The last time we checked in with Marvel Comics’ cyborg antihero, Deathlok the Demolisher, it was September, 2024. (Or, if you prefer, September, 1974). That’s been a good long while in comics periodical publishing terms, even taking into account the bi-monthly publication schedule of Astonishing Tales back then; so you might figure we have a lot of catching up to do before digging in to the character’s “latest” adventure. But, as it turns out, the eight-month gap between issues #27 and #31 of the Astonishing Tales brought just two new Deathlok stories rather than three, as issue #29 was a fill-in featuring an unplanned reprint of the first Guardians of the Galaxy story, which (as we discussed in last week’s Defenders #26 post) had originally appeared in Marvel Super-Heroes #18 back in 1968.
Even so, that’s still two whole stories we need to take a look at before moving on to the one whose cover appears up above, so let’s get to it. We begin with Astonishing Tales #28 (Feb., 1975), which leads off with a cover pencilled and inked by Deathlok’s primary creator, Rich Buckler. Buckler pencilled, inked, and wrote the issue’s story as well (the actual opening page credit reads, “concept, script, and artwork”), making this installment the closest thing the feature had yet seen to a one-man production. There was one new name in the credits worth noting, however — that of editor Len Wein, who’d succeeded Roy Thomas as the editor-in-chief of Marvel’ color comics line since the release of issue #27. Although, by Rich Buckler’s own account, Wein’s credit was only for show — or, at least, it was supposed to be.
As the late artist-writer explained in his 2009 introduction to Marvel Masterworks — Deathlok, Vol. 1:
I actually had a written contract with Marvel for this character. In that contract it was specified that I was the creator and editor of my own book, which gave me unheard of creative freedom (which was, for me, almost “too good to be true” — and I also knew, of course, that it would not last forever).
This was a highly unusual deal for any artist to get from a mainstream American comics company in the mid-1970s — perhaps even unique.* Per additional comments made by Buckler in an interview published in Alter Ego #141 (Aug., 2016), his contract stipulated that while he would be able to edit the “Deathlok” series, he “would be uncredited and… it would be for no extra pay.” In practice, that appears to have meant that while Buckler would have final say in most creative matters through the duration of the feature’s existence, he’d nevertheless be subject to unsolicited “input” from Marvel’s editorial and production staff — one particular instance of which we’ll be covering a little further on.
For now, however, let’s proceed with our narrative. “Five to One, Deathlok… …One in Five…” (a title inspired by a 1968 Doors song, by the way) opens exactly where the previous issue’s “Dead Reckoning!” left off (in fact, it slightly overlaps with it). As you may recall, having escaped the trap set for him at the Statue of Liberty by his nemesis, Major Simon Ryker — and mistakenly believing that his old friend and former fellow soldier Mike Travers was now dead — Deathlok had flown a helicopter to the New Jersey home he’d shared with his wife, Janice, back when he was still an ordinary human being named Luther Manning. But while he was successful in finding her there, along with their young son (whom he’d never met before this), Janice was understandably horrified by his monstrous appearance; and either didn’t hear his claim to be her supposedly-dead husband, or simply didn’t believe him. Deathlok departed in despair, determined to take his own life — only to be stymied by his laser-pistol’s failure to fire. As his interior computer voice dispassionately explained, “Function of laser has been terminated because action is contrary to programming.”
We rejoin our protagonist as he walks away from his former home, taking time along the way not only to destroy both the offending laser-pistol and what appears to be a surveillance camera, but to make a dramatic wardrobe adjustment, as well…
Leaving behind the relatively normal-seeming area where Janice and their son live (a line in issue #27 had identified it as being near the Fort Dix military base), Deathlok flies back to Manhattan. After liberating some replacement weaponry “from the armory in the park” (by which I assume is meant the Central Park Arsenal), he goes wandering through the streets of an urban landscape that can fairly be called post-apocalyptic… although neither he nor we readers have yet been given any real explanation of what’s happened to New York City in the five years between Luther Manning’s “death” and his return to awareness in the body of Deathlok, other than a few vague references to a “war”…
The “computer ‘bug’” Major Ryker is referring to in the next-to-last panel above was the source of the third, seemingly psychotic, voice in Deathlok’s head that went silent towards the end of the previous issue; his statement that he’d been using it to “record the ecstatic synaptic sensations” of Deathlok’s violence at least offers us some explanation as to what that particular business was all about. Even without that bug, however, Ryker’s “Omni-Computer” continues to provide him with continual monitoring of the cyborg’s movements…
The Omni-Computer’s “Terminal-Eye” may call this place the “42nd Street Library/Museum” — but the retired librarian writing this post feels professionally obligated to point out that the facility is more accurately referred to as either the Main Branch of the New York Public Library, or the Stephen A. Schwarzman Building. You’re welcome.
Also of note is the graffiti scrawled on the library’s walls by someone belonging to what Deathlok calls the “revolution” (which we’re learning about here for the very first time, incidentally) — especially the declaration, “No one here gets out alive!”, which, like the story’s title, comes straight from the Doors’ “Five to One”.
Despite his violent destruction of this evidently intact library copy of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein (for shame!), Deathlok’s encounter with the tome soon gets him to thinking…
As depicted in the first Deathlok story back in Astonishing Tales #25, those two surgeons had been “eliminated” by none other than our protagonist himself, while acting as a paid assassin for the “illegal racketeer” named above, Julian Biggs. Ah, what bitter irony. But knowing that there’s a third surgeon out there who might be able to help restore him to something like actual, living humanity — even if he has no idea how to find him — at least gives Deathlok a purpose.
Of course, it’s right about now that Deathlok gets ambushed by six cannibals. He’s confident enough in his ability to take them out that he opts to not even employ any of his weaponry, but rather to meet them one-on-one, hand-to-hand:
Now, if you’re seeing those two multi-panel sequences reproduced above for the very first time — or if you’ve only encountered them in digital editions (and maybe in hard-copy reprints, too; I haven’t been able to check any examples of those), you might well assume that they originally appeared as two double-page spreads, taking up a total of four story pages in all. And that’s a reasonable assumption; but, in fact, they were originally printed as two pages, turned sideways — as shown below:
(Apologies for the crummy quality of the photo, but you should at least get the basic idea, I hope.)
Apparently, Rich Buckler took grief from one or more individuals in the Marvel offices over this particular creative choice. As he later shared in an interview published in Back Issue #25 (Nov., 2007):
…one issue, I brought in the artwork and I was in [Marvel art director] John Romita’s office and somebody pointed out, “You can’t do that!” And it was a page that I drew sideways and I said, “But of course I can, I just did.” “But you can’t do that, that’s not done, nobody’s done that, it’s just not done. Well, we’re going to have to re-paste this up.” And I said, “Excuse me, go talk to [Marvel v.p. of operations] Sol Brodsky and ask him to look at my contract.” And there was no problem. Sideways page! I was shaking up the world back then. [laughs]
I’m going to go out on a limb here and declare my 100% certainty that no one out there reading this post had (or would have had) any more trouble than did my seventeen-year-old self, back in November, 1974, in figuring out what I needed to do to be able to easily read those two pages. (If I’m wrong, however, and you do need help working it out, feel free to send me a private message via the “About this blog” page comment form, and I’ll get back to you shortly.)
Anyway, returning to our story… Following Deathlok’s failed attempt to blow up the tank with a grenade, the tank comes to a stop; uniformed soldiers then emerge firing laser-rifles, leading the cyborg to make a hasty retreat. At this point, the story shifts back to Ryker’s base of operations to show us the current status of Mike Travers — Luther Manning’s old pal whom Deathlok believes is dead, but is actually being held prisoner by Ryker…
Meanwhile, back on the mean streets, the fleeing Deathlok is accosted by a young man with a rifle. The man orders the cyborg to stop and stand still, but Deathlok senses he’s bluffing…
As Ryker continues to gloat to his “dear” girlfriend Nina (who’s been hooked up to machinery ever since she walked in on him while the back of his head was open, revealing the cybernetic circuitry within, back at the end of AT #25), Deathlok decides to take his computer-brain’s advice and head back to his helicopter…
And so Astonishing Tales #28 ends on a cliffhanger. But, as we’ve already noted, when AT #29 showed up two months later, it contained an unrelated reprint. We readers of the time would ultimately have to wait a full four months to see how Deathlok and his companion, tapped between a tank and a brick wall, were going to get out of this jam… assuming they both would.
And even when Astonishing Tales #30 did arrive in March, 1975, the series still seemed to be struggling with deadline issues. Behind another cover both pencilled and inked by Rich Buckler, the opening page’s credits box gave notice that the young auteur — whom you’ll recall had written and drawn the last installment all on his lonesome — had needed a considerable amount of help to get the 18 pages of “The Soft Parade… …of Slow, Sliding Death” ready for the printer in time. After scripting the first few pages, Buckler had surrendered the typewriter to a returning Doug Moench (the feature’s original writer, and arguably its co-creator, if only in a secondary capacity); meanwhile, on the artistic end, Buckler had been fully responsible for only some of the finished pencil art, his rough layouts having been completed in other places by two of his artist friends from Detroit, Keith Pollard and Arvell Jones. Finally, the finished pencils had been inked by Al McWilliams, a comics industry veteran with professional credits extending back to the 1930s, but also an old-school artist whose more traditional rendering style gave this installment of the feature a noticeably different look from that of previous episodes.
Deathlok and friend hit the ground hard; but though the cyborg’s computer-brain tells him that the young rebel has multiple puncture wounds from shrapnel, he’s nevertheless alive. That said, he’s also dazed from the blast and unable to move on his own; and so, as the laser-rifle-armed men who left the tank earlier arrive on the scene and prepare to fire, Deathlok hoists his ally over his shoulder, and…
Deathlok has no time to ponder the senselessness of it all, with the laser-riflemen (or, as they call themselves, “Ryker’s Trouble-Shooters”) as well as the tank still in pursuit. The chase continues over the next several pages, with our protagonist managing to stay just ahead of his adversaries, until he arrives at an abandoned wooden shack which — wouldn’t you know it — happens to be filled with old-fashioned guns ‘n’ ammo. Deathlok manages to pick off two of his pursuers from that temporary shelter, then continues his flight…
The computer confirms Deathlok’s suspicion that the facility he’s approaching was involved in cyborg-related surgeries, but can’t answer his question about how many other cyborgs might be running around. At this point, Deathlok realizes that he’s in a junkyard, and gets an idea about how he can put some of the surrounding detritus together to make a kind of crossbow.
Meanwhile, back at Ryker’s base…
Ah, yes, computer punch-cards. Remember how ubiquitous those were in the 1990s? No? Oh, well, I guess the future isn’t what it used to be.
Despite Terminal-Eye’s repeated warnings, Ryker has no clue that Mike is escaping, as he’s presently too busy preparing for his own impending surgery to pay any attention to his prisoner…
Meanwhile, the remaining Trouble-Shooters have arrived at the cryogenics building. Seeing no immediate sign of Deathlok, they cautiously proceed through the open door…
Deathlok looks almost handsome in a couple of these close-ups, doesn’t he? It’s like Al McWilliams just couldn’t help himself…
And so this episode reaches its end, with Deathlok triumphant at last over the automated tank and its handful of human cohorts — a victory that leaves him pretty much in the same place he was at the end of issue #27, six months ago. Sure, he’s found out about a surgeon that might be able to “cure” him someday, somehow; and maybe something will come from his discovery that there’s an organized, armed resistance to Ryker’s rule. Plus, Mike Travers is now free, and Simon Ryker is about to become the “Saviour Machine” (whatever that is). So it’s not like there hasn’t been any plot progression at all. Nevertheless, it’s hard not to feel that most of the central action of the last two issues, as entertainingly choreographed as it’s been, hasn’t amounted to much more than a lot of noisy, flashy wheel-spinning.
At any rate, we move forward now another two months, to May, 1975, and the publication of Astonishing Tales #31. Before we get into the story, however, I encourage you to scroll back up and take another look at the book’s cover — which, in addition to being a very striking, practically poster-ready image, bears the distinction of being the only Deathlok cover done for Astonishing Tales that wasn’t even partly the work of Rich Buckler; rather, it was pencilled by Ed Hannigan and inked by Bernie Wrightson.
As Buckler recalled decades later for an interview published in Comic Book Creator #18 Fall, 2018)
…a cover for “Deathlok” got assigned to another artist without anybody consulting me first. That happened when I was living back in Detroit for awhile. I was really steamed about that one! But I had found out about it too late.
Buckler’s sojourn back home in Detroit seems to have been relatively brief; still, it seems to have resulted in several incidents of friction with the Marvel office in New York, based on the creator’s comments made in this and other interviews. While I haven’t found it mentioned specifically in regards to Astonishing Tales having to go reprint for one issue, it seems reasonable to at least speculate that it may have been a factor.
Moving on now to this issue’s interiors, we find Buckler still being assisted by Doug Moench (on the writing end) and Keith Pollard (on the pencilling side). Coming on board as inker is Klaus Janson, who’d previously provided finishes for Buckler’s pencilled art on the iconic cover of Astonishing Tales #25, as well as contributing to the inking of that issue’s story; to my eye, it’s a much better fit than the work of Al McWilliams in #30, with Janson’s illustrative textures and liberal use of blacks being well suited to the feature’s grim and gritty mood.
The story’s next page shows a dispirited Deathlok walking away from the destroyed tank, then gives us a reprise of Mike Travers’ discovery of the body of the unfortunate Linc Shane. And then, as we turn to page 3…
Yes, it is quite a nice stroke of luck that this helicopter is landing on a rooftop right where our protagonist happens to be walking by, isn’t it? But for a really credulity-straining coincidence, just wait for what immediately follows…
Unfortunately, when Deathlok attempts to shoot “Mr. Briefcase”, his laser-rife fails to discharge, forcing him to scurry for cover; upon asking his computer-brain what’s wrong with the weapon, he’s informed that its power source is completely depleted, rendering it useless.
Deathlok picks up the now-unconscious gunman and pitches him directly into one of his two confederates, sending them both tumbling off the rooftop to the street below…
And right there — after only ten pages — this chapter of Deathlok’s saga reaches its close. Yes, that’s right — just two issues after presenting an issue of Astonishing Tales completely devoted to an unplanned, unrelated reprint story, Marvel had given us one that was only half devoted to an unplanned, unrelated reprint story. Which I suppose might be counted an improvement of sorts, but not much of one; in any event, it seems reasonable to speculate that Rich Buckler’s temporary relocation from New York to Detroit was still creating issues for the creator/de facto editor in terms of his ability to produce 18 pages’ worth of Deathlok comics on a regular, bi-monthly schedule.**
On the other hand — what we did get of Deathlok in Astonishing Tales #31 was pretty promising. After a pretty shaky issue #30, the strip seemed to be back on the right course in regards to the artwork, while, storywise, our protagonist finally seemed to be making meaningful progress in his quest to become fully human again. If Buckler and his collaborators could keep the momentum going — and stay on schedule — this feature still had the potential for greatness. But how successful they’d be in those efforts will, naturally, have to be the topic of another post, on another day.
So what filled out the remainder of Astonishing Tales #31’s pages, you ask? A ten-page “Tale of the Watcher” by Stan Lee, Gene Colan, and Paul Reinman that had originally run as a backup in Silver Surfer #3 (Dec., 1968):
It’s a tale of a man who discovers a crashed spaceship in the woods; while he finds no one aboard, there’s a ship’s log which lets him know that the inhabitant was an alien shapeshifter sent to spy on Earth. Deducing that the spy survived the crash and is now walking among us disguised as an ordinary human being, the man tries to tell his story to the authorities. No one takes him seriously, however, until he shows the log to a scientist at the federal “space agency”, who responds by pulling a gun on him. Horrified, the man concludes that the scientist himself must be the disguised alien spy — but that’s not the case at all. You see, the log book is written in a non-human language that no one could possibly read… no one from Earth, that is…
It’s not a bad story, by any means. But in addition to being a reprint, the version of “Why Won’t They Believe Me?” presented here is itself a rehash of a five-page Stan Lee-Steve Ditko yarn of the same name that had first appeared seven years earlier, in Amazing Adult Fantasy #7 (Dec., 1961). So, there may well have been at least a few truly long-tern Marvelites who felt that they were being doubly taken advantage of here.***
Fortunately, there would never be another occasion where an issue of Astonishing Tales would be forced to include a reprint; unfortunately, there’d only be another five issues of the title published at all, so there wouldn’t be all that many more chances to run into deadline problems anyway. But that, too, is a topic best left for another post, further down the line.
*The nearest analogue I can think of during this era is the deal that Jack Kirby had at DC Comics (and later at Marvel) which contracted him to draw, write, and edit a particular number of pages per month, but wasn’t tied to any specific title.
**Interestingly, during this same period, Buckler seems to have been able not only to meet most of his monthly deadlines as the penciller of Fantastic Four, but also to pencil a few one-off stories for DC Comics. In fact, he even found the time to create a whole new feature for Marvel and DC’s upstart competitor, Atlas/Seaboard… a feature about which we’ll have more to say in a future post, coming your way in just a couple of weeks.
***Any such fans who hung around another twenty-five years would have yet another occasion to experience deja vu, when Roger Stern and John Byrne “adapted” this story for Marvel: The Lost Generation #11 (Apr., 2000), with a take that subbed in a Skrull for the original “generic” alien and Reed Richards for the space agency scientist.
I was scrolling down the page and thinking that the inking wasn’t grabbing me, and then the Klaus Janson-inked splash page rolled into view – Wow! His style just suits the Deathlok character so well.
I always think of him as the man that saved Daredevil…twice! He just had a real knack for lifting up the artists he worked with, on DD he did it with Bob Brown and then again with Miller…Klaus is the real hero of the DD run after Gene departs
That side note about Buckler’s output – FF & Astonishing tales & DC & some Atlas…feeds into a question I’ve had about him – he had apprentices – we know of George Perez and Vince Marchesano and he used them as ghost artists – but how many did he have and were the publishers aware, was it like a Crusty Bunkers kind of deal or was it all under the radar?
I hunted down this whole run, cleaned and pressed them all…then sat down and did a straight read through….and it’s OK, nothing that great! (hey, I did the same thing with Jungle Action: Black panther too!)
Thanks for the read Alan…and retired librarian…hmm, another piece of the puzzle falls into place!
What I can’t get over, is how much Ryker got away with as a Major; I guess the real world analogue would be LtCol Oliver North, USMC who had an uncommon influence on US foreign policy (covertly), while working in a fairly minor position at the National Security Council (“NSC”) during the Reagan years
The punch cards are an interesting detail. It seems like the war (and wherever the catastrophe was) changed the pattern of technological development. Looking at it in retrospect, it makes sense.
The Microcomputer revolution does not happen because the economic privation strangles Apple in its crib, but Soldiers are waling around with man-portable **laser weapons**, as opposed to laser range finders (A/N GVS-5s for example) and target designators (LTDs) which have been with the Army and USMC since the 1980s.
The kinds of weapons floating around also are interesting choices. M-1 Thompson Submachine guns (“SMGs”) were phased out towards the end of WWII, because they were expensive to produce, in favor of the smaller, cheaper and not remarkably less effective M-3 “Grease Gun: SMG,
Even now, 89 years after they were adopted, there are still M-1 Garand Rifles enough in storage that the US Government still makes them available as surplus to shooting clubs and civilian marksmanship activities.
So, the M-1s would make sense in this World’s 1990s, but the Thompsons would probably be M-3 “Grease Guns” or maybe AKs or maybe M-50 Madsens or Carl Gustaf M/45 (depending on who the war was with and if the USSR or the PRC was supporting insurgencies in the US and how much they wanted to hide that support),
The tank is really odd, as it mostly looks like an M-26 Pershing but is not drawn consistently (for shame, Russ Heath lived in Detroit for a while). The idea of an automated tank (or one with improved grew protection) has been coming up a lot as a result of the War in Ukraine and the Russian T-14 Armata tank. which is intended to have a smaller crew with a more protected position (almost like gunners on B-29s sitting in a protected compartment wielding their gun turrets by remote control).
I’ve read that the Fleischer/Buckler/Wrightson Batman story published around this time had minimal involvement from Buckler (although it was a nice job,)
People make light of the late Mr. Bucker since he was often derivative, However, some of the people he brought into the industry (notably George Perez and Keith Pollard had a big impact on comics for a long time.
Finally, you have to wonder why Buckler was given a deal like that for Deathlock? Did his work, say his Fantastic Four work, increase sales that much? Had the Black Panther strip in Jungle Action been a major sales surprise?
Marvel gave him that deal and put him on the FF and Thor. He had to be doing something right. Yet they did not make him exclusive to Marvel? ((He was credited on those DC and Atlas jobs.)
Hi John , that Bat man issue you reference was drawn by Vince Marchesano (lives in Toronto) he tells a great story about being at a con and Bernie waving and yelling out that he inked his work…i.e. Vince did not know what had become of his pencils and then finds out he’s being inked by Bernie!!!
I liked that issue. I thought it was Buckler at the time and I hoped he, Fleisher and Wrightson would do more Batman work.
Buckler & Klaus Jansen did a Hawkman backup in Detective and the first part of an Atom backup in Action around this time with no publicity or further information. (There was also no expiation why they only did the first part of the Atom story.)
Buckler did not appear to become exclusive to DC in the Fall and Winter of 1976.
Wrightson also did the first two covers for DC’s short-lived Kong the Untamed.
Relatedly, Buckler was also late to the Atlas Party, with his work there only appearing in the late winter/early spring of 1975, when the company was gone by early summer of that year,
Since he was drawing Thor and the FF in ’74-’75 and had all the creative control he appeared to have with Deathlock, his books had to be selling. Still, I don’t recall an issue being made over his not being exclusive to Marvel in 1975 or his basically leaving by late 1976.
My “MBA-sense” is tingling . . . .
You have a good point about Ryker. I’ve read complaints before that other people don’t get that the military isn’t big on private fiefdoms like this.
See, e.g., North, Oliver, LtCol (ret,), USMC; Marcinko, Richard, CMDR, USN (Ret.); and Hackworth, David. COL (R), IN ?
Some of the best officers you will ever work for go somewhat in that direction. If they go too far in that direction, they become officers you formerly served with . . . .
I’m reminded that critics mocked Robert Ludlum’s second novel (Osterman Weekend) for showing the CIA operating on American soil when everyone knew that was categorically forbidden in their charter. He took great delight in the Church Commission a couple of years later showing that yeah, they did that.
“I know nothing! I see nothing! I hear nothing!” Ober Feldwebel Hans Schultz
The cover of Astonishing Tales no. 31 was pencilled by Ed Hannigan and inked by Berni Wrightson. They also did a Giant Size Chillers and Tomb of Dracula cover that same year.
In 1975 Wrightson was in the midst of his second year at Warren, doing stories and frontispieces for Creepy and Eerie magazines. Aside from doing a few solo covers for DC in 1974 and ’75, he began inking other artists’ covers (and occasionally interiors) to bring in some extra cash. Some uncredited inks over Al Milgrom appear in Captain Marvel no. 41 and he is credited for the cover inks of no. 43. Wrightson also inked a Gil Kane Scarecrow cover and a Val Mayerik Frankenstein cover for Marvel that year. He wrote in A LOOK BACK that he was “taking the year off to learn how to paint.” His Edgar Allan Poe portfolio of paintings was the initial result.
Wrightson had also inked Starlin’s cover for Werewolf by Night no 35 that year, and did partial inks on Ed Hannigan’s pencils for no. 37’s cover.
He also inked a Rich Buckler Batman story at about the same time as well as inking a Steve Ditko Mprlock 2991 story for Atlas (the cover was Buckler/Milgom. or inked by Buckler per GCD).
Yes, I have Batman no. 265 and the Morlock issue. You reminded me that Wrightson did partial inks on interior pages of Atlas Comics’ The Scorpion no. 5. Howard Chaykin pencilled.
Back to Klaus Jansen as an inker. He was and is great, but his style is not at all 1970s Marvel with the polish of Joe Sinnott or cleanness of John Romita Sr. Klaus was even grittier than Dick Giordano (who also didn’t have “pretty” linework), but they were both a welcome change from the house style, as was Tom Palmer.
Wrightson also drew the cover of Tomb of Dracula #43, which appeared early in 1976. It’s a nice piece, but looks like a pinup or spot illustration and, from memory, doesn’t really reflect the interior of the issue, so it might be that Wrightson submitted it around the same time as the other pieces you mentioned and it sat in the “what are we gonna do with this” file for a few months.
Wrightson did *not* ink the lady’s hair on ToD no. 43. It is clearly the handiwork of another artist. I’m told Ed Hannigan worked on this one, too, but he is not credited on the cover. He was doing a lot of covers (and cover layouts) for Marvel in that era.
I knew Hannigan did the cover to Astonishing Tales #31, but until now I was unaware that Wrightson inked it. I guess I never noticed the “BW” next to Hannigan’s signature.
I can understand Buckler’s reticence to allow anyone else to draw a cover for the Deathlok feature but, I mean, it *is* a great cover. It’s actually the image Marvel selected for the cover of the Deathlok softcover collection that was published in 2014.
Deathlok is the greatest sin of my time being a completist. I hated his art and writing yet because I bought the first issue featuring Deathlok, I was stuck. Very little about the set up or ongoing plot made much sense to me. I still don’t care for Deathlok but I get the feeling I missed an explanation somewhere why there’s a kajillion time traveling versions now. The only good thing Buckler did was indirectly being responsible for the Michelinie run on Iron Man.
I can add one more thing: Buckler created Deathlok which enabled Mike Zeck to draw a killer cover on Cap America #286 !
Deathlok has always stood out tome as one of those characters Marvel didn’t know what to do with. I always expected more, and was always disappointed.
You might also say the same of his creator, Rich Buckler.
The only issue of A.T. Deathlok run I got new off the racks was #28 (and I can’t say why I got that issue but not any others). At the time, I wasn’t yet familiar with the Doors’ song Five to One – actually, I probably wasn’t yet familiar with the Doors at all at it would be another year or so before I started listening to a radio station that played a lot of classic rock from the 1960s and early ’70s. I think I got the album Waiting for the Sun, of which Five to One was the closing track, in 1982, from a used record store near San Jose State University wherein I got a lot of old albums. Back to the comic, I found this one chapter I got of the overall story I got at the time very intriguing and eventually I did get the rest of the series.
Have to say, that scene wherein Deathlok comes across the novel Frankenstein, gets maybe a third of the way through the book, then rips it apart in rage was a bit problematic to me as I just can’t buy that Luther Manning, presumably born in either the 1950s or 1960s to be 30-something in the late 1980s, had somehow never heard of Frankenstein and was entirely unfamiliar with the story. I know, Buckler was making a point of Deathlok being essentially a variation of the Frankenstein Monster, and recognizing the similarities between his circumstance and that of the monster was what drove his rage. But Frankenstein, particularly after the Universal film of 1931, has remained a huge part of Western pop culture for nearly a century now and of our literary culture for over two centuries now, like the works of Homer, Shakespear, Poe, etc. Maybe by the era of the original Guardians of the Galaxy, Charlie and Marinex of the 31st century CE would have no knowledge of Frankenstein – whether referring to the book, film, scientist or creature – but not Luther Manning, born and raised in the U.S. in the latter half of the 20th century, and who would have had ample opportunities to see the 1931 film on late night tv or various remakes, the cartoon series Frankenstein, Jr., the Edgar Winter Group song, or the Marvel comic! Ah, well, but Buckler had to play that little silent tableau as if Deathlok was entirely unfamiliar with the culture he had purportedly grown up in.
As to Buckler’s troubles in completing full stories in a timely manner, I wonder if he had overextended himself, particularly while moving, or if he had some creative difficulties that slowed him up. The most obvious parallel of this era was with Starlin’s Warlock. Starlin may not have had the same contractual level of “editorial” control over his work that Buckler had over his, but still his Warlock was a one-man show in regard to the plotting, scripting and penciled art, much as it appears Buckler may have preferred on Deathlok. But then, Starlin wasn’t regularly working on other series every month as Buckler was. I’m left with the feeling that Buckler had his heart on this series as “his baby” but for whatever reason couldn’t fully devote himself to it as much as he might have wished, resulting in the fill-in and half-issue story and requiring scripting and artistic assistance.
In thinking about all the changes within the 5 years between his death and his “re-birth”, even without an apocalyptic, violent revolution, a lot can happen within some big cities within a relatively short period, as has been the case in Jacksonville, FL, where I have lived the last 26 years. Even within just the last 5 years, many parts of this city have changed radically, many retail venues, restaurants, theaters, clubs, etc., that I used to go to entirely gone, buildings in neighborhoods torn down, replaced by new structures or still only empty lots. Actually, that even applies to the short section of the street I’ve lived on since 2018 — the houses that were across the street and next door to mine were all razed within the last year and replaced by a warehouse that now faces my house and a small, private parking lot next door to me, surrounded by a high chain link fence, topped with barbed wire and a long rolling gate along the street (in other words, the parking lot is for use only by employees of the manufacturing business at the end of my street and which had purchased the lots where the four houses on the opposite side of the street used to be when i moved here and now all replaced by the warehouse).
This series also made me contemplate how much Marvel itself had changed over the years from 1970 to 1975. In building up the Marvel universe from 1961 through 1969, aside from the Western, Romance, humor and war mags, every ongoing series unified, all taking place within the same universe and timeline. Conan the Barbarian represented the beginning of a shift as within a few afterwards there were several other series set in different timelines and not necessarily within the same universe. Deathlok would have to represent one that although less than 20 years in the future of the then present M.U., couldn’t have really been within the mainstream M.U. as its setting was within a timeframe that most of the Marvel superheroes of 1975 would not yet have even turned 50 years old yet if they had aged normally, but in Deathlok’s world, as presented, none of those heroes existed and were entirely unknown to him. If Luther Manning had lived through the mainstream M.U. of the 1970s, he would have at least heard of Spider-Man and most of the other prominent super-characters of the era, but as written by Mantlo in MTU and likely intended by Buckler, Deathlok is entirely unfamiliar with them, which would be a bit like someone in our present born in the US between, say 1990 and 2000 having absolutely no idea who George W. Bush and Barrack Obama were.
Just a few things that came to my mind on reading this latest blast from our comics past!
I didn’t read the scene in the library in the same way that you did. For me, Deathlok realised what he was holding the moment he brushed the dust off the cover, conveyed by the separate, small-lettered word balloon. The next panel is a reaction shot/slow burn, followed by the explosion of rage when he rips the book apart. I found it an effective bit of storytelling.
Agreed. There’s nothing that says he hasn’t encountered the book before. More like he’s pondering the whole Frankenstein concept for a second, then losing his shit.
It wouldn’t surprise me if he hadn’t read the book — by the 1970s the movie was far more influential defining the character (I think that’s swung back some) even though he knew who Frankenstein and the Creature were.
Wonder if Buckler had just seen “Zardoz” wherein a major plot point hinges on a similar encounter with a classic book…?
Interesting thought, though this hardly pays off as effectively.
A few interesting historical notes: It appears that Rich Buckler was having major deadline problems in 1975, and not only with the Deathlok series. He was the regular artist on the Fantastic Four in 1975, but there were problems. He did draw FF 157 but FF 158-159 were actually intended for Giant-Size Fantastic Four 5. Roy Thomas noted that the story for GS FF 5 had to be split in half and moved to FF 158-159. Buckler missed FF 160 which was drawn by John Buscema. Buckler drew FF 161-163, but was then unavailable, and a new artist (at the time), George Perez jumped in for FF 164-167. Buckler returned for FF 168 and 169, but FF 169 was Buckler’s last full issue (although he did 3 pages of FF 171). As for Astonishing Tales, I checked a few things with the Grand Comics Database. According to GCD, AT 32 was a month late, coming out in August 1975 instead of July 1975, and it appears that Buckler was only doing layouts with Keith Pollard assisting for the next few issues. Also it seems that AT 31 was Moench’s last issue as writer and Bill Mantlo would step in for the last few issues. In fairness to Bill, I believe that 1975 was just the beginning of his writing career so if the issues he wrote were less than great it could be understood but it was unfortunate.
Regarding Deathlok the series, to be honest, I only bought the first issue (AT 25), and for reasons I don’t remember, never got the rest of the series at the time. I did have an opportunity to look over later issues many years after. While I always thought the art was very good and some of Buckler’s best work, especially when inked by Janson, story-wise, I’m sorry to say, I think it’s a mess. Your write up is excellent as always, Alan. But I found various elements very repetitive (Deahtlok fighting a lot of guys with guns…and killing them) and uninteresting from a story standpoint, and the villain, Ryker, seems to stand around too much pontificating. He also looks way too much like General Thunderbolt Ross (from the Hulk).
With respect to Buckler’s claim that he was also editor of this book that seems surprising, given at this time (May 1975) there was only one writer/editor besides Len Wein and that was Roy Thomas (of course that would change in just a couple of years and there would be 6 or 7 writer/editors). It’s possible Buckler thought he was the “secret editor” of this book, but it appears that Len retained the editing capacity in terms of decision making regarding the covers and copy thereon, as noted about this very issue, AT 31. Also it seems unlikely that Buckler would have been the one to decide on the reprint of Guardians of the Galaxy for AT 29, that seems like it would have been addressed by Len. So it’s really not clear how much of an editor Buckler was on this series, but I suspect that Kirby had more editorial say when he returned to Marvel at the end of 1975.
I’ll be interested to read what you have to say about the end of this series, which, as I said, was kind of a mess…
To be honest, while I’m sure I read the remaining chapters of Deathlok in A.T., I can’t remember any details about how the series ended. Rather a sharp contrast with Starlin’s Warlock/Magus epic which is pretty much etched in my memory.
Also, I recall reading those first couple of issues of the FF drawn by George Perez, which if I recall correctly came out shortly before he became the regular artist on the Avengers. I hadn’t seen his work before but was highly impressed with his artistry on both titles.
My impression was he was unofficially his own editor, in the sense Wein had the title but let Buckler do his own thing as the storyteller. I don’t think that conflicts with Wein being in charge of covers or picking the GOTG reprint.
I’m slightly surprised that Marvel didn’t coerce Rich Buckler into making Deathlok into a “handsome” cyborg once his TV counterpart Steve Austin became a household name on “The Six Million Dollar Man.” Even Has brought got in on the act with Major Mike Power in the GI Joe universe who, with *one* bionic leg, could run 200 mph (compared to Austin’s 60 mph with two bionic legs). 😉 X-Men no. 94 is the first title I know of that had a comics ad introducing the Mike Power action figure.
Correction: …even Hasbro got in on the act…
Although Arvell Jones’ name didn’t appear in the credits until #30, I suspect the old election poster depicted on the penultimate page of #28 nods towards his involvement with that issue as well.
As always, Alan, an entertaining roundup of these three issues. At the time I really enjoyed them; now, they seem to be striving for a profundity that they never quite achieved. Buckler was a talented storyteller, no doubt, but given his history, whenever he gives us a particularly striking panel or sequence, I can’t help wondering where he swiped it from.
I suffer this too Colin, ever book of his I pick up I’m always thinking ‘I wonder who really drew this’ or ‘I wonder who did the panel this has been swiped from?’
Yep. Especially after Alan’s detailed look at one of his swipe-laden issues.
It’s interesting to see the book, which I only glanced at when it was new. I’ll probably read the issues on the app eventually but I’m not in any rush.
Buckler was doing good, if inconsistent work on a couple of books, and when he finally had his own creation, ie: “this is the one that will make me a legend,” he probably pushed and pushed and pushed Marvel to give him his sweetheart deal as writer/artist/editor. I can easily see one of the higher-ups at Marvel saying, “Look, Rich is over-extended. He’s doing too much. Let’s let him have the “control” he craves so badly, right up until he stumbles under the weight of it all. Then, we take it back, telling him that he had his chance, but we have to bring in extra editorial control to keep the book on track.” I have no idea if that’s actually what happened, but it’s certainly a believable scenario.
As for the story, I wonder if Buckler had anything plotted out beyond the first issue. There was certainly nothing particularly original going on here. Buckler seemed to have this idea that he wanted to do some sort of deconstruction of power and the military-industrial complex, but once he got started, he didn’t know where to go, so he spend the first couple issues spinning his wheels with action scenes that were entertaining, but didn’t drive the plot forward.
Lastly, I agree…the artwork got much prettier and more interesting to look at once Janson came on as inker. Thanks, Alan!
In fairness, even Lee and Kirby did plotlines where they apparently had no plan going forward. As did Gerry Conway, to much worse effect (as Alan covered in the Mr Kline plotline reviews). One thing I can say for Roy Thomas, his long-running plots do seem to be thought out in advance, as in Factor Three.
I think by 1965, Kirby & Ditko were doing more well thought & planned longer storylines, and by the mid-70s, several writers were doing them regularly, although some, like Gerber, were mostly “seat-of-the-pants” plotting as they went along. And of those on the lower tiers, sales wise, regardless of the quality, there was always the looming possibility of cancellation.
The shifting of sales to comics shops along with the “British Invasion” in the 1980s brought a greater degree of well-planned out, intricate multi-issue stories. Albeit, all building on what had come before from the ’60s to the early ’80s.
Yes the number of stories I’ve read about long-range plans derailed by cancelation or being taken off a book make my understand why some writers might decide to wing it.
Marvel had some quite long running storylines in the mix, as well as storylines where the creators were winging it. Deathlok for instance here, then there were the Captain Marvel and Warlock storylines by Starlin, and of course the magnificent Panther’s Rage by McGregor. These were bi-monthlies too! Englehart tended to plan in advance, as we see from his Nomad and Celestial Madonna storylines, as did Roy, who did a long running Gardner Fox adaption in Conan, and followed that up with the Bellit storyline. Marv did long-term planning on Tomb. These were monthlies however, where there was more semblance of continuity and survival. However, as noted, many long-running storylines were disrupted by cancellation: the Thomas/ Giordano adaption of Dracula; the Panther vs the Klan by McGregor; a Ka-Zar storyline by Moench & Mayerik; Omega by Gerber. The Living Mummy & Bloodstone storylines were very rapidly, and less than satisfactorily, concluded. Later we had Nova cancelled mid-stotyline, and of course Tomb ended with three issues pushed into one giant-size issue. Some storylines were disrupted by means other than sales/ cancellations, for example Tony Isabella’s religious storyline in Ghost Rider.
At least Marvel had a track-record of providing some form of closure to storylines following cancellation. DC hardly had any track record at all. The biggest cancellation ( and most creatively tragic, given its author never again reached the same heights) mid storyline was, of course, the Fourth World trilogy.
I forgot to mention the enjoyable Man-Wolf by Kraft and Perez was cancelled mid-storyline too! The current was very much against any new 70s title, however good.
I wonder if I would have been a fan of the Deathlok feature if I had been alive when it first came out (I was born in June 1976). Short meandering chapters, coming out every other month (or in one case, having a four-month gap between installments) make for a very unfocused story. I read Deathlok when it came out as a Marvel Masterworks hardcover collection, and I feel it works much better in a collected edition.
Agreed that Klaus Janson’s inking really elevated Rich Buckler’s pencils, and gave the feature a darker, gritty atmosphere that really suited the subject matter.
I feel that the first couple chapters of Deathlok were very strong, then it got sort of lost for a while, before picking up around the time first Janson and then scripter Bill Mantlo came aboard. The final confrontation between Deathlok and Major Riker is probably the high point of the entire series, and I look forward to Alan’s coverage of those issues.
Alan, found these issues wearisome a few years ago, but re-reading them this evening found them quite entertaining….a mix of the Million Dollar Man with Dirty Harry in a Survivors ( bleak futuristic BBC series of the time) setting. No-one appears to have mentioned any similarities to OMAC, which DC was publishing at the same time….and which was far more inventive but written for a more junior audience ( but still amazing!).
Buckler had a strong seat at the Marvel artistic table while Roy was editor, but probably not favoured by management afterwards. Here Buckler was obviously having deadline issues; I believe he had a young family at the time and probably was ( responsibly) devoting time to higher paid assignments ( ie those outside of comics), but 10 pages is a lousy let-down for fans forking out their money. And there must have been a better reprint than that chosen here by Marvel…..
Always nice to see something from Wrightson. I thought he did some work for Marvel because of his professional relationship with Len Wein, his co-author on Swamp Thing. Two pieces by Wrightson that appear to have been missed within the comments are the cover of Hulk #197 (Wrightson doing the Man-Thing!) and the frontispiece for Marvel Preview #4 (my favourite piece of Wrightson work outside of his utterly fantastic Frankenstein illustrations).
@Man of Bronze, what was the Marvel house style for inkers? I always thought Marvel had a vast variety of inking styles throughout the bronze and silver ages. Some styles of course are more pleasing than others and that is a matter of personal preference. I liked that Kirby from about ’65 onwards had numerous inkers at Marvel, each giving a slightly different look to the final product, from the elegant sheen and precision of Sinnott to the misty/ other worldy look given by Colletta, to the heavier blacks and weightiness spotted by Giacoia, to the grittier look delineated by Shores to the melodious strokeplay of Everett etc. There was plenty of inking provided by Giacoia and Esposito at the time ( neither being particular favourites of mine), but that was probably because they were available and turned round jobs within deadline ( Giacioa often with the help of friends). I think that Marvel ( and Stan in particular) was good at spotting and keeping artistic partnerships together: Kirby-Sinnott/ Kane-Adkins/ Colan-Palmer come to mind, but there was also plenty of situations with inker merry-go- rounds, and we have the situation of Starlin leaving Captain Marvel in frustration at not having a regular inker. In summary, my opinion was that there was not an ‘inker’ house style as such. Glad to be dissuaded though!