This is the begining of a series of posts where I recommend some underrated, & unknown comic books.
I'd like to go with one of my childhood favorites for my first post. (I plan to post some manga as well such as MBQ, Worst, etc.)
Death's Head II
Try to imagine the Terminator, with the ability to absorb powers, a durability, & healing factor on par with the Wolverine, the sheer size, & hunting prowess of the Predators & a sad case of multiple personality disorder. The main personality being the original Death's Head who had a wild British sense of humour.
Add in a sexy side kick named Tuck, bucket loads of gore, & T&A galore.
What you're left with is a comic that bears some resemblance to the adventures of Conan.
The story is about an advanced cyborg called Minion.He was created by Doctor Necker.
Minion was in the process of assimilating instincts, & traits from the world's top personalities. He kills his targets & enhances his own abilities when he assimilates the victim's prime individual characteristics into his own consciousness.
However the Minion project went haywire when he decided to assimilate the robotic bounty hunter Death's Head.
Death's Head's persona was so dominant that the Minion project begun to act erratically. This was due to a psychological battle that was being fought inside Minion's head.
Death's Head & Minion were fighting over as to whom would become the dominant persona.
Death's Head's personality usurped Minion's programming with the help of Reed Richards from the Fantastic Four.
This then gave birth to Death's Head II. Minion's body, and the original Deaths Head's personality.
Enough about that. While DH II's background story kicks ass. The plot of the comic itself isn't that great, nor memorable. What I love about this series is the witty dialogue , & the badass art.
You would never guess that this guy has a keen sense of humour just from looking at him.
DH II is one of the most overpowered characters in the marvel universe. (He's the original Death's Head, Wolverine, Megaman, the Terminator, & the Predator all rolled into one.)
It's makes me wonder why they don't bother to use him much.
Yes I'm aware of DH III. However it needs to be said, Death's Head 3.0 sucks.!
He looks cool, but that's about it. He's just some badass robot. BORING!
The problem here is that DH 3.0 was created by the original creator of Death's Head.
I'm a hardcore fan of DH II, because of his personality, & Liam Sharp. (The main artist of the DH II series.)
This man tells it like it is about what made DH II so fucking awesome.
| Quote: |
| Brahma: Feb 25, 2009, 6:48:01 AM Death's Head II has always by far been my favourite character in the whole Marvel universe. It's such a crying shame we don't see him anymore. DH2 had more personality than 90% of Marvel characters put together. What I liked the most about the character was that DH2 was in a strange way one of the most believable character in the MU. Disregarding the fact that he was a hitech-cyborg, that thing that made the character believable was that DH2 was not clearly a hero or a willain, but made his moral choices on case-to-case basis. |
DH II didn't really have any villains either. The closest DH II had to an arch enemy were Dr. Necker, & Wolverine. DH II's relationship with Wolverine is just some kind of friendly competitive rivalry.
Dr. Necker is some kind of love & hate relationship.
Sometimes she's an ally, most of the time she's an enemy.
You could never really tell with her.
(This is why I think it's a travesty that Dr. Necker came back in Ultimate Marvel just to get pimp slapped around by costumed superhero freaks. The real Dr. Necker would've made mince meat out of them just for disrespecting her.)
Then again DH II's is the same way. Sometimes he's a hero. Other times he acts like a villain.
I'd also like to add that DH II had an amazing cast of supporting characters.
Mainly Tuck, & Dr. Evelyn Necker.
The banter between the three is hilarious.
These are the key traits that are missing from the original DH, & DH 3.0.
They don't have the "character" that DH II had.
Another thing that makes DH II untouchable is that he's basically a cyborg Conan.
Over the top gore, gratuitous Tits & Ass, hilariously abundant dark humour. DH II had everything that Conan had, but in a futuristic medieval setting.
Liam's art style had a cyberpunkish fantasy medieval tone to it that is noticeably absent from the other Deaths Head's.
This cover is by Simon Bisley, but they have a similar art style. The main difference is that Liam draws prettier woman. Both artists seem to be heavily influenced by Frank Frazetta.
While the original run of DH II had quite an abundant amount of T&A.
At least DH II was consistent. Both men & women have their clothes ripped off in this series. It's almost an unwritten rule in most comics that only the women get their clothes ripped or burned off.
I think DH II's biggest downfall is that he's a marvel character. (DH II would probably still be around today had he been an independently owned character from Image, or Darkhorse.)
Marvel superheroes suck.
This blog sums it up best.
http://itcamefromdarkmoor.blogspot.com/2008/08/icfd-cover-of-week-17th-aug-2008.html
| Quote: |
It's a collaborative effort between the immense talents of Mr Liam Sharp and Mr Simon Bisley. Now THAT'S a pairing! And it's exactly the kind of reason that I started doing this feature. Overkill had so many great covers and possessed a tone which we certainly felt here in the UK, but I'm not sure translated entirely to American readers. It was grittier over here. Dirtier. But in the most enjoyable sense. I find myself missing Death's Head and Tuck more and more by the year. I find it hard to believe that Marvel would opt for the reinvented Death's Head 3.0 in favour of this guy. He had so much more to offer. And offer it he would, for the right price... |
Marvel UK comics generally had a darker, more mature tone.
Typically most comics only get the gore & T&A right, but leave the sophistication & complexity at the door.
I loved DH II, because they felt like they came straight out of the Heavy Metal (The Euro erotic comics.) universe.
DH II was one of the few Marvel superheroes to have a personality that was actually "human".
Heads will fly, and panties will drop. This is the cybernetic Conan. Otherwise known as
DEATH'S HEAD II.
DH II Scans
The X-Men arc.
MISC
___________
This panel sums up my thoughts about DH II.
How much longer do I need to wait for a Death's Head revival? DHII ended prematurely way back, because Marvel UK went belly up.
DH II's comicvine page
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