Marshal Law (comics)

Marshal Law
Publication information
Publisher Epic Comics
Dark Horse Comics
Format Monthly
Genre
Publication date 1987 - present
Creative team
Writer(s) Pat Mills
Artist(s) Kevin O'Neill
Creator(s) Pat Mills
Kevin O'Neill
Collected editions
Fear and Loathing ISBN 0-87135-676-7
Blood Sweat and Tears ISBN 1-878574-95-7
Fear Asylum ISBN 1-84023-699-X

Marshal Law is an English-language superhero comic book series created by Pat Mills and Kevin O'Neill.[1]

Marshal Law was first published by Epic Comics in 1987. The series is a satire on the superhero genre.

The series is characterised by its extreme graphic violence and nudity, and Mills' skewering of superhero conventions and US government policy and society.

Publication history

Epic Comics launched Marshal Law in October 1987 as a six-issue limited series. It was followed by the Marshal Law Takes Manhattan one-shot, in which most of Marvel Comics major characters were parodied.

In 1991, Mills and O'Neill took the character to the fledgling Apocalypse Comics for another one-shot. The character then starred in the lead feature of Toxic!, a weekly comic started in 1991.Toxic! proved to be short-lived and Apocalypse Comics went bankrupt in 1992. Mills and O'Neill then took Marshal Law to Dark Horse Comics, where the story in Toxic! was completed in late 1992. That year also saw the character return to Epic Comics for a two-issue series pitting the Marshal against Clive Barker's Pinhead character.

The next few years saw Marshal Law appear in various Intercompany crossovers with other characters, including the Savage Dragon and the Mask. In 2000, Mills and O'Neill took the character to the Cool Beans World website. The stories here were illustrated novellas, rather than actual comic strips, titled The Day Of The Dead (which was published in a paperback edition) and Cloak Of Evil. The website closed in 2002.

Plot

Cover of issue 4 of the original Epic Comic series.

The title character, Marshal Law, is the government-sanctioned "super hero hunter" (aka law enforcement officer, or “cape killer”) with superpowers in the city of San Futuro, the near-future metropolis built from the ruins of San Francisco following a massive earthquake. Law's job is to take down other superheroes who have gone rogue, which he does with maximum force and great pleasure. Aided by the wheelchair-using “Danny” and his physically imposing (but extremely polite) partner “Kiloton”, the Marshal operates from a secret police precinct hidden below the city, dispensing just enough brutal justice to keep the city’s many super-powered gangs in a balanced détente while safeguarding the ordinary citizenry.

Marshal Law's secret identity is Joe Gilmore, a former supersoldier consumed with self-hatred about being a superhero. In this world, superheroes are commonplace thanks to genetic engineering, much of the United States' armed forces having undergone the process. However, while their bodies may become super-powered, their minds remain exactly as they were, and in many cases the inability to feel pain causes the subjects to compensate by inflicting pain on others. Psychosis of varying degrees is also a common side-effect, and some subjects develop wildly uncontrollable superpowers.

The plot of the original six-issue series revolved around the Marshal’s attempts to unmask the Sleepman,[1] a serial killer[1] and rapist who preys on women dressed as Celeste, the current girlfriend of the beloved superhero, Public Spirit.[1] Marshal Law’s loathing of the Public Spirit as standing for everything that is fraudulent and hypocritical about superheroes leads him to suspect the Spirit himself of being responsible for the Sleepman’s crimes; without any proof, though, the guilty party goes unpunished until a surprising revelation from a former superheroine reveals that the Marshal’s suspicions may not be too far from the truth.

While in the first series, the Marshal's primary nemeses are the Public Spirit and the Sleepman, he later faces off against Private Eye and The Persecutor. A recurring secondary adversary (initially treated seriously, though later becoming comic relief) is Suicida, a psychopathic ex-soldier who leads the murderous Gangreen street gang.

The plot of "Secret Tribunal" revolved around an orbiting incubation center that created and mentally programmed superheroes. It was under attack by a monster called The Incubus, which was defeated by Growing Boy.

Cast

Publications

Comics

Original comic appearances:

Novellas

A couple of illustrated novellas have been released:

Collected editions

The comics have been collected into a number of trade paperbacks:

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 "Best Sellers May 12, 2013". The New York Times. May 12, 2013.

External links

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