Death's Head

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This article is about the Marvel Comics character. For other uses, see Death's Head (disambiguation).
Death's Head

Cover for Death's Head #1. Art by Bryan Hitch & Mark Farmer.
Publication information
Publisher Marvel Comics
First appearance High Noon Tex or Transformers UK #113
Created by Simon Furman
Geoff Senior

Death's Head is a fictional character, a cyborg bounty hunter appearing in the comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character was created by writer Simon Furman and artist Geoff Senior for the company's Marvel UK imprint. Furman decided to use Death's Head in his Transformers stories, but Marvel alleges that before these were published the character also appeared in a one-page strip (High Noon Tex) that ran in other comics to confirm Marvel's ownership of the character (if he appeared in the Transformers comics first, Hasbro could argue ownership of the character.)

The character was later redesigned and relaunched as Death's Head II, acting as one of the flagship characters for Marvel UK's 1990s expansion. This version of Death's Head also inspired two spin-off characters, Death Wreck and Death Metal, each of which starred in its own limited series.

Later, in 2005, fans used a poll on Marvel's website to vote for the character's return. This led to a third version of Death's Head, Death's Head 3.0, created by original Death's Head writer Simon Furman.

Contents

[edit] Publication history

Death's Head was originally created as a "throwaway character" for use in the UK Transformers comic, a bounty hunter who would feature in a single story-arc and then, according to writer Simon Furman, would "be discarded down the line (probably at the end of the first story arc)"[1].

Geoff Senior then showed Furman the initial character designs, at which point they decided that the character had potential beyond his planned appearance as a "generic, stock mech-with-an-attitude". As a result of this, Simon Furman also rewrote the Transformers scripts to change Death's Head's dialogue in line with the revised character concept.[1]

To avoid Hasbro claiming ownership of the character as a consequence of the Transformers copyright terms they had agreed with Marvel, Death's Head had to make his debut in another Marvel comic before appearing in Transformers (this situation had also applied to another Marvel character created for use in Transformers, Circuit Breaker).[1] Accordingly, Furman wrote a single-page strip ("High Noon Tex", illustrated by Bryan Hitch) that was published in a number of Marvel UK titles before Death's Head first appeared in Transformers.

Furman has stated that he chose the name Death's Head for the character while unaware of the "Nazi-connotations of the name".[1]

[edit] Death's Head 3.0

A third version of Death's Head was introduced in 2005, the result of an online poll on the www.marvel.com site[2]. Fans were given the chance to choose between four existing Marvel characters - Death's Head, Woodgod, The Aquarian and Texas Twister. The winning character was to be revamped and would then receive their own storyline in Marvel's Amazing Fantasy title. Death's Head won, receiving 49% of the vote.[2].

Death's Head creator Simon Furman has stated[3] that he contacted Marvel as soon as he became aware of the poll. Amazing Fantasy editor Mark Paniccia had already intended to contact Furman to ask him some questions about the character[2], and their conversation also led to Furman writing the initial Death's Head 3.0 story.

The initial Death's Head 3.0 story also includes a number of elements which tie it into previous Amazing Fantasy stories - Death's Head sentience and power source comes from AIM's attempts to first capture and then replicate the power that created Captain Universe. Issue #16 revealed the scientist that began the project was Monica Rappaccini, mother of the new Scorpion, on the back of her attempts to capture the Uni-Power in other titles. Varina Goddard is revealed via AIM records to be Monica's granddaughter. (The scene appears to label Monica as Carmilla Black at one point, but Varina refers to the project specifically as "grandmother's research" at the end of the issue.)

While the Minion project is mentioned as the reason for Death's Head being given his name, no other ties to the previous Death's Heads were included. However, Simon Furman has stated that if the character returns he will "work in a little retroactive back story to create a kind of unified Death's Head-verse."[3]

Since the conclusion of the Amazing Fantasy storyline, other Death's Head cyborgs have appeared in the Incredible Hulk storyline, Planet Hulk such as #92.

[edit] Fictional character biography

[edit] Death's Head

Death's Head's first appearance after High Noon Tex, was in the Transformers, seeing him attempt to claim the bounty that Rodimus Prime had placed on Galvatron's head, travelling back in time to the 1980s in pursuit of his quarry. Realising the error he had made in placing the bounty, Rodimus followed him back, and stopped him from destroying Galvatron, forcibly returning him to the future. Subsequently, Death's Head was contracted by the Decepticons to take out Rodimus Prime, a piece of business that Death's Head considered a pleasure. However, Rodimus outsmarted him, and instead paid him to terminate Cyclonus and Scourge. Over the course of the next year, Death's Head pursued them, eventually confronting them on the Planet of Junk, where they all fell under the mental control of Unicron.

Death's Head tried to resist the control, but was manipulated into killing Shockwave, only to eventually help Rodimus Prime seal Unicron within the Matrix. Finally, prevented from escaping the scene by the explosions wracking the area, Death's Head forced himself, Cyclonus and Scourge through Unicron's time portal, vowing to kill them "another time". However, in the course of the time travel they became separated, and while Cyclonus and Scourge wound up on Cybertron in the past, eventually joining with Scorponok and becoming Targetmasters, Death's Head instead encountered the Time Lord known as the Doctor. The Doctor shrank him to human size and shot him off through time, leading him into an encounter with the future government's troubleshooting team, the Dragon's Claws.

Subsequently, Death's Head was finally granted a comic book of his own. During this series, Spratt, a young gang member rebuilt Death's Head after he was destroyed by Dragon's Claws, leading to a redesign of Death's Head body, and his becoming the cyborg's unwanted partner. The series was set mainly in Los Angeles in the year 8162 but Death's Head later travelled to the present (where he confronted the Fantastic Four) and then to the year 2020 (where he met the Iron Man of that era). The series was ended abruptly with a cliffhanger at issue 10 due to the closure of Marvel UK's own creative team.

In 1990, the ongoing storyline was resolved in the Marvel UK graphic novel, Death's Head: The Body in Question, which was serialized in the magazine Strip before being reprinted in the Marvel Graphic Novel format. In this story, Death's Head was becoming worried that he was started to enjoy killing and was prolonging missions for fun rather than simply doing it for money. In addition, Death's Head's origins were revealed to him for the first time.

His mechanoid body had originally been constructed to host the life energy of the techno-mage Lupex, a psychotic who hunted beings for sport and stole their bodies upon killing them. However, a woman named Pyra, who wished to steal Lupex's secrets, ultimately decided to use the mechanoid body against him. She gave it a cold and calculating business-like mind, but before it could be used against Lupex, the body was stolen by an unknown party (later revealed to be the Doctor), enlarged to the size of the Cybertronians, and catapulted through time. Death's Head was used as a pawn by Pyra, who wished to get him to a point where he could kill Lupex, while Lupex begun to hunt Death's Head with the intention of gaining his body. Driven to his mental limits and nearly killed, he eventually was able to kill Lupex and, refusing to be anything like his "father", killed him quickly while declaring he "kill[s] only for profit or survival!".

At this time, 6 issues of the original series were also collected in the graphics novel The Life and Times of Death's Head, together with the High Noon Tex strip and some words from writer Simon Furman and concept art for the character's original design. The article makes mention of a new limited series entering production, with a new, gothic, redesign of the character. However, this series was never published.

Around this time, Death's Head's increasing 'cult status' meant that he also made a few appearances in some US Marvel comics, most notably the Fantastic Four (issue 338), She-Hulk (Sensational She-Hulk issue 24) and Marvel Comics Presents (issue 76). In the former, he was hired by the Time Variance Authority as a freelance agent, but by She-Hulk he'd left their employ (stealing a time-machine in the process).

In the final issue of the Incomplete Death's Head, the Doctor claims to have been responsible for sending Death's Head to the Transformers universe. However, being an incredible manipulative person, especially in his seventh incarnation, it could be that this claim is false. There is nothing else within Death's Head's history to substantiate this claim.

[edit] Death's Head II

Eventually, after many undocumented adventures, Death's Head was beheaded and his personality "assimilated" into the mind of the cyborg Minion. Minion was a cyborg created by Dr. Evelyn Necker, an employee of AIM in the year 2020, and designed to protect the organisation from a psychically predicted threat. Death's Head's personality overwhelmed Minion's programming, and they became the gestalt lifeform that called itself Death's Head II. Death's Head II was partnered with Tuck, an artificial human from the pseudo-medieval planet of Lionheart, where humans had outlawed advanced technology and waged war against androids and cyborgs. Neo-Nazi black mage Baron Strucker IV would magically combine himself with the original Death's Head's corpse to become the supervillain Charnel[1], a recurring enemy for Death's Head II and the threat AIM had predicted.

With other assimilated personalities mingling with that of the "freelance peacekeeper", Death's Head changed as a character, becoming a more heroic and far less amoral figure than the original, as well as losing his unique mannerisms. He hopped across time and realities in many adventures, often fighting for the greater good; in one adventure, he volunteered for a heroic sacrifice [4] whereas before he'd have required payment. He encountered many Marvel characters, including the Fantastic Four, X-Men, Spider-Man, the Hulk, and Cable, and crossed over with almost every Marvel UK character who was published at the time. He also made a cameo role in an Excalibur story set in the future.

The original Death's Head was only ever seen again in flashbacks or within Death's Head II's gestalt mind, as well as the twelve issue series The Incomplete Death's Head, in which Death's Head and Death's Head II join forces to defeat a servant of an enemy of the original Death's Head. (It was in the final issue of this series that the Doctor made his claim of being responsible for sending the original Death's Head to the Transformers universe) The original 10 issue series was reprinted, completely this time, in a 12 issue mini series featuring new covers and an additional short story featuring Death's Head II replaying his memories.

Death's Head II's design was created by artist Liam Sharp, and he was primarily scripted by Dan Abnett.

Death's Head II titles included the 4 issue introductory mini series, a 16 issue 'ongoing' run, and Death's Head II Gold, a second mini series that only got as far as issue 1 (although issue 0 features as a flip cover on ongoing issue 15).

Death's Head's exploits ultimately came to end with the (second) demise of Marvel UK's in house creative team, and aside from a cameo in Avengers Forever, he has not been featured in a Marvel comic since. One title he guest-starred in, Loose Cannons, featured Death's Head in a guest-star role but has only been released online.[2] A planned Punisher-Death's Head II series never saw the light of day, and Liam Sharp pitched a revival that Marvel passed on. [3]

[edit] "What If Death's Head I Had Lived?"

During a stint on What If, Furman, alongside Geoff Senior, wrote a tale showing Death's Head surviving Minion's attack in #54; something Furman has said was "deeply satisfying and cathartic". [5] Death's Head rebuilt his injured body into a larger, more heavily-armed form; meanwhile the Minion cyborg went on to kill Reed Richards, only to be possessed by Strucker and became Charnel itself. Evelyn Necker had to hire Death's Head to stop this threat.

Using a time machine, Death's Head went back in time to gather the surviving Fantastic Four and several other superheroes, offering them a shot at avenging Reed by ending Charnel - and then let them all get killed softening up Charnel for him. Using his firepower on Charnel and goading him at not using the full potential of his gestalt mind, he got the cyborg to access these scientific minds - knowing this would allow Reed Richard's mind (still fighting within Charnel) to take control of the cyborg's motor functions, allowing him to kill it. His mission complete, Death's Head thought about the selfless, non-profit nature of heroes: "I just hope it's not catching, yes?"

Cover to Amazing Fantasy (v2) #16, featuring Death's Head 3.0. Art by Lucio Parillo.
Cover to Amazing Fantasy (v2) #16, featuring Death's Head 3.0. Art by Lucio Parillo.

[edit] Death's Head 3.0

The third version of Death's Head was introduced in a five-part storyline within the pages of Marvel's anthology series Amazing Fantasy, beginning in #16 (December 2005). Written by Death's Head creator Simon Furman and drawn by James Raiz, the story is set 100 years in the future and does not appear to be directly linked to the previous Death's Head stories.

Advanced Idea Mechanics are set to make peace with the UN and become a legitimate non-terrorist organisation. Hardliner AIM Senior Scientist Patricia Goddard has decided to stop the peace treaty and force AIM back underground by assassinating the UN Secretary-General, using a mysterious alien cyborg in AIM's possession codenamed Death's Head. Powered and given intelligence by an artificial variant on the Uni-Power, the cyborg is sent out in to the field with preprogrammed objectives, but the clash between its murderous inclinations and an instinctive desire to help people leave it unsure what side it wants to be on.

The final panel of the Death's Head 3.0 story concludes with an image of the cyborg with mouth horns, alluding to the original Death's Head. It is mentioned as now operating as a deniable troubleshooter for the GEIST organisation (Global Enforcement/Intelligence Symposium Taskforce), carrying out operations they can't be officially involved in for political reasons.

This incarnation went on to appear on Sakaar, during the Planet Hulk series. Similar models are used by the Hulk as soldiers during the World War Hulk story and one is used an AIM courier in MODOK's 11 by Monica Rappaccini.

It is implied in Simon Furman's introduction in the second Death's Head collection that this incarnation is actually a precursor to the original Death's Head, and that he would one day like to round the series off in one big 'loop'. "[6].

[edit] Proposed Ultimate Death's Head

In 2006, Liam Sharp pitched a Death's Head mini-series for Marvel's Ultimate line; this was passed on. The details are unknown, though the design for Ultimate Death's Head is available online (see External Links).

[edit] Collections and reprints

  • The Life and Times of Death's Head
  • The Body in Question
  • The Incomplete Death's Head (Reprint)
  • Death's Head Volume 1, collecting High Noon Tex, Doctor Who Magazine #135, Dragon's Claws #5 and Death's Head #1-7 (paperback, ISBN 1-905239-34-3). Published by Panini Publishing, a division of Panini UK Limited.
  • Death's Head Volume 2, collecting Death's Head #8-10, The Body In Question, She-Hulk #24, Fantastic Four #338, Marvel Comics Presents #76, Doctor Who Magazine #173, What If #56 (paperback). Published by Panini Publishing, a division of Panini UK Limited.
  • Death's Head 3.0: Unnatural Selection, collecting Amazing Fantasy #16-20 (paperback, ISBN 0-7851-2108-0)

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b c d Furman, Simon (2006). "Freelance Peacekeeping Agent Open For Business (or how Death's Head came to be)", Death's Head Volume 1, Panini Publishing, ISBN 1-905239-34-3
  2. ^ a b c www.newsarama.com -PANICCIA ON DEATH'S HEAD 3.0 & AMFAN THINGS TO COME
  3. ^ a b www.comixfan.com -SIMON FURMAN: TRANSFORMING DEATH'S HEAD INTO ANNIHILATION
  4. ^ http://www.2000ad.org/markus/loosecannons/book3.php Loose Cannons #3, page 16
  5. ^ Death's Head Vol.2 introduction
  6. ^ Furman, Simon (2007). Death's Head Volume 2, Panini Publishing, ISBN 1905239696

[edit] External links