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Comic Reviews, Death's Head

DEATH’S HEAD #10: A STARK ENDiNG

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It’s been such a fun ride but all good things must come to an end (to use two clichés) and this is the final issue of Marvel UK’s Death’s Head, which came to an exciting end on this day 35 years ago when he clashed with Arno Stark, the Iron Man of (the then-futuristic year of) 2020. The cover is by regulars Bryan Hitch and Mark Farmer, but for the strip itself Bryan goes it alone, with Euan Peters (Knights of Pendragon, Action Force, Transformers colourist/designer/editor) colouring behind Annie Halfacree’s letters, with Steve White editing and Simon Furman bringing it all to an end.

Not that the story reads like an ending. Strangely, even though the final issues of both Dragon’s Claws and Death’s Head were flagged as such in the editorial pages of Transformers, neither of their last editions actually said so, although with hindsight it’s clear the editorial team knew. While the Head Lines page still includes the “Subscribe Now!” banner it’s followed by a glimpse of Death’s Head crossing back over into Fantastic Four after they’d appeared in #9. It’s clear this is telling us where we can see him now that his comic is over, but at the time it could easily be mistaken for a regular plug for a crossover before #11.

Now trapped in 2020 (what a year to be sent to!) Death’s Head is making the most of things and business is good. In fact, in a turn up for the books, for once the far future dystopian time of the comic (8162) actually has less crime than 2020 according to our main character. So he can afford to be choosy. As such, he’s suspicious about his latest client. But first, let’s check in on our special guest.

Both of Iron Man of 2020’s stories so far were selected as back up strips in Marvel UK’s Transformers comic

So who is the Iron Man of 2020? Arno Stark may have inherited Stark Industries but he’s no hero. Instead, he uses the suit in his role as a mercenary for hire for individuals and sabotage for corporations. This was his third appearance in Marvel comics. The first was in the rebooted Machine Man of 2020 mini-series where the old tech of Machine Man won over the futuristic Iron Man thanks to his having a good heart.

Then in Spider-Man, in a plot I won’t go into detail about Arno travelled back in time to 1986 to avert a disaster involving his home city, his business and his family. But his means of doing so put him at odds with Spidey, who defeated him. Upon returning to the future his entire city had been destroyed, taking his family with it. In a surprise turn, we were left feeling sorry for him. Both of these stories were selected as back up strips in Marvel UK’s Transformers comic.

There’s no mention here of the events in the Spider-Man strip but he is in New York, a different city than normal so it would seem to follow on after it. In the opening pages we find out he’s been hired to protect some foreign dignitaries. The only thing is, they don’t seem to understand why; they haven’t hired him and say they aren’t in danger. Some hitmen do turn up and Arno kills them all very easily, after being told to take no prisoners. But something doesn’t sit right with him about the job.

We then take a trip to a large mansion somewhere and a very rich man by the name of Chance and his English butler Athey have been watching the events pan out. In fact, their conversation has acted as a running commentary over the opening pages. They’re part of The Dicemen, a group who appeared in various Marvel comics although there’s little information about them online. They’re basically a bunch of rich elites who like to play games with other people’s lives.

One hard and fast rule of The Dicemen is to never use the same players twice, but Chance thinks there’s more fun to be had in using Iron Man again, especially when Athey shows him a news report of Death’s Head taking down some local warlords. The game is on. Athey will approach both of them, Death’s Head for a hit and Arno as the protector. Then, after eight pages of strip in his own comic it’s time for the Freelance Peace-Keeping Agent to finally make his entrance.

That reminds me of something we’d have seen from RoboCop. I love it. This criminal group have kept a young child hostage for a ransom and Death’s Head easily disposes of them, partly thanks to a collapsing ceiling in the middle of the fight. After seeing him rescuing another young boy last month and how he speaks to this child does our anti-hero have a soft spot we didn’t know about? I do like how the kid is seen playing with his face spikes as they exit the building together.

Arno isn’t the only one suspicious of the job he’s been given. Death’s Head’s inner thoughts betray what he really thinks about Athey after he’s hired to kill two diplomats and given half the large fee up front. It all seems too easy. So both men have been hired and in the middle of a shopping mall the diplomats are arguing with Iron Man that they didn’t ask for, nor need protection as he pushes them into a lift, and it’s time for Death’s Head to tell someone else to talk to the hand.

The fight scene is classic Death’s Head and classic Simon Furman, with the quips matching the violence panel after panel. But Arno is deadly serious and the anger he feels at being potentially set up is taken out on the mechanoid as he blasts them both into the night sky, shouting that he won’t let him butcher innocent people in what feels like (when reading this fully, in context) that he’s trying to convince himself he’s actually doing the right thing. It’s actual character development from someone who only cared about money before. It seems losing his family has brought out his better side.

Then we turn the page to this spread below which contained a genuinely shocking moment had the front cover not used it to promote the story. You can’t really blame them though, of course they were going to use it. Although, from the speech balloon on the cover I thought Death’s Head had taken over Iron Man’s suit somehow, so I was initially a bit disappointed I was wrong in that conclusion. That disappointment soon turned to laughs when I saw what happened next though.

Again his hand is used as a great gag and over the next page or two Death’s Head tells Arno that he believes him and agrees that they should work together to get to the bottom of who has used them, however he’s still angry with him and just has to work that out of his system first, by beating seven shades of blue out of him. Then, clipping his head back into place like a Transformer Headmaster he’s able to detect a camera filming them for Chance and locates the signal controlling it.

Cue a few pages of Chance panicking before Athey, a long time loyal member of The Dicemen himself, shoots his boss point blank in the face and sets the scene up to look like a suicide. He leaves their money in cash so as to trick Death’s Head and Iron Man into hanging around, but they soon pick up a detonation signal and narrowly escape the destruction of the mansion. Then it all very suddenly ends in two panels.

This is directly after the explosion panel. It feels very cut down and a bit of a rushed ending, making way as it does for two pages of panels with yellow borders, telling of how Spratt arrives in 2020 and crashes Death’s Head’s ship, somehow bringing Big Shot with him who takes up the final splash page, coupled with a Happily Ever After caption! While this may have been the original cliffhanger taking us to #11, the rushed ending with Iron Man makes it seem like this whole section was added in at the last minute. But why do this for the final issue?

It’s not how I expected it to end. Yes, Death’s Head has been a surprising comic on many occasions but I did expect something along the lines of how the final chapter of Dragon’s Claws wrapped things up satisfactorily while leaving things open-ended. Was the chop brought down suddenly on the writer? It’d explain why the secretive woman hinted at in the last couple of issues isn’t mentioned, the mystery not revealed, actually not even acknowledged here. That’s incredibly annoying. But perhaps there’s hope in a graphic novel to come. More on that below.

There’s a bit of a dig at those
high up in Marvel UK

After the strip comes the Head to Head letters page and a chance for the comic to throw out more hints that this is the final issue. Perhaps there were instructions from on high to not mention the end for some reason. Perhaps they didn’t want potential buyers flicking through the pages, realising there’d be no more and not buying it. Whereas, mentioning it in stablemate comics may lead those readers to part with their pocket money for a collector’s final issue. This is all speculation of course.

However, as you’ll see there’s a bit of a dig at those high up in Marvel UK in the answer to the first letter. For the second letter, in response to a lack of free gifts the reader is told to go and check out a different comic, but the most obvious (again, with hindsight) hint comes at the end of the response to the final letter. It was always annoying when a comic just stopped without telling us, so kudos to the team for trying to tell the readers without really telling them.

So what’s next for Death’s Head on the blog? Is that the end of it? Not quite. After his original series he popped up in a serialised story in Strip (between #13 and #20) which was then collected in graphic novel The Body in Question. Given the real time nature of the blog you can expect that in October next year. It’s a long wait for me but I set these rules so I must follow them. I can’t wait to read it though. Will I be covering his return as Death’s Head II and III? Let me finish his original timeline first and we’ll see what the future holds.

After that frustrating ending I really can’t wait for the graphic novel to see if any further questions are answered. If they are that would explain some things about this issue. Don’t tell me if you know though! I’ll find out next year. This series has been a blast from beginning to end. I can’t believe it’s taken me so long to read his own comic after I enjoyed him in Transformers decades ago, but Death’s Head was certainly worth the wait, yes?

iSSUE NiNE < > THE BODY iN QUESTiON

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DEATH’S HEAD #7: EXPLOSiVE SLAPSTiCK

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With an increase of 5p on the cover price, Death’s Head #7 hit stores today back in 1989 with this Bryan Hitch and Mark Farmer cover, while inside I’m excited to see inking duties on Bryan’s pencils are actually by Jeff Anderson, whose work I loved so much in Marvel UK’s top-selling Transformers and this combination is just superb throughout. The comic is also still offering subscriptions for 12 months so clearly there was no sign yet that even those earliest of subscribers wouldn’t be getting all of their issues delivered. (Only three more to go after this one.)

A new colourist has joined the fray, namely Stuart Place who also coloured for the company’s The Real Ghostbusters, Action Force (G.I. Joe) and Transformers, most notably the fan-favourite Dinobot Hunt story in the early days of the comic. Steve White has also taken over as editor after Richard Starkings resigned. Poor Steve, we’ve already seen his name on the blog when he edited Visionaries but it didn’t last long because the subject matter flopped, he took over Havoc just before it got unceremoniously canned and the same is about to happen here. None were his fault obviously, and he is a simply incredible artist! Check out his Instagram and make sure you see his gorgeous colouring on Xenozoic Tales in Dark Horse’s Jurassic Park!

Shot by Both Sides (as ever written by Simon Furman with Annie Halfacree lettering) is a brilliant strip, one of my favourites of the run so far. The comedy comes thick and fast in the early pages. A robotic tour guide is telling passengers on a bus what they can see to their right and left when a crashing ship narrowly averts disaster but rips off the roof of the vehicle in the process. In response, the robot simply moves on with, “Um, well… above you, you can see…”.

It’s at this point we see the panel above and the ship in question is Death’s Head‘s, who seems to be having problems with the autopilot. I remember a friend of mine in school who was a particularly big fan and he’d often quote the “No, yes?” line when asked a question. The plot this time combines two previous cliffhangers from #4 and #6 and sees bounty hunter Big Shot and explosives expert Short Fuse both attempting to take out the Freelance Peace-Keeping Agent for their bosses.

These bosses are the previously featured Undertaker and new gangster Dead Cert, a cigar-chomping man with a horse’s head who unironically runs the city’s illegal sports gambling rings, including horse racing. In the first scene (the crashing ship one) we find out Big Shot had fired a high-powered missile at Death’s Head ship which had initiated the crash. But Short Fuse had also planted an explosion in the cargo hold. When it went off it lightened the craft enough for it to be successfully pulled up before it crashed into that bus.

Death’s Head puts both down to “cowboy builders” and doesn’t realise he was actually under attack. This forms the backbone of this month’s tale. Big Shot’s aim is to kill our anti-hero and double-cross Undertaker by taking over Death’s Head’s business, while Short Fuse just wants to do a good job for the person/horse who hired him. However, they keep attempting to take out their target at the same time. While completely unaware of each other, each attempt is undone by the other’s, cancelling each other out in an increasingly funny series of events.

There’s a main bad guy mixed in here that acts as Death’s Head’s target for a job he and Spratt (good to see him back in the strip) have been hired to carry out. Called Photofit, he has a hi-tech suit which enables him to mimic anyone he comes in contact with. Think the T-1000 from Terminator 2, albeit a few years before that film was released. While the chase makes for an entertaining plot it’s really just a vehicle for the assassination attempts.

Eventually our lead clicks that something is going on as you can see below. I love the panel when he realises, his expression and the rain bouncing off his metallic face is all just perfectly realised. In the middle panel you can see how Short Fuse’s mistimed bomb blows Death’s Head backwards and away from Big Shot firing his bazooka-like weapon. He’d been in his sights but the explosion pushed the target out of the way and you can see the bazooka shell zooming harmlessly past.

Somehow this doesn’t get stale either, mainly thanks to the imagination on show in how these attempts fail and Death’s Head’s reactions. All the while the Photofit story continues and he disguises himself as a contestant on a game show where the prize is a trip out of the country, all paid for and through legitimate channels, the ultimate getaway right in plain sight.

Spratt accidentally ends up on the show itself and faces off against the disguised Photofit while Death’s Head tries to search the rest of the building for someone who could be anyone. All the while he’s getting attacked by unknown enemies. Unknown until Big Shot finally decides to change that. Sick of having his chances squandered he blasts Death’s Head through a wall, then stands over him, gun pointed at his head, ready to take the final shot… when another explosion knocks him off his feet and into waiting fists.

I had to laugh at that first panel! Well, our main character isn’t a bounty hunter after all, yes? Short Fuse is getting frustrated too. For once it was Big Shot who got in his way, so he resorts to desperate measures but his own incompetence results in nothing more than an explosion in mid-air that shoves the fighting duo through a wall and into the television studio. 

Just before this, Photofit makes himself known to Spratt because our unwitting contestant is actually winning the game. A gun held in the small of his back, he’s saved by the sudden arrival of our fighting duo and Photofit realises he’s defeated and must escape. He sees the perfect disguise right in front of him. Or it would be, if that disguise didn’t immediately place him in the sights of an assassin.

So the magnetic bomb obviously doesn’t stick to the very human imposter and in a shocking move it not only blows him up but Short Fuse as well! Okay, yes, he’s been trying to blow up Death’s Head but the very violent slapstick comedy he’s brought to the issue has been hilarious and I’m genuinely sorry to see him killed off. Despite being a hired killer there was something loveable about the little man. However, even in death he manages to thwart Big Shot one final time and save the mechanoid they’d both been hired to kill. 

As the story ends Spratt and Death’s Head converse over how it was strange that things kept exploding around them, reminding the readers that the duo never even knew of Short Fuse’s existence, never mind his influence on events (and their lives). They don’t seem to care why those explosions kept happening and instead only hope there’s enough left of their target so that they can prove they’ve earned their money!

It’s a suitably funny conclusion for these two, playing down the events and simply moving on. In their position it’s probably the healthiest way to be but that’s not the point. The point is that they’re very funny together and obviously the perfect match, something even Death’s Head seems to have finally acknowledged. These two are so well written, their actions and dialogue so natural that you have to step back to remember how far-fetched the whole scenario of the comic is.

I’ve really enjoyed Simon’s writing in Transformers and Dragon’s Claws but there’s something about this particular comic that stands out. It feels like it’s more of a personal project for Simon, it’s so one-of-a-kind and has such a unique sense of humour I get the feeling the writing is closer to Simon’s own personality than anything else I’ve read. We’ll see that insight hopefully develop even more over the remaining months, the next instalment in five weeks on Monday 3rd June 2024.

iSSUE SiX < > iSSUE EiGHT

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DEATH’S HEAD #6: A GOOD YARN(iE)

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The first time K.I.T.T. (programmed for human preservation) faced off against the evil prototype K.A.R.R. (programmed for self-preservation) in season one of Knight Rider the paradox of “What happens when an irresistible force meets an immovable object?” was brought up. As a huge fan of the show, when I opened this sixth issue of Marvel UK’s Death’s Head its inclusion as the opening of the editorial made me smile. The militia group Sudden Impact are promoted as equals to the Peacekeeping Agent, so while their cliffhanger last time felt lacking it’s made up for here.

They’re a clichéd lot though, with an overly shouty commander and a ragtag collection of men and women that look like they’ve walked straight out of an 80s action figures catalogue. You might also notice the art style is somewhat different to what we’re used to. That’s because this issue is pencilled by Liam Sharp (Judge Dredd, Batman, Spider-Man), inked by Paul Marshall (Mean Machine, Firekind, Sinister Dexter) and coloured by Louise Cassell (Doctor Who Classic Comics, Transformers, Captain Britain) alongside regular letterer Annie Halfacree and all under the auspices of editor Richard Starkings. The cover above is by the usual pairing of Bryan Hitch and Mark Farmer.

An army general arrives with some troops and confirms he’s there to hire Sudden Impact to tie up some unnamed loose end, which I initially thought would be Death’s Head. His men start to bad-mouth the mercenaries’ looks but Mayhem (their very original-named leader) gives them the go ahead to fight back. Physically. Soon the troops, who vastly outnumbered them, are all beaten but the general doesn’t care. He just agrees Mayhem’s team are the right people for the job.

We catch up with our anti-hero in a luxurious compound in the middle of nowhere, where he’s been hired to ensure a nervous government witness gets to trial. It’s a cushty job for once, so far involving nothing more than relaxing and watching TV. But we know a large team of maniacal, murderous mercenaries are on their way and it would appear he’s the last line of defence. Surely an impossible mission? It’s just as well he has Tom Cruise there too!

As writer Simon Furman describes it in the following panels, the attack is less a battle and more of a slaughter. Tom… I mean, Marshal Lek and his politicised police force are no match for Sudden Impact and the star witness begs Death’s Head to do something. So naturally he responds by telling him they’ll go and find the chess set! We’ll get back to that.

First we get the plot laid out for us as we meet Minister Carson, a corrupt official who has been selling parts of the US armed forces to foreign adversaries for substantial payments. The General we met earlier actually thinks this wouldn’t stop a lot of Americans from still voting for him. Given today’s climate and the blind followers of certain presidential candidates in that country this isn’t as far fetched as it once may have been.

Before we return to the action we catch a quick glimpse of Spratt back at their office. After not appearing at all last month and on one solitary page this time around it feels a bit like he’s taking a back seat after being promoted as Death’s Head’s partner in earlier issues. Such a shame. Here he’s reduced to trying to answer the phone while being attacked by their rescued vulture (see #5), only to discover someone on the line addressing Death’s Head as “my darling”.

That’s all we get of that particular storyline for this issue before we return to that chess set. Yep, he wasn’t kidding and he’s set it up in a secured safe room and ignores the fighting outside. Of course Lek isn’t too happy but you can’t fault Death’s Head’s logic below, and it’s nice to see him back to working to the letter of his contracts which was such an important rule in #1 and yet seemed to be broken or forgotten about last time. 

With Lek’s small army taken out already and the mercenaries breaking through into the safe room, it all rests on the star of the comic to take down Sudden Impact one member at a time. What we’re treated to next are several pages of perfect 80s action, similar to how certain issues of Dragon’s Claws (also written by Simon) felt like 80s action movies translated directly to the page. What this means for this character is one exciting take down after another, each accompanied by a Schwarzenegger-like punchline.

With six now taken out already a disappointed Death’s Head laments about how they were meant to be unstoppable but yet it’s all a bit easy for him. Missile launchers, flame throwers, aerial attacks, stealth moves… nothing works and we see the team reduced to its final members over these pages. While it’s all great fun I can’t help but wonder would it have been more exciting if this had been one seemingly unstoppable mercenary rather than a group?

As it stands, Sudden Impact seem little more than cannon fodder, but if it had been Mayhem himself taking up all these pages with attempts to kill Death’s Head, relentlessly coming back for more, it may have felt more dramatic. However, it’s great fun and if there’s anything we’ve learned about the comic by this sixth issue it’s that fun is the main aim here, not drama.

So who cares if they’re cannon fodder? Who cares if it could’ve been more dramatic with one merc? With killer lines like “Buck stops here, yes?” this is so enjoyable and so reminiscent of the aforementioned Arnie and his over-the-top action flicks of the time that the only thing I’m unhappy with is the fact there are only four more issues to go. It’s a title that really stands out as something different, something only Marvel UK could’ve produced.

This is one of the best issues of Death’s Head yet for sheer fun value

We then get to briefly meet the senator whose witness is at the centre of all this violence and it appears our star isn’t exactly working for the good guys. Senator Letterman knows the only difference between Marshal Lek and terrorists are their uniforms and when he realises the extra law enforcement he ordered to escort him are handling a massive riot elsewhere in the city he demands they be called away.

The citizens can kill each other for all he cares, they’re all expendable as long as they’ve already voted for him, and the police aren’t the public’s, they’re his. Whether we see this horrible little squirt again or whether he’s just an example of the larger government I don’t know, but it does show that Death’s Head really is an anti-hero rather than an out-and-out goodie. He might do what’s morally right when the situation calls for it, but he’ll take a contract worth good money from anyone who can afford him. It makes for a more interesting character.

At the top of this review I mentioned a classic episode of Knight Rider and how excited I got with the editorial of this issue. Well, I can only imagine how excited I’d have been reading the page above (which ends the fight) without the foreknowledge of that introductory page. Also, on the penultimate page of the story the “conscientious objector” line from the cover is meant to be the final gag of the story. A shame both of these moments were somewhat spoiled already then.

But in a rare case for our main character, in this story he fails to do what he was hired to do. Beaten, Mayhem asks Death’s Head how many of his team has he killed. The tally stands at eight, to which Mayhem simply replies “Nine” before the building holding the witness explodes. Death’s Head had missed one. Lek laments, he believes Letterman will be taking a contract out on him next. As for Death’s Head’s response, it’s as typical as you’d expect from him.

As he simply packs up and leaves Lek with Mayhem I’ll admit I smiled. How very in-character. As per previous issues the final page is unrelated to the story and sets up a cliffhanger instead, this time involving a cigar-smoking horse(!) planning to kill Death’s Head. I’ll leave that for next month because we’ll need to read the next issue to make sense of that one, but for now we wrap up the first issue in the second half of the comic’s run (not that anyone knew this at the time).

It may not have had the most involving plot this month but that needn’t matter. I’m here for this character and this was a brilliant story for him. It gave him the perfect set up to unleash everything that made him so beloved by readers at the time (and still to this day). Full of action and comedy, this is one of the best issues of Death’s Head yet for sheer fun value. With four issues left I hope the momentum keeps up alongside some great stories. We’ll find out with #7’s review later this month on Monday 29th April 2024.

iSSUE FiVE < > iSSUE SEVEN

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DEATH’S HEAD #4: DOG-GEDLY BRiLLiANT

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The front cover to this fourth issue of Death’s Head may be drawn by the familiar team of Bryan Hitch and Mark Farmer but inside Plague Dog is drawn by renowned Transformers artist Lee Sullivan (also Havoc (RoboCop), Doctor Who), with Annie Halfacree on letters, Nick Abadzis colouring and Simon Furman writing of course, with Richard Starkings editing. While I love Geoff Senior’s art being in every issue of Dragon’s Claws, I like the mixing of styles here.

Last month we saw Death’s Head’s new office wasn’t the perfect purchase Spratt seemed to think it was, having spent his new partner’s hard earned cash before he’d earned it. This issue sees that picked up and developed into two separate stories, one for each of our main characters. While our mechanoid anti-hero is hired by one gangster to hunt down and kill his rival’s pet mutt, Spratt comes face-to-face with it in their new property.

We kick things off with Death’s Head arriving at Jules ‘Kneecap’ Venici’s birthday party in his usual understated style. A huge birthday cake arrives but Venici has seen this movie before and fills it full of lead. Surprised at finding no one inside he still insists on killing whoever sent it because his own actions have made him look stupid. He then sits down to eat a slice, not noticing the highly conspicuous waiter in his latest in a long line of ridiculous wigs.

Predictably a huge shoot-out occurs between all of the gangsters and our lone hero, although even in this dire situation there’s time for some comedy. Elsewhere, Spratt is checking out their new digs and the lights are out. After we see a clawed hand swiping down in the darkness he lets out a blood-curdling scream and we’re led to believe the hand has made contact, until you read the following caption. Simon once again playing with our expectations.

I particularly like Spratt’s reaction to the sound effect of the plague dog, the alien monster used by Venici to take revenge out on those who wrong him. Last month we saw someone who looked like an undertaker sell the office to Spratt and in this issue we find out he is in fact called The Undertaker, a killer-for-hire whose method of assassination is somewhat gruesome.

But yes, that sound effect. We get all sorts of wording to describe sounds in our comics. Sometimes they’re downright bizarre to say the least. The fact Spratt correctly names this rather random sound effect is very funny and just shy of the character breaking the fourth wall and identifying he’s in a comic. It genuinely made me laugh. Back in the other half of the story, as the issue constantly flicks back and forth between the two scenes, Death’s Head is still at it even when cornered and out of ammunition.

Death by cocktail sausages! As a form of getting back at the bad guys it seems appropriate for this blog. Death’s Head isn’t the only one up against the odds, nothing to shoot with and having to use his ingenuity to get out of a tough scrape. As the rotten internals of the office building collapse around him, Spratt is trying desperately to escape but is hopelessly out of his depth.

In fact, the crumbling of the building saves him on more than one occasion, luck playing a huge part in keeping him alive. He could be learning a thing or two from his new boss though, or perhaps they’re just more suited than the mechanoid realises, because despite his fear (or perhaps because of it) he can’t help making quips.

Slipping out of his boot and shoving it into the monster’s mouth (complete with another joke) he makes a run outside and finds a car parked (well, hovering, it’s in the future after all). This is Spratt’s speciality. Quietly boosting cars is a particularly useful skill that Death’s Head needs him for. There’s a little bit of tension here as Spratt struggles to get inside, panicking as the plague dog bears down on him.

The engine doesn’t immediately kick in either and the tension rises further as the thing makes a leap for him and crashes through the rear window, clawing at the interior, getting closer and closer to Spratt until it finally places a claw on his shoulder. The escape vehicle now seems to have become a death trap. We know Spratt can’t die, but even if he takes off surely the thing’s head and arm are already inside so what can he do? Well…

Just like last month when an accidental slip of the hand by Spratt turned the tide of battle, here his mistake with the gears sends him rocketing backwards, squashing the monster against the building. Fuel tank ruptured, the dog roaring out to his “Foood!” as it starts to push the car off itself, Spratt characteristically can’t help but bask in his glorious victory, no matter how accidental.

The final spread of the issue sees The Undertaker making a phone call, apparently to activate the plague dog at its lair. So are we to assume he actually sold the lair to Spratt? His job also done, Death’s Head makes his way to the office and finds chaos has ensued, although Spratt seems somewhat subdued and not showing off for once. Of course, our mechanoid friend can always turn a situation around when money is concerned and our story ends.

On the next page a somewhat tacked on cliffhanger has The Undertaker hiring someone called Big Shot, a muscly man with a big gun. I can’t help but be a little underwhelmed with this after last month’s ending. Surely having a plague dog lying in wait was the more dramatic cliffhanger. I’m aware I haven’t read the next issue to see how good this guy is with his gun, but I feel this is a bit of a muted ending by comparison and the two should’ve been the other way around.

Head to Head is the comic’s new letters page and there’s an anonymous letter from my home city of Belfast. Although, if this person had actually read Death’s Head’s adventures in Transformers and properly understood them I don’t see how they could think he’s commonly seen as a full-blown villain. Not too sure who “Bob” is that the first letter is addressed to (Richard Starkings is the editor and Jenny O’Connor the Managing Editor) but there’s definitely a lot of high praise here and I agree with it all.

I just wish Lierne Elliot had been right when he said “seems we have a hit here”. Of course, it may have seemed that way at the time, especially since this was a comic based on a very popular character from another Marvel UK title, but alas the sales figures wouldn’t be good enough to make up for the cost of producing the comic, as Richard explained to me in the introductory post to this series.

But let’s not dwell on that, we’ve another six months of this to go!

On the back page is an advertisement for a new fortnightly Marvel comic that would never actually appear. The William Tell TV series was apparently shown on ITV, although I don’t ever remember seeing it advertised. There’s a chance it either wasn’t broadcast on Northern Ireland’s UTV or it didn’t last long before ITV pulled the plug, despite it running for three seasons of 72 30-minute episodes in France and elsewhere, where it was known as Crossbow.

I remember this comic advert alerting me to the TV series and yet I still never caught it in any TV listings magazines. Marvel’s confidence must’ve been knocked as the plan for a fortnightly changed to a Summer Special, an annual and a run of strips in the Marvel Bumper Comic, plus a collected graphic novel, the strips for all of these already created for the defunct fortnightly. This is why I think the show must’ve failed to pick up viewers here in the UK, as Marvel suddenly realised the audience wasn’t there for what they’d assumed was going to be a hit.

You just might see some of it on the blog at some point though, as the Bumper Comic is on the cards for the future, I just don’t know when yet, but you heard it hear first! (As if you’d hear it anywhere else.) For now, that’s us finished with another outing for Death’s Head… well, really more of an outing for Spratt this month. We return to Earth of the far future on Monday 4th March 2024.

iSSUE THREE < > iSSUE FiVE

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Comic Reviews, Death's Head

DEATH’S HEAD #3: DEADLY FUNNY

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Alongside Dragon’s Claws #8 the first week of 1989 (and 2024) brought us the third issue of Death’s Head and, while the story inside may be light on plot, it’s aim is to establish the relationship between our mechanoid friend and Spratt. Spratt was the young fella who rebuilt the Freelance Peace-Keeping Agent in #1 after he was nearly destroyed by Dragon and his team, and it seems he’s determined to help Death’s Head navigate this era on Earth, as well as balance his books so he’s never left broke again.

We kick off with this scene setting display below. There’s nothing quite like a good old 80s dystopian future, is there? Mass consumerism, unhealthy food, sex and violence may seem like a clichéd way of depicting the future but it was created in the late 80s and this style was very much in vogue, pencilled by Bryan Hitch, inked by Dave Hine and lettered by Annie Halfacree. Even the basic way in which it’s coloured by Nick Abadzis adds to the overall feeling of grime in the Los Angeles Resettlement. (Resettled why?)

Tracking down a man for information on his target, Death’s Head follows him into a packed club where he uses non-lethal projectiles in the crowded space. Aimed with precision, they end up only affecting the one person. Whether this is because he didn’t want to harm innocents or because he only injures/kills those he’s paid to do so (see his rules in #1) is up to the reader to decide. Once outside for interrogation things take a turn for the worse.

The target grabs Spratt and Death’s Head instantly regrets letting the kid tag along. However, the man makes one big mistake. Spratt tries to tell him this, that he’s made a bad move and the man argues back that he can’t be killed while holding a hostage, so it’s clearly a good move. But this wasn’t what Spratt was referring to. No, in the heat of the moment the man had called our main character a bounty hunter! Oh dear. This leads on to this page below.

This is just the first of several laugh-out-loud moments in this issue and it’s clear writer Simon Furman intends to bring as much comedy as possible to this comic, certainly a lot more than in Dragon’s Claws anyway. They get the information they need but Death’s Head is warned he’ll be no match for his objective, a person named Ogrus, especially if he takes the kid along.

Death’s Head can’t help but agree. While he appreciates Spratt’s help in doing things he’d find difficult, like blending in or stealing a car for example, and he’s good at the accountancy stuff, he’s far too keen to impress and prove himself. As such, Death’s Head inwardly questions why he let him come along in the first place and we get a brilliant flashback to a transport vehicle skimming over the Atlantic Ocean a few days prior.

On board, a hostage situation had kicked off and in the end it was Spratt who had saved the day, albeit in an overly flamboyant way involving an automated rubbish cart, some acrobatics and a lot of showing off. However, what’s so funny about this scene to me is seeing Death’s Head, after everything he went through in Transformers, doing normal things like complaining about the food, or just sitting there watching the whole situation unfold with interest. Maybe it’s just me but I was giggling along to all of this.

There’s some hilarious chemistry between these two already and despite the title character’s protestations he still takes his new recruit to the rendezvous in a rough looking bar and casino. Now remember, this comic was created in the 1980s, the characters have just walked into a bar full of dodgy criminals, the main character is a no-nonsense individual looking for one certain person and has no interest in anyone else there. You know what this means, don’t you? Yup, that’s right, a massive bar brawl.

There are some knowing nods here to this sort of thing inexplicably breaking out in the movies of the day, when one or two punches from people in the foreground somehow leads to everyone in the background laying into each other. Here, it begins with Death’s Head taking out one person who had innocently said something to a dealer at the casino, knowing full well what it would cause, thus allowing him to simply walk up to his target in the middle of the chaos, unchallenged.

The little bits of dialogue on the second page make it feel almost like a spoof of those movie scenes, especially the one about someone’s mother. Outside, Spratt has been ordered to stay in the car he stole (that was graciously received by the Peace-Keeping Agent), but Spratt knows Death’s Head will be outnumbered and can’t help throwing himself in to help. Crashing the vehicle through the casino wall and shouting at everyone to freeze, his diminutive frame leads to nothing but uproariuous laughter. He’s not down and out yet though.

Climbing into a position above Death’s Head’s fight with the mark he questions whether he should get involved or not, tossing a coin to decide. By now it should be clear to the reader that anything Spratt sets out to do will not normally have the intended outcome. Here, he can’t even make the decision to get involved or not without something happening, albeit this time it’s one that distracts Ogrus enough for Death’s Head to start turning the tide of the fight he was clearly losing.

A quick gag or two from the mechanoid and he’s back on top again and a final one-two from the both of them together (Spratt jumping feet first into Orgus’ back as Death’s Head punches him in the stomach) and the battle is won, the contract complete. We close off this chapter’s main story with Spratt joyous that he actually helped and some reluctant praise is even thrown his way.

The “Partners/Don’t push it” exchange perfectly sums up the strange working relationship these two seem to have. Spratt is all in and as far as he’s concerned they’re already partners, he’s just clamouring for confirmation and a rhetorical pat on the back, especially from someone of Death’s Head stature. The fact his apparent partner is so dead pan and doesn’t show emotion easily is just another challenge for Spratt, which makes him even keener.

Death’s Head on the other hand finds Spratt annoying. He gets in the way. He’s too keen. He even wants conversation! Death’s Head would rather continue to work on his own. But he can’t deny the kid has helped with his money problems and has been a good guide to this strange time in Earth’s future, both things he promised he’d help with. Plus, he can get into places inconspicuously, something Death’s Head can’t do. Well, in theory Spratt can, but his wish to show off can hamper that somewhat.

It was only upon finishing it that I realised the plot was so simple, I’d just been swept along with these characters

As the duo walk off with their client’s trophy we turn the page and find ourselves “Elsewhere”. In that final panel above Spratt makes a throwaway comment that he’s managed to secure a new office (since Death’s Head’s previous one is thousands of years in the past), spending their money before they’d even earned it. Well it seems that’s where “Elsewhere” is.

Poor Spratt. His heart was in the right place, but not only has he spent Death’s Head’s reward money, it looks like even this good-intentioned gesture will come back to haunt him too. Poor kid can’t catch a break. Hopefully next month’s story will pick this mystery up as its main thread.

This third issue may be very light on plot but as I said above that wasn’t the point. The point was to establish this (very) unlikely pair as a working partnership. Having the plot as just another simple contract for Death’s Head and using this to show how enjoyable that can be with the two of them working side-by-side was a brilliant idea. It was only upon finishing it that I realised the actual plot was so simple, I’d just been swept along with these characters. I look forward to more sweeping on Sunday 4th February 2024.

iSSUE TWO < > iSSUE FOUR

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Comic Reviews, Death's Head

DEATH’S HEAD 2: KiLLER COMEDY

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Well this is a turn up for the books, isn’t it? Previously guest starring in Dragon’s Claws #5 and being reconstructed beneath The ‘Pool of Greater Britain in 8162, where he’d been exiled by The Doctor when he bumped into him in the corridors of time, after disappearing from The Planet of Junk in 2007 where he helped the Autobots defeat the Chaos Bringer god Unicron (do keep up), ol’ Death’s Head is now the one welcoming the special guest stars to his own comic

You see, he’s been rebuilt by a Game team looking for revenge on Scavenger of Dragon’s Claws and as always business comes first, so up he pops in as characteristic a manner as ever. First though, don’t forget to subscribe to 12 issues of the comic that would only last for ten. Obviously Marvel UK had much bigger plans for their smaller US-sized comics. A sad reminder of that to kick things off with.

Alongside writer Simon Furman, penciller Bryan Hitch, letterer Annie Halfacree, colourist Nick Abadzis and editor Richard Starkings comes inker Dave Hine (Spawn, The Joker’s Asylum, Will Eisner’s The Spirit), who brings a completely different feel to proceedings, especially to any human characters who seem to emote more and have a rougher, harder edge to them. I approve. I still much prefer the original design of Death’s Head from Transformers though.

So the Freelance Peace-Keeping Agent has been sent to round up Scavenger rather than kill him, and deliver him to the Game team. The first half-dozen pages consist of their back and forth battle involving anything that comes to hand for Scavenger, including Scratch the dog! As ever, Death’s Head keeps his cool and even has time for the occasional quip before he finally overcomes his target.

When the rest of the team show up Dragon spots an “old friend” and they recover Scratch who leads them out into the wastelands towards the Chaney Maximum Security Prison, where criminals the World Development Council wanted to forget were sent. So forgotten were they that when an earthquake destroyed the prison the authorities didn’t attempt any rescue and just assumed all of those within had perished. They were wrong.

At this point we get a little insight into the past of Dragon and Scavenger, specifically how they first met. This was exciting to begin with for me as Scavenger is a favourite character and one I’d like to know more about, but I didn’t think we’d get the chance given the comic’s short lifespan. In the end though it’s pretty inconsequential, Dragon having his life saved seven years previous at the last moment by a silent Game player who disappeared just as quickly afterwards, Dragon vowing inwardly he’d recruit the stranger to the Claws next time they met.

Still, it’s interesting to have a flashback for these characters in this comic instead of their own. Death’s Head finds himself conflicted at this point. The Chain Gang had become agoraphobic from living underground for so long and they’d used Scavenger, a relatively new prisoner at the time, as their gopher to go and fetch food and supplies, tying an explosive device to his leg so he’d have to return. Eventually earning their trust, as soon as they removed the device Scavenger had legged it, and now the team has reconstructed the galaxy’s greatest bounty hunter (their words!) to recapture he who had betrayed them.

Death’s Head knows he’d have done exactly the same thing in Scavenger’s case, but money is money and a contract is a contract. However, such distaste does he have for this situation he’s set a timer counting down to the very second said contract expires. It’s at this point, while he’s lamenting his situation, that he meets the technical whizz who recreated him from his scrap parts, and co-star of the strip advert for the comic, Spratt.

Of course we know from the marketing that Spratt will end up working with Death’s Head so it’s interesting to see how this relationship starts. Spratt is basically brushed aside, despite his obvious intelligence and technical abilities. The “eyes on the back of my head” line will come back to haunt our anti-hero before this issue is over, but at this point in the story there’s no indication of how they’ll end up together. I like the build up.

Scavenger’s teammates then turn up and basically all hell breaks loose. As you’d expect, really. But that doesn’t mean the humour has been forgotten about, not even for one page, as Steel finds out in a rather painful way. With the clock counting down on his wrist, Death’s Head even surprises himself with what he’s thinking while he fights.

He finds himself respecting Dragon, something that simply hasn’t happened with a human before. Not that he takes it easy on him of course. Nope, he’s still under contract for another nine seconds and will continue to fight just as hard until that time runs out. Meanwhile, the leader of The Chain Gang, Fox, chases Scavenger through the crumbling prison. However, his wish to kill clouds his judgement and he doesn’t realise that Scavenger isn’t really running away from him.

He’s being deliberately led somewhere but his prey is very convincingly playing the desperate victim, right up until he jumps on Fox, wrapping his whole body around his head and obscuring his vision. It’s all been a ruse and suddenly Fox finds himself in the most terrifying of places. It’s not the prison itself nor the earthquake damaged cells ready to collapse and kill everyone at any moment. No, now he finds himself outside.

Inside, our two title characters are still fighting and Dragon is taking quite a bit of punishment when, with his spiked metal ball raised to come down hard on Dragon’s head, Death’s Head checks his wrist and just stops. Walking away, he apologises for the fight lasting longer than it should’ve and blames his timer for running slow!

It really is the only way this fight could’ve ended; neither of these two could actually win anymore, they’re heroes of their own comics after all. In fact, as the authorities arrive to clean up and arrest The Chain Gang, Dragon looks up and sees Death’s Head looking down from a hill nearby… and waves. This sight of mutual respect has me wishing both these comics had lasted longer because I would’ve loved to have seen these two slowly become friends and even work together at some point.

As for the story itself, Scavenger insists Fox is treated with leniency as he was just looking out for the community he cared for but had just gone about it the wrong way. It all ends with Spratt being the first person to ever sneak up on Death’s Head, and probably the first to offer to be his partner. After all, the mechanoid is from a different time and doesn’t know this world, so Spratt offers to help him with that while handling the business side of things. He’s a free man now and knows a good thing when he sees it. Death’s Head refuses and walks off… then the chapter ends with Spratt following anyway and continuing to talk about his proposition. To which Death’s Head merely sighs. And the reader laughs.

A couple of Marvel UK adverts round off the issue. The first is for Dragon’s Claws and uses the excellent Dave Gibbons cover from the current issue, while the other advert is somewhat more cryptic. For a comic that wouldn’t even turn up until June of the following year, six months hence, Marvel UK were certainly playing the long game here.

I remember this particular promo appearing in The Real Ghostbusters and Transformers comics week after week, month after month. Even at that young age I began thinking, “Enough already, just tell us more!” The Sleeze Brothers, namely El Ape and Deadbeat would follow Death’s Head into the pages of Doctor Who Magazine first but that wouldn’t even be until March. I guess you’ll just have to wait until then to find out more… because yes, The Sleeze Brothers will be joining the OiNK Blog in 2024.

For just the second time we come to the end of an issue of Death’s Head and I really like the fact all of the pieces have taken a couple of issues to put in place. Actually, I’m looking forward to seeing how Death’s Head’s and Spratt’s partnership works out, so I suppose everything isn’t quite set yet. While this and Dragon’s Claws are very natural sister publications, this one is definitely a lot funnier and lighter, despite its title character’s name and job! Great fun so far. The next review will be after the festive season (right after it in fact) so come back to kick off the New Year in style on Sunday 7th January 2024.

iSSUE ONE < > iSSUE THREE

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Comic Reviews, Death's Head

DEATH’S HEAD #1: BACK TO THE FUTURE

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This is an exciting one! I’ve only ever read this first issue of Death’s Head. As a kid I originally became acquainted with his time in Marvel UK’s Transformers a year later through reprints in the comic and my friend giving me his back issue collection. However, I’d seen some of the funny comic strip adverts in the likes of The Real Ghostbusters and my Transformers-loving friends raved about him, so I had to try it out. I loved him.

There was a problem though. I was only allowed a few comics on order at any one time and so there was no room for Death’s Head in my reservation list as far as my parents were concerned. I didn’t want to stop any of the others I had on order so instead I bought #1 with my own pocket money and thought I would do so every month. However, a month is a long time at that age, so when #2 came along I’d forgotten all about it and instead that week bought some other random comic with my pennies.

He did pop up in The Marvel Bumper Comic upon occasion but apart from that this was all I ever read beyond Transformers. I rediscovered this issue in my collection about a year later and was really disappointed to learn it was no longer being published and that I’d missed out. Thankfully I have a much better attention span these days so it’s time to correct my oversight. Even this opening spread of pages two and three brings back the memories of reading this on a day off sick from school and all the thrills and laughs it contained. Let’s see if they’re still there today.

One little niggle straight out the gate though. Those tours, often hyped up in the pages of Marvel’s comics, always irritated me as a kid because they never came to Northern Ireland. We were always ignored back then despite us buying their comics. But we’ll move on from that and this issue is made up of three flashbacks told from the perspective of the Freelance Peace-Keeping Agent, which split up scenes of his reconstruction after being almost destroyed by Dragon’s Claws in #5 of their comic (from last month, no longer on sale despite what Head Lines says).

Some interesting bits of information come from his inner thoughts throughout, such as him having an original programmer. This may be obvious to some, but seeing as how he originally came from the story universe of the Transformers I’d always assumed he didn’t have one and was instead a sentient being much along the same lines as the Cybertronians. Sentient he is, obviously, but did he have a human programmer? I think that might be what’s hinted at here, but he killed them anyway so that’s all we’re getting for now.

Why? Well it would appear he was created as a rich man’s plaything, but knew he was destined for more. However, beyond that things are kept a mystery which I enjoy. These flashbacks all see him in his original body and given the timeline of events he must still be in his original gigantic form. After battling Unicron on the Planet of Junk he was zapped through time where he literally bumped into The Doctor who shrank him to human size before being zapped through time again and meeting Dragon’s Claws. These stories are then set sometime before his final story with the Robots in Disguise.

So a Game team called The Chain Gang discovered his remains and resurrected him in order to carry out a contract on someone. The member of their team tasked with this is called Spratt, the same Spratt we’d see in adverts for the comic across other Marvel titles. His own background is also a mystery, all we know is he’s a scavenger and thief and was able to track down the parts needed to repair Death’s Head’s body, make improvements and kit him out with a new set of clothes. Thankfully, his humour was still in good knick.

I particularly like the moment in one of his flashbacks where he disguises himself as a blonde-haired woman in a gangster’s local hairdressing salon and, among his recollections of all the chaos and violence, he laments the fact he had to give the wig back. Setting him up as a new lead comics character for both old and new readers alike, his sense of humour was always going to be key and thankfully this issue has it in spades.

His three stories all address different rules: always honour a contract but never trust a client, make no concessions for age, size or gender and never kill for free but it pays to advertise. All three of these are played out as mini-stories and work perfectly, especially the last one which sees him do something for free, but only because he’s about to go broke and the result of his advertising is a long list of clients eager to hire him after a display of prowess.

His office is the same we’ve seen before on the blog in the High Noon Tex strip advert and plays up to the old fashioned detective/ganster movies writer Simon Furman must’ve been such a fan of. He used these as an influence in part of the Matrix Quest epic in Transformers (on the planet Pz-zazz, although set way back in 1990) and the setting perfectly suits Death’s Head and his peace-keeping business, surrounded as he is by a world that is anything but peaceful but which he ignores unless paid.

I also love how the facade slips now and again, even within his own inner thoughts as he calls himself a bounty hunter before correcting his narration. For the uninitiated, he was very much a bounty hunter but hated the term and so called himself a ‘Freelance Peace-Keeping Agent’, and woe betide anyone who used the wrong description!

One thing that took me by surprise because I’d completely forgotten in the years since was the fact Geoff Senior, despite being co-creator of the character, wasn’t the regular artist on the series. Instead our penciller is Bryan Hitch (The Batman’s Grave, Hell’s Angel, The Transformers including Death’s Head final appearance) with inker Mark Farmer (Slaine, Excalibur, Doctor Who). Colouring the proceedings is Nick Abadzis (Rogue Trooper artist, Vector 13 writer, The Amazing Mr Pleebu creator), lettering is by Annie Halfacree (Knight Rider, 2000AD, Lion) and Richard Starkings is editing as always (Elephantmen, The Real Ghostbusters, Dragon’s Claws).

I’ll admit it took a while for me to get used to the new art style, so sure was I that Geoff would be the artist; the lack of jaggy edges and exaggerated facial expressions is disappointing initially, even though Bryan’s earlier work I’d seen in Transformers was more like that. Only initially though. The first chance the comic has of giving Death’s Head a different facial expression than the one people may assume is his only one (on the cover) I was sold! This happens on only the third page of the strip when he shushes someone he’s knocked unconscious, so I was sold pretty quickly.

His trademark speech patterns return too of course, yes? His ability to talk reasonably and calmly no matter what’s going on around him, almost like he’s enjoying the fact he can remain detached, remains too. I genuinely inwardly giggled when, in the last of these mini-stories, he takes out a robot much larger than him and for a moment his confidence waivers. Just for a moment.

The issue ends back in the world of Dragon’s Claws and Greater Britain as he finally begins to move his apparently non-functioning frame and punches out the member of The Chain Gang who had berated him. Shocked, Spratt asks him why he didn’t move before if he was able to, instead of leading them to believe something had gone wrong with his reconstruction. Death’s Head simply tells him he needed to order his thoughts, which is why we’ve been treated to these flashbacks.

Reliving these key moments from his (distant) past and running over his rules in his head were the perfect way to introduce him. Including the interludes we’ve been treated to four completely different scenarios, meaning the comic can formally begin his adventures quickly with a fully-fledged character in #2 rather than slowly introducing elements as the early issues proceed. It’s a good balance for a first issue, one which would appeal to new readers and those who already knew him. Of course, there’s more to him and the ongoing series, but this is a strong start.

Apart from catching glimpses of his new body (and clothing) in the interludes, the remainder of the issue sees him as we all knew him before now. As such, when the big reveal is made on the last page of the strip my initial reaction is that I much prefer the original look. I’ve a feeling it’ll grow on me though, because this is all about the character himself and he’s very much the same mechanoid he always was, I’m very happy to report.

I mentioned above the disappointment I felt when I found this issue amongst my pile of random comics in 1989, after its unfortunate cancellation with #10. I can remember that feeling like it was yesterday, so knowing I can finally read what I’ve been wanting to read for 35 years is bloody exciting! There’s no Next Issue promo but I’ve seen the cover (and nothing else) of the next edition on my shelf and I can’t wait for Sunday 3rd December 2023 when Death’s Head #2 sees him crossing back over into the world of Dragon’s Claws! Join me then, eh?

DRAGON’S CLAWS FiVE < > iSSUE TWO

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DRAGON’S CLAWS #4: FRENCH FRiED

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Another month, another foray into the far future with Marvel UK’s classic Dragon’s Claws. It may look like there’s an ancient oriental theme to the story this time around if the cover is anything to go by, but actually Steel here is facing off against one of two French armies. This month’s exciting comic is just that: exciting! It pushes the background intrigue and shocking story arcs from last time aside and concentrates instead on a self-contained tale that’s no less thrilling.

A quick mention of the editorial page first and that opening paragraph doesn’t change from issue-to-issue, remaining as a quick introduction for any new readers. It reminds me of how American TV shows of the 80s and 90s would’ve had a spoken narration at the beginning of their opening credits, so it feels perfectly of its time. Think Knight Rider, Jag and Babylon 5. These were (and still are) all favourites of mine so this gets me hyped every month.

As usual the in-universe Fastfax gives us a little bit of background to the story before it starts on the opposite page. It’s interesting to get some insight into how the wider world outside Greater Britain is faring and it appears France isn’t doing so well, with the rich carving up the country for their own benefit, the rest of the populace suffering as a result. The rebel group La Folie appear to be getting painted as a terrorist group here, so I’m pretty sure that won’t be the case as the story unfolds.

Of course, we know already who’s going to be selected to do the prisoner exchange between the World Development Council and the rebels, don’t we? I’m also intrigued by this mention of a Canadian vigilante, seemingly innocently slotted in there at the end. Perhaps a character we’ll get to in a future story. These Fastfax updates throw out hints and character references every month, painting a lovely three-dimensional world crafted by writer Simon Furman which I hope we get time to explore in the ten issues.

“When Dragon pulled us Dragon’s Claws back together as government agents, his intent was to restore order to this mad world!”

Steel

The first half of Simon’s story (drawn by Geoff Senior, lettered by Annie Halfacree, coloured by Steve White, edited by Richard Starkings) is heavy on the action while not wasting any time in developing the story. It may be a little predicable in the end but that could be down to the fact it’s 35 years old. At the time I’m sure it kept readers guessing until the end. So the barons mentioned in the Fastfax are battling all over the country, tearing it apart and killing hundreds of thousands of innocent bystanders in order to advance their power. La Folie are being painted as terrorists instead of freedom fighters because this suits the governments of the world.

Dragon’s Claws have been assigned to return La Folie’s two members in exchange for the government’s man and Dragon himself is on route to rendezvous with his team with the prisoners when he comes under attack by La Folie’s second-in-command Colonel Gescaux. He wants to kill prisoners Legris and Ostleur as they seem to know something that their leader can’t find out. Straight away Dragon seems to know all is not as black and white as the governments are painting it, even throwing himself into harm’s way to save the so-called terrorists from a grenade.

Meanwhile, the rest of his team find themselves between two warring factions. Mercy is all for abandoning the area, it’s not their fight after all, both sides are in the wrong as far as she’s concerned and can wipe each other out. But as Steel points out the local town is being devastated by their battle and given why Dragon reformed the team as government agents (the first time his reason is explained) it very much is their fight. Hence the cover.

Legris takes a moment to have it out with Dragon in a scene where they end up surrounded by Gescaux’s men. Before Dragon battles his way out, entrusting Legris and Ostleur to help out and not make a run for it, he realises he has respect for Legris, that he’s a man of integrity and belief in a cause. Gescaux just wants La Folie for himself, to turn it into the criminal organisation the world already thinks it is in order to further his own schemes. These two men know this and Gescaux knows if their leader found out he’d be a dead man.

Turn the people against each other to enrich the rich even further. Sound familiar?

The story revolves around the point that Greater Britain and the wider World Development Council will happily ally themselves with corrupt world leaders in order to advance their own personal interests, not those of the people they’re meant to serve. They don’t care who gets scapegoated, ostracised from civilisation or killed, as long as no one knows what’s really going on in the corridors of power. Turn the people against each other to enrich the rich even further. Sound familiar?

So while this chapter in the adventures of Dragon’s Claws may not advance any of those plots I found so intriguing over the first few issues, it’s beginning to paint a wider canvas for future stories to take part in and I do hope we get to see more of the world, or even revisit France at some point. (UPDATE: We don’t.) Speaking of which, let’s get back to that battle between the warring barons the rest of the Claws couldn’t walk away from and a surprising moment of comedy thanks to my favourite character, Scavenger.

I love this moment so much. The person he hit thanks to the lady’s headscarf was one of the leaders, the plan being to take down one of them so their followers would flee, creating an opening to do so with the other leader, thus saving the town. Steel stops Mercy from killing the other baron, instead putting weapons in front of them both and telling them to fight it out to the death instead of sending their troops into battle for them. Naturally, they show themselves up as the cowards they are and run away instead.

The main thrust of the story ends with Dragon taking on all of Gescaux’s minions, who then tries to escape instead of fighting on (again, typical) and he jumps onto their vehicle. However, Dragon notices the fuel tank is ruptured and about to blow. He still tries to save Gescaux but he’s too late and the terrorist gets blown to smithereens. After an arduous wait to see if the freed prisoners will keep to their word (Dragon let them go to the exchange alone), Ambassador Golding turns up. The other, so-called ‘terrorists’ kept to their word, this honourability proving most important to Steel.

With a little acknowledging nod to the previous story arcs we reach the end for now. After learning of Dragon’s reason for agreeing to become an agent of the World Development Council (and N.U.R.S.E.) earlier in the issue, his comment here about re-educating people isn’t just a throwaway line. Instead, it’s a true heroic statement and one that’ll hopefully lead to many exciting adventures to come, swiftly followed in the next moment with him cracking a joke. A great ending.

Well, there’s actually one more page to go. Last issue’s story also finished but then had a final page hinting at things to come, it’s something of a trademark for Simon’s comics if this and Death’s Head are anything to go by. So as we turn to the final page we get another surprise cliffhanger. In a moment that’s reminiscent of The Terminator films a bright ball of electricity signals the arrival of a futuristic robotic character, appearing in The ‘Pool (Liverpool) next to The Evil Dead’s Death Nell, one of only two apparent survivors of that Game team from #2. This is a particularly exciting entrance!

Anybody who’s been following the Death’s Head real time read through will know all about the character created in the pages of Transformers by Simon Furman and Geoff Senior. After a few appearances in that hit comic and discovering the origins of the Cybertronians he disappeared through time (after a battle with Unicron) only to appear in Doctor Who Magazine.

There he was brought down to human size by the Seventh Doctor (Sylvester McCoy’s) in a funny strip in #135 of his publication and then tricked into jumping to Earth in the year 8162, a very familiar time for readers of Dragon’s Claws. Now, with Death’s Head’s own comic due for release before the end of the year it’s time for him to make his reappearance in Marvel UK’s lineup at last and I for one can not wait! Check out the very back page of the comic below, drawn by Bryan Hitch rather than Geoff, so I wonder who is drawing the next chapter. Interesting, and a superb choice of artist.

I really am sick and tired of that “’Nuff Said” phrase though. Between Dragon’s Claws, Havoc and Transformers it was so overused by Marvel UK and every single time they did it just felt like a cop out, like the editor couldn’t be arsed saying anything else. At least Action Force were getting much more exiting covers for their monthly than they were a few issues back, with more superb Geoff Senior artwork to gawk at.

With page 28 sufficiently gawked, it’s time to wrap things up for Dragon et all for another month. This continues to be an extraordinarily fun comic, full of action, character and world building that’s second-to-none. With a crossover event next month and the background arcs set to return, I don’t know how they’ve managed it but I’m getting ever more hyped every month for the next issue. Come back on Sunday 8th October 2023 for Dragon’s Claws #5 to see if that trend is set to continue.

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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 Introductions, Death's Head

DEATH’S HEAD: iN REAL TiME, YES?

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Death’s Head’s first ever appearance,
drawn by Geoff Senior and colour by Steve White

In the latter months of 1988 I began reading Marvel UK’s Transformers weekly and my second issue contained a very funny comic strip advert for a new monthly about a certain Freelance Peace-Keeping Agent (not a bounty hunter, never a bounty hunter). It also popped up in The Real Ghostbusters and so I found myself dipping my toes into the first issue of Death’s Head, not fully knowing what to expect and with no knowledge of his already extensive adventures with the Transformers (and even Doctor Who, which I’d just started watching that year too).

Over the next couple of years reprints in Transformers and my friend giving me his back issues meant I was able to read those stories. But I never did buy more than Death’s Head first issue, despite having very fond memories of reading it wrapped up in bed while ill one day and really enjoying the action and comedy. But I was only allowed a certain amount of comics on order at any one time and, while I did buy more with pocket money most weeks, a month was a long time for my attention span back then. Now I can finally make up for this, so let’s take a look at how this very famous Marvel UK character was introduced to the public.

Cover by Geoff Senior

Writer Simon Furman originally created Death’s Head as a one-off character for a Transformers story (not knowing the name had also been that of a Nazi tank division). However, upon seeing legendary artist Geoff Senior’s interpretation Simon knew they had a recurring character on their hands, even rewriting his lines to better suit the image Geoff had created, inspiring the hilarious speech patterns and quirks we came to love, yes? He proved very popular with the readers and altogether appeared in 17 issues and three serials, including two highly regarded epics.

“I loved messing with legal”

Richard Starkings, Death’s Head editor

Despite online information to the contrary, Death’s Head did indeed first appear in Transformers #113 on 9th May 1987. There’s a one-page strip called High Noon Tex (further below) which Former Marvel UK editor Richard Starkings (The Real Ghostbusters, Doctor Who Magazine, Elephantmen) tells me was created to run in other titles first so the company could retain ownership of the character, otherwise Hasbro (owners of The Transformers) could claim the copyright. However it didn’t appear until a year after his first Transformers appearance.

“I dare say,” Richard told me, “that between commissioning the strip (it’s one page, so you know it was my idea) and legal establishing the trademark … his appearance in Transformers notwithstanding, we weren’t able to run High Noon Tex beforehand. There was also a Doctor Who crossover (I loved messing with legal) so the BBC couldn’t own him either!”

Drawn by Geoff Senior, colour by Steve White

Wanted: Galvatron Dead or Alive was one of the early future-set (the then future of 2006) stories Marvel UK produced. With the release of Transformers: The Movie the UK team could focus on stories set after it, creating a new timeline of events and making it easier to write original stories not linked to the US strips. On the first page we see what would become a familiar detachable hand pointing at the wanted poster of the title. A bounty set by Autobot leader Rodimus Prime for Galvatron (the immensely powerful resurrected form of Megatron) after he disappeared at the end of the movie is too good for Death’s Head to pass up.

The story saw the beginning of the comic’s use of time travel and the building of a huge universe populated with both organic and mechanical races, for example the slight-looking barkeep in the tavern where our anti-hero finds himself between contracts. Intending to pay, Death’s Head soon changes his mind when the owner pulls a gun on him, wrongly suspecting his customer of leaving without clearing his tab. What happens next is the perfect introduction for this character.

Over the course of a year Death’s Head even made the cover of Transformers no less than six times. He’d become a big selling point for the comic, such was his popularity with the young readers and the fun Furman had in writing him. My favourite of these is the classic ‘The Good… the Mad… and the Ugly!’ cover by Geoff for #117. His return was always hyped in advance in Next Issue panels and editorial promotions. Really, it was inevitable he’d get his own comic eventually.

#117 cover by Geoff Senior and John Burns
#120 cover by Jeff Anderson
#133 cover by Dave Gibbons
#146 & #151 covers by Lee Sullivan
#147 cover by Jeff Anderson, Stephen Baskerville and John Burns

One of my favourite aspects of the character was his loyalty to the contract. Once he’d taken on a job he’d see it through to a successful conclusion no matter what he’d have to put himself through in the process. Yes it was all for money but it was clear he enjoyed what he did and he had a brilliantly dark sense of humour as a result. But even if someone else (usually his bounty) offered him twice the amount he was being paid he’d turn it down, his reputation was more important.

This was a compelling chapter in the character’s life, as he found himself going above and beyond to do the right thing as well as complete his contract

Death’s Head certainly left an impression, not only on the young readers but on the Transformers’ universe as a whole. Travelling back to 80s Earth he went head-to-head against Galvatron, aiding the Autobots and Decepticons in their battle to stop him from becoming an all-conquering god. In this story he also ends up killing beloved Autobot Bumblebee (in the US comic G.I.Joe mistakenly did this) who Hasbro was relaunching as Goldbug (thus this led to his resurrection).

When Death’s Head returned next time he took a contract from Decepticon leader Shockwave to track down and capture or kill Cyclonus and Scourge who had travelled back in time too, and who Shockwave had discovered would kill him in the year 2006. It was great stuff! This made what Death’s Head did in The Legacy of Unicron all the more interesting and dramatic for me. He was actually instrumental in stopping Unicron’s return, aiding Rodimus Prime by linking with the giant god’s mind on the psychic plane, distracting him so that the Autobots and Junkions could get on with their plan free of being psychically tracked.

Top-left to bottom-right:
Geoff Senior/Steve White
Will Simpson/Tim Perkins/Steve White
Dan Reed/Steve White
Jeff Anderson/Stephen Baskerville/Steve White

This was a compelling chapter in the characters’ life, as he found himself going above and beyond to do the right thing as well as complete his contract with Shockwave. The Legacy of Unicron was an important story in the history of Transformers, spread over several issues including the landmark 150th in which the origins of their race was told for the first time ever. This was created by Furman for the UK comic, the cartoon series would go on to create its own far less interesting version.

The tale, one as old as time itself, of myths and gods, of the birth of the universe and the eternal fight battle light and dark, was told by Unicron, the transforming planet eater from the movie reinterpreted by Furman as an all-conquering god of chaos. It’s still incredible to read today, especially when you remember this was a toy licence comic! Transformers really did break the mould. Even better, we the readers found all of this out as Unicron relayed his tale to none other than Death’s Head while the two were locked in their mental battle.

Drawn by Bryan Hitch, inking assistance by Geoff Senior,
colour by Steve White

The Legacy of Unicron ends with Death’s Head shoving Cyclonus and Scourge through a time portal as the Junkion planet explodes beneath them. The Decepticons reappear on Earth in the present day but of him there was no trace. He wasn’t to be seen in the world of the Transformers again. Instead, as he flew through the corridors of time and space he bumped into a familiar blue police telephone box in another of Marvel UK’s titles. That’ll be the first chapter in Death’s Head’s real time read through in just a few days.

Apart from the last photo above, all of the preceding images were taken from the OiNK Blog’s Instagram feed from the last few years. Over there I’ve been reading Transformers in real time, week-in, week-out for about six years now, taking up to ten photographs of each issue and summing them up in mini reviews of sorts. You can check out all of the issues featuring Death’s Head via these links below.

WANTED GALVATRON: DEAD OR ALIVE

Transformers #113, #114, #115, #116, #117, #118, #119 and #120

HEADHUNT

Transformers #133 and #134

THE LEGACY OF UNICRON

Transformers #146, #147, #148, #149, #150 and #151

Dragon’s Claws #5 cover by Geoff Senior

By 1988 plans were afoot. Commissioned by Richard (who also commissioned the one-page strips below, as well as Dragon’s Claws and The Sleeze Brothers comics) at last Death’s Head was going to get his own ongoing comic, but first of all a change had to happen to the character himself. As you’ll know from reading the comics or watching the movies, the Transformers are somewhat larger than us humans. Seeing as how Death’s Head would now be interacting with plenty of humans he had to be taken down a peg or two first.

This was achieved with a one-off strip in the pages of Doctor Who Magazine in which another alien time traveller, albeit of much smaller stature showed he was more than a match for the other. After this the stage was set for the new comic, the first issue of which was released in November of that year. To promote it he also popped up in an issue of Dragon’s Claws, another Furman/Senior original creation just before his own premiere issue.

Drawn by Bryan Hitch, colours by Steve White

During 1988 High Noon Tex finally appeared across Marvel UK’s range, promoted as a one-off strip for the character. For those who hadn’t been reading Transformers this must’ve felt like a very random addition to their comic, but a highly enjoyable surprise nonetheless, showcasing the action, his brutal personality and most of all his sense of humour. The example above is taken from the back page of an issue of Dragon’s Claws. It was written by Furman and drawn by Bryan Hitch (who would draw half of the monthly issues, co-creator Geoff Senior surprisingly only drawing one of the strips).

As the comic launched another one-page story appeared, this time as an actual advertisement for the monthly. I first saw it in Transformers #193. How could I not rush out to buy it after that? The scan above was taken from #29 of my Real Ghostbusters collection, which went on sale 17th December 1988 while #2 of Death’s Head was on sale. Richard was the launch editor of that comic and told me, “I’d edited The Real Ghostbusters for a year and I knew you could tell a story in one page.” (The Real Ghostbusters could have up to four stories in one issue, including the occasional 1-page strip.) You can read more about the creation of this series of adverts in the introductory post to Dragon’s Claws.

Drawn by Bryan Hitch, inked by Mark Farmer

A much simpler yet no less eye-catching full-page advert was also found in the pages of my comics, using the cover image of the first issue. The issue of The Real Ghostbusters this first appeared in went on sale the same week as #1 of Death’s Head and he also popped up for the first time in the Mighty Marvel Checklist, which a lot of their comics ran at the time. As you can see it was the one not to miss that week and I obliged. At least for one month anyway.

Death’s Head’s comic lasted ten issues. It was printed on smaller than normal paper, the same size as US comics rather than the larger UK paper we were used to. Some fans say this contributed to less than stellar sales because it ended up hidden amongst all the larger comics. Richard tells me this just isn’t true; it was selling 60,000+ a month which would be a massive hit today. “The profit to the company versus cost of origination was too high for those days”, Richard says. “The Incomplete Death’s Head (collecting the whole series and his guest appearances in Doctor Who and others – Phil) #1 sold 400,000. So they got their money back.”

After his comic was cancelled he appeared in Strip in a multi-part adventure, collected in a graphic novel after Strip finished. He was relaunched as ‘Death’s Head II’ and ‘3.0’ later but I never bought into those versions. Furman wasn’t involved in the first and it lacked the humour, a key factor for me, and Simon has also said he doesn’t see either as Death’s Head so this put me off. They definitely have their fans though so I’m happy there’s a version for everyone. In the new century he’s popped up in cameos or guest roles in some more Marvel comics in his original form too, which I’ll detail at the end of the read through. You can’t keep a good Freelance Peace-Keeping Agent down.

So here’s my complete Death’s Head collection containing 30 comics altogether.

You can check out all of those Transformers issues at the links above and as you can see I’ve opted for the graphic novel version of the Strip story, The Body in Question. The premiere issue won’t be reviewed until 5th November later this year (this is in real time, remember) but in just three days on Friday 10th March 2023 you’ll be able to read the first Death’s Head review in a special post about his clash with the Seventh Doctor (Sylvester McCoy) in Doctor Who Magazine #135.

See you then, yes?

(Special thanks to Richard Starkings, Steve White, Lee Sullivan, Lew Stringer and John Freeman for all their help in putting this post together.)

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