Lee Sullivan’s cover for this week’s Transformers and Visionaries combines the issue’s two robotic strips in one striking image rather than using a split screen, while Brian Williamson and Nick Abadzis provide us with my favourite of the four Real Ghostbusters in a solo role.
Sky Lynx was probably my favourite character from the cartoon, simply because he loved himself so much yet was so utterly charming and polite as he fawned. He doesn’t feature in any action this week, instead stealthily stalking Dreadwind, but it still made for an exciting cover even if Dogfight was in a different story. The female warriors are still portrayed poorly in unnecessarily scant clothing but at least they have a biting sense of humour when confronted by typical male arrogance.
At the time of writing this blog post one of The Real Ghostbusters strips feels rather relevant. All those fossil fuels we still continue to dig up are full of the haunted spirits of the creatures they come from. However, in a comic that has already had strong environmental stories, the solution is very strange. A deal is struck with the oil diggers that they’ll not harm the ghosts if the spirits ensure the well never runs dry. Not exactly sending the right message there, something the comic was usually very good at.
That wonderful Starscream tale ends in a surprisingly sad way as the maniacal not-quite-dead Decepticon pleads for release but two Nebulans slaughter him regardless. Death’s Head #7 continues to entertain with the funniest strip of his run and last week’s Doctor Who Magazine remains too. I’ve been informed it’s an Ice Warriors article, not strip, so in a comics checklist there’s no info on the actual comic story. Thundercats continues to limp on, again playing out like the weekly Ghostbusters comic but released only a fraction as often and already containing reprints. At least there was a new freebie to start collecting this month.
As promised, I’ve finally got a new contemporary comics advert to share with you. Now, as a huge fan of the cartoon and his humour strip in The Real Ghostbusters, you’d think I’d have been all over a Beano-esque humour comic with Slimer as the star, wouldn’t you? If you’re unaware of the comic in question, here’s a proper introduction to It’s Wicked after the teaser back in week 34.
At the time OiNK was still fresh in my mind, a comic that spoofed what it deemed to be the tired and safe comics of old. OiNK was a breath of fresh air, so It’s Wicked felt like a step backwards to me. To this 11-year-old it was using a new and exciting character to churn out the same old jokes that had originally put me off humour comics.
Plus, there’s the very obvious way It’s Wicked was a Marvel UK rip-off of Beano and The Dandy etc. Have a look at the cover of any issue and it just screams “DC Thomson could sue us for this”, from every part of its layout right down to the colours used on the logo! We wanted originality and using Slimer in this way felt cheap and nothing more than a ploy to sell us something pretty tacky. It’s Wicked would last for only 17 weekly issues and I never picked up a single one, and never felt like I was missing out. Did you try it? Was it as horrific as I assumed?
Oh dear, that was rather downbeat for the OiNK Blog, wasn’t it? Well, Marvel UK’s range did have its ups and downs, thankfully they weighed heavily towards the former. In fact, next week my own two comics have a big celebratory issue and the return of a favourite Cybertronian of mine. See you back here in seven, then.
Today way back in 1991, Brian Williamson’s and Nick Abadzis’ cover to The Real Ghostbusters #47 and Art Wetherell’s for Transformers and Visionaries #216 were shining bright from newsagent shelves across the UK. As far as I’m concerned, together they make quite the impact.
I’ve mentioned recently how I’m currently watching Doctor Who from the very beginning and have been for nearly two years. Before I began, I took somewhat less time to enjoy every episode of Grand Designs on Channel 4 (resulting in me beginning to pay for it so I didn’t have any ads while doing so – bliss) and one of Kevin McCloud’s rules is never cut down grand old trees. Advice Egon should’ve followed and he might not have ended up being turned into his favourite fungi.
I really enjoyed these split screen Transformers covers, highlighting the new story format inside. It’s a shame they didn’t do more of them because over the next 100 issues there were some great double-bills I’d loved to have seen presented on the cover this way. Inside, there’s news of the first UK stories to be created specifically for the new five-page black and white strips. I think it would’ve eased the blow for some long-time readers if they’d waited until they were ready to change the comic’s make up.
Race With the Devil was memorable for two reasons. The first being Andrew Wildman’s depiction of a team of archeologists who were very similar to the stars of the sister comic in the photo above. The second was it ending on the reanimated corpse of Starscream. That image stayed with me for decades! Check it out at the link below. The trouble with having three stories now of course means there’s less room for details of each in the checklist, which is a shame because it’s a blinder of an issue.
Last week’s Action Force Monthly and Thundercats instalments remain for obvious reasons, while the only new entry is another monthly title which’ll most likely also be stuck here for a few more checklists. This issue’s slapstick humour perfectly complimented the action and wry wit of Death’s Head, making it one of the funniest issues of the run, which was no small feat.
We’re in the middle of a bit of a dry spell as far as comics adverts go and this continues next week, but don’t despair they’ll be back soon to tug at the ol’ grey cells.
This month’s cover by Charlie Adlard (The Walking Dead, Nikolai Dante, Savage) may be more comic book-like than the usual painted images we’re used to, but you can’t deny it would’ve stood out on the newsagent shelves. The comic really does appear to being in rude health, not that this would matter in a couple of months. On the editorial page I’ve already had my doubts about Alien War and what’s mentioned here does little to assuage them.
You’d think they’d have had more than one person to play the alien! Anyway, there are your credits for the issue and it’s straight on to the strips and their recap pages have all been given a fresh new look. These are much better, more informative, look great and carry the credits so you don’t have to look back at the editorial to see whose work is terrorising you. Up first is part 13 of Colonial Marines written by Kelley Puckett and unfortunately it’s one of the weakest chapters thus far.
I simply can’t recognise anyone anymore. No one is distinctive so you can’t tell who’s talking or doing something unless their name is mentioned in response, negating any kind of character drama or suspense. Main character Lt. Joseph Henry’s plan is shockingly heartless and not like the character we met and enjoyed so much in the early chapters. To set the kelp beds on fire with a chemical that’ll never stop burning is extreme, and will leave the innocent people here hungry and penniless! To add insult to injury the fire is just forgotten about in the story, its consequences completely ignored.
At one point Vasquez is rescued by a new random character called Herk Mondo, some “legendary” alien killer. This was his first appearance and I instantly disliked his inclusion. Having a lone man capable of destroying hundreds of aliens reduces the xenomorphs to nothing more than pests. It feels like Kelley has backed himself into a corner; a cleansing fire and sudden appearance of a randomer to save the day at the last second is a hugely unsatisfying resolution to a months-long part of this story. Mondo would go on to star in his own comic but that doesn’t make this feel any less than a conclusion plucked out of thin air at the last moment.
Surely the biggest announcement on the cover is the interview with Sigourney Weaver. It’s only two pages but full of fascinating tidbits, even more so with the gift of hindsight. The question of returning to the franchise after Ripley’s death foreshadows what would eventually be the fourth film, although it certainly wouldn’t have the quality she speaks of here. There’s some information about the making of the first two films which should put to rest the silly myth surrounding the filming of the original chest burster scene. It’s telling how she doesn’t mention Alien³ director David Fincher, it appears her project with Dave writer Gary Ross never materialised according to their filmographies and the penultimate question is surely a sad indictment of the times.
I have to say I question the editing of this interview. Sigourney’s answers read like very stilted responses, certainly not like her from the countless interviews I’ve watched over the years. Maybe they’ve been badly edited to fit two pages, or taken from quickly scrawled notes at the Alien War grand opening. A shame, as the information in here is fascinating.
The second part of Dave Gibbon’sSalvation takes up a whopping 16 pages of the issue. Days after killing his captain, Selkirk is still eating his rotting flesh when he finally stumbles across the crashed ship, but he’s being driven mad by fear while he’s awake and by terrifying nightmares when asleep. First Officer Dean shows up to rescue him and of course Selkirk instantly believes this proves god is watching over him.
Dean knows how to get to the escape shuttle, so she takes charge and they slowly make their way through the jungle, coming across some of the primitive ape-like creatures who live there. Taking cover, they witness an alien jump out of the tree canopies and tear one of the creatures apart. Selkirk immediately panics and screams to his god, which of course is an idiotic thing to do. Dean chastises him and tells him to “Shut…”
Too late. Over the next few pages they run through the overgrowth firing in all directions as swarms of aliens descend. I have to say I’ve been loving this tension-filled strip up to this point but let out a bit of a sigh here. I generally prefer stories with one solitary alien, they’re just so much more suspenseful. Now, the movie Aliens is the exception to the rule of course (because it’s perfect) and is my favourite of the franchise. But it was expertly crafted. In everything from Alien: Romulus to these comic strips, when it was one alien it’s more suspenseful and was disappointed when loads turned up. Having our two characters so easily outrun them kind of ruins things here too.
Falling down a multi-tiered waterfall gives them ample distance from the xenomorphs and a chance to catch their breath. Quietly, mind you, as they shelter in a hideout and the aliens begin to stalk nearby. Selkirk starts thinking Dean likes him, that that’s why she came back for him and he starts imagining having sex with her, before coming to the conclusion that god didn’t send her to rescue him, but to test him. The guy is quackers. And a creep.
Dean sets a charge, attracts the aliens, then they make a run for it and detonate the bomb, taking out most of the creatures. Not all though, as Selkirk finds out when he doesn’t see a wire on the ground, trips over it and falls flat on his back in front of an alien for this month’s cliffhanger. There’s a lot to like here, and a lot to love above Mike Mignola’s shadowy, atmospheric art in particular.
I like the fact Selkirk isn’t likeable, in fact he’s a real piece of work. Its original. There’s also something about Dean which makes me believe there’s something we don’t know about her. Is she a figment of his imagination? By the end, after she sets explosives I realised she has to be real, but that initial feeling of ‘something’ is still there. Wonderfully bleak, only the unnecessary inclusion of so many aliens keeps this from being the best strip in the comic’s run so far.
Motion Tracker brings back more happy memories of those days when I began transitioning my VHS collection to widescreen, always excited to learn of a favourite movie being released in the format, and then enjoying seeing more on the screen. Around that time I was also discovering the vast catalogue of movies at my local rental store instead of repeatedly renting favourite films and shows over and over again.
I always knew I should’ve been trying new movies, but it was like wanting to try something different from your local takeaway; after perusing the menu (or the video store) for ages we always pick what we already know we like. But this was indeed a time of discovery and Solar Crisis was one such weekend rental, although I remember absolutely nothing about it. It’s exciting to see Stargate mentioned, I’d loved to have seen the news stories develop if the comic wasn’t coming to its end soon.
UK strip Crusade’s eighth part runs to eight pages and while the art can once again be confusing in places, for the first time every single character featured is well developed and the inter-personal drama is superb. So it appears the Archbishop has been trying to save the city, albeit with human sacrifices! The missing ship crashed through the church, spilling the alien eggs into the Thames from where he’d been able to contain the threat, tying up two of the mysteries including why London had apparently been spared (it hadn’t).
Just as with Selkirk in Salvation, here was another nut job who thought his prayers were being answered and he was doing god’s work when really he’s just twisted. Meanwhile, Channon’s plan is for her and Lesley to slip under the cathedral in their boat and plant enough explosives to take the whole building out. But there are aliens in their way. As always. Inside the church, Foster and Rani discover a crystal boinging to Martha.
Given to her by Rani years before, the Archbishop can’t say whether Martha still lives in the complex or not, he’s seen many pass through these walls… and sacrificed so many! This is getting really good; I’m really caring about the individual characters and the mismatch of settings have come together into one clearly defined whole. If only it hadn’t got off to such a shaky start, we could’ve had this level of quality storytelling for over half a year already.
The Technical Readout this month is intricately drawn but lacks the in-depth prose from early issues. At least the cutaways are back after a long absence. This reminds me of the cutaways from Thunderbirds The Comic in the 90s, even if it does read a little dry by comparison. The drop ship was a cool design in the film though and the model work was top class, so this is a fun look at how it was supposed to work.
Back in #7 of Jurassic Park there was a teaser advert for the upcoming gaming magazine/comic hybrid, Max Overload. I remember later adverts focussed on certain videogame characters alongside a random list of features and it always seemed like a rather cringey idea, even back when I was the target audience. We had our computer and video game magazines, we had our comics, but to join them together always seemed unnecessary. This launch advert from the back page doesn’t change my mind.
A good allrounder of an issue. The initial disappointment with Colonial Marines dissipated with both Salvation and Crusade. However, I can’t help having that nagging feeling over the first strip because it was just so good when it first began. If it had retained that quality this could’ve been a near-perfect issue. Only two more to go. The penultimate trip into the world of the Aliens will be here on Tuesday 17th February 2026.
While many comics of the 80s such as The Transformers and our very own OiNK would have to wait until their second year for their first annual, with The Real GhostbustersMarvel UK went all-in and produced a book for its very first Christmas season, meaning work had to have started on it before the comic itself was even released. For me, holding this cover by Anthony Williams (Transformers, PJ Maybe, Fate) and John Burns (Judge Dredd, Look-in, Eagle) in my hands again brings back so many fond festive memories.
Sticking with the usual 64-page hardback format of Marvel’s yearly offerings and edited by Richard Starkings (Death’s Head, The Sleeze Brothers, Dragon’s Claws), inside is chock full of content making for a meaty, very funny read for the younger readers, and one that holds up well today. This has been great fun to relive. I’ve had a ball! Things kick off with an HQ page very much like the weekly’s and you can see the amount of stories and features they’ve crammed in here.
Then there’s Marvel UK’s one-page strip advert introducing Peter Venkman, Winston Zeddmore, Egon Spengler and Ray Stanz that had been running in other comics that year and which took its wording directly from the movie. This was written by Richard (under a pseudonym), drawn by Brian Williamson (Hook Jaw, Doctor Who, Warhammer) and Tim Perkins (Transformers, Chopper, Thor Losers), lettered by Richard and coloured by Chris Matthews (Thundercats, Action Force, Mugshots).
Ian Rimmer’s (editor on Scream, Doctor Who Magazine and Transformers) Sarah Sangster’s Spectre is the perfect scene setter for the book. An attractive young woman has called the team to catch the ghost of a little old lady haunting the halls of her home and straight away Peter is smitten. In the end, she’s the spook who has tried to trick the guys into killing the wee pensioner! Dark? Not at all, it’s all played for laughs and the plot is exposed by Peter’s selfie.
The artists here are regular Ghostbusters contributors Andy Lanning (The Punisher: Year One, Judge Anderson, co-creator of The Sleeze Brothers) and Dave Harwood (Action Force, Swift Sure, 2000AD) with colours by Helen Stone (Knights of Pendragon, Dark Angel, Sleeze Brothers). Probably more than anything else in here, this strip takes me right back to reading (and rereading) this book over the holidays in 1988, wrapped up in bed late at night during that enjoyable Void Week between Christmas and New Year.
The comic never did multi-issue stories from the UK team. Later, lengthy imported strips would get serialised but the closest our homegrown stories got would be those split in two across one issue. This happens here with The Spook from Outer Space, again written by Ian, with art by Phil Gascoine (Battle Action, Commando, Knight Rider in Look-in) and Dave Hine (Death’s Head, Azrael, Dark Angel), with colours by Stuart Place (Captain Britain, Transformers, Action Force).
The Ghostbusters are watching a UFO being excavated from disused land in New York on telly when suddenly the excavation equipment starts floating in mid-air. They deduce the alien must’ve died upon crashing and has been haunting the UFO ever since. So off they go to bust it but as normal the case is not all it seems. The alien is hugely powerful, feeding off their proton packs instead of being contained by them, and of course the military are on hand to fire more weapons at it while ignoring the warnings.
In the end we find out the alien has been psychically moving all of the heavy machinery in order to spell out a message on the ground that it just wants to be sent home, so the Ghostbusters commandeer one of the army’s rockets, trap the alien (with their permission) and fire it off into space. It’s a fun tale that includes a good bit of witty banter between the four men and would end up being one of a few strips from this annual we’d “get another chance to read” in the weekly a couple of years later.
Moving on to our prose stories and Jaws of the Beast is written by artist Nick Abadzis (Death’s Head, Vector 13, The Big Book of Death) and colourist/editor Steve White (Xenozoic Tales in the UK’s Jurassic Park, The Sleeze Brothers, Dragon’s Claws).It’s a tale about a small winged beast who invades a boy’s wishes. This particular boy wished he could see a real Tyrannosaurus rex, so obviously this leads to the team eventually being chased by said dinosaur through the streets of New York.
“It’s a loony lady who says her nephew has raised a dinosaur from the dead. You wanna speak to her?”
Janine Melnitz
What’s great about the story is the dynamic of the team. The prose stories allow the writers to explore the characters that little bit more and in particular we’re treated to some hilarious scenes between Peter and Egon in the firehouse, and later when Peter is used as bait for the beast. At this juncture Peter’s inner thoughts are punctuated by radio communications from Egon, making for great dialogue and genuinely laugh out loud moments.
The best story of the whole book is written by friend of the blog John Freeman (editor of Doctor Who Magazine, Babylon 5 Magazine, Star Trek Magazine), who brings back the iconic Stay Puft Marshmallow Man for a story set in London. The art is pencilled by Mike Collins (Transformers, Doctor Who, Tharg’s Future Shocks) and inked by OiNK’s very own Lew Stringer (Tom Thug, Combat Colin, Sonic the Comic). Lew and Mike are good friends and started in the business around the same time but this remains the only time they’ve ever worked together on the same story.
A mist has descended over London and it’s feeding on the fears of the citizens, sending everyone running for their lives and leaving the city with no one for the mist to scare. Growing weaker, the Ghostbusters start to look for the source in order to eliminate it, but all it takes is for Egon to explain that in order to keep the mist at bay they have to think of nice things. Cue Ray! If you’ve seen the original movie you’ll know what this is in reference to and it makes for some great back and forth between the four.
There’s one more text story called Ghostbusters Busted! about a so-called rival team and towards the end of the annual the uncredited Who, What, When & Why? which acts like a catch-up for new readers. It explains how the Ghostbusters were formed, why they’ve got a pet ghost and takes a closer look at their HQ and all those gadgets they use in their day-to-day job. Also included are reprints of the fact-files from the weekly for Peter, Egon, Winston, Ray and Janine Melnitz. Oh, and Slimer of course!
In case you’re wondering how that whole “Ghostbusters body” thing worked out, Peter would be the mouth, Egon the brains, Ray the hands, Winston the heart, Janine the central nervous system and Slimer would naturally be the stomach. As I’ve mentioned before in the retrospective for #1 of the comic, I remember drawing this Frankenstein-esque combination of all the characters with the intention of sending it in but never did.
Not all of the main characters feature in every story in the comic and the same applies here. Given their short length the writers would often concentrate on pairing up different characters with each other for interesting dynamics. For example, three of the guys starred in our first strip, then the missing ‘buster, Egon appeared with Janine in another. The final strip of the annual brings everyone together though, including Miss Melnitz and the green one.
Written by John Freeman, drawn by Anthony Williams and Dave Harwood and coloured by Helen Stone, Spooked Out! sees the team battling against a gaggle of ghouls and try as they might they can’t help but get more and more overwhelmed by them. It seems this could be the first failed job but when Peter chases after Slimer to bust him you know something’s up.
Sure enough, it’s just a training exercise. Needing to keep themselves in fine form Slimer has recruited a bunch of his good ghost pals, with payment being everything they can eat at a local diner if they win. Given how they’re all good friends with Slimer (and we know what his appetite is like) this is a particularly funny ending to not only this short strip but the book as a whole.
I found Ghostbusters Answer the Call’s sense of humour reminded me a lot of both The Real Ghostbusters cartoon and the UK comic, so if you’re a fan of that movie like I am you’ll want to snap up some issues and this first annual is the perfect jumping on point. Our annuals were always that little bit more special than the regular comic and upon finishing this it really did feel like all the stops were pulled out to produce a fantastic debut book that’s genuinely very funny.
Andy Lanning’s, Dave Harwood’s and John Burns’inner cover spread rounds off what has been a great slice of Marvel UK history from a comic that set itself apart from the rest of their titles from the get-go. Sometimes certain things from our childhood hold a special place in our hearts that we’ve completely forgotten about until we experience them again. In that regard, the 1988 annual for The Real Ghostbusters has felt like a very personal trip down memory lane and I can’t wait to see if subsequent volumes have the same effect. Roll on Christmas 2026!
This striking John Higgins (Transformers, Batman: The Killing Joke, Before Watchmen) cover welcomes us to the fifth issue and, after reading it, the midway point of Marvel UK’s Death’s Head. When I collected together this run of comics I noticed a lot of crossovers with other Marvel characters on the covers, especially in the later issues. No, I never read anything inside (just counted the pages to make sure it was all there), but the covers do reveal a lot of who is to come.
I remember thinking it seemed there were an awful lot of what would normally be seen as ‘event’ stories, perhaps to raise the profile of the comic with potential readers, however I was surprised to see this issue has the first non-Dragon’s Claws crossover character. Okay, so he’s a minor character from one Doctor Who strip but it was still a nice surprise to see the Doctor mentioned again after he was so instrumental in Death’s Head’s own story.
Keepsake appeared in #140 of Doctor Who Magazine (August 1988) when a distress signal lured him to a planet where he originally just wanted to salvage the crashed ship for parts. Instead, he ended up enjoying the actual rescue thanks to working with the Doctor and at the end of the story the Doctor left the rescued medic, Bahlia, in Keepsake’s care. This is where we pick things up.
Oh, and he has a pet vulture who reminds him of his wife.
John drew Keepsake’s DWM adventure and is also the artist for our strip this month, coloured by Nick Abadzis and lettered by Annie Halfacree. You’ll see even more of John’s work soon because he was one of five(!) artists when The Sleeze Brothers made their Doctor Who Magazine debut. Watch out for that later this month. Back to the issue at hand and speaking of Keepsake’s wife it looks like she’s hiring a certain Freelance Peace-Keeping Agent to track him down, promising a somewhat large reward too.
Not that Death’s Head is easily swayed, of course. Meanwhile, Keepsake is meeting with gangsters looking for the second half of a map to the aforementioned gold shipment. Editor Richard Starkings told me, “‘Half the map’ was my idea, as was ‘half the gold’ in Death’s Head #5. Never waste a good gag.” Keepsake doesn’t come across as the smartest of scavengers and is easily double-crossed, so the men make off with both halves of said map.
Death’s Head is very much the lighter-hearted comic of the pair, while Dragon’s Claws can be much darker
After reading the penultimate issue of Dragon’s Claws the contrast between the two titles has never been clearer. Despite being created and written by the same person, and despite the fact this comic has the word “Death” in its title and follows someone whose job it is to kill people, Death’s Head is very much the lighter-hearted comic of the pair, while the one about a game team gone rogue can be much darker. Not what people may expect, and I’m here for it!
Case in point below, as we get a lot of exposition from Thea about how Colt (the gangster) and Keepsake had double-crossed each other in the past over this shipment (hence the two parts of the map) and a seemingly endless amount of further double-crosses involving Thea and her husband, leading to this point. Clearly, no one can be trusted. But it’s Death’s Head’s reaction to this intriguing story that made me laugh, never mind Keepsake’s pet sneakily sampling what they thought was Colt’s water.
With Keepsake easily cheated out of his piece of the map he sits about moping, making him an easy target for our Peace-Keeper, however first of all we get a funny interlude of some of the more rudimentary detective work our anti-hero has to do in order to find his targets. Remembering this is the same mechanoid who helped take down the giant Lord of Chaos Unicron just makes this sequence all the funnier, especially the last two panels; the question mark, the hint at the top of the penultimate panel and the final reveal.
This seems to be a trend in the comic, at least for what makes me laugh the most. Take his name, his appearance and his occupation and you’d expect something completely different than the situations writer Simon Furman consistently places him in.
Death’s Head catches up with the sullen Keepsake and calls in Thea to meet him at the bar, where he’s trying his best to ‘persuade’ his target. Just before this Thea saw Colt kidnap Bahlia outside, clearly as protection against the salvage expert as they dive for the treasure out at sea. It looks like Keepsake’s pet wasn’t much use as protection either.
Our strange little threesome (Spratt is conspicuous by his absence this month, perhaps still recovering from his ordeal last time) soon track down the gangsters not far from the shore in a tiny boat, Bahlia tied up and a gun held on her. At this point I thought Death’s Head would be going alone to take on everyone involved but I was pleasantly surprised to see his plan involved all three of them. I was even more pleasantly surprised to see how well they worked together.
While the old trick of sending in the attractive woman to distract three male idiots wasn’t exactly new even in the 80s, for me the jokes come from how Death’s Head and Thea handle the men after that. There’s one particular guy who won’t be forgetting the impact Thea makes (literally) for quite some time, I’m sure. It’s the perfect example of the comedy-action this comic does best and there’s more to come that genuinely had me giggling.
The first two panels really did have me laughing, the sight of Death’s Head’s daring rescue coming so completely undone so quickly
As they make their way out on a boat to rescue Bahlia and recover the gold, Keepsake hovers overhead in his aircraft, ready to assist. But one previously concealed rocket launcher lends a sinking feeling to the first part of their plan. The first two panels below really did have me laughing, the sight of Death’s Head’s daring rescue coming so completely undone so quickly, and this image of what the notorious hunter of bounties (I didn’t said it!) is reduced to is hilarious.
He then uses thrusters in the soles of his feet to blast off and use his body as a different form of rocket launcher, although clearly the end result wasn’t quite his intention.
So far it’s been a comedy of errors but it’s swung generously in his favour. As the man on the boat desperately seals the hole with pieces of wood and some form of foam glue he doesn’t see Bahlia being hoisted to safety, taking all of the gold with her. Below the surface Death’s Head subdues the remaining divers before taking off again with his feet… right through the patched up hole. So far, so funny, but the page below contains something which didn’t sit quite right with me.
Death’s Head has always honoured his contracts. This was the first of the rules he established in #1, rules he always abides by. They’re part of what makes him and his stories so interesting. Think about when he was fighting Dragon in #2 even though he respected the man. He kept fighting until the exact second his contract with the villain of the story ran out and then he just stopped. That was such a great part of that story and told us a lot about his character (this aspect had already been well established in Transformers). But here a quick whisper in his ear from Keepsake and he chucks his client out the side.
After this, Death’s Head then double-crosses Keepsake and ends up with all the gold himself. That I can live with since Keepsake was a snake and not his client, but Leah was. Even though he didn’t like her, this is so out of character that it undermines things already established in earlier issues. It’s a strange inclusion, that’s for sure.
Again, the cliffhanger is underwhelming as we see a group of apparent mercenaries called Sudden Impact being introduced and recalled from a firefight for “a vitally urgent job”. Last month’s final page introduced another man with a gun called Big Shot but there’s no sign of him this month. Are all of these clichéd, hyper-muscled alpha males going to team up against Death’s Head? I trust Simon’s writing but so far I’m not particularly impressed with these potential adversaries.
So another brilliant issue, even if it was let down a bit by the final couple of pages, but I won’t dwell on them. This feels almost like an interlude story of some kind, especially with the lack of Spratt. In an action-comedy comic series this one leaned more towards complete farce and I was fine with that (until the ending). Enjoyable but forgettable then. I still can’t wait for the next issue though. That’ll be right here on Monday 1st April 2024.
OiNK Blog 