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A review by mschlat
Deathlok the Demolisher!: The Complete Collection by Mike Zeck, Doug Moench, Rich Buckler, J.M. DeMatteis, Bill Mantlo
3.0
Bear with me --- I am going to trash this book, then praise it, then trash it again. Some background: the first half of this collection consists of the original Deathlok stories published in Marvel's Astonishing Tales during the mid 70's. Deathlok is actually the dead body of Luther Manning, resurrected from cryonic storage and melded with machine parts to become a cyborg. He quickly rebels against his maker (Ryker, the main villain of the piece) and seeks his destiny in a dystopian New York City of the mid 80's. The artist, plotter, and sometimes writer of these stories is Rich Buckler --- the creator of the character. The remaining stories in the collection transport Deathlok into the Marvel Universe with a variety of team ups, most of them fairly inconsequential with different writers and artists.
Make no mistake, there are some bad comics in the first half. The coloring is often garish and made worse when printed on nice white paper instead of newsprint. The storyline requires lettering that looks like computer print (more on why later), and many letterers of the time fail horribly at making consistent computer letters. We have a character referred to as Janice and Janis on the same page. And our villain... basically, the only reason he isn't sporting a handlebar mustache and a stovepipe top hat is because it wouldn't be genre appropriate. There's a scene early on where Ryker's mistress/girlfriend Nina discovers that he too is a cyborg. As a result, he renders her unconscious and hooks her up to a military cybernetic tank. Note that Nina (as far as we know) has no experience with tanks --- Ryker apparently just needs some brain to drive the tank around. So once an issue or so, we see Nina, her head connected to a computer, driving a tank.
So why get excited about the book? First of all, this is a surprisingly anti-hero book from Marvel. Deathlok kills others (and tries to kill himself) and generally gains sympathy only because of his horrible condition. There are no connections to the regular Marvel universe in the Astonishing Tales stories, and the result is something that feels and looks independent, like an early title from First or Dark Horse. Indeed, the question of whether Luther Manning is even still alive (or just a simulation) foreshadows the similar work in the Alan Moore Swamp Thing series.
Second, there's a lot of inventiveness in the title, especially in the early issues. Deathlok has at least three voices in his head: Luther Manning, the computer that was added to his body (shown in computer lettering), and --- in the early issues --- a macabre stream of consciousness voice that is some amalgam of the first two. (Sadly, by the third issue, that voice is silenced and explained away as a bug.) You therefore get a lot of back and forth dialogue within our hero. In addition, when the art is not rushed, Buckler will pull out the stops graphically. A hallmark is the use of panels that look like frames from a motion picture: second by second records of the action. But you also get crazy perspectives (especially shots from above) and intense closeups. In short, there's a lot of creative potential in the work and a fair amount of gonzo writing. The work appears to be let down by the plotting and (I'm guessing here) the need to meet a monthly deadline.
When you reach the second half of the book (where Deathlok enters the Marvel universe), the quality goes down considerably. Most of the writers treat Deathlok as a computer controlled pawn or an angst-driven character in the mighty Marvel tradition. And everyone stops to comment moralistically on the fact that Deathlok kills. (This is a few years before killing heroes such as Wolverine or Punisher would find a niche.) The last storyline (a teamup with Captain America done by J. M. DeMatteis and Mike Zeck) has promise, especially as it returns to the Deathlok "universe" to tie up loose ends. But even here, the Marvel house style takes over --- the storyline is meant to redeem Deathlok and convert him from anti-hero to hero, and the result is painful.
To be honest, my love for the work is probably based from me reading it as a kid during the 70's. Even so, Buckler's inventive streak and his willingness to do something quite different speak out. A current comics reader probably won't get much out of this, but if you want to see some of the seeds of anti-hero independent comics, this is a great read.
Make no mistake, there are some bad comics in the first half. The coloring is often garish and made worse when printed on nice white paper instead of newsprint. The storyline requires lettering that looks like computer print (more on why later), and many letterers of the time fail horribly at making consistent computer letters. We have a character referred to as Janice and Janis on the same page. And our villain... basically, the only reason he isn't sporting a handlebar mustache and a stovepipe top hat is because it wouldn't be genre appropriate. There's a scene early on where Ryker's mistress/girlfriend Nina discovers that he too is a cyborg. As a result, he renders her unconscious and hooks her up to a military cybernetic tank. Note that Nina (as far as we know) has no experience with tanks --- Ryker apparently just needs some brain to drive the tank around. So once an issue or so, we see Nina, her head connected to a computer, driving a tank.
So why get excited about the book? First of all, this is a surprisingly anti-hero book from Marvel. Deathlok kills others (and tries to kill himself) and generally gains sympathy only because of his horrible condition. There are no connections to the regular Marvel universe in the Astonishing Tales stories, and the result is something that feels and looks independent, like an early title from First or Dark Horse. Indeed, the question of whether Luther Manning is even still alive (or just a simulation) foreshadows the similar work in the Alan Moore Swamp Thing series.
Second, there's a lot of inventiveness in the title, especially in the early issues. Deathlok has at least three voices in his head: Luther Manning, the computer that was added to his body (shown in computer lettering), and --- in the early issues --- a macabre stream of consciousness voice that is some amalgam of the first two. (Sadly, by the third issue, that voice is silenced and explained away as a bug.) You therefore get a lot of back and forth dialogue within our hero. In addition, when the art is not rushed, Buckler will pull out the stops graphically. A hallmark is the use of panels that look like frames from a motion picture: second by second records of the action. But you also get crazy perspectives (especially shots from above) and intense closeups. In short, there's a lot of creative potential in the work and a fair amount of gonzo writing. The work appears to be let down by the plotting and (I'm guessing here) the need to meet a monthly deadline.
When you reach the second half of the book (where Deathlok enters the Marvel universe), the quality goes down considerably. Most of the writers treat Deathlok as a computer controlled pawn or an angst-driven character in the mighty Marvel tradition. And everyone stops to comment moralistically on the fact that Deathlok kills. (This is a few years before killing heroes such as Wolverine or Punisher would find a niche.) The last storyline (a teamup with Captain America done by J. M. DeMatteis and Mike Zeck) has promise, especially as it returns to the Deathlok "universe" to tie up loose ends. But even here, the Marvel house style takes over --- the storyline is meant to redeem Deathlok and convert him from anti-hero to hero, and the result is painful.
To be honest, my love for the work is probably based from me reading it as a kid during the 70's. Even so, Buckler's inventive streak and his willingness to do something quite different speak out. A current comics reader probably won't get much out of this, but if you want to see some of the seeds of anti-hero independent comics, this is a great read.