Monday, January 08, 2024
This really feels like a SyFy, CW pilot; Deathlok would not be in the budget.
And it predates the "You're a tracer" bit from Chasing Amy by a few years! From 1993, Deathlok Annual #2, featuring "Quarry" Written by Evan Skolnick, pencils by John Hebert, inks by Mark McKenna and Roy Richardson; "Air Strike" Written by Gregory Wright, pencils by Steven Butler, inks by Al Vey; and "One Day at a Time" Written by Gregory Wright, pencils by Kirk Jarvinen, inks by Sam DeLaRosa.
I had to look up if this issue had been polybagged with a trading card--ah, it was, although I didn't get it from this dollar bin copy!--because it makes a big deal about the intro of a new character. In this case, it's the armored Tracer; an electronics/weapons factory-owner turned bounty hunter. Surprisingly, it's not the economy's fault there, at least not entirely: Rick Bloom's dad had built the company, then was murdered, seemingly by a super-powered individual. This drove Rick to believe super types, heroes or villains, were a menace to regular people; and he started work on a program for custom 'tracers' to apprehend or execute superhumans, and bring the big bucks into his company and workers. We open with him running a test program against Spider-Man; but they hadn't quite licked all the variables on that one. Deathlok might not at first glance seem like an easier target, but the Ryker corporation had shared a lot of data on the cyborg, making it a safer bet. (Titania and Wizard were also potential targets, but not high-value enough; oddly, Wonder Man was as well. Maybe Wright was taking that book, or planning to?)
For his part, Michael Collins had settled into as domestic a life as he could, while living in a 900-pound killer cyborg, as he takes his son to the fair, and enjoys a pleasant family evening with his wife and baby daughter. His wife offers for him to stay the night, but Michael pretty obviously isn't that comfortable as Deathlok: he probably should've stayed, as his wife calls later, having taken the baby to the hospital with breathing trouble. Of course, that's when Tracer attacks; that's traditional. With his on-board computer knocked offline early, Deathlok's in bad shape, and forced to abandon his gun after a bad hit; but no big deal, nobody but him could fire it...unless they had all the operating specs and a ton of hardware. Uh-oh.
Tracer checks the downed cyborg's hands, which don't match prints left at the scene of his dad's murder; then plugs into Deathlok to see if it can be overridden. He's horrified to realize there was a man in there, not just programming; one that had been murdered and "they used his brain for memory storage!" Tracer is about to put one in the back of Deathlok's skull, not for vengeance now, but a mercy killing; but Deathlok fights to see his daughter again. Realizing he was in the wrong there, Tracer helps get Michael to the hospital, where his daughter has the croup; and sets up repairs for him later. Back at his factory, while Rick sees this as just a minor setback, his staff knows he's too soft-hearted for this biz; but he brushes them off, to run the Spider-Man simulation again. (He would later get that face-off in Spectacular Spider-Man #211, and it probably goes about as well!)
Also this issue: a Siege short, where the more military cyborg tries to help an old friend in the Gulf. Huh, Siege was a Vietnam vet? Okay. And, "One Day at a Time," a short day in the life of Deathlok with Jarvinen art: I don't know if he ever had a long run on anything, but I like his work.
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I have to say it's definitely interesting to see such takes & views of advanced computer tech bad guys viewed through the lens of the early 90's & how much they contrast with what we have in the real day. I don't see why a good bit of those characters can't come back, especially since concepts like ChatGPT and ever-advancing AI is all the rage these days. I wouldn't mind seeing updated versions of a Tracer, Seige, etc. Even Deathlok should be updated for the times...or maybe our own time is finally catching up to the promise made by Marvel back then.
I definitely became an instant fan of Kirk Jarvinsen's once I saw his work on Aquaman: Time & Tide. Unfortunately I can't find any current work for him, as he seemed to be sporadic at best, doing stuff for various publishers, but never staying in one place for too long. Damn shame because I still enjoy his work.
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