tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5510941869814453320.post3113997937130754095..comments2021-08-22T22:44:31.813+01:00Comments on It Came From Darkmoor...: Who needs a Bullpen when you can have a Bulldog?Mark Robertshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13499212500786272512noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5510941869814453320.post-62932594781124599612008-10-20T20:03:00.000+01:002008-10-20T20:03:00.000+01:00Ah, Marvel UK. I have fond memories of them. throu...Ah, Marvel UK. I have fond memories of them. through the UK Transformers comic, and their spin-offs I was introduced to the world of comic books. I followed Death's Head's adventures to his own series (always hard to find in UK newsagents - comic stores being a strange and exotic beast in far away towns)and always kept an eye out for his appearances.<BR/><BR/> There's a couple of key things that happened around then for me - the discovery in 1990 of Marshal Law in 'Kingdom Of The Blind' (reprinted for British news stands by Apocalypse) which in turn lead me to Toxic! the following year. Finding seemingly the only copy in exsistance of 'The Body In Question' (seriously, what was the print run on this? 5?! I've never seen another copy of this since I got mine back in October 1990) and later the 'life and times of deaths head' which promised a new limited series (and another redesign - oh how little i knew at the time). The last piece of the puzzle was an indepth interview in Comic Collector with Paul Neary (which I still have) outlining Marvel UK's big push into US comics.<BR/>As Toxic! had proved a brave, but fleeting read (i loved it - and it was suprisingly ahead of the times) I was more than happy to wait for the new fortnightly, Overkill. Particularly as I was excited to see if Death's Head would get a look in - his 'all new' appearance having been mentioned breifly in Havoc! Issue 6 (cover by a certain Liam Sharpe).<BR/>Well, Overkill Issue One came out in May 1992 and I was hooked. I was overjoyed with these London centric characters, and best of all, they felt real and relevant and weren't too 'Superhero-y'. They were, as Neary promised, slightly edgy and street. I stuck with Overkill 'til its bitter end (with issue 52). I even got a letter printed in issue 21 (which I was very excited about! Bonus as well, as that issue had a retrospective of the original Death's Head!<BR/>Where Marvel UK became a cropper, was in expanding too quickly and churning out identi-kit team books. Particularly stuff like the 'Genepool' imprint of mutant titles. A bit unnescessary as Marvel US had about 14 X-titles on the go at the time. The over -reliance on guest stars (normally Wolverine, predictably) to sell the books seemed to drag them down - Hell's Angel is shocking in its use of the X-Men. They have more story pages given over to them than the titular heroine and its not even their book! There was also the sad decline of the original 5 books of the Marvel UK launch. All of them showed signs of running out of steam after eight issues - none more so than Motormouth & Killpower. Perhaps by over-commiting the relatively small pool of writing staff.<BR/><BR/>However, their were some original concepts creeping out. the Frontier Comics line was a worthy experiment and tapped into Vertigo territory (which is never a bad thing), although some of the nudity in Bloodseed did seem like titilation (sorry, Liam). Stuff like Shadow Riders and Wild Thing seemed to hint at darker and more futuristic themes (I er, wont mention Universal Soldier rip-off 'Super Soldiers'!)and their seemed to be a real desire to push the boundaries and tell more interesting and thought provoking stories.<BR/><BR/>I didn't collect many of the US format Marvel UK books, but still keep an eye out for them as they bring back many fond memories! If only Marvel US would bring them out of exile as they once promised (Lionhearts was mooted in late 1994 in a brief article in Comics International, but alas it never materialised).simon hallhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05877823195487136665noreply@blogger.com