Death's Head (comics): Difference between revisions
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In the 1990s, Marvel UK appointed [[w:Paul Neary|Paul Neary]] as editor-in-chief and, to try and capitalise on the comic book speculator boom, Neary took a second stab at launching U.S. format books: [https://downthetubes.net/british-comics-reference/marvel-uks-genesis-92-looking-back-and-what-might-have-been/ "Genesis '92"]. The first out the door was {{Marvel|Death's_Head_II_Vol_1|''Death's Head II''}} by {{Marvel|Dan_Abnett|Dan Abnett}} and {{Marvel|Liam_Sharp|Liam Sharp,}} a four-issue mini-series telling the tale of how Death's Head was assimilated into the body of an edgy, musclebound cyborg with a huge gun arm, as was the style in the 90s. He was joined in this shared corner of the Marvel Universe by titles with names like {{Marvel|Motormouth_&_Killpower_Vol_1|''Motormouth & Killpower'',}} {{Marvel|Warheads_Vol_1|''Warheads'',}} {{Marvel|Hell's_Angel_Vol_1|''Hell's Angel'',}} {{Marvel|Digitek_Vol_1|''Digitek'',}} and a revamped {{Marvel|Pendragon_Vol_1|''Knights of Pendragon''}} – and that was just in 1992. Until 1994, Marvel UK would produce its own little pocket universe, with characters crossing over, joining forces, and even participating in their own {{Marvel|Mys-Tech_Wars|"events".}} Death's Head II appeared in at least fifteen of these series, five of which bore his name in the title, and three of which featured spin-off characters made on the same assembly line as his new cyborg body. One of these series was {{Marvel|Incomplete_Death's_Head_Vol_1|''The Incomplete Death's Head'',}} which reprinted most of the original Death's Head's adventures with a new framing sequence starring Death's Head II reliving and learning from an archive of his former self's memories. For legal reasons, strips from ''The Transformers'' were excised, but the ''Doctor Who'' connections weren't – with the whole limited series built around continuity points from Death's Head's dealings with the Doctor, with massive significance given to the seemingly-inconsequential "Party Animals"!
Death's Head II was the poster boy for this whole revamp, which makes the other part of this story quite odd... See, in the UK, several of these new series were serialised in ''[[fandom:britishcomics:Overkill Vol 1|Overkill]]'', an anthology for older readers following in the footsteps of ''Strip'' but more specifically gunning for the ''[[w:2000 AD|2000 AD]]'' audience; given this aim, all that silly superhero nonsense had no place in ''Overkill''. And so comics like ''Motormouth'' and ''Pendragon'' were specifically written so that exactly half of their page counts were given over to pre-existing, mostly U.S.-originated heroes, so that these B-plots could be completely excised for their ''Overkill'' printings; for example, a reader who picked up ''Pendragon'' in the U.S. could enjoy a tale with eleven pages of [[Iron Man]] on the fringes of the eponymous knights' plot, but a UK fan reading ''Overkill'' would be blissfully unaware of Tony Stark's involvement. This blanket superhero ban apparently meant that even Death's Head II was verboten. Within six months, the decision had been reversed – possibly, we speculate, because it meant Marvel UK was leaving half its output on the cutting room floor. Stories were no longer written to have eleven disposable pages; comics lost the "Not for sale in the United Kingdom" note on their covers, and were recommended reading by ''Overkill''{{'}}s editorial; and the full, uncut
To cut a long story short, the adventures of Marvel UK's Death's Head ended when the bottom fell out of the comic book market in the 90s. Marvel UK culled its array of titles, it was bought by [[w:Panini Comics|Panini]], and its creatives found work elsewhere, including Marvel U.S. proper.
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