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A review by dantastic
Deathlok the Demolisher!: The Complete Collection by Mike Zeck, Doug Moench, Rich Buckler, J.M. DeMatteis, Bill Mantlo
3.0
In the war-torn future of 1990, Luther Manning is reborn as the cybernetic killing machine Deathlok!
When I was a kid, around seven or eight, a tattered issue of Astonishing Tales fell into my lap. That was my first exposure to Deathlok. I found this out of print trade paperback at a convention not long ago and snapped it up, reading to go back to the post-apocalyptic future of 1990!
Deathlok is a cyborg super soldier, gunning for the man who created him in a dystopian future, a future of a bombed out New York City full of cannibals. He's also a man at war with himself, with both his decaying cybernetic body and the computer embedded in his skull.
Deathlok was born out of the horror boom of the 1970s and is a forerunner to books like Wolverine and The Punisher that came a few years later. He's an anti-hero, leaving a high body count, but has a sensitive side where it pertains to his former wife and his former humanity.
The issues of Astonishing Tales form one long epic, leading to his confrontation with Ryker, the man who created him. After that, he returns to the present and battles the Thing and teams with Captain America.
The writing is average for the time period and maybe a little wordy on top of that. Rich Buckler's art on the original chapters is iconic, though I wonder if it's full of swipes like Buckler's later work. The remains of New York are a little clean for my tastes but I dug the rest. Mike Zeck's art on the three Captain America issues is spectacular.
Deathlok the Demolisher: The Complete Collection feels a little dated but it helped pave the way for Wolverine and the Punisher a few years later. 3 out of 5 stars.
When I was a kid, around seven or eight, a tattered issue of Astonishing Tales fell into my lap. That was my first exposure to Deathlok. I found this out of print trade paperback at a convention not long ago and snapped it up, reading to go back to the post-apocalyptic future of 1990!
Deathlok is a cyborg super soldier, gunning for the man who created him in a dystopian future, a future of a bombed out New York City full of cannibals. He's also a man at war with himself, with both his decaying cybernetic body and the computer embedded in his skull.
Deathlok was born out of the horror boom of the 1970s and is a forerunner to books like Wolverine and The Punisher that came a few years later. He's an anti-hero, leaving a high body count, but has a sensitive side where it pertains to his former wife and his former humanity.
The issues of Astonishing Tales form one long epic, leading to his confrontation with Ryker, the man who created him. After that, he returns to the present and battles the Thing and teams with Captain America.
The writing is average for the time period and maybe a little wordy on top of that. Rich Buckler's art on the original chapters is iconic, though I wonder if it's full of swipes like Buckler's later work. The remains of New York are a little clean for my tastes but I dug the rest. Mike Zeck's art on the three Captain America issues is spectacular.
Deathlok the Demolisher: The Complete Collection feels a little dated but it helped pave the way for Wolverine and the Punisher a few years later. 3 out of 5 stars.