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Comic Reviews, Dragon's Claws

DRAGON’S CLAWS #6: FAMiLY TiED

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After the crossover story to help launch a brand new Marvel UK comic last month how can writer Simon Furman and his team of artist Geoff Senior, colourist Steve White and editor Richard Starkings hope to top that this month? What event could possibly follow what was surely an ‘event’ comic? Judging by the cover it appears to be the death of Tanya Dragon, that’s what!

Seen through a silhouette of Dragon’s head it’s a shocking front page for regular readers, with spurned ex-Game player and Dragon’s rival Deller holding her lifeless body, having killed her himself as per Stenson’s instructions last issue. But surely this is a huge spoiler? All of the build up and tension will be ruined somewhat by having what appears to be the resolution right there before we read a single page. As it turns out, not so much. However, that leads to another issue with this, erm, issue altogether. I’ll explain as we go.

The story begins showing Kurran as head of Shrine, a group who worship an ancient god with 82nd century technology. Once an almighty Game team before his brother was killed by Dragon in #1, now they’re out for revenge. But Kurran knows it wasn’t Dragon’s fault, that Deller paid his brother’s team to kill Dragon, knowing they’d be outmatched. Elsewhere the Claws are on their way to track down the Canadian Vigilante mentioned in #4’s Fastfax and we get to see them in some rare lighter moments which is a nice change of pace.

Once in the land of Ryan Reynolds it appears we’re going to finally get some background into Mercy, who seemed to be the most intriguing member of the team from the very first issue. She picks up a lead with something she finds at the scene of a killing but keeps it to herself. Back in Greater Britain (Norwich to be precise) Tanya and her family are toiling at their farm and she’s as determined as ever to lure her love back into retirement to be with her and their adopted son, Michael. 

The story jumps about a lot over these first handful of pages and it appears there are a few different plots vying for position, then in a genuinely shocking moment we soon realise two of these are about to converge. Deller seethes about the job at hand outside Tanya’s home. He’s still going to go through with it though. His anger at how N.U.R.S.E. has sidelined him for Dragon lays the groundwork for the rest of this issue but unbeknownst to him the watcher is being watched.

Believing this to be Deller’s family home, Kurran assembles his team upon his position. With his brother dead, could this mean Shrine will also be aiming to take out who they mistakenly see as being Deller’s family? A little tension is back in the story. As a side note that woman in the previous issue’s promo is Clarity, a team member who fawns over Kurran and is by his side when they storm the house.

The next handful of pages are non-stop action and if it weren’t for that cover it’d be full of suspense. Deller simply asks Tanya if he can come in to discuss Dragon before pulling a gun on her, then just as he’s about to pull the trigger Saul the farmhand enters and saves her. Easily dispatched by Deller with several kicks to the head, another of his targets is more work than he bargained for.

While Michael may not be Dragon’s biological son (we find out here he’s Tanya’s and was adopted by Dragon when they married) he clearly has his fighting spirit. That is, until Deller flings him across the room and with a gun hovering over both him and his mum Tanya snaps! Michael asks why this man wants them dead and Tanya screams back that Deller is nothing but a “good little boy” doing what his superiors told him to do.

It’s a powerful moment. However, just as Deller realises the truth about himself and how far he has fallen, dropping his gun to the floor, the door explodes open. Shrine burst through, Kurran demanding vengeance upon his brother’s murderer. This confuses the hell out of Deller and catches him off guard but in an exciting moment he’s given a shot at fighting back from a surprising source.

It was at this moment I realised I was so caught up in this part of the story I hadn’t noticed that Dragon’s Claws themselves are the B-plot in their own comic. This isn’t a complaint. In fact, it cements what the comic has hinted at in previous issues, that if it had continued in the long term its story was going to encompass this whole world and its myriad of characters. It could’ve been both truly epic and deeply personal.

With a gun back in his hand Deller fights hard but a stray shot from Shrine hits Tanya and he suddenly finds himself worrying about the target he was sent to kill. He realises in order to save her he’s going to have to flee for now and jumps out of a window, injuring himself in the process. But unbeknownst to him Kurran believes Tanya, her father and Michael are Deller’s family, someone Kurran wants to hurt as much as possible.

As Tanya slips into unconsciousness she hears a member of the Game team announce Saul is dead and she realises she had loved him, that everything could’ve been fine if she’d reciprocated his feelings instead of trying to get Dragon back. This is the annoying bit though. Not the character beat, that’s a heartbreaking moment which adds to the drama, but the fact that the cover sells us a completely different outcome to this chapter.

I’m more thrilled by the development of Mercy’s story than the cliffhanger

With the way this has played out the exciting cover now feels like a cheap trick to lure potential readers into buying it, but none of it happens. Tanya is alive (I’m very happy with that by the way), Deller never killed her and Dragon was nowhere near the incident. This may not annoy anyone else but it’s a pet peeve of mine when modern comics do this. The overall story and in particular these several pages have made up for it though, this has been a great issue so far.

The story ends back with Mercy tracking down the Canadian Vigilante and the cliffhanger has the Claw plummeting to her apparent doom from a skyscraper. The vigilante is an apparent copycat, going after the same kind of elites Mercy killed before joining the team. Part of her wants to let her copycat get on with it, but she knows the ultimate outcome if someone doesn’t help her and stop her, like Dragon did for Mercy. I’m more thrilled by the development of Mercy’s story than the cliffhanger and I’m glad this looks like it’ll be the main plot next time.

The Reverend. P. Gunn humour strip has disappeared already and been replaced with a new fact-file series which naturally starts with the main character himself. It’s an interesting read that asks more questions and appears to set up lots of potential future plot lines. No knowledge of his parents, the mysterious tragedy that befell his sporting career and the Miami bloodbath that was the catalyst for withdrawing from The Game, all of these could be starting points for stories.

I did notice a familiar-sounding name there, one of their former teammates was named ‘Megaton’. A little nod at a certain other comic Simon was writing? Elsewhere in the issue the Fastfax on the editorial page also hints at things to come with a headline involving a famine in Moscow and news happening at a London Labour Camp! The future sounds oh-so 80s-dystopian. A quick flick to the back page would’ve been exciting for regular readers too.

Hopefully it’s just as exciting today for blog readers. I don’t just mean “today” in the general sense of the modern world, either. I actually mean today, the day this post is being published. That’s because #1 of Death’s Head’s own comic was also released on this date back in 1988, so later on today the first monthly review will also be up on the blog. Don’t forget to come back for that, yes?

With that #6 of Dragon’s Claws goes back upon the shelf and I catch a glimpse of the cover for #7 and a Dave Gibbons signature at the bottom, so that’s me already excited to take a closer look at the next issue, and that’s even before we catch up with Mercy inside. The next issue will be right here for you to check out on Sunday 3rd December 2023.

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Comic Reviews, Dragon's Claws

DRAGON’S CLAWS #5: TERMiNATED

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Yes Mr. Head, you certainly will be. Especially with those who picked up your own comic. That particular new monthly from Marvel UK was due to begin a month after this issue’s release. In fact its premiere issue would go on sale the same day as the next Dragon’s Claws. So it was time to introduce him, or reintroduce him to those who’d followed his exciting and funny adventures thus far in Transformers and Doctor Who.

We get a mention of his appearance from the end of the previous issue’s story in the FastFax and it also gives us some interesting information on The ‘Pool (Liverpool of the 82nd century) and the make up of England in this apocalyptic time. In the real world of the 80s the north of that country had felt generally neglected by the main UK government and this is clearly being played up to here. At the time of publication this would’ve been particularly pertinent to readers there.

This blog is named after the hilarious 80s comic OiNK which was produced in Manchester, and I think the editors of that particular riotous publication would be rather happy with the north of England being described as an area with an “anarchic nature”. The dates at the top of the FastFax don’t seem to be making sense anymore. In #1 it seemed to refer to the date of the (original) release of the issue, only thousands of years into the future. That’s no longer the case so I can only assume it was never actually meant to be a date.

While last month’s Next Issue page was drawn by the upcoming Death’s Head comic’s Bryan Hitch, Geoff Senior remains on art duties for his and writer Simon Furman’s Dragon’s Claws, with the regular team of letterer Annie Halfacree, colourist Steve White and editor Richard Starkings all present and correct. The story begins with Death’s Head’s arrival spotted by Game team members who think he’s The Evil Dead’s reinforcements, so they decide to take him down before he can meet up with them. Bad idea.

Death Nell’s hiring of Death’s Head is initially somewhat disappointing because we immediately think it’s going to be a contract to take out Dragon but instead it’s for some other Game team that’s become an annoyance to The Evil Dead. That disappointment doesn’t last long. Then, when we catch up with Dragon’s Claws we see the beginnings of a new base of operations for them as the early pieces of a long-running comic series continue to be put in place.

It brings up the question of who is really running the show

With a new Headquarters cue the heroic Saturday morning cartoon-esque call to action! But not before Dragon and N.U.R.S.E.’s Stenson have had a bit of a barney. Stenson let’s it slip that the World Development Council has only just fully endorsed the team’s reactivation after last issue’s rescue of their ambassador, and Dragon isn’t happy as this is yet more evidence N.U.R.S.E. isn’t telling them the whole truth.

It brings up the question of who is really running the show. Just how corrupt are N.U.R.S.E. and the W.D.C. and is the former actually lying to the latter rather than being in cahoots? Dragon also starts to bring up what The High Father is meant to have told him after #2’s story but unfortunately he gets interrupted by Deller and the Claws have to leave for The ‘Pool.

Back up north Death’s Head is about to be sent in to wipe out the Jones’ Brothers team when we get a quick insight into one of the background plots we know Stenson is up to his perfectly tailored neck in. The inner thoughts of one of the Joneses laments the fact it’s come down to them killing each other, yet he knows they have no choice, that some “non-payment” will have been noticed and that they can expect retaliatory action soon. But from who?

As the fight nears his further thoughts confirm my suspicions. Despite being so heavily armed and more than capable of taking on The Evil Dead (of all people), he’s terrified of N.U.R.S.E.! This is because of how they came after the ‘Dead with Dragon’s Claws. It’s N.U.R.S.E. he’s meant to be paying. The conspiracies, back-stabbing and politics of this comic have got me hooked.

“Government enforcers, peace-keeping agents, bounty hunters – all mean the same thing, yes?”

Death’s Head

Deller, the jealous man who wants to take over the Claws from Dragon and a stooge of Stenson’s, knows a lot more than he’s letting on too as you can see above when he admits he’s hiding calls from Dragon’s wife, Tanya. He goes along with the team and as usual tries to take over the situation to further his own cause, until Dragon finally explodes at him about his so-called ’sources’ at N.U.R.S.E., just before they see a certain fan-favourite character for the first time.

I love this moment and at this point I actually changed my mind about Death’s Head being given a contract for Dragon, that would’ve been too predictable. As Death Nell helps the still-recovering Slaughterhouse out of their safe house to make a run for it, more plot points are established. He has some theory about the Claws’ role in recent events and by having both the Claws and Death’s Head out for the Jones’ Brothers they can be certain of success for now.

They leave to recruit new players and Slaughterhouse calls the Claws N.U.R.S.E.’s “little puppets” which leads nicely on to a verbal, rather than physical (to begin with anyway) confrontation between the Freelance Peace-Keeping Agent and Dragon. When Dragon saves him from the last of the brothers, Death’s Head isn’t happy and accuses him of wanting to split the bounty. Dragon explains he was trying to help and that they’re not bounty hunters but “legally appointment government agents”, after which is this interesting retort.

That’s Deller sneaking in at the bottom to take out Death’s Head from behind for no other reason than to stitch up Dragon. But this isn’t someone easily taken out, even from behind and he soon gets the upper hand, shooting Deller in the shoulder and grabbing Dragon by the throat, falling for the ruse that Dragon was allegedly keeping him talking while Deller tried to kill him.

Most interestingly here, after Death’s Head says the team “sure sound like assassins to me”, we see Mercy being told by a dying Jones brother that the Claws are being used by N.U.R.S.E. as their hired killers and she just doesn’t care! It seems she’s the most bloodthirsty of the team and I hope we get a chance to see her character develop, as I think this could put her at odds with the rest of them, in particular Dragon and the honourable Steel.

“Times like this, I’m glad I don’t have to explain myself to an accountant!”

Death’s Head

Back to the moment at hand. Steel and Digit attack Death’s Head, freeing Dragon before he orders them to back off and takes aim. The Peace-Keeping Agent mocks him, asking if he really thinks he can hurt him with such a little gun, and after I turned the page the answer to that is more shocking than I ever couldn’t imagined!

It seems his entrance on the last page of #4’s strip wasn’t the only moment we’d see inspired by the Terminator films. I certainly wasn’t expecting to see him in this state, that’s for sure! Even in the face of possible death though, both when blown up and when he’s about to get crushed on the next page, he’s still able to make quips. Moments like this are why I’ve been so looking forward to reading his own comic and it’s almost here. The hype is very real for me right now and I’m sure Marvel UK were hoping for that.

They tell the captured Game player that due to non-payment their entire family will be killed and he’ll be taken prisoner. Harsh.

He was to get a bit of a redesign for his own monthly, a fresh lick of paint after a few years circulating around other peoples’ comics and this sets that up nicely. It’s strange they didn’t take the opportunity to mention the new comic coming just one month from now anywhere within this issue though. Anyway, as usual the final page of the strip is left to hint at stories to come, with the final remaining Jones brother being taken before the real leader of N.U.R.S.E.

We don’t see this person other than in silhouette as they tell the captured Game player that due to non-payment their entire family will be killed and he’ll be taken prisoner. Harsh. Then the order is given to Stenson to do the same with Dragon’s family before they interfere with their plans, and that’s where it’s left. The letters page also looks to the future, not least by offering subscriptions, none of which would be completely fulfilled.

Some hints about the contents of future issues are dropped too and, just like when Havoc began answering readers’ queries there’s that heartbreaking realisation that all of this potential will come to a premature end. Let’s just hope we get some of it realised in the second half of the comic’s run (yes, we’re already halfway through). There’s so much promise here, between the development of Dragon himself and the slow burning story arcs. I just want to see where it all leads.

We began this read through comparing the first couple of issues to the best 80s action flicks, with some added characterisation for good measure. Dragon’s Claws has successfully emerged from the shadow of its big screen contemporaries to establish itself as an original, absorbing story with plenty of action, some good laughs and characters I already feel like I know pretty well. Not a small feat when it’s only five issues in.

This back page seems to combine more than one subplot too. Deller has been sent to eliminate Dragon’s family while Kurran has caught up with him at the exact same moment. Kurran is the man whose brother was killed by Dragon in #1, and who then found out Deller had paid his brother’s Wildcats team to take on Dragon, knowing they’d be outmatched. Who the woman is I have no idea yet. Questions to be answered and most likely many more to be asked in #6, then.

The release day of the next issue was a particularly exciting one and so it will be again on the OiNK Blog. There’ll be two real time read throughs published on the exact same day, for #5 of Dragon’s Claws and the premiere issue of the brand new Death’s Dead, the only issue I ever read as a child and one which I’m eager to reacquaint myself with after 35 years. So remember, remember to come back to the blog on Sunday 5th November 2023.

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Comic Reviews, Dragon's Claws

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, Dragon's Claws

DRAGON’S CLAWS #3: SNiFFiNG OUT THE ENEMY

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Another sharp, exciting cover from Dragon’s Claws co-creator Geoff Senior welcomes us to #3 of Marvel UK’s comic which, judging by these first three issues at least, really deserved to find a bigger audience and last a lot longer than it did. The premiere issue basically dealt with Dragon himself in an 80s action flick-style story that set up the world we find ourselves in, the Greater Britain of the year 8162. Then last month we properly met the rest of the team and their nemeses The Evil Dead in what felt like part two of that movie.

So with the introductions out of the way it’s time to get into the meat of the next story and I’m glad to see Simon Furman‘s script isn’t going to be as episodic as I assumed a monthly from Marvel UK would be. This reads great in its own right while setting lots of things up for future issues, expanding the background plot the previous issues have hinted at and ending on not one, but two cliffhangers. The splash pages so far have been just as good as the covers, with colours by Steve White and letters by Annie Halfacree. I really do like the way editor Richard Starkings uses the Fastfax to introduce the stories within the setting itself rather than using a typical editorial style.

That’s The Pig, Dragon’s Claws’ ship, which feels rather suitable for this blog, doesn’t it? Even though they’ve only just been hired by N.U.R.S.E. (National Union of Retired Sports Experts) to bring in The Game teams still at large across the country who are abusing their positions of power, it seems some of the public are already turning on our heroes and viewing them as nothing more than government lackeys.

Their particular mission here is to head to Channel City, a huge metropolis that was built out over the English Channel to help with the overcrowding on the mainland, although it now overlooks nothing but a dried up seabed. No less than 20 teams have formed an army to protect someone called The High Father, an individual who the Claws were told had imprisoned hundreds of people in their own home. But now as they approach they’re under attack by those very civilians. Why? As the Claws discuss this and how they’re going to accomplish their mission without harming any innocents, unbeknownst to them a funny little moment plays out on the hull.

So why do these people not want rescued from this army and their apparent martial law? The strip does get to that by the end of the issue but first there are a few subplots thrown in for good measure. Kurran, brother of one of the Wildcats killed by Dragon as he protected his family, is out for revenge it would seem, at least in the interlude in the middle of the strip (more below). We also catch up with Tanya as she continues to try shielding their son Michael from Dragon’s violent TV coverage, but Michael wants his dad and it looks like she has no choice but to confront the situation and talk to his father.

I like these very human moments, although the most intriguing of the subplots this issue comes courtesy of N.U.R.S.E.’s Mister Stenson and Deller, the ex-Game player whose jealousy over Dragon leading the Claws almost ended with his death last month. It looks like they specifically need Dragon more than they’re letting on to him; having him as their poster child will mask their real intentions behind a cloak of heroism. But it’s the final couple of panels that interest me the most. Just who is giving these orders?

Any fan of Marvel UK’s Transformers comic will recognise the classic Geoff Senior pose there in panel three of page nine. So the main background plots thicken and I hope there’s enough time to give us a satisfying amount of development for these before the comic’s cancellation with #10. I’m particularly looking forward to seeing where the Kurran/Wildcats arc goes because on the final page of this issue he’s no longer concerned about Dragon. He’s smart enough to know that Dragon could easily have taken out the entire Wildcat team on his own (which he did do) so now he’s pursuing the reason behind the confrontation.

He knows his brother was stupid, but he wouldn’t have been stupid enough to go up against Dragon just because he hurt their pride. He beats up a woman at their hideout, wanting to know who paid them to do it and finds out it was Deller. Now that’s a cliffhanger. Even moreso than the main story’s, which we’ll lead up to now. With The Pig out of commission the Claws take to hover pads to make their way to Channel City and come up against a Game team hinted at in the pre-release marketing, The Vanishing Ladies.

There’s a particularly gigglesome moment when the strong and ever so macho Steel gets taken down a peg in the simplest of ways

First though, the mysterious Scavenger (already my favourite) breaks formation and takes off across the desolate landscape, disobeying Dragon’s direct orders. It’s such a sudden and dangerous move the reader instantly thinks something terrible is about to happen, that Scavenger has blasted away to stop it and save his teammates from whatever it is. The camaraderie between the members of this team is so tight it has to be something huge, right?

Well yes, as a matter of fact. I mean, an abandoned, starving animal is a big deal to this reader. It’s still funny of course. We now have our final member of the team. After all, this mutt was in those adverts for the comic too. He also gets named Lady Killer after what happens next. The Vanishing Ladies have special clothing that can bend beams of light (that old chestnut), essentially making them invisible. Cue lots of pictures of our team getting beaten up and using ingenuity to try to fight back.

There’s a particularly gigglesome moment when the strong and ever so macho Steel gets taken down a peg in the simplest of ways. Mercy isn’t so easily incapacitated and as she gets punched she deliberately rolls with the hit and is able to backflip and kick her attacker in the face without clapping eyes on her. Digit uses his computerised brain to accurately calculate probabilities for blocking attacks to find out where his attacker is. Dragon and Scavenger don’t have it quite so easy though.

Scavenger is getting strangled by one of the invisible foes and the only thing that stops him from being killed is his new dog who’s able to sense her and bite her on the leg, making her visible again. The newly named Lady Killer then helps Dragon and his reaction is another funny moment. I’m really looking forward to seeing this dynamic play out further in future episodes. The mightiest Game team ever now has a pet, one who is just as much a part of the team as the rest, whether they like it or not!

All of this is being televised across Greater Britain just as The Game was, N.U.R.S.E. adamant the people need to see Dragon’s Claws doing the government’s work in order to change public perceptions as they see fit. Then, as the team fight The High Father’s minions his voice panics Stenson. He recognises him, but he should be dead! He runs off to warn his superiors and stop the broadcast, and as Dragon’s Claws blast their way through into the area being protected by his army they come across a surprising scene, one of land cultivation and farmed animals!

As you can see there’s a moment when Dragon accuses The High Father of being just as bad as the government, that he’s creating his own privileged class. However, there’s a part of Dragon that doubts he’s really the bad guy in all of this. It’s when The High Father, unmasked as someone called Starick (to Stenson’s horror) explains further that we get our main cliffhanger. He says his former employers were good teachers, but they want him terminated now because they’ve found out how he’s actually looking after his people. The employers’ name is revealed when he tells Dragon he understands his surprise, “After all, you haven’t worked for N.U.R.S.E. for as long as I have!”

I love all this double-crossing, playing politics and subterfuge amongst the action. Add in the more human moments too and what we have here is a surprisingly deep action comic that manages to fit an awful lot into its 22-page strip without it ever feeling cramped or rushed. It’s quite ingenious really. Maybe a little too ingenious for the first letter writer on the new Dragon’s Nest page? Surprisingly, this first letter came from friend of the blog Andy Luke, whose podcast I previously appeared on to discuss OiNK for its 35th anniversary!

The first two chapters for Dragon’s Claws were highly entertaining and gave hints as to what the regular stories could be like. I could not have guessed the very next issue would’ve been so completely satisfying, that the comic would find its feet so quickly. I have a good feeling about the next seven months. The next one can’t come soon enough, but wait I shall for Sunday 10th September 2023. Join me then, won’t you?

iSSUE TWO < > iSSUE FOUR

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Comic Reviews, Dragon's Claws

DRAGON’S CLAWS #2: COLOUR ME iMPRESSED

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Stenson

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

iSSUE ONE < > iSSUE THREE

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