Death's Head
Death's Head Death's Head II | |
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Publication information | |
Publisher | Marvel Comics |
First appearance | The Transformers (UK) #113 (May 1987) |
Created by | Simon Furman Geoff Senior |
In-story information | |
Species | Mechanoid |
Abilities | Robotic strength, speed, durability, agility, reflexes, and vision Expert tracker |
Death's Head is a fictional comic book character, created by writer Simon Furman and Geoff Senior. Originally published by Marvel UK, he later appeared in comics produced by their parent company. Death's Head is a robotic bounty hunter (though he prefers the term "freelance peace-keeping agent") and antihero. He has a characteristic habit of adding "yes?" to the end of his sentences.
Death's Head first appeared as a supporting character in
Creation
Death's Head was originally created as a "throwaway character" for use in the UK
Publishing history
Death's Head | |
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Publication information | |
Publisher | Marvel UK |
Schedule | Monthly |
Publication date | December 1988 - September 1989 |
No. of issues | 10 |
Creative team | |
Written by | Simon Furman Steve Parkhouse |
Artist(s) | Bryan Hitch Lee Sullivan John Higgins Geoff Senior |
Penciller(s) | Liam Sharp Art Wetherell |
Inker(s) | Mark Farmer David Hine Paul Marshall Jeff Anderson Steve Parkhouse |
Letterer(s) | Annie Parkhouse |
Colorist(s) | Nick Abadzis |
Editor(s) | Steve White |
Guest appearances
Death's Head debuted in Transformers #113, dated 13 May 1987 and written by Furman and drawn by Senior. The character played a major part in a storyline than ran through to #120. Due to the weekly frequency of Transformers, the character was rapidly drawn by several different artists including Will Simpson (who got to portray the mechanoid making an instant impression by destroying the Autobot Bumblebee), Jeff Anderson and Dan Reed. Death's Head swiftly proved popular with readers and returned for two further stories, printed in Transformers #133-134 (with the former featuring a cover rendered by Dave Gibbons) and #146-151. The latter, dated 6 February 1988, saw the character propelled through a 'time portal'.
He emerged in the pages of
Death's Head
Dragon's Claws was the first of a planned series of American-format British titles which editor Ian Rimmer hoped to launch. Death's Head was chosen to be the subject of the second series, which launched the month after his appearance in Dragon's Claws. Hitch was assigned to draw the series, and the character's near-destruction battling the Claws allowed the artist to redesign Death's Head. The first seven issues took place in 8162 - the same year as the setting for Dragon's Claws, who guest-starred in Death's Head #2 - and introduced a colourful supporting cast of misfits.
The first issue prompted a letter from Stan Lee, praising the character and creative team; however, not all reception was positive - reviewing Death's Head #1 for Amazing Heroes, Virginia Williams-Pennick was critical of the issue, negatively comparing the storytelling and dark humour to that of Judge Dredd and ABC Warriors and calling the result "bland".[3] From the eighth issue time travel was introduced into the mix, heading to a rematch with the Doctor and a transfer to the present day. This was written by Steve Parkhouse, the first time the character had appeared in a story not penned by Furman.
Subsequent issues saw Death's Head cross paths with the Fantastic Four and the Iron Man of 2020. Hitch meanwhile had struggled to keep to the monthly schedule, leading to a variety of artists working on the series. However, sales were poor; Dragon's Claws had been cancelled after 10 issues in April 1989, and Death's Head would stop when it reached the same number. Furman would later claim that the poor sales were caused British retailers - not used to the US-size dimensions of the book compared to the magazine size of most other British titles - struggling to merchandise it properly.[4]
Instead, in 1990 Death's Head would switch to the anthology
American appearances
By this point Death's Head had already been formally introduced to American readers, having paid back the favour for Death's Head #9 by appearing in
Back in the UK offices, Rimmer still had faith in the character and planned a four-issue Death's Head limited series, to be written by Dan Abnett. However, in April 1991 he was replaced as Marvel UK editor-in-chief by Paul Neary, who was not a fan of the character. Plans to feature the character on trial, facing the death penalty and flashing back to how he'd got there, were scrapped.[7]
Death's Head II
Neary had ambitious plans to radically expand Marvel UK into the lucrative American market. His model involved commissioning British-made American-format comics, which would then be split up and serialised in multiple-feature British magazines while also being exported to the USA as standard comic books, thereby allowing Marvel UK to meet the preferred format for both markets. He felt that the character had "seen his best days"[8] and that the design was outdated;[9] however, it would take time for Neary to commission other works and he instead planned to radically overhaul the mini-series. Based on Neary's sketches, Liam Sharp produced a Predator-influenced design that was selected. The character was named Death's Head II to emphasise the shift from the earlier version; Furman and Senior were removed from the series. Sharp would instead draw it while Dan Abnett devised a storyline where the new body was originally that of a cyborg called Minion which tracked down others and assimilated their minds. Minion was able to destroy Death's Head but his personality was able to wrest control of the powerful body - and as a side effect leaving the character with a more typical heroic personality.[8]
Death's Head II
Death's Head II | |
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Publication information | |
Publisher | Marvel UK |
Schedule | Monthly |
Format | Limited series (Vol. 1); ongoing series (Vol. 2) |
Publication date | March - June 1992 (Vol. 1); October 1992 - March 1994 (Vol. 2) |
No. of issues | 4 (Vol. 1); 16 (Vol. 2) |
Creative team | |
Written by | Dan Abnett |
Penciller(s) | Liam Sharp Simon Coleby Doug Braithwaite |
Inker(s) | Andy Lanning |
initially it appeared Neary had picked the perfect time to launch his initiative. The
The ongoing Death's Head II initially matched the sales figures of the limited series, and some issues sold their entire first print run. Marvel UK scrambled to produce further material featuring the character. The limited series
Meanwhile Minion's creator, the amoral genius Doctor
In 1994 Marvel UK stopped publishing in the US market.[18] David Leach, then a Marvel UK editor, was greenlit to write a new reboot on Death's Head II in the mid-90s, which featured only that character and no other ties to the previous series. Leach's title for the series was Death's Head Quorum, and Simon Coleby was slated to be the artist. It was part of a wider reboot of Marvel UK, involving four titles. Leach got the job after telling Paul Neary that the character was boring and joking "we should completely overhaul him, reduce his power, lose the time travel aspect and set it in present-day England", only to find Neary liked the idea. The series would have a powerful entity called the Time Keeper, meant to be watching timelines but had started creating hunting tournaments out of boredom, viciously beating DHII, depowering him, and stranding him in 1990s Earth: the remaining personalities in Death's Head II's databanks form a quorum and force Death's Head to follow their orders or they'll shut down his body. Death's Head would join a secret community underneath London, preyed upon by the hunts organised by the Time Keeper, and finally get revenge on the Time Keeper but decide to stay in London; the first issue would also end with Death's Head's "mask" being broken and showing his "true human face" (Leach apparently believed Death's Head II's face was a mask). However, the comic was wound up before more than #1 could be written, and the details are only known because of a November 2010 interview with Leach.[19] Instead, the company was taken over by Panini Comics, and Neary was sacked.
Creator Furman disliked the revamped character; feeling he "lost his most important aspect; the dark-edged gallows humour. So in and of itself I think it's a very tight, proficient and action-packed comic that really tapped into that early 90s anti-hero vibe. But to me it was never Death's Head. It was another character."[4] In October 1993 he wrote What If (Vol. 2) #54, a tale showing Death's Head surviving Minion's attack and later killing the cyborg, something Furman has said was "deeply satisfying and cathartic".[20]
Death's Head 3.0
In 2005 Marvel ran a poll on their website asking visitors to choose the subject of the relaunched
Revival
For the next few years Death's Head made only fleeting appearances. In 2006, Liam Sharp and Bryan Hitch pitched a Death's Head revival mini-series, originally for Marvel's Ultimate line, which was not greenlit. The details of the pitch are unknown, though the design for "Ultimate Death's Head" (based mainly on DHII) is available online. Sharp's comments on the latter were that the revival was "on the surface a real gung-ho macho nationalistic piece of work—but anybody who knows me would know it wouldn't have stayed that way for long...".[24] In 2008, Abnett and Lanning used Doctor Necker as a member of Project Pegasus while writing the ongoing Nova; Necker was working on a project to develop a cyborg called "Minion". The pair note "This is us just having fun—the Death's Head thread has recently been worked back into the Marvel Universe via Planet Hulk, and we thought we would tie a few loose ends together."[25] Paul Cornell featured Death's Head in a cameo appearance in the final issue of Captain Britain and MI13; he mentioned in an interview that he wrote the splash page due to #15 being the final issue and had no plans before to use Death's Head "because the character isn't actually British".[26]
Instead the original Death's Head returned to the main Marvel Universe in the 2009 mini-series
Gillen used the character again in his run on Iron Man, while Andy Lanning used both Death's Head and Death's Head II in Revolutionary War.[30] After a cameo appearance in Infinity Wars: Sleepwalker (October 2018),[31] Death's Head starred in his own four-part miniseries by Tini Howard and Kei Zama beginning July 2019.[32]
Fictional character biography
Death's Head
This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (April 2023) |
Death's Head's mechanoid body had originally been constructed to host the life energy of the techno-mage Lupex, a psychotic who hunted beings for sport and stole their bodies upon killing them. However a woman named Pyra, who wished to steal Lupex's secrets, ultimately decided to use the mechanoid body against him. She gave it a cold, calculating business-like mind but before it could be used against Lupex the body was stolen by an unknown party, enlarged to the size of the Cybertronians, and catapulted through time. Death's Head was used as a pawn by Pyra, while Lupex had begun to hunt Death's Head with the intention of gaining his body. Driven to his mental limits and nearly killed, Death's Head was eventually able to defeat Lupex and, refusing to be anything like his "father", killed him while declaring he "kill[s] only for profit or survival!".[33]
In 2007, Death's Head attempted to claim the bounty Autobot leader
However, he instead collided with the TARDIS in the timestream. After a confrontation with its pilot, the Time Lord known as the Doctor, he found himself shrank and then tricked into travelling to 8162.[37] Arriving in the 'Pool, he ended up battling Greater Britain government agents Dragon's Claws, sustaining heavy damage before having a building fall on him.[38]
Death's Head was recovered by the Chain Gang and rebuilt (with a redesigned body) by one of their members, Spratt.[39] In exchange for this rescue, he confronted Dragon's Claws again on the Chain Gang's behalf, defeating and capturing Scavenger. When the Claws came to recover their missing member, Death's Head defeated Dragon but opted not to kill him, instead walking away and stating that his chronometer was "a minute slow" and his contract had therefore expired. The Chain Gang were arrested and Spratt, who had escaped arrest, opted to join Death's Head.[40]
Death's Head and Spratt then relocated to the Los Angeles Resettlement, where Death's Head once again went into business as a Freelance Peacekeeping Agent.[41] Death's Head was later hired by Dogbolter to capture the Doctor and his TARDIS, which led him to being stuck in the present day, where he confronted the Fantastic Four[42] and was then sent by Reed Richards to the year 2020 - where he met the Iron Man of that era.[43]
Death's Head II
This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (April 2023) |
Eventually Death's Head was beheaded and his personality "assimilated" into the mind of the
Death's Head's personality overwhelmed Minion's programming before it could take out its final target -
Death's Head II later fought in the Battle of London Bridge, preventing Mys-Tech from sacrificing everyone in Britain to Mephisto. However, when Mys-Tech resurfaced years later he decided to use them to flush out Necker in a time before she meddled in his life, taking an offer from them to capture the hero Captain Britain.[49] To undertake the mission he left Tuck behind in the future, and she hired the original Death's Head to track him. The two incarnations of Death's Head were able to battle Necker and Mys-Tech, though the original was captured.[50] Death's Head II nevertheless helped battle Mys-Tech's second attempt to sacrifice the people of Britain. After the threat was ended, both Death's Heads and Tuck returned to the future.[51]
Alternate versions
- In the Days of Future Past timeline, Death's Head II was part of Britain's Resistance Coordination Executive. Along with many of the organisation's most powerful members he was destroyed by a Sentinel assault.[52]
- In an alternative timeline, Death's Head was able to escape Minion, and rebuilt his injured body into a larger, more heavily armed form. Meanwhile, the Minion cyborg went on to kill Reed Richards, only to be possessed by Strucker and become Charnel itself. Evelyn Necker had to hire Death's Head to stop this threat. Using a time machine, Death's Head went back in time to gather the surviving Fantastic Four and several other superheroes, offering them a shot at avenging Reed by ending Charnel — and then let them all get killed softening up Charnel for him. Using his firepower on Charnel and goading him at not using the full potential of his gestalt mind, he got the cyborg to access these scientific minds, knowing this allowed Reed Richards' mind (still fighting within Charnel) to take control of the cyborg's motor functions, allowing him to kill it.[53]
- Death's Head appears in
Reception
This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (April 2023) |
In other media
Film
- In the film Sakaar as the Red King's personal military.[citation needed]
Video games
- Death's Head makes a cameo appearance in Strider Hiryu's ending in Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3. He is shown helping Strider and the X-Men in a battle against the Reavers.[citation needed]
Board games
- Death's Head was added to the superhero-featuring board game HeroClix in 2013, after winning a fan poll in 2012.[55]
Toys
- Death's Head was released as an Marvel Infinite Series in 2014.[citation needed]
- Death's Head II made his Marvel Legends debut in the Guardians of the Galaxy Mantis Build a Figure wave released in 2017 to coincide with the release of the second Guardians film.[citation needed]
Collected editions
Title | ISBN | Release date | Issues |
---|---|---|---|
Death's Head: The Body In Question | 1-85400-217-1 | October 1990 | Material from Strip Magazine #13–20
|
The Life and Times of Death's Head | 1-85400-238-4 | 30 November 1990 | Death's Head #1, 4–5, 7, 9–10 |
Death's Head Volume 1 | 1-905239-34-3 | February 2007 | High Noon Tex, Doctor Who Magazine #135, Dragon's Claws #5 and Death's Head #1–7 |
Death's Head Volume 2 | 1-905239-69-6 | October 2007 | Death's Head #8–10, Death's Head: The Body In Question, Sensational She-Hulk #24, Fantastic Four #338, Marvel Comics Presents #76, Doctor Who Magazine #173, What If? vol.2 #54 |
Death's Head: Clone Drive | 978-1302917876 | December 2019 | Death's Head (vol. 2) #1–4 |
Death's Head: Freelance Peacekeeping Agent | 978-1302923365 | March 2020 | Dragon's Claws #5, Death's Head #1–7 and 9–10, Death's Head: The Body In Question, Fantastic Four #338, Sensational She-Hulk #24, Marvel Comics Presents #76, What If? (vol. 2) #54, Marvel Heroes #33 |
References
- ISBN 1-905239-34-3
- ^ Comments, Rich Johnston (24 August 2015). "Speculator Corner: So What Is The First Appearance Of Death's Head Anyway?". bleedingcool.com.
- Fantagraphics Books.
- ^ a b c d e "Interview: Simon Furman, Creator of DEATH'S HEAD". STARBURST Magazine. 14 November 2011.
- Fantagraphics Books.
- Fantagraphics Books.
- ^ "To The Death: Simon Furman And Geoff Senior talk world building and roads not taken on Death's Head – downthetubes.net". 21 October 2016.
- ^ Fantagraphics Books.
- ^ scans of Comic World #8 at "Starlogged: 1992: DEATH'S HEAD II INTERVIEW In COMIC WORLD MAGAZINE" (13 November 2013)
- ^ Woollcombe, Alan R. (March 1993). "True Brit". Wizard. No. 19. Wizard Entertainment.
- ^ Robot, Slow (13 November 2013). "STARLOGGED - GEEK MEDIA AGAIN: 1992: DEATH'S HEAD II INTERVIEW In COMIC WORLD MAGAZINE".
- ^ Freeman, John (24 January 2014). "The Return of the Marvel UK Heroes: An interview with Alan Cowsill". downthetubes.net.
- ^ "1993: DEATH-WRECK and DEATH METAL House Ad (Marvel UK)". starlogged.blogspot.co.uk. 4 December 2014. Retrieved 10 April 2018.
- ^ "1994: MARVEL UK GENESIS 92 HOUSE AD". starlogged.blogspot.co.uk. 12 November 2013. Retrieved 10 April 2018.
- ^ "1994: COMIC WORLD REPORTS THE MARVEL UK GENESIS MASSACRE". starlogged.blogspot.co.uk. 24 October 2014. Retrieved 10 April 2018.
- ^ Mark Harrison (November 1993). "Loose Cannons". Diamond Previews (archived at 2000ad.org). Retrieved 10 April 2018.
- ^ Robot, Slow (10 June 2013). "STARLOGGED - GEEK MEDIA AGAIN: 1994: The unpublished DEATH'S HEAD II Vs. THE PUNISHER (Marvel UK)".
- ^ Grant, Paul J. (April 1994). "Marvel UK Out of U.S.". Wizard. No. 32. Wizard Entertainment.
- ^ Roberts, Mark (28 November 2010). "It Came From Darkmoor...: The Death's Head which Almost Was - an interview with David Leach".
- ISBN 1-905239-69-6
- ^ a b Pniccia on Death's Head 3.0 & Amfan Things to Come Archived 2007-09-29 at the Wayback Machine, Newsarama, 21 November 2006
- ^ a b Simon Furman: Transforming Death's Head Into Annihilation, Comixfan, 21 December 2005
- ^ "Simon Williams on Death's Head".
- ^ Ultimate Death's Head and Death's Head revival artwork on Liam Sharp's DeviantArt page
- ^ Quantum Leap: DnA Talk "Nova", Comic Book Resources, 25 September 2008
- ^ "Paul Cornell: A Close to Captain Britain and a Beginning for New Heroes: Interviews & Features Archive - Comics Bulletin". Archived from the original on 5 August 2009.
- Marvel.com.
- ^ Rogers, Vaneta (28 February 2011). "Marvel UK Fan-Favorite DEATH'S HEAD Returns Across the Pond". Newsarama. Retrieved 1 April 2011.
- ^ Miller, Gary (March 12, 2011). "Interview: Simon Williams on Death's Head Return To Battle The Hulk". iFanboy. Archived from the original on July 19, 2011. Retrieved April 1, 2011.
- ^ Johnston, Rich (16 September 2013). "First Art: Death's Head II And Marvel UK's Return In January". Bleeding Cool.
- ^ "If You Are Not Quite Sure What Happened in Infinity Wars #3, Sleepwalker Explains..." Bleeding Cool News And Rumors. 3 October 2018.
- ^ Chris Arrant (27 May 2021). "Death's Head: From "throwaway" Transformers character to Marvel cult hero". gamesradar.
- ^ Furman, Simon (August–November 1990). "Death's Head". Strip. No. 13–20. Senior, Geoff. Marvel UK.
- ^ Simon Furman (w), (various) (a). The Transformers, no. 113-120 (16 May - 4 July 1987). Marvel UK.
- ^ Simon Furman (w), (various) (a). The Transformers, no. 133-134 (3 - 10 October 1987). Marvel UK.
- ^ Simon Furman (w), (various) (a). The Transformers, no. 146-151 (2 January - 6 February 1988). Marvel UK.
- ^ Simon Furman (w), Geoff Senior (a). "The Crossroads of Time" Doctor Who Magazine, no. 135 (April 1988). Marvel UK.
- ^ Simon Furman (w), Geoff Senior (a). "Death's Head!" Dragon's Claws, no. 5 (November 1988). Marvel UK.
- ^ Simon Furman (w), Bryan Hitch (p), Mark Farmer (i). "Death's Head Revisited" Death's Head, no. 1 (December 1988). Marvel UK.
- .
- .
- ^ Simon Furman (w), Geoff Senior (a). Death's Head, no. 9 (August 1989).
- ^ Simon Furman (w), Bryan Hitch (a). Death's Head, no. 10 (September 1989).
- Nova, no. 17 (June 2008). Marvel Comics.
- ^ Dan Abnett (w), Liam Sharp (p), Andy Lanning (i). Death's Head II, vol. 1, no. 1 (March 1992). Marvel UK.
- ^ Dan Abnett (w), Liam Sharp (p), Andy Lanning (i). Death's Head II, vol. 1, no. 2 (April 1992). Marvel UK.
- ^ Dan Abnett (w), Liam Sharp (p), Andy Lanning (i). Death's Head II, vol. 1, no. 3 (May 1992). Marvel UK.
- ^ Dan Abnett (w), Liam Sharp (p), Andy Lanning (i). Death's Head II, vol. 1, no. 4 (June 1992). Marvel UK.
- ^ Andy Lanning, Alan Cowsill (w), Rich Elson (a). Revolutionary War: Alpha, vol. 1, no. 1 (March 2014). Marvel Comics.
- ^ Andy Lanning, Alan Cowsill (w), Nick Roche (a). Revolutionary War: Death's Head II, vol. 1, no. 1 (May 2014). Marvel Comics.
- ^ Andy Lanning, Alan Cowsill (w), Rich Elson (a). Revolutionary War: Omega, vol. 1, no. 1 (May 2014). Marvel Comics.
- ^ Alan Davis (w), Alan Davis (p), Mark Farmer (i). Excalibur, vol. 1, no. 66 (June 1993). Marvel Comics.
- ^ Simon Furman (w), Geoff Senior (a). What If, vol. 2, no. 54 (October 1993). Marvel Comics.
- ^ Chad Bowers, Chris Sims (w), Alti Firmansyah (a). X-Men '92, vol. 1, no. 6-10 (October 2016 - February 2017). Marvel Comics.
- ^ "Marvel HeroClix Fan Vote - FINAL DECISION! - HeroClix by Wizkids Games". 12 December 2013. Archived from the original on 12 December 2013.
External links
- Death's Head on Marvel Database, a Marvel Comics wiki
- Death's Head on Tardis Wiki, the Doctor Who Wiki
- Death's Head I at the Appendix to the Handbook of the Marvel Universe.
- Death's Head at the Grand Comics Database
- Death's Head II at the Appendix to the Handbook of the Marvel Universe
- Death's Head II (1992) at the Grand Comics Database
- Death's Head II (1992–1994) at the Grand Comics Database