Another Death's Head II appearance today! Almost like I planned it, but you all know better. From 1993, Black Axe #2, "The Immortality Gambit" Written by Simon Jowett, pencils by Edmund Perryman (Bagwell), inks by Rodney Ramos. Cover by John Romita Jr.
We saw the first issue some time back; as the immortal warrior Black Axe got beat first by Death's Head II, then by the Sisters of Grace. This issue finds him in Japan trying to get his mojo back, both by meditation and training, and by having his namesake weapon repaired by Kaori Tamayoshi, the latest in a long line of sword-makers. Unfortunately, the Hand also want Kaori, in a quest for a mythical "Great Sword." The Hand also tries their hand, as it were, at modernizing; bringing in Mandroids. Because when you think of stealth and success, you think Mandroids, sure.
The head Hand guy recognizes Black Axe from way back, then Sunfire shows up to try and fry him. Kaori stops him, and Sunfire admits he might have either jumped to conclusions, or not paid a lot of attention at his briefing. Sunfire and Black Axe make short work of the Mandroids, then Kaori and Sunfire see Black Axe off to the airport, where he's attacked by another couple Hand. But, he has a rematch coming with Death's Head II, which might be interrupted by Mephisto...! This issue went pretty quick, and the title only ran for like seven issues; but pretty sure the later ones are tougher to run across.
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Putting aside the big guns like the Asgardians and Olympians and Eternals, how many immortals/extremely long-lived types are there in the Marvel Universe? Apocalypse was five thousand years old, even if he wasn't up and around for all that time; the vampire Varnae was around in 10,000 BC, there was Alpha Flight's Master of the World, and I know there are others; even if we set aside relative "upstarts" like Puck, Mystique, Wolverine, or Mys-Tech. We said "Mys-Tech," must be a Marvel UK book! From 1993, Black Axe #1, "The Immortality Gambit" Written by Simon Jowett, pencils by Edmund Perryman, inks by Rod Ramos. Cover by John Romita Jr.
There's an unfortunate typo, in the text box of his first issue, claiming the title character had "50,000 years of practice." That should be 10,000, which would still make him older than dirt; but the immortal mercenary known as Black Axe is still putting in the work, today chopping up a bunch of HYDRA goons that strongly resemble the jet-cycle riding Intergang of the recent Black Adam flick: they seem like they should be a threat, and get torn up like junk mail. More of a challenge: Marvel UK's Wolverine character, Death's Head II, who was seemingly contractually obligated to appear in all of their titles. DH II took a job bodyguarding a scientist, because he wanted to meet an unbeaten "legend in my line of work" and throw down against him. He puts some pep behind his first shot; which Black Axe isn't able to immediately counter, and is forced to teleport away.
Many miles away, there's a shadow on the door, of a castle on the shore, of a dark Scottish lake...wait, that's not quite right! Caretaker Emily Hall is surprised by the sudden return of the man she knew as Mister Hyde, who hasn't aged since she met him, possibly in WW II. "Hyde" had allegedly died in 1961 and left her the castle to maintain, and had hidden sci-fi equipment there that he uses to heal up. He also considers the job he had taken, at the behest of Mys-Tech; who he considered "...youngsters" since they had only become immortal around 987 AD. They had recently heard word of a HYDRA scientist who could be close to halting the aging process; and they had no interest in letting just anybody become immortal. BA isn't interested until Mys-Tech mentions something had already demolished the troops they sent for the scientist, presumably Death's Head II. Dismayed over his lack of progress, Mys-Tech sends another batch of mercs, the Sisters of Mercy, to ask what was the holdup; and they kidnap Emily to get him back on mission. (The Sisters come in a variety of sizes, albeit in a different way than they might have today!) But first, Black Axe is going to have to make a side trip to Japan, to repair his namesake axe...
Tegan had hyped up this book; which I had probably seen in the quarter bins a million times before trying it! It's a solid first issue, that maybe steals a little from Highlander, although BA seems like he's going to be a colder character than Connor MacLeod and such. This also I think had the misfortune of coming out about the absolute worst time a new comic could've launched...There was more good stuff on this list of 1993 comics debuts than I would've expected, but I'm not sure much went on to long-term success. (Hellboy is on that list, but just for his four-page promo debut!)
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