Not everyone has their OHOTMU handy, Kurt.

For the sadly deprived among you, "OHOTMU" is the abbreviation for the Official Handbook Of The Marvel Universe. I love those. Go and look up whether Sam "Falcon" Wilson is a mutant or not, I'll wait...

And I have to wonder if that's a common stereotype in the Marvel Universe, that all mutants have healing factors, or claws, or are Canadian. There used to be a lot more uggos, Morlock-types, obvious mutants who couldn't and probably wouldn't blend in with polite society; but post-"No More Mutants," it seems like the majority of remaining mutants are, well, hot. Even if you haven't read an X-Men book in ten years, I bet you could name ten female mutants, and unless you started with Callisto and Destiny, I bet they all look great in a swimsuit.

I suppose an anti-mutant bigot could hate a hot X-Man, true. But I haven't been reading the X-books that closely, and am not sure how the haters' movement could be on such a big upswing, since humanity outnumbers mutants several million to one. Unless they're all just jealous.

Previous episodes: one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight and nine. More on Kurt's powers next week, and Supergirl/Wonder Girl later today!
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Just like that, Morbius never felt guilty about drinking blood again:

I took pictures for this short one last weekend, then had a severe bout of lazy, and didn't finish it up. (Doctor Who marathon on BBC America and NFL opening weekend did not help, either.) Back to work!

I personally prefer my vampires to be monsters. Soulless aberrations. Undead abominations. Get a stick and kill it. That's not to say they can't be intelligent or erudite, but as a rule of thumb, they're the bad guys. Even the exceptions, like Angel or Hannibal King or Cassidy from Preacher, seem to spend a lot of time killing their less-nice brethren. (I'm pretty sure Cass killed a vamp or two in a special...)

So I wasn't a big Anne Rice fan in her heyday, and I'm avoiding Twilight like crazy. Possibly because I've worked my way out of teen angst and into adult malaise; or more likely because once I heard the vampires "sparkle" I wanted no part of that. (My Oldest liked the first book and movie, although I'm sure I annoyed him no end by repeatedly asking "How do you kill the vampires again?")

Which brings us the long way around to Morbius, the Living Vampire. Over at the Hurting, Tim O'Neil referred to Morby as his least favorite Marvel character ever. Which is more than fair: I cheerfully concede, I don't think there's ever been a Morbius comic that's been good.

More behind the break!
But the potential...I will steadfastly defend the potential of Morbius. Not because he's a vampire, because he's weak. I've gone over this before, but Morbius is intriguing since despite any good intentions he may have, he always ends up taking the path of least resistance.


Consider: when he finds out he's dying of a rare blood disease, Morbius never tells his girlfriend Martine; he takes her on a cruise where he's running experiments to try and save himself. Immediately after turning into a living vampire, Morbius drinks his lab assistant's blood; then, revolted at what he's done and the idea that Martine might see him, he throws himself overboard. Later in the series, rather than lose the mortally wounded Martine, Morbius turns her into a vampire. At least, that's how I remember it; somehow, Martine may have ended up a traditional, undead vampire. But the point is, rather than accept her loss, grieve, and get over it; Morbius goes to extreme measures to avoid that, leaving no one happy--he later breaks up with Martine, who by this point is pissed off at Morbius on multiple levels, and killing more people.

And all of that pales in comparison to his junkie-like addiction to blood. Now that one isn't necessarily Morbius' fault, maybe; but he seems compelled to drink it out of someone's neckhole, rather than rob a bloodbank or take donations or any other means that don't involve an exsanguinated corpse and Morby crying with remorse. I'm not sure how much blood Morbius needs to survive, but perversely, he seems to be able to resist the craving until he hits a point where he's not only going to feed, he's going to suck all the fluids out of the next person he sees, killing them: if he fed a little at a time, he would probably kill a lot less people.

The trouble (or one trouble) with turning Morbius into a movie, is the same problem he had with his own comic: Morbius is the bad guy. He kills people. Yeah, he feels bad about it, and is trying to avoid killing any more, but that doesn't make his victims any less dead. (At the very least, even if Morby doesn't kill his victims, being wrestled to the ground and bit can't be a picnic for them.) To generate sympathy for Morbius, the temptation is to make the villain more horrible; like actual vampires, aliens, or law enforcement/government types that want Morbius for a weapon, for dissection, or just dead. Simon Stroud from the old comics only partially fit that shoe: assigned to the Morbius case, he doesn't believe in vampires or monsters initially. When the evidence comes in, though, he steps up to silver weapons and wooden stakes matter-of-factly. (Even though Morbius isn't specifically vulnerable to those, a silver bullet could kill him just as easily as a lead one.)

I am curious as to if the recent Disney/Marvel deal will be in Morbius' favor; and I would guess that if some other studio had the rights for him, they would have to get on the ball to use them before they lapsed back to Disney. Maybe Disney can improve Marvel's typical track record for hopping on a bandwagon: if Marvel wanted to cash in on Twilight, you could expect a teen Morbius limited series in 2015...

The first two scans are from Morbius #27, written by Lisa Trusiani, pencils by Craig Gilmore, inks by Rick Bryant. The third, from Morbius #32, "The River Runs Red" Written by Lisa Trusiani, pencils by Fabio Laguna, inks by Mike Witherby. It is entirely possible that Trusiani was the only female Marvel writer at the time, 1995; but she was saddled with some of the ugliest art you'll ever find. #32 was the last issue, and judging by the hasty wrapup of a couple plotlines, it seemed to perhaps (somehow) have come suddenly.
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Who's flying the damn ship? Cadets?

Click to magnify!

Now, if you hit up a good online retailer like Big Bad Toy Store, you could probably get the second wave of Playmates Star Trek 3-3/4" figures, which would include the ten additional pieces you would need to complete the previously available Enterprise bridge playset/mat. BBTS has a preorder available here, which may very likely be the only way to go if you're interested: the first wave was heavily stocked. Heavily. To the point that I suspect a lot of retailers aren't going to be jumping up and down at the chance to put more on the shelf; and no doubt the second wave is going to be underordered.

That said, the 3-3/4" figures aren't great. For a dollar each, I'm not complaining (much) but I don't think I'd go in with both feet there. I have seen the bridge set marked down a little so far, but I probably wouldn't pay more than say, five bucks for it: it's a mat with a captain's chair, viewscreen, and a lot of empty spots for the consoles and chairs that come with the figures. A mat. I mean, really: a plastic base that the consoles could attach to; that would be tempting, but a mat? For one thing, there's no way to set up the bridge, then move it.

Wait, I do believe the bridge also comes with a Captain Kirk figure, but you have to buy another one to get the console piece; and I think they're the same yellow-shirt version. (I had forgotten until recently, Kirk doesn't even wear that uniform until the very end of the movie...oh, "spoiler.") Not only is that kind of a burn on customers who are buying up the whole set; but it seems like making the bridge version a more desirable variant possibly would have pushed sales more. Some Kirks in other uniforms are coming in the second wave, but the bridge one could've been battle-damaged or shirtless or something, I don't know.

I must confess, that completed bridge does look moderately sharp in the photos (one more link to BBTS!) but I don't know if I've seen any reviews or anything for it. If interested, I would recommend buying the clearance or marked down figures, and cobbling it together on the cheap; unless you're the anal detail-oriented fan who can't stand the idea of an ops console where the science station should be.

In other news, this weekend the Youngest cracked me one in the face with my Jabba the Hutt action figure. Jabba is hard plastic, not squishy as one might hope, and it bled a little. In the Youngest's defense, he did warn me a couple of times that he was going to "whack daddy." He did get a stern talking to, I can tell you that...
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Your Happenstance panels for today:

Another day, another flying car that's somehow not Nick Fury's, from Planetary #23, "Percussion" Written by Warren Ellis, art by John Cassaday. This time, it's Fury-homage John Stone, Agent of S.T.O.R.M, which would be both a precursor of Stormwatch, and a homage to Fury's S.H.I.E.L.D. I'm not sure they ever say what S.T.O.R.M. stood for, though.

Stone would get a helluva comeuppance later, in Planetary #25, "in from the cold" by Ellis and Cassaday again. While he put up a good fight with gadgets that seemed cribbed from both classic and Ultimate versions of Fury, Stone would eventually receive a thorough and prolonged asswhupping from Jakita Wagner.

Re-read all of Planetary last weekend, to get ready to the last issue, due October 7! Can't wait.
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This is a better answer for the Hawkeye-to-Ronin switch.

Admittedly, it could be anyone under that mask, and I haven't read those Daredevil issues with Echo for a long time; but it's a lot easier to picture a guy in that suit, isn't it? Unless the identity of Ronin is like Captain Universe: "The Hero that could be You!"

OK, I'd prefer to have Clint Barton back as Hawkeye; and have the Ronin suit passed around like a headcold. I'd make the joke that no matter who wears it, they always look like that, whether it's a grown man in peak physical condition, an 8-year-old girl, or a morbidly obese man. Or make it a cheesy-fun game: on every Avengers mission, somebody wears the Ronin outfit; ostensibly for the element of surprise. Maybe you can work it out by process of elimination, or maybe someone unexpected has been called in to fill those shoes. Is it Spider-Man? Quasar? The fifties Captain America? 3-D Man? Who? You wouldn't know until they started using their powers, if any, or by any distinctive speech patterns. (Not everyone gets yellow balloons.)

It's also unsettling to see Clint waving a sword around instead of a bow, but it actually makes sense: back in early Avengers stories, it was established that he was trained in archery by sometimes Avengers foe the Swordsman. Leading to the obvious question, why would the Swordsman train archery? Although I suppose you shouldn't assume he doesn't have other skills and interests, the name hints at a different speciality. So, years later, in Solo Avengers, Hawkeye's archery coach was revealed to be a fat guy named Trick Shot. Yeah, I don't think those were great issues...let's just say the Swordsman cross-trained Clint, 'kay?

This Marvel Universe Ronin figure was $3 at Wal-Mart, not too shabby. The plastic feels different, though. I did pick up a little fistful of cheap stuff yesterday, so more will be up next week.

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Supergirl/Wonder Girl 4: It says something when your new girlfriend has the same name...

The quiet (and recently replaced) Batgirl, Cassandra Cain, seems doomed to be one of those female characters seemingly beloved by all but unable to translate that into sales. I never read a ton of books with her, but the idea of her dating the vastly less-competent Conner (still misspelled in the strips, sorry) could be ripe for comedy. Which doesn't seem like her forte, but still.

After being mishandled after the end of her book and then fighting her way back into the role, Cassandra recently passed the Batgirl cowl to Stephanie Brown, formerly the Spoiler, formerly Robin, formerly dead. Steph's death as the result of her trying to run one of Batman's plans without Batman in War Games was retconned into a fake; and that's why Bats never had her costume in the trophy case of the honored dead. Yeah...let's move on, yes?

I don't know if Wonder Girl Cassie knew about Batgirl Cassandra's brief romance with Superboy Conner (there's been like five versions of each of these characters, so you have to use both names...) but she doesn't seem like the type to be cool about it.

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Hawk-pology

Previous episodes: one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, and eight.

I think Kurt could give Carter a good fight, but not in a closed space like the apartment. It may seem counter-intuitive to give Hawkman room to fly, but Kurt is going to take more lumps trying to go toe-to-toe there.

And I don't read Justice Society of America regularly, and I'm not sure if Hawkman's even a current member; but I do know they've recently expanded their roster with a number of legacy heroes. Typically, if you're using the same name as a guy that wore a mask and maybe hit a Nazi once, you can get a spot on the team. Probably not a good spot, though: putting aside any actual hierarchy or chain-of-command, figure there's the old guard: the elder Green Lantern, Flash, maybe Hawkman depending on when you ask him. Then, there's a couple relative newcomers, who would certainly be the senior staff on any team not featuring WWII vets; like Power Girl and Mr. Terrific. Then there's everyone else, collectively doomed to be seen as the junior members even if they're on the team for forty years. And they're not gonna be there, for forty years...


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What I'm reading right this second (two weeks ago):

Re-read Bill Sienkiewicz's Stray Toasters this afternoon. While it's definitely not for everyone, my god, the art. I'm pretty sure it's been collected, but I have the Epic Comics issues; and it occurs to me that since those little volumes fit on my bookshelf (my creaking, overloaded bookshelf...) I read it more often than I do, say, Elektra: Assassin. And I'm just about positive I bought both of those from a used bookstore-slash-comic shop in Missoula, MT, for somewhere between dirt and cheap.


Also dirt cheap? A two-issue Flash Gordon story, from Marvel. ("Marvel Select" on the cover.) Written by Mark Schultz, art by Al Williamson; and seemingly published because it was something those two felt like doing. Without having read a lot of the old-school strips, it feels very true to them. Not a bad little read, especially as a palate cleanser after Stray Toasters, eh?

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Of course, Byrne came up with this, because he was already tired of typing 'Kltpzyxm.'

Even though I've never actually heard it, I still sing the "Big Belly Burger" jingle to my Youngest, usually while tickling his big belly. From The Adventures of Superman #441, "The Tiny Terror of Tinseltown!" In case you can't hold your monitor up to a mirror: Script and plot by John Byrne, pencils and plot by Jerry Ordway, inks by Dennis Janke. This was a Mr. Mxyzptlk issue, the second part of his second post-Crisis appearance.

Even though I'm not a huge fan of Mxy's, this is a high point for him. This would also be the first time he would diverge from the classic "make me say my name backwards" rule, into whatever terms he decided on the current visit.

This time, after Supes wraps up Mxy's Smurf knock-offs, Mxyzptlk tells Supes he'll go back to the fifth dimension, if Supes can get him to paint his face blue. As Mxy gets ready to go under the stage lights of a game show, he bypasses Superman's obvious trap, to fall victim to the real ruse: color-changing makeup, inspired by a similar device used in the play Finian's Rainbow. Well, duh. Everyone knows that...

Also this issue: subplots with Cat Whatsername (who has a conversation with her young son, who as much as calls her easy to her face), Lois working leads on a Lex Luthor story, the reboot circus mentalist Brainiac (man, did that seem like a misfire), a mysterious girl in a red-and-blue costume in Antarctica, a shadowy figure wrecking up a Lexcorp oil rig, and a cameo appearance from Streaky! At least five pages devoted to future story threads, which seems maybe a page or two on the excessive side; but I think it kept readers coming back, didn't it?

Plus ads for enduring classics like Manhunter! (The John Ostrander/Doug Rice version...well, I liked it.) Action Comics Weekly! (Um...) Aquaman: The Missing Peace! (Didn't even rate a full page? Harsh.) The Wanderers! (DC, just because you still have the Wanderers name, doesn't mean you're obligated to use it. Just a head's up.) And The Killing Joke! (That's more like it. Batman isn't even mentioned in the ad...) Well worth seventy-five cents!

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Wish I remembered how I balanced that...

Just a quick one: I had wanted to set this up for a while, a meeting of the disappointing DCIH Superman (not a great sculpt, not overly poseable, overall super-blah) and the slightly-less disappointing Doomsday from the pre-DC Universe Classics Superman line. Doomsday looks nice, but is just out-of-scale with the DCUC figures; he probably needed to be at least an inch and change taller and wider. So, I thought maybe he'd look better with a smaller Superman...

And I gotta say...not quite. Now Doomsday's too big, isn't he? And without looking at The Death of Superman, just from memory, wasn't Doomsday beefier? Well, worth a try.

In other news, the other day I got another DCIH Weaponer of Qward, bringing my squad total to six. Really need to look into getting the poor guys some weapons...

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Your Happenstance panel for today:

A quick panel from Scott Lobdell and Alan Davis's Fantastic Four #3, "Happy New Year, Reed Richards...now Die!" (Inks by Mark Farmer.) Lobdell would stick around for the next issue, credited for story, but with #4 Claremont would start up. I'm not sure why, exactly; Lobdell and Davis were doing pretty well themselves, and why wouldn't Claremont take the reins from the first issue?

Anyway, this issue featuring a pretty good scheme from the newly super-intelligent Super Apes, of 'The Red Ghost and...' The Red Ghost is having problems, though, since he appears to have become as dumb as the Apes have smart; and the Apes' powers all seemingly overlap now. In fact, once Reed defeats them, he worries that the same blending of powers and personalities could happen to himself and the rest of the FF. Which was never brought up again, to the best of my knowledge.

Also this ish: three pages devoted to the partial debut of the next big FF baddie, Crucible! Yeah, no one cares. His big claim to fame would be training with the same monks that helped Doctor Doom burn a mask to his face. I'm sure he'll be as well remembered as the Marquis of Evil or whatever the recent plotline with Doom's mentor was...

And on the last page, setting up next month's double-sized issue with Terminus, Alicia Masters, and the Silver Surfer? The Mole Man, in a towel. Yeah, I'm not scanning that. You're welcome.
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Who remembers the Torch of Liberty? Show of hands...

I swear, it's like a Crisis retconned him right out. And I'm only half joking!

The Torch of Liberty was John Byrne's Captain America-homage character, appearing in backups in Danger Unlimited and later his own special. The special is pretty light, featuring the Torch and his sidekick Radio Girl facing the menace of Lenin's Ghost in the fifties. I do seem to recall his origin in Danger Unlimited as being a bit more heavy, however; and I might have to see if I still have that series somewhere. (It wasn't bad, even if my main recollection is "obvious Human Torch analog wakes up in the future, forms new team to fight his Doctor Doom." Pretty sure it was better than I'm making it sound, too.)

But the Torch is probably better known to longtime Hellboy readers, as being on the scene when Hellboy was first discovered by Professor Bruttenholm and a division of American soldiers. Later, the Torch would teach Hellboy to shoot (or at least try, he never would be a very good shot in the comics) and gave Hellboy his trademark pistol. Remember, in the first Hellboy series, creator Mike Mignola wasn't sure of his scripting skills, and called in Byrne to help out.

However, I'm not sure if the Torch of Liberty hasn't been retconned out of Hellboy: after all, Mignola wouldn't own that character, and might have to pay for his use. Hellboy has since lost that gun (prior to the Island, off the top of my head) and I don't think the Torch appears in the group shot of Hellboy's birth anymore. (I have to look that one up.) Still, this could just be because as the Hellboy/B.P.R.D. universe progressed, I don't think they had costumed heroes there. (Except in crossovers.)

This reminds me of when Image started, and everyone used each other's characters; partly to give the feel of a big, fully-formed universe; and partly to hype up each other's books. In the original origin of Todd McFarlane's Spawn, Al Simmons was killed by Rob Liefeld's Chapel, of Youngblood. When Liefeld left Image, Chapel was retconned into another character, Jessica Priest. That's the trouble with playing with toys that don't belong to you: eventually, they might ask for them back...

Still, the Torch of Liberty doesn't even have his own Wikipedia page, so I couldn't say for sure why he's on the outs. Probably nothing to it...probably. Panel from The Torch of Liberty Special, story by John Byrne, art by Kieron Dwyer.
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Supergirl/Wonder Girl 3: Batman never has this problem with the Joker, since he's never funny.

Previous episodes: one and two.

Even though generally DC heroes are supposed to be stoic and all-business in battle, I can't remember the Joker (or the Riddler, the Prankster, or any other allegedly funny villain) ever busting out a line that might conceivably get a chuckle out of the hero. Bizarros, though...that, and I think I'd have a hard time staying mad at Bizarro, and his earnest stupidity. Although, some artists draw him less Silver-age blocky and more zombie-like, which does lessen the charm.

And even though Kara doesn't do a terrible job of Supergirl, I would wager she has received more lectures from Superman, than anyone else has ever, from anyone, in the history of anything.
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Facing the business end of the comfy chair.

I made this strip back in July, so I had sure as hell better be ahead of schedule now...Previous episodes: one, two, three, four, five, six and seven.

Without the mitigating influence of his lovely wife Hawkwoman--who is nowhere to be found yet in my area, along with the rest of that wave--Hawkman can be a bit of a jerk. Usually, it's not as noticeable, since his jerkiness plays against other jerks like Green Arrow. And maces in the house? Didn't his mom ever tell him to take it outside?

(Does Hawkman even have a mom in regular DC continuity? I know his dad played a bigger role in the Hawkworld series, but I can't recall his mom ever being mentioned. And how much would it suck to give birth to this new baby, that's been reincarnated about fifty times? Granted, I don't think he knows anything from the start, but still, it'd have to take off some of that new baby luster.)
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Sure, "Do Not Panic!" is good advice, it's just a bit redundant is all.

I mean, how often are you told; go ahead, now's a good time to freak out?

Anyway, posting may be a little hit-and-miss for a bit: work is well, working me over more than usual, and I'm trying to take care of a few things at home. Before you think, oh no, how terrible; bear in mind one of the things I'm trying to wrap up is resetting my action figure shelves. Although, that is a two-man job...

So, today we have a good piece of advice from Stan Lee and Steve Ditko, "Do Not Panic!" Originally presented in Strange Tales #95, reprinted in Curse of the Weird #1, and I think I saw that twist ending in an EC Comic earlier, as well.





New strips tomorrow, and we'll see for the rest of the week! Man, it's a short one, I should knock something out...
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I should apologize to Alan Moore for this one, but I won't.

Shoot, I had this one scheduled, but was supposed to get back in time to retitle and note it. That didn't happen...I think I set it for the wrong day, too.

Anyway, the Comedian and Silk Spectre were $3.99 a piece at Hot Topic; which made them pretty irresistible. I would've preferred Rorschach and Nite Owl, but those could still show up on sale down the road. As is often the case, these two from DC Direct look great but aren't putting the 'action' back in action figures: not a lot of useful articulation there. Still, not too shabby.

And the joke is the pretty obvious one, if you've read Watchmen and end up with those two figures...
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Oh, I'm sure Egypt loves being compared to a mummy, yeah.

Hmm, I wasn't expecting to find an interesting page in Marvel Two-in-One #95. The last year or two of the book was generally done-in-one throwaway stories with the Thing and whoever needed their copyright renewed that month; and was winding down to it's last issue, #100. Of course, this is by no means a modern comic classic: archeologist gone bad Gamal Hassan sends a mystic crown to Alicia, putting her under his power and putting the Thing on the case. Not that it's in the yellow pages or anything, but maybe it would've been easier to find a blind sculptress that isn't the Thing's girlfriend, genius. It's not really clear why exactly he needs a blind artist, either, but Hassan sets her to work finding the Spirit Gem of Nephrus. Well, after dressing Alicia in a pretty skimpy outfit, anyway.

For some reason, Hassan's "innoculous archaeological dig" has automated rocket launcher defenses.

More after the break!

Eventually, N'kantu, the Living Mummy shows up; the soul of his old enemy Nephrus takes over Hassan, and violence insues. Ben and N'kantu don't fare that well, and in the end Alicia turns the crown on the gem. She plainly says she can't kill Nephrus, but totally does. Hmm. All's well that ends well, except for N'kantu, who's still a shambling mockery of a man unable to even die.

Or sort of unable to die. I mean, really, he's a mummy: he's gotta be flammable as hell. And 90% of his problems would be solved by learning english, or at least some modern language; and by wearing clothes over the bandages. The only other N'kantu appearance I have, was in Captain America #361; but that's exactly what I love about the Marvel Universe: it's stuffed to the gills full of super-heroes, Micronauts, giant Shogun Warriors, Godzilla, and ROM; but still has a place for the old school monsters like Dracula, Frankenstein, and the Mummy. And N'kantu actually appeared in Civil War, if you can believe it...

Panels from Marvel Two-in-One #95, "The Power to Live...the Power to Die!..." Scripted by David Anthony Kraft, pencils by Alan Kupperberg, inks by Jon D'agostino.


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Supergirl/Wonder Girl 2: Every time she hears, 'can you hear me now?' Kara dies a little inside.

Short one today, but there's longer ones later. It all evens out, promise.
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Make 'em say 'Nth.'

This may be my most featherbrained strip ever! Previous episodes: one, two, three, four, and five, and six.

It would've been nice to have a bigger Stratos for this, but I haven't shelled out for the new Masters of the Universe figures. Come to think of it, I haven't seen Hawkgirl yet, either...
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He could have been someone. A Transformer, maybe.

(EDIT: I wrote this a couple days ago, before Death's Head became a Disney character! Unfortunately, I was working overtime yesterday and couldn't slap together a post on the Marvel-Disney deal. I am waiting with bated breath to see if Oubliette from Marvel Boy will become a Disney princess, though.)

In the comments a couple days back, Chiasaur11 (who needs to leave a link, if he's not already in the sidebar!) mentioned Death's Head, a Marvel character that has gone through a few different versions. Most of whom I'm not familar with: a third version was introduced a couple years ago in Amazing Fantasy, and I recall seeing Death's Head 2.0 in a lot of ads and covers for Marvel's UK books: he looked like a cross between the X-Men's Colossus and Frank Frazetta's Death Dealer. Pretty metal, but it had the reek of trying too hard to be extreme. Especially since the first version was pretty good from the start.

Created by Simon Furman and Geoff Senior, Death's Head was originally intended to be a throwaway bounty hunter character in Marvel's Transformers comic. But they liked the design too much to just use once, and arrangements were made for his first appearance to be in a one page strip so the rights wouldn't revert to Hasbro. A swell idea, that may have cost DH an action figure...

More after the break!

The character was a time-travelling, robot bounty hunter antihero; which sounds like just throwing together a lot of "kewl" elements. But, Death's Head somehow transcends that, at least in short bursts: he showed up in Marvel Comics Presents, She-Hulk, and probably most famously, Walt Simonson's Fantastic Four. There's something about him, perhaps the interesting design. Especially the face, which is alternately pointy-scary or mugging and comedic. (Like Deadpool or Spider-Man's masks, DH's face probably shouldn't have any change of expression, but artistic license says it does.) And Death's Head talks funny, or at least funny for comics, ending most of his sentences as questions, yes? Like this, huh? Not annoying at all, yes?

I guess Death's Head was a larger character when he was in Transformers, but was shrunk in an issue of Doctor Who. I want to say by the fifth Doctor, but the seventh may have messed with DH a time or two as well. In the prior issue, the Doctor also as much as calls DH a soulless automaton, incapable of learning, at least in terms of personal growth; and tells the uncaring robot that he will just go on forever, doing the same things, over and over and over. Geez, that's a little harsh, Doctor; what did robots ever do to you?...oh, right.

(Actually, that may be not be accurate: how many Dr. Who monsters are bona-fide, 100% non-organic robots? Both the Cybermen and the Daleks have organic components. And I don't know if someone who had K-9 would be so unsympathetic to robots.)

Panels from Death's Head #9, "Clobberin' Time!" Written by Simon Furman, art by Geoff Senior. Cover by Walt Simonson!


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