Sunday 8 March 2009

It Came From Darkmoor UPDATE - Cameos, Blogs and possible a lot of NEW STUFF!

And I'm back.

And yes, this one is long overdue.

So welcome to a bumper 'All the the stuff I've been meaning to post' edition of It Came From Darkmoor. I'd like to begin by showing you a few of the places that you can (or at least in some cases will) be able to find some appearances of Marvel UK's finest - at present and within the coming months.

I'll kick that off with an X-Men title, of sorts - Chris Claremont's final issue of New eXiles. I have to admit my loyalty has floundered a little on this book. at least one regular cast member I am very much invested in, but the series just hasn't managed to capture the magic of Judd Winnick's original series. The book is actually getting rebooted with a new #1, a new cast and Jeff Parker taking over writing duties very shortly. But I picked up the final issue to see what had been going on, and the implication of what this strange status quo might have on Marvel's multiverse. And as luck would have it I was greeted by a surprising little cameo from one of Marvel UK's best known faces:


And no, it's not Psylocke. She's been there since late on into the last run of eXiles. For those unaware of the set-up, all of those TVs in there show glimpses from other dimensions in Marvel's multiverse. Take a closer look at that top screen:


That's right, folks. A sound little cameo by none other than Death's Head! Who'd have thought. Sure it's an alternate Earth (So it probably isn't OUR Death's Head) but us fans of the horned and metal-plated one must take what little we can get...

Major Kudos to Mr Claremont and New eXiles artist Tim Seeley for that little cameo.

I'm on a real Death's Head kick right now. I'm currently working on some issue summaries of the original DH series for Comixfan (I'll post up some links when they're all done an on site) and have been having a lot of fun re-reading those issues in, which I recently picked up again in the form of the two Panini trades.

It was about the time I had begun reading the second volume time that Simon Hall emailed me a scan of this advert he'd found, while reading through a copy of Knights of Pendragon, for a much earlier attempt at a Death's Head trade collection:



Thanks greatly for that, Simon. I love this advert. It captures the tone of the series and the character so well. The trade itself was kind of a 'Best of' Death's Head. It didn't include the whole lot, but it did have some interviews and early art examples in it. Simon Furman, however, was never quite happy with the volume. In the introduction to the second Panini trade he says:

"It's taken 20 years to get Death's Head collected. Complete. Properly. It's not for want of trying though. Back in 1990, Marvel (UK) gathered together selected chunks of the original 10-issue series under the title The Life and Times of Death's Head. However, much (indeed, whole issues) was omitted for the sake of the 146 pages allotted to that slender volume, and the result was rather unsatisfying (to me at least). A better stab at reprinting/repackaging the Death's Head series came with The Incomplete Death's Head. This 12-issue maxi-series, published throughout 1993, was essentially a reprint title, but with new originated/linking segments featuring DH's successor Death's Head II. All in all, it did a pretty good job of gathering DH's various appearances and stringing the together into a new narrative, but it wasn't a collected edition, and it was, indeed, incomplete"
.

And he's right. It is. I am so incredibly glad that Panini have now collected it all. It's long overdue.

I would say though, to all Death's Head completists out there, that if you can get your hands on the 12 issues of The Incomplete Death's Head I'd certainly recommend it. It genuinely does, through adding the new linking bits of material, make the original run (and some of those guest appearances) into a whole new separate story. It's kind of weird, but also kind of cool as well.

In same introduction to that second volume Furman also mentions the following:

"In 1992, a new Death's Head series, written by myself and with art by Geoff Senior, was begun (in terms of the creative processes of script and art ) and then abruptly canned in favour of a complete reinvention of the character as Death's Head II. New Marvel UK editor-in-chief Paul Neary arrived with a new broom and the intended series went out with the trash. Oh, how I wish I still had some of the amazing art Geoff (Senior) had delivered up to that point!"


Now I recall Mr Furman mentioning mentioning this upcoming series (I believe it was a limited series at that point) in a mocked up interview with himself and Death's Head, for Death's Head: The Body in Question. I'm a huge Death's Head II fan, as I'm sure you're no doubt aware by now, but there's still a big part of me which would have loved to have known more about what Simon and Geoff had planned. After The Body in Question, in many ways Death's Head felt to have completed his current cycle, but I'm sure they must have had some other kind of specific direction to take him down. we can only speculate as to what that might have been...

The next cameo on the list is one which has been mentioned before...

A little while ago I blogged that Captain Britain and MI13 were to get their first appearance outside of their own title, in the pages of Dan Slott's Mighty Avengers #22. Well, for those of you who might have missed said appearance, it kind of looked something like this:



So yes, it really is a cameo. A quickie appearance from Cap, Spitfire and the Black Knight, along with several other Marvel heroes (She-Hulk, some of JMS's The Twelve and some of Parker's Agents of Atlas?) from around the world, used here to convey the scale of bad stuff happening. And that's a good thing. Any appearance by the team in a top tier title is a good advert for the book.

Back over in the book itself though we've been having a reappearance of another ghost from the past. While not technically a Marvel UK property, they certainly are British. And as can be seen in in this page from Captain Britain & MI13 #10, they've come to pay Spitfire a visit.



For the uninitiated, that fella goes by the name of Kenneth Crichton. And yes, he is indeed Spitfire's son. But you may know him better by the name he assumed the last time he was in comics. Kenneth Crichton is a vampire. He was the second Baron Blood.

Those who read the Ben Raab/John Cassaday Union Jack series a few years back will know what befell him. An extreme case of death by sunlight. But this book has Blade on the team, and in his last ongoing series the Vampire Hunter made a bit of a mistake. A mistake which brought an awful lot of Vampires back from the dead.

Kenneth along with them.

Just when things started to look rosy for Spitfire, too. Talk about complications...

We'll have to wait and see where Paul Cornell goes with Kenneth's resurrection when the next issue of Captain Britain & MI13 hits shelves on Wednesday (Thursday in the UK). But one thing is for sure he won't be the only British character making an appearance. Union Jack will be turning up again but Paul also let out some very interesting news in an interview he did for Newsarama whilst at New York Comicon (
http://www.newsarama.com/comics/020911-Nine-Cornella.html
):

NRAMA: With Marvel's history with UK comics, including a Marvel UK imprint at one point, do you see yourself tapping more into those older comics for future issues?

PC: Just wait two issues, my friend.

NRAMA: Maybe my favorite Marvel UK title, Knights of the Pendragon?

PC: Of course. The Green Knight already popped up, and we're also thinking about using Tangerine. And there's also an upcoming appearance by Motormouth and Killpower; do you remember them?

NRAMA: Yes, of course. Some early great artwork by Gary Frank on those books.

PC: Yes, well they're going to be coming up soon. The way I see it, all of the British superheroes work for MI:13 in a defacto way so there's a way we can have them all pop up. In this upcoming story, Motormouth and Killpower are on duty when something terrible happens and the team is brought it.

I love being free to do this kind of stuff.


So... firstly, the possibility of Tangerine will certainly please old Excalibur fans. I've certainly championed her cause in the past (Who the Hell is Tangerine?) so that's certainly something I approve of.

But the bigger deal for the Marvel UK faithful is hearing those two names for the first time in so long... "Motormouth and Killpower"!

Now, for those who missed the imprint years you may know these two better from an appearance they made in Peter David’s Hulk run from the 90s. There again they were being drawn by the brilliant Gary Frank. But Motormouth and Killpower were one of Marvel UK’s original ongoing series. Created by Paul Neary, Graham Marks and Gary Frank the book began as ‘The Indescribable Motormouth’ but soon added Killpower’s name to the title when it was clear that he was going to be playing just as big a role in the series.



Harley “Motormouth” Davis and Julius “Killpower” Mullarkey were big players in the 90s imprint. Harley’s powers are sonic. She picked them up via a bit of quirky technology she picked up in another dimension, and a bit of tinkering from her partner. She had these shoes she kind of stole from Mys-Tech, which allowed her to slide between dimensions. She also had a talent for the kind of colourful language which would make a sailor blush. Couple that with her sonic abilities and… well, I’m sure you can imagine.



So yeah, Harley is a little bit like what the X-Men’s Banshee or DC’s Black Canary would be like - if they had a ‘potty mouth’. But that low vibration humming sure comes in handy.

Julius on the other hand was a test subject, grown by Mys-Tech’s Oonah Mullarkey in a lab. He’s a mish-mash of human and animal DNA, conditioned and programmed and artificially age. The result is that he’s super-strong, takes a lot of damage, has a natural flair for using pretty much and technology or firearm he can get his hands on... but he’s still kind of got the mentality of a child. For example, it was Julius who configured the technology in Harley’s throat to produce that sonic scream, but often thrown into a combat situation he often sees it as a bit of a game – prompting his trademark war cry of “It’s a Turkey Shoot!!!”.



They remain two of my favourite Marvel UK characters. Always fun to read, and an interesting dynamic. After all, there’s not many female heroes out there who have a male sidekick. I’m looking forward to this. $%^& me. It could be %^&£^%£ fantastic.

Some of you may recall a post I made a few months ago, during the Secret Invasion issues of Nova (Link). Well, since then Dr Evelyn Necker appears to have become very much a permanent fixture at Project PEGASUS. So much so that she actually made appearances in TWO books this month. Firstly in CB Cebulski’s War of Kings: Darkhawk #1:



Darkhawk, you see, is also on the payroll at PEGASUS - in Security. Necker’s appearance is quite brief, granted, but it’s great to see her presence noted outside of Nova, by another writer. All good exposure.

Even if it doesn’t end so well…



Evelyn gets a far better run out in Abnett and Lanning’s Nova #22, where she is slightly more central to the plot. For those who are unaware, at the end of #21 the Worldmind decided that Richard Rider was mentally unfit to be Nova Prime after he disagreed with some of its quirkier decisions, of late, and took away his powers. This issue finds Richard consulting the powers that be at Project PEGASUS to give him the once over, and verify whether or not the Worldmind has a point.



Robbie Rider, Richie’s younger brother, was recently made a Nova Centurion himself, during one of the Worldmind’s more dubious decisions, and Richie wants to talk to him. But without the Worldmind intervening. How do you convince Robbie to come out of range of the Worldmind? How about one of the oldest tricks in the book?



I think it great that Necker seems to be becoming a regular character in the MU. There are so many Marvel UK characters who have been lying around unused for just too long. And of course the ceaseless fan in me will always hope that her continued presence will some day lead to a Death’s Head II revival.

Hey, I can dream… ;D

Abnett and Lanning continue to do a great job with this book. I actually picked up the hardcover of the first year of Nova, a couple of weeks ago, to fill in the gaps of issues I missed.

On the subject of Dan Abnett, the man himself made a very interesting comment on his Blog last week.

“Speaking of trades, I hear the first nine or so issues of the Knights of Pendragon, an eco-superhero-Arthurian comic from the early nineties, is also about to be collected. Co-created with John Tomlinson, Steve White and Gary Erskine, and co-written by me and John, it remains a high water mark in my output, and is one of the first major things I did. People still ask me about the series.”

And with good reason. That first volume was a particularly strong run. The interweaving of myth and legend with a modern (Well, late 80s/early 90s) setting was great. The image of Adam Crown, this waster guy from East London, propelled towards becoming a new Arthur by magical intervention, that scrap metal sword rising from a canal, travelling across reservoirs rather than lakes – it was all a really strong urban spin on an old legend. I’m amazed that it hasn’t been revived in some form or other, by now.

A collection is very long overdue. Me Abnett does not say who is collecting it, but following on fro Dragon’s Claws I think there’s a fair chance it’s likely to be Panini. I’ll let you know more as soon as I do.

Thanks to Mark Jarvis for Twittering me that link to Dan’s Blog last week. I had not been there before. Some interesting information there about Abnett’s Marvel work, and his other projects (such as his Warhammer 40K work). Certainly worth a look in.

You can find it here: http://theprimaryclone.blogspot.com/

And while we’re on the subject of other Blogs you might like to visit, I recently discovered Lew Stringer’s blog ‘Blimey! It’s another Blog about Comics!’. Many of you will remember Lew as the guy behind the best of Marvel’s back up comic strips, up until the turn of the 90s. He was responsible for Robo-Capers and the frankly legendary Combat Colin. I miss those strips a heck of a lot. Forget Marvel US’s Mini Marvels, Lew was drawing strips full of in-jokes, satire and fun, set within Marvel’s context, decades before those strips were showing up in US titles. I still have a large number of Combat Colin strips filed away in a folder, at home, saved when my parents insisted I chucked out most of my Transformers comics, when I was in my teens (Heresy, I know!).

Lew’s blog deals with pretty much everything to do with British published comics, old and new. It’s got some really good articles on books from the past, and some really nice insights from a guy who’s worked on so many different titles, and comics’ brands. It’s updated fairly regularly, and I’d strongly recommend a visit to anybody who’s big on nostalgia or just wants to see some examples of how different British comics are to those of our American cousins.

Have a look: http://lewstringer.blogspot.com/

Right. Well that’s almost it for this update, However, as many of will already be aware tomorrow (or Thursday here in the UK) a certain British set title comes out from Marvel Comics.

That’s right, it’s CAP WEDNESDAY, again!

And to celebrate the publishing of Captain Britain & MI13 #11 I’ve done another banner to tie in with its release. Once again, there’s a standard sized and a smaller variant (For sites which restrict size a little more). This one’s intended a little bit as a ‘Previously On…’ and as I can’t post animated Gifs on hear easily, here’s a breakdown of what it looks like.


And here’s where you can find them (Feel free to spread the word in your forum signatures):

Standard Size:Here

And

Smaller Size: Here

This issue is the first part proper of the Vampire State arc, in which Dracula has decided to claim Britain as a homeland for ‘his people’.
You know. His people with sharp teeth and pale skin, who don’t get out a lot in the hours of daylight? Yeah. Bad news for the general populace of Great Britain. Last issue Vlad Tepes (To use his real name) launched his assault by trying to eliminate the members of MI13, with a couple of co-ordinated missile attacks. Not just any missiles though. VAMPIRE missiles.

I kid you not. :D

#11 picks up right where #10 left off. If you’re interested in seeing some preview pages you can find them here:

Captain Britain & Mi13 #11 preview at CBR

Now, GO BUY IT!

That’s all, for now. As always, if you have any questions, thoughts or comments, feel free to add them to this post or send me an email at theswordisdrawn@googlemail.com . I’m always glad to hear from a fellow fan.

You can also follow me on Twitter, as this seems to be the done thing now.
There’s a link on the right hand side of the page.

Until the next time…

Mark
(Sword)

16 comments:

  1. Good news on Knights of Pendragon. I had my 18 vol 1 issues bound into a hardcover by Blissets...definitely one of my all-time favourite books.

    Finally having banged on about it for years on our podcast I can actually get people to read it.

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  2. I know what you mean, Dave. Knights of Pendragon really was a benchmark title for Marvel UK. It was something a little bit special, and certainly a little more serious in tone than previous Marvel UK US-format books.

    The central concept is a really strong idea, and allowed for a rotational cast within reason. I think it's great shame that the second volume kind of deviated from that, and made it into more of a straightforward superhero title. I sincerely hope this trade comes off. I think it'll surprise a few people who never got a chance to read it the first time around.

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  3. Cracking Update Mark! I knew of Necker appearance recently in Nova and Darkhawk but didn't realise there was going to be a influx of Marvel UK heroes this year!

    Keep up the good work!

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  4. Yay for Knights Of Pendragon! I've recently (finally!) bought a complete run of the whole series, after being missing odd issues for years. This was an excellent title, full of great ideas. It was going great guns with relatively little exposure too, having clocked up 18 issues before Paul Neary brought it under the auspices of Genesis '92. As shame in some ways, as the second volume lost its way and ended up a generic super-team book.
    I often wonder whether Marvel UK might have sustained greater longevity had it continued to plough the slightly more offbeat tangent it was at around the start of the 1990s: A Night Raven collection and original graphic Novel, Genghis Grimtoad and all those other weird and wonderful Strip characters. We may very well have ended up with an equivalent to Vertigo!

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  5. Hi I blogged news of the Pendragon collection a while back : http://downthetubescomics.blogspot.com/2009/02/knights-of-pendragon-collection-planned.html

    cheers!

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  6. An October release? Excellent news. Thanks for that, John. It really is a crime that it's taken so long for this series to get collected.

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  7. Kudos to Tim Seeley for the cameos in that issue of New Exiles. When I was reading the issue, I was also pleasantly surprised to see Crystar and some of his enemies making cameo shots on the screens.

    Crystar needs a new book. :)

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  8. Cheers for the update. Always enjoy your posts: fascinating slices of comics history that I'm often unfamiliar with.

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  9. Hi folks,

    Hmmm. Well, it appears that I'm currently being spammed by a few bogus posters.

    For this reason I'm afraid I'm going to have to turn comment moderation on. All this means, as far as you need to know, is that I'll see your comment before it goes live. Hopefully, allowing me to weed out the spam before it turns up on site.

    I don't like having to do this, But as marketing bots and the like seem determined to spam the site, it looks like I'm going to have to for the time being.

    My apologies to my regular readers.

    Mark
    Sword)

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  10. Great update. It's great to see Death's Head again, even if it is just in a small screen.

    I enjoyed the Incomplete Death's Head, especially the final pages showing the Doctor rescuing ol' DH. I always felt optimistic about his return. I'm sure he'll turn up one day. The Strip issue 13 interview, wow, I remember that well. In fact I wrote that out for a Death's Head website I created many many moons ago. Here's a copy for those who've never read it. It's a fun read.


    An interview with Simon Furman by Irwin Micklethwaite Poster.......and Death's Head, YES?
    From Strip issue13, 14th August 1990

    I was on the way to one of the most bizarre interviews I've ever conducted! Not Only was I to meet and talk to comic book writer, Simon Furman, I was actually going to meet - in person (if you can describe it that way!) - his greatest creation...
    Death's Head!
    You're sceptical. Well, to be honest, so was I. But, on entering a modest and comfortable house on the outskirts of Carlisle, I was greeted by (on the one hand) 5'10" of bearded human and (on the other hand) 6'10" of sinewed steel mechanoid. This was going to be no ordinary after-tea chat - that, at least was, certain!

    IMP: Simon, perhaps you can start us off by explaining how Death's Head came about. Cheese and kippers before bedtime, perhaps?

    DH: Watch it, yes?

    SF: Well, we needed a bounty-hunting -

    DH: Freelance Peacekeeping.

    SF: Ah ha. Yes. We needed a freelance peacekeeping character for a story in Marvel UK's TRANSFORMERS comic - a disposable one we could bump off at the end.

    DH: Charming, yes?

    SF: Only Geoff Senior's character sketches were so...inspiring, I decided there and then that Death's Head was destined for greater things.

    DH: It took you that long?
    (SF clears his throat noisily)

    SF: As I was saying, we decided Death's Head was destined for greater things, so I fleshed out the character and - while Geoff was busy  with Death's Head/Transformers storyline - prepared an introductory one-page story that Bryan Hitch then drew.

    IMP: But what about the character himself - his mannerisms and out look on life?

    SF: Well I -



    DH: - should let Death's Head answer this, right? Right? No-one  - least of all him - gave me a personality. It was just there, eh? I only kill for profit, never for sport or revenge. I always see a job through and I play no favourites. If they pay, I'll slay, yes?

    IMP: But what about this habit of making every statement a question?

    DH: I don't do that, huh?

    IMP: Right. Anyway, Simon - how about giving us a brief rundown of Death's Head appearances to date.
    SF: After his third appearance in Transformers, Death's Head went (via a bridging story in DOCTOR WHO MAGAZINE) into issue #5 of DRAGON'S CLAWS. From there it was straight into his own series, which ran for ten issues.

    IMP: And now into a Graphic Novel, right?

    DH: Strange habit you've got - ending statements wit questions.

    SF: Yes, yes - that's right. THE BODY IN QUESTION is due out in September. It's 59 pages written by me and painted by Geoff, with a cover by Walt Simonson.

    IMP: And it deals with the origin of Death's Head - who created him and why.

    SF: Yep. You could say he actually meets his maker. (laughter)

    IMP: Which, if you think about it, is what he's doing now! (more laughter)

    DH: Look, think I should take over here, yes? When I allowed this person to be my biographer, I made it clear that it was to be done carefully, respectfully. Understand? In fact, there are one or two things in the graphic novel I'd like to take issues with, huh?

    IMP: I'm sure there'll be time for that later. Simon, you mentioned Walt Simonson Earlier. There's quite  a bit  of interest been shown in Death's Head in the States, hasn't there?

    SF: That's right, Irwin. Simonson himself featured Death's Head in issue #338 of FANTASTIC FOUR, and - in addition to an 8-page story in MARVEL COMICS PRESENTS - he's scheduled to appear in SHE-HULK #24, drawn by former Death's Head artist, Bryan Hitch.

    DH: It's the scenes where he shows me being beaten up, huh? Just didn't happen that way!

    IMP: I'm sure readers would like to know a bit about you and Geoff, Simon - how you started, what you've been working on recently.

    DH: I mean, do you see any bits missing, eh? Both horns are still here, all my weaponry, armour's intact!

    SF:  Let's see, I started scripting about six years ago for a comic called SCREAM. After that I moved to Marvel UK, working editorially and scripting for the likes of TRANSFORMERS, ACTION FORCE and THUNDERCATS. Since then I've gone from DRAGON'S CLAWS to DEATH'S HEAD and am currently working on TRANSFORMERS and BRUTE FORCE (for Marvel US).

    DH: Really, as if that Big Shot could actually harm me! He's just a human with a gun! And as for Lupex -

    SF: Geoff started off working for Marvel UK, beginning on good old TRANSFORMERS. From there, the prolific Mr. Senior went on to do hundreds of pages, spanning TRANSFORMERS, THUNDERCATS, ACTION FORCE and DOCTOR WHO MAGAZINE. He drew the whole 10-issue run of DRAGON'S CLAWS and has done four issues of Marvel US's TRANSFORMERS.

    DH: Hello? Is anyone listening to me, huh?

    IMP: But Geoff always seemed to come back to Death's Head, huh?

    DH: You're doing it again!

    SF: Yeah, that's right. Both Geoff and I share a sort of paternal affection for the character, and we're always looking for opportunities to work together on him.

    DH: Look. I've been very patient, yes? Will you listen to me now!

    IMP: So where next? Where do you, Geoff and Death's Head go from here?
    (Death's Head unlocks his right hand)

    SF: Hopefully into a new limited series.
    (Death's Head selects his axe attachment and locks it into place)

    SF: I'm sure there's life in the old dog yet!
    (Furman playfully thumps Death's Head on the back)

    SHHHHLLK!

    IMP: Oh god! I thought you only killed for profit

    DH: I make the odd exceptions, yes?
     
    At this point, with Death's Head enquiring about a new biographer, I chose to make my discreet exit. The serialisation of THE BODY IN QUESTION begins right here, and the graphic novel comes out in September. Read it at your peril..!

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  11. There were also a couple of amusing interviews with Death's Head in The Life And Times Of, plus a witty introduction. I'd post 'em here but they run to a good four pages all told. Basically, he recounts his adventures in the Transformers Universe, his run in with the Doctor and a highly dubious account of his run in with Dragaon's Claws.

    Recently, I've picked up a Night Raven TPB from 1990, collecting his early strip adventures, plus the original Graphic Novel 'House Of Cards' (I went for the '92 reprint - it has a better cover!). Did the character have any appearances elsewhere? In the trade's introduction, Jamie Delano mentioned he wrote for the character too. Was this just House Of Cards?

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  12. Re: Night Raven

    That tpb collects all the David Lloyd strips, I believe.

    Jamie Delano did write Night Raven before House of Cards. But these were prose stories in Marvel Superheroes and The Daredevils mostly. Some of those prose stories were written by Delano, some by Alan McKenzie some by Alan Moore.

    The Moore stories can actually be found free online, here:

    http://fourcolorheroes.home.insightbb.com/free.html

    Unfortunately I do not own a complete set of all of the text stories myself, and those stories do go to further Night Raven more into the present day.

    He did also appear in a Marvel Graphic Novel, Stateside, in the form of Fury/Black Widow: Death Duty, from the early to mid 90s. He's a supporting character, granted, but there's a fair bit of plot and character revelations, too.

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  13. There was also the Nocturne limited series, which Dan Abnett wrote in 1995.

    That series is actually quite a lot of fun, but doesn't really fit with Night Raven continuity. It has since been stated to be an alternate universe story.

    Night Raven also appears in a full page picture of the Allied heroes invading/liberating Berlin, in #1 of JMS's The Twelve (Will he ever come back to finish that?). It's actually the key factor that drew me to picking up the book. Night Raven plays no actual part in the story, you understand. The appearance is also a contradiction, as in Night Raven's continuity he was frozen at the time.

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  14. Cheers Mark! Nightraven is a great little character. House Of Cards is awesome. I've really enjoyed discovering a character that I knew existed, but couldn't find anything on back in the day (not even House Of Cards, oddly). Another great character from Marvel UK - and an inspiration for V for Vendetta, according to the blurb on the back of the strip collection (I would have thought Rorsach, myself!).

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  15. Well, the link between the two is David Lloyd, of course. And V was first published (The earlier chapters) in Warrior magazine back in 1982 (For which Moore also produced Marvelman/Miracleman). It was a good few years before Watchmen came to be.

    I know that the guys over at Panini were interested in recollecting Night Raven in a more complete fashion. Unfortunately, when I mentioned it at BICS last year they said that unless all who had a stake in the character were interested in it being reprinted it couldn't happen. At that point, unfortunately, all parties were not, which is a great shame.

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  16. Thats a shame, particularly since the strip collection is very hard to come by these days. mine has seen better days too! if they ever do do a reprint, i hope they keep the strips black and white. the slightly garish colouring marrs the collected edition.

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