Marvel UK -- C/D?

I like that last cover.

...never mind.

Classic: Moore's Captain Britain, obviously. All Furman-written Transformers UK, especially the Galvatron/Time travel stories. The original Death's Head appearances in TF UK and his first series + the graphic novel (I think it's called The Lives And Times of Death's Head). Grant Morrison's Zoids! (in the last few issues, it suddenly turns into a proto-Invisibles, hilariously enough)

Oh, and not forgetting the original Knights of Pendragon series by Abnett, Lanning, and Alan Davis (the second series is abysmal, though). And Dark Guard has nice Carlos Pacheo art if nothing else.

Dud: Most of the post-TF UK comics were fairly risible. Warheads, Death's Head II, Death^3, Death Wreck (they really drove Death's Head into the ground after Furman left), Hells/Dark Angel, and Motormouth & Killpower were pretty bad, but the second wave, including titles such as Genetix, Death's Head & Die-Cut, Shadow Riders, Wild Things, and Cyberspace 3000 were a waste of ink. I know this because I bought almost every one of them…I even have trading cards somewhere…

Plus, Neil Tennant worked for them! So, classic, naturally.

http://www.snappishproductions.com/blog/archives/blackaxe.jpg

What happened at the end of Zoids??

i) Frankly rubbish New Age superhero Hell's Angel changing her name to Dark Angel and the writers trying to give her a proper reason for this, rather than (I presume) legal threats...

ii) Death's Head II gets a feisty, busty sidekick with facial tattoos and little in the way of clothing. Her name is Tuck.

It's funny how it sometimes feels like almost every Marvel character has been adapted for film or TV, but no-one has ever done Death's Head? I think an Adult Swim Death's Head animated series could work, feel he's well suited to a comedy tv series as a character who turns up in the middle of other people's stories and is detached from everything going on around him - I think this aspect came directly from him originally appearing in the Transformers comics, and the basic set up of the Transformers not making much sense/not being a promising basis for compelling stories, because it was created as a backstory around a pre-existing toyline, so you had these stories where everyone was taking very seriously this inane conflict between the good robots and the bad robots, and then you drop Death's Head into the middle of it who doesn't care about any of that at all.

This seems like a common thing for UK comics of the 80s, I remember reading an interview with Pat Mills where he talked about how when he was writing Marshal Law he'd read bad American superhero comics and imagine Marshal Law showing up partway through to shoot everyone, or how many Judge Dredd strips were a pastiche of some other kind of story with Dredd showing up in the middle and acting in a predictable way, more of a plot device than a character, and the joke is that he's in a different register to everyone else, doesn't care what the story is 'supposed' to be about?

the design of his face was so good, it's like an old Felix the Cat style cartoon character or an emoji in how it's simple and almost deadpan but expressive as well

https://i.kinja-img.com/gawker-media/image/upload/c_fit,f_auto,g_center,q_60,w_1315/d5wmd08oc3g0wqpjz0vg.jpg

basic set up of the Transformers not making much sense/not being a promising basis for compelling stories,

Oi! Transformers UK's imperial phase (#78-205) was a standout considering the bare-bones genesis of the toyline. With some impressive violence for the under-10s (but it's okay, you can stick a harpoon through a character's head, because they're only a robot!).

I don’t think even Simon Furman figured out what to do with Death’s Head, let alone Marvel or Adult Swim. Is he the best ever character to never (or only rarely) be in a good comic?

There is something melancholy and bathetic about him that seems uniquely British and unsuited to the larger MCU - I’m sure Marvel could’ve turned him into a more popular, coarser, ultraviolent character like Lobo (or Deaths Head II!) but somehow that never happened

they try to insert him into a story every once in a while and it never quite hits

Death's Head is the only character I followed out of TF in much the same way I followed Geoff Senior's art out of TF - checking out anything else his name was on for a few years. V right place right time for me. I guess GOTG would've been the best fit for a DH cameo, otherwise maybe in a Marvel F4 movie just as a nod to their Senior-drawn clash in the original DH series.

man i loved geoff senior's art - such a brilliantly chunky style

he should have been a much bigger name than he ended up being

Is he the best ever character to never (or only rarely) be in a good comic?

There is something melancholy and bathetic about him that seems uniquely British and unsuited to the larger MCU

I was thinking that the other Marvel character Death's Head most reminds me of is maybe Howard the Duck - 'trapped in a world he never made', frequently exasperated, fatalistic. The original Steve Gerber scripted Howard stories are obviously much better than anything Death's Head has appeared in though (so far)

I imagine there's a lot of cool characters who never appeared in a legit good comic.