Death's Head Volume 2

Death's Head Volume 2

Panini

Most British comics historians point to the change in Marvel UK from 1970s reprint house to that period during the 1980s when short strips featuring The Hulk and The Black Knight, and more English originate offspring such as Nightraven appeared in print, reaching its creative pinnacle when Captain Britain became a credible character under the watchful guard of his protective stepfather Alan Davis and writers like Alan Moore and Jamie Delano.

They'll next demonstrate that Marvel UK's raison d'etre in the 90s was to produce as many US sized comics as possible to fill a quick profit under the orders of its American parent arm (by an assortment of its then current owners or legal dependants) to try and flood the US market with books bearing the Marvel brand (to offset Image's rise, unnerve DC's distribution deals, and cash in on the naive folly of the time that comics were an investment that you could make a fortune on, and what better way to do it than to order in bulk).

The result of that was many US comic shops went out of business, that there ended up being pretty much one US direct sales distributor (who then bought into the UK big time but was allowed to do so by the Monopolies Commission) and the Marvel company itself was broke up, sold off, and licensed out in many a confusing deal as its shareholders moved on. (Marvel America has since regained its credibility, both as a comics publisher and also to mainstream by its association with credible and profitable films, but in reality it's small fry as a company compared to what it was).

How many of the countless Marvel UK superheroes pumped out during that time can anyone remember fondly? Aside from Death's Head II by Dan Abnett and Liam Sharp that is? Not many, I'm sure... And as we'll explain properly later, that character was a reinvention of an earlier Marvel UK one.

However, the end result of that international corporate folly was that Marvel UK no longer existed as an enterprise while an Italian sticker company called Panini now had the rights to produce strips featuring Marvel characters in the UK, so developed its British office to take over the home grown material for our newsstands. And it cannot be denied, that Panini UK has gained credibility as the years have passed.

But somewhere in between all that, comics fans of the bright shiny clad in the spandex brigade variety tend to forget, or simply be unaware, of other realities about the company and the individuals within it that at one point comprised Marvel UK.

It was more than UK creators imitating or putting their own spin on the American characters they had grown up with and loved - creatively those books and strips could often be wonderful but sales wise they couldn't keep Arundel House where the company became based going. If anything Dr Who proved the answer. Not necessarily a big seller itself (although it was able to survive and keep a loyal fanbase going even while the TV series was cancelled) it did inform a different form of writing style: its BBC license requirements seemed to edge the storytelling towards IPC/Fleetway's more structured form while still allowing the playfulness of Marvel mannerisms to be present. It showed you could make a profit licensing books based on TV and the like, which the company did well. And it also allowed characters Marvel UK had created itself (like the Special Executive) to appear in other books.

To that end, eventually, one time managing editor Robert Sutherland left the company taking with him the licensed nursery titles - that Marvel America failed to understand were profitable, and instead pursued their intentions towards superhero overspill.

But somewhere in between, Marvel UK began producing an awful lot of licensed comics featuring British talent that won devoted readers from Lands End to John O'Groats. Books like Transformers and Action Force, based on toys, that boys loved. And sold well.

I admit I was not one of those boys, or men actually, who picked them up at the corner newsagent, as worthy as the art by Kev Hopgood or Staz Johnson might be in them - If anything I only really became aware of them when I began to do some work with Jez Hall (now a big noise in children's TV animation but then a comics artist on some of those titles), but attending one of the UKCAC conventions in Glasgow confirmed the popularity of those comics in no uncertain terms: Marvel UK's stand had a patient but obviously excited queue of kids waiting to have their collections of ThunderCats and Action Force signed by the creators whose wrists must have been that weary from penning their autographs that was there could have been little productive typing or drawing done by them come Monday.

And so in the wake of all that came Death's Head - conceived by Simon Furman the character was scheduled to appear in the licensed toy comic Transformers he was writing (and to be drawn by Geoff Senior), but sensing there was potential that Marvel could profit from rather than toy manufacturer Hasbro, he arranged for a series of one strips to appear in other Marvel UK comics, thus ensuring copyright ownership to his employer's company.

A cyborg bounty hunter or "freelance peace-keeping agent" as the character itself preferred to be referred he took the Marvel mannerisms of The Thing's personality as if downloaded into a Dalek, and the attributes of Iron Man if he'd been a member of the then popular A.B.C. Warriors appearing in the pages of 2000AD.

His adventures mixed explosive slugfests and bad puns aplenty, and despite his adventures appearing in random titles (including his own 10 issue UK run, and a graphic novel) there was a continuity running through them thanks to Furman remaining the character's principle writer.
In this second collection Furman is on board to outline Death's Head convoluted continuity in an article, and welcomes these collections as a way of delivering the adventures coherently. Alas, the copy I have is one where the last quarter of the tome has pages printed, and even reprinted, out of sequence - Whether or not that makes it a collector's edition I'm unsure, but I know it gave me a slight headache.

That aside, we have guest appearances by the likes of Dr Who, The Fantastic Four and a future Iron Man as Death's Head travels time and space to earn a dollar bringing wanted aliens and villains into the hands of whatever law keeping force or possibly-criminal cartel he's working for... That, or just blowing them up!

You'll see a young Bryan Hitch slavishly imitating Alan Davis's own early style in one tale before taking on some of the visual mannerisms of John Byrne for what was originally an issue of She-Hulk featuring Death's Head (though it has to be said John Beatty inks that one so the American arm may have requested the look, and Hitch's art is enjoyable either way), you'll get the complete The Body in Question graphic novel within this bumper book (though it still leaves me in some confusion so I think I ought to read Volume 1 of this collection too).

In my oddly printed edition you'll also get confused as Mike Collins drawn pages shift into a Walt Simonson tale you thought had ended abruptly earlier before concluding with original artist Geoff Senior's work on a What If tale... though with all these pages misprinted I'd say it was more an issue of It Did! And for me personally, I looked at the issue collected that was drawn by Art Wetherell and am disturbed that he himself died too young.

Death's Head, as a character, isn't quite my cup of tea, but it has its moments and I can see why so many kids enjoyed the characters various outings, and still will (in collections not bound incorrectly). More so, it's a testament to a brand of writing style that was Marvel UK's, that to a lesser degree has continued to be voiced at Panini, and significantly demonstrates some of Simon Furman's talents.