caught up in a similar plot for the third time is damned bad luck on his part.

Pitted against some suitably retro-attired warriors, each member of the Wildcat crew takes it in turn to see off their individual opponents by using the weapons or skills we’ve seen in the regular comic. This and the reprint of the origin story seem to be introducing new readers to Wildcat, which is grand if this were indeed a big, fat annual for an ongoing comic. But by this stage only Loner’s story still continued in the pages of Eagle so it feels strange a lot of this special so far isn’t really aimed at established fans.

At least those fans do get to see more of Loner’s various bullets at last. We knew his modified antique six-shooter Babe had a variety of different futuristic bullets so it’s fun to see the boomerang one here. Of course, we could’ve seen more of these in the pages of Eagle but I haven’t read those stories yet. I’ll explain more about that at the end of the review. In between the tiny chunks of this story are other complete tales.

First up is Turbo Jones who by this point feels like a completely different character to that in the preview’s reprint, such was his character development. Off on another mission illustrated by Vanyo, set some time after his first adventure, he and Robo are plucked from the air and dragged underwater by a mad alien who forces them to help him. One thing that immediately stands out here is the amount of story crammed into the six pages it takes up. It’s like the exact opposite of The Games.

In fact, I’d go as far as to say every couple of pages here could’ve been made into a full chapter in the original comic without feeling too padded out. It does feel a bit rushed as a result but that’s probably only because I was so used to the slow build and ever increasing drama of the fortnightly serials. That’s not an problem unique to Wildcat. I remember when I used to buy 2000AD how I’d sometimes feel a bit underwhelmed by some of the strips in the annuals or specials because I was so used to epic storytelling.

So Turbo and Robo have been captured to help this crazed alien with his insane plan to destroy the off-world mine where the materials to make the planet’s currency come from. Initially I was confused. The comic told us way back in the second issue how a planet-wide lung condition stopped anyone from being able to live above ground level, so how could their currency be mined off world? Well, this is actually only one source of this material.

Anyway, the nefarious plot is right out of Goldfinger, which is not a complaint at all by the way. If the material, and thus the currency, is contaminated the economy tanks and the value of anyone’s own personal stash skyrockets. It’s an insane strip! It suits Wildcat perfectly and I’d have loved seeing this mystery play out over a serial. It’s fun and shows the potential of Wildcat to really tell any story it wanted to. This comic had no limits to its imagination.

In the Holiday Special there was something called a Robot File, a four-page feature of images from several different Wildcat stories all featuring the various futuristic companions humans are living alongside in their search for a new home, with small panels detailing each one. A fun recap for fans and a way for new readers to see some of the interesting storylines they’d missed out on so far. We get something similar here with the wide variety of friendly and not-so-friendly aliens the crew have met along the way.

It may be reusing panels from Wildcat and Eagle but it doesn’t feel like filler. In fact for me there’s some new material here from after the merge, like the end of the war and the fact The Brain had a body. This really would’ve been perfect in an annual too. I have to say that’s a fantastic selection of allies, friends, creatures and monsters, isn’t it? I’m going to miss this comic.

But let’s cheer up, we’ve got more goodies here and The Wildcat Complete (this time not given its own name) was always something to look forward to. This one even refers back to the stories in #6 and #8. In the second of those tales loveable Gliz sacrificed himself after piloting a shuttle to the far side of the first moon and getting hijacked by pirates. In the first we found out multiple crews had disappeared on the near side when they’d eaten poisonous fruit which mutated them, making them look like threatening aliens and thus killed by rescue teams, who in turn would eat the fruit and continue the cycle.

Due to the horrendous weather pilot Tovey crashes on the surface just like Kurby did in #6. He notices he’s accidentally killed a lizard-type alien and then finds himself inextricably drawn to a distant hill. Everything seems very familiar but he can’t place his finger on it. Captured by aliens who plant a device on his head to speak, it’s soon clear they don’t exactly see him or the Wildcat as friends.

More horrifying is the side effect the translation device has on him. Breaking free, out of desperation Tovey discovers a dimensional portal generator the aliens happen to have nearby and throws himself through it to escape his captors. Flicking between different realities he finally seems to choose the right one to get back to where he belongs. He’s back on the moon and sees a craft approaching. He’s saved! The Wildcat must’ve sent another rescue team. But as it approaches it’s clear it’s also been caught up in the weather conditions, and this isn’t the only bit of de ja vu for Tovey.

He sees it’s his shuttle craft, with him at the controls. The caption points out time is the fourth dimension, and it was on his fourth attempt that he ended up here. Again, the cycle will be never ending as he crash lands, killing himself and then ending up right back in his own path again. It’s similar in some ways to that earlier Wildcat Complete, although it wasn’t time that repeated but rather the actions of the humans. It’s also very similar to the final Scary Cat Challenge in Super Naturals #9 (also from editor Barrie Tomlinson) when a greedy boy wishing on a genie’s lamp ends up in a repeated cycle of time.

It’s a well worn story trope, I know, but to see it in two of my comics so close to each other, and when this was a sequel to a tale with a similar ending, it feels a bit underwhelming, with the twist not really a twist anymore. Such a shame, because I’ve loved Joan Boix’s artwork on all of the Complete tales they’ve illustrated over Wildcat’s short life. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not a bad story, it just feels a bit recycled.

The same plot being used for two of Loner’s stories in a row (and also two strips in this issue) is a real disappointment

What’s much more exciting is seeing a brand new Loner strip written by editor Barrie Tomlinson and drawn again by David Pugh! Barrie’s prose story in the Holiday Special was excellent but I missed having new art from David (the illustrations were lifted from previous issues) and by this stage in Eagle he’d moved on to drawing Dan Dare, an opportunity he just couldn’t pass up but which meant Loner, who had been created with David in mind, had to be passed on to another artist.

Ah yes, that does look lovely, doesn’t it? Welcome back Loner! Regular blog readers will know he was my favourite character in Wildcat and his first adventure was absolutely riveting. Unfortunately his second was less so, but here we’ve got a brand new one-off tale of him exploring the planet’s surface and once again he’s fallen into some trouble. I do like the way the sequence of him falling down that wheel mechanism is shown through clever use of a main panel and some smaller ones overlaid on top.

In the Holiday Special he’d found himself the prisoner of an underground group of aliens who captured creatures to force them into a kind of gladiatorial combat. (Similar to The Games, above.) So what brand new adventure do we have here for our former mercenary? The hole he’s fallen into leads him to a group of aliens who sit on a kind of observation gallery, then behind him a trap door opens up and a huge, tentacled beast appears who they want Loner to fight in a kind of gladiatorial combat. Um…

Oh come on now, this is getting a bit ridiculous. While it’s wonderful to see David’s art again and there are some genuinely funny moments, such as Loner cursing the fact his first reaction to new alien beings often lands him in trouble and the quip above about arm to arm combat, the fact the same plot has been used for two of his stories in a row (and now two strips in this special) is a real disappointment. It takes the edge off seeing him back in strip form. But that art is wonderful, especially when the big bad looks this good.

I just can’t quite wrap my head around the decision to basically rerun the same story twice over. As a kid I never had the two specials so I can’t say for certain if I’d have been as disappointment, or even have noticed, what with them being months apart. But as an adult fan the Winter Special isn’t measuring up to the incredibly high bar of the regular comic, not with reprint material and reused plot lines. Damn.

The second half of the issue has a full colour Joe Alien story split up into little two-page pieces just like The Games. While David Robinson‘s story isn’t technically a reused one, it does set itself neatly into the serial from the fortnightly, seeing as how Joe and his team were captured by the alien plant life on more than one occasion. Basically, they get captured again, Joe’s brain becomes disconnected again, then they escape again. But I find it strangely enjoyable.

I think I enjoy it more because it’s honest about the fact it’s not a new story, that it’s an additional chapter to Joe’s main strip. This approach is much preferred over the other strips so far. It also shows a lighter side to the character. He quips and shows proper affection towards the men he’s been fighting alongside. We also see how he eats through the vines when he’s lost his brain pack, making us wonder if there’s still some form of intelligence in there, only for us to realise he was just hungry in his crazed state!

Instead of regular Joe artist Ron Smith we have instead Keith Page and, while I do like his very alien main character, I miss Ron’s sharp lines and exaggerated action. José Ortiz returns for Kitten Magee though, his scratchy visuals once again the perfect fit for the jungle-based action written by James Tomlinson. This time our heroic female team are entering an area apparently guarded by the terrifying Ikarzeytak. But searching for a new home for the human race is more important than local legends, especially when it’s apparently already long dead.

In Kitten’s regular story she and her teammates would come up against a never ending array of imaginative alien creatures, each one displaying some kind of innovative ability that they’d have to outthink on the fly in order to survive. From monsters with heads for hands, to gigantic leviathans with multi-headed pet dogs and beasts with see-through stomachs. The Kitten Magee strip also had strong ongoing stories and mysterious character arcs, however a big part of the fun was seeing what kind of monster would be thought up next.

I never expected a one-off strip in the special to advance any of the ongoing arcs but the Kitten Magee story certainly doesn’t disappoint with its always enjoyable characters and the next in its long line of original beasties to fight. In this case that skeleton was indeed the Ikarzeytak, which can regenerate from nothing but rainwater much to the surprise, and then horror, of the team. It’s ludicrous. But it’s ludicrous fun! That’s what Wildcat was all about and so the Winter Special ends on a high.

Kitten’s friends Cassandra, Bonnie and Aurora also star in the four-page Weapons File which follows the same formula as the alien and robot ones and then that’s it, Wildcat’s real time read through comes to an end. As I’ve previously said I never followed the characters into the pages of Eagle and, with over 50 issues of it to collect before I can read the end of all the stories, I wanted to complete the read through of the main comic first. It felt right to do so.

The Winter Special feels very much like a publication of two halves. Perhaps I’d overhyped it for myself in the intervening months, but there’s a disappointing amount of reprint material or reused story ideas, however even in those the art is superb and the remaining stories are all as excellent as we’ve come to expect. It feels like a premium comic in my hands and I think giving Wildcat this glossy treatment for its final edition was a great idea; the fortnightly was a lot bigger and brighter than its contemporaries after all.

At a future point on the blog I’ll finally be able to see what happened next for Turbo, Loner, Kitten, Joe and the Wildcat, beginning with the Turbo Jones and Loner graphic novel collections, before I focus on those Eagle issues with the remaining Kitten Magee, Joe Alien and Wildcat Complete stories. Plenty to come then. However, it’s still a sad moment to close the final issue that’s 100% Wildcat from cover to cover. A childhood favourite originally aimed at younger readers it holds up incredibly well and I’d highly recommend any adult comics or sci-fi fan to jump on board and take the ride.

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Comic Reviews, Jurassic Park

JURASSiC PARK #16: FACiNG EXTiNCTiON

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There’s no mention of it on the cover along with Michael Golden‘s image, nor in the editorial. In fact they’re still offering subscriptions to the comic, and there are just two little ‘The End’ captions attached to the final panels of each strip. But this is the last issue of Jurassic Park. As discussed last time, new publisher Manga Publishing knew this was going to be the end, so it’s rather misleading of editor Dick Hanson not to edit out the subscriptions!

We finish what was originally Dark Horse International’s series with another 40-page issue, although the inner 32 pages are of pretty poor stock compared to previous issues. The back up is the second half of last month’s Xenozoic Tales, but first we’ve the final part of the four-issue American mini-series ‘Raptors Attack’, which is the name referred on the cover. As mentioned before, this meant nothing to us UK readers because we didn’t know how the comic series was broken up into mini-series over there, so this just confused us.

The first chapter of the mini-series was called Rush! but the following three had much more imaginative titles that changed to match the evolving storyline. Back in #14 we had Animals/Men, then Animals/Gods and this issue’s final story is Gods/Men as the now wild Velociraptors once more become the stars of the strip. Written by Steve Englehart who has been responsible for every chapter since the adaptation ended, it’s again pencilled by Chaz Truog and inked by Paul Fricke, letters are by new addition Brad K. Joyce (Marvel What The..?!, The Ren & Stimpy Show, The Sensational She-Hulk) and Renée Witterstaetter colours and story edits.

For a final chapter there’s more background character information than actual plot. There are quite a few pages given over to the history between Robert Muldoon and the late George Lawala, how even though they were rivals Lawala saved his life so Robert will avenge George’s. I don’t see the point in this at this late stage and it’s all rather predictable. Much better are the pages given over to developing our dinosaur characters Alf, Betty and Celia, mainly through a lengthy dream sequence as they finally sleep in peace away from us apes.

Clearly we’re getting a translated version of the information their mother passed on to them, correctly identifying the humans behind Jurassic Park as apes. The resting ‘raptors (only three of them left now) continue to dream about being captured and losing their family, reminding them that humans are their enemy. We get more chances to see them acting as regular wild animals too, drinking, playing and basically living and enjoying life. Then we find out one of the tribal men from last issue has survived and finds his gods, who are tempted to kill him as they did the rest, although he’s making such strange hand movements they begin to feel uneasy and take off instead.

“They’re so alien, so different from us — maybe they are gods — because it’s sure that we’re only men…!”

Dr Alan Grant

He was trying to warn the ‘raptors of the humans nearby, our main characters, and how they were in the area to hunt his gods. Drs Ellie Satler, Alan Grant and Ian Malcolm have joined Muldoon as he hunts, the three of them making it very clear they are not there to kill. There are local villagers tagging along to help and Muldoon comes across as a bit of a racist, although thankfully called out on it by Alan. I really don’t like this version of the game warden character from the film and novel. Much more entertaining, as always, is Ian.

Still flirting with Ellie, despite Alan being right there, it’s clear it’s meant in good jest and his continual talking annoys Muldoon which is a bonus. Yes I still have a bee in my bonnet over the return of Muldoon and I’ve already gone into the ridiculousness of his survival. Here, it’s also explained that the reason the ‘raptors already had a family of adolescents was because they were able to escape their cage in Jurassic Park, find a secluded spot to lay their eggs away from the humans and then… went back inside their cage?!

Clearly this makes absolutely no sense whatsoever. It could easily have been avoided by having a larger gap between the end of the movie and the beginning of the comic’s continuation instead of picking things up only three days later (back in #6). The whole series hinges on these animals so it’s annoying to read this so-called explanation, it kind of ruins the whole set up. It’s ill-conceived and reads as a lazy way of getting the action going. Add in Muldoon’s survival and this official sequel is contradicting the movie it’s based on more and more.

Shoving these inconsistencies to the back of my mind, the race towards this particular story’s climax is exciting. They track the Velociraptors to a part of the jungle separated from the humans by a long rope bridge. Muldoon is stopped from sniping them from afar by the locals, which attracts their attention. The ‘raptors sprint across the bridge to attack, coming face to face with an unarmed Ellie first of all.

Due to Ellie and Alan’s capture alongside the dinosaurs in previous issues and being forced to tend to Celia’s wounds, they’ve formed some form of cautious bond with these creatures. Indeed, we’ve seen Celia stop her siblings from killing them. But it looks like Alf and Betty no longer care about this. They’ve suffered enough at the hands of the apes. In the first of the two pages below I particularly like the ‘raptor on the bottom left, it’s a classic pose from the films and really gets across their ferocity.

Then the unthinkable happens. 

This genuinely shocked me. I half expected Muldoon to fire at this point despite currently being attacked and restrained by the villagers and it was still sad to see one of them fall, despite the fact they were about to attack. However, who actually fired was the shocking part! This went against everything Alan stands for, everything he was trying to achieve. But he had no choice, it was either Betty or Ellie.

This was always the dilemma in the Jurassic franchise, the danger of these wild animals against the need to preserve them, to understand they’re just acting naturally, to nurture their instincts and let them be themselves. But of course, a little bit of Chaos Theory always got in the way and made it more exciting for us. In the end Muldoon is subdued by the villagers and the ‘raptors are poised to attack again, no longer in any mood to discern friendly human from foe. But the villagers and their strange movements jump in front of them and kneel before their gods.

With the death of their sister, the confusion over friend and foe and now these strange people Celia and Alf decide to take off. There are only two of them now. They know they’re the only ones but the world is a big place, so they run across the bridge, chew at its ropes to collapse it and head off in search of more of their kind. The last word is left to Alan Grant.

In America readers got another mini-series and an annual before a short-lived ongoing monthly, altogether another 14 stories which we never got here. In fact, it wasn’t until I was researching the comic’s origins for the blog that I discovered there had been any more after this. Back in the 90s it was a couple of months before I realised the comic had officially finished, what with it having taken a lengthy break before between #10 and #11 and of course the Christmas season kept me busy after this issue.

When I eventually realised the next issue was overdue I went back and checked and of course there was no date for its release, but as discussed above there wasn’t really any finality either. But I have to say I ended up really liking this ending, with the three ‘raptors out in the wild they could pop up anywhere in the world. Who knew what chaos could be sowed from having extinct creatures back in the world. In fact, 24 years later this was how Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom ended.

Before this comic series is over there’s the small matter of what caused the future cataclysm in Mark Shultz’s Xenozoic Tales: History Lesson, written and drawn by him and coloured by Christine Courtier. It was renamed Cadillacs and Dinosaurs for these final issues (although a story has been chosen without dinosaurs) because the cartoon based on Mark’s comics had begun in the UK, but these are the original comic strips, so the blurb on the cover is somewhat misleading. So, do we get our answers as promised last month? Annoyingly, no.

My annoyance isn’t Mark’s fault though. This was an early story of his, meant to drop hints, not offer an answer. It was this comic’s editor who decided to use it as a finale and hype it up for Jurassic Park readers last time. As a result of this I’m feeling rather short changed.

Hannah discovers a shell of an atomic bomb in the secret library within the catacombs and we’re led to believe this is what caused the world to basically end. This is also what some of those present believe. However, researching the books it then transpires the world was on the cusp of nuclear war when the cataclysm happened and stopped it, so it was a separate event (thus no straight answer). Then the library descends into chaos in a way that’s scarily prophetic of where we find ourselves in the world right now.

Hannah and most of those present know the bomb is just a shell. It’s been dismantled and emptied, they know it didn’t cause the cataclysm because of facts in the books. However, there are a band of people who don’t care about facts and instead believe the bomb itself is ‘evil’ and should be destroyed, even if that means taking the library and the entirety of human history with it, along with everything they could learn about their history, the actual cataclysm and how they can overcome it.

In other stories in this enjoyable back up it hinted that the cataclysm was caused by climate change, not least thanks to Hannah’s disgust at Jack’s garage of old cars. These mechanical relics may have been converted by Jack to run on dino doo-doo but they were referred to as being partly responsible for the destruction in the first place.

The Jurassic Park comic was a big deal to me as a teen and I’ve really enjoyed reliving it 28 years later

Back to this issue and Hannah’s frustration is palpable and I can imagine how this would’ve read in the early days of the original comic, so that’s how I’m reviewing it, instead of the disappointing climax it was never intended to be. She pulls a gun on one of the workers and demands to be taken to the sluice gate where she’s able to stop the flood and save about half the books from being completely destroyed, almost losing her life in the process.

Read in the correct order this would’ve solidified Jack and Hannah’s friendship (and perhaps more) for Mark’s original readers, with Jack’s concern for Hannah written as being something of a surprise to him. Then, as you can see on this final page he doesn’t understand the importance of the books, putting the two characters back to being at odds with one another as their relationship developed. Unfortunately we never got to enjoy this aspect of Xenozoic Tales because all our chapters were out of order.

So that’s it for the UK’s version of Jurassic Park. Back in the 90s the movie’s comic sequel was left hanging yet at the same time it felt like the perfect end. Taking these characters and dinosaurs so far outside of the confines of the movies had enthralled me and they’ve held up really well. Yes, I didn’t like the contradictions to the original film and so sadly by the end the strip simply can’t fit in with the movie sequels anymore.

Steve Englehart had been given free rein to do whatever he wanted, which is surprising given the high profile nature of the new franchise and the fact Amblin knew Michael Crichton was writing The Lost World novel. Clearly, having two sequels being written at the same time was never going to work. The Jurassic Park comic was a big deal to me as a teen and I’ve really enjoyed reliving it 28 years later.

The last back page finally announced the release of the movie on VHS to buy, which I’d very gratefully receive for Christmas in a special fossil box (you can see an image of it in the original introductory post) and let’s not forget you could also buy it on Laserdisc! How very 90s.

As I close this final issue it’s reassuring to know that I’m not done yet with Jurassic Park on the blog. This isn’t the end, only a bit of a pause.

There was another, short-run UK Jurassic Park comic a few years later that I only recently discovered, so watch out for that in 2023 and while I can’t see me being able to collect the rest of Xenozoic Tales, thankfully the same isn’t true of the main strip. IDW reprinted the series in graphic novel form over a decade ago and I’ve finally been able to collect the ones I needed to finish the story. I haven’t read them yet, I will when I’m ready to write about them but I’m sure they’ll make an excellent addition to the blog. They’d better, given what they cost!

“Spared no expense.”

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