A few Marvel UK Tidbits from Yesteryear

Hello everyone.

Many apologies for my recent disappearances from the interwebs. I heard talk of search parties. It's okay. I am alive a well. :)

Long term followers of this Blog will know that it's been a difficult few years for me. 2011 and 2012 were both years of stepping back and being treated, 2013 proved to be the year of recovery and that has led to 2014 - the year of getting back on track. Over the past few years I've had to put a lot of things on the back burner, I've had to take a less proactive role in a lot of areas of my life. With this having changed somewhat in the past couple of months, as you can see, regular updates to this blog have suffered. Do not worry. It's not been abandoned.

I feel greatly frustrated that it has impacted on my coverage of the final issues of Revolutionary War, because the Motormouth, Warheads and the final Omega issue were something very special indeed. The new status quo set up for several characters over those issues are things which I dearly hope get carried over into future projects.

Oh! And while it's coming a little late for the warning, Dark Angel fans? If you've not been picking up Kieron Gillen's Iron Man series, then you most certainly should be. Shevaun Haldane has now joined that title's supporting cast, starting with the Issue #23.NOW - as the curious Marvel Now numbering has named it. A good new platform for the character.

Revolutionary War has served to remind both readers and creators as to just what a buzz of creativity the early 90s were at Marvel UK. Over on the Make Mine Marvel UK Facebook group recently, one half of Revolutionary War's writing combo - Alan Cowsill - posted up a couple of images from what would have been Roid Rage #1. Roid Rage and Red Mist 20-20 were both advertised in Marvel UK titles in the latter days of the imprint. Two page painted adverts if I recall correctly. Sadly it never made it into print before the sell-off, but it was definitely intended to be a big story. If I understand correctly, from what I've managed to pick up over the years, the Super Soldiers title was going to play a large part in that and I believe there was even a set of painted artwork destined to be promotional trading cards for the event.

Beyond that? Well, we've not really known very much.

I hope Alan doesn't mind me posting these up, here. I've tweaked the contrast a little for clarity, but the artwork comes from Andrew Currie on pencils and Bryan Hitch on inks.

Interestingly, from that second image, Cowsill posted that "Rw trivia, it's also the first time Agent Keller appeared...he didn't last long though...". So he was always a planned character, even all those years ago...

Marvel UK artwork from this period is of course somewhat hard to come by. A lot of it, tragically, ended up being trashed when the Marvel UK offices closed. It has been lost forever. However, in the same category of unpublished artwork John Freeman also recently posted up these couple of images from an unpublished Warheads story.

The artwork comes courtesy of 2000 AD's SMS (Smuzz). Freeman notes that "Just to note, we're now thinking that these two 'pages' are amalgams of incomplete art from the strip, now everyone has had sight of the script. Neither 'page' matches the script exactly. I've been pushing Smuzz's excellent work for years and at some point he sent me these two pages as samplers". 

A third and final page of artwork was later added, with a name for the story as "Target Practice".

"There are amendments on the script that asked that the alien on this final page be Vorin, the leader of the Shadow Riders," says Freeman, "I suspect that, as I have never seen this page before today, this would have been a matter of me asking for the change when I'd seen the art!"

It would have been great to have SMS doing art for Marvel UK. He's probably best known for his work on 2000 AD's ABC Warriors. I definitely think he'd have been a good fit for the tone of the series.

But perhaps the most interesting thing to have come from this stroll back through Marvel UK documents is that John Freeman has shared up some internal notes from 1993, on future plans for Overkill magazine. 

US readers - For those of you unaware Overkill magazine was a UK market anthology series which printed choice sections of what was printed in the US market books (along with the odd bit of exclusive material) in a fashion not entirely dissimilar to, say, that of 2000 AD. 

"(The document)outlines some of the unpublished comic strips planned for Overkill," says Freeman, "and my thoughts on the future of some of the company’s title such as Motormouth and Warheads, in January 1993, when I was in the process of leaving the company to take up life as a freelancer. The company was absorbed by Panini UK in 1995 and is no longer in business.

The hand-written notes re...fer to “Paul” – Paul Neary, Marvel UK’s Editorial Director; and editors Tim Quinn, Jacqui Papp and Bambos Georgiou."

And there are a number of interesting details within. Such as this, for example. Highlighted below:

How interesting is that? A US market book fronted by DH II, to collect the strips which the US market missed.

Now I can recall in the Marvel UK 'Bodycount' freebie from around that time that there was definitely some painted dinosaur artwork from a future project showcased there. I wonder if that was from the same piece?

But one of the most interesting parts of the document refers to two creators who would certainly play a role in shaping British characters for mainstream US Marvel at a later point.

Warren Ellis would later take the reins of Excalibur at Marvel and go on to create the character of Pete Wisdom - who is now among the most prominent British characters out there and active in Marvel Comics. Paul Cornell of course would also go on to write Pete Wisdom, as in integral part of his Captain Britain & MI13 series. Small world.

I'd have loved to have seen this. The MYS-TECH board were always intriguing characters, to me. There were so many possibilities in expanding their history and individual character. An organisation capable of rivaling The Hellfire Club with their clandestine operations around the world (and for a much larger chunk of history, at that).

For those who are interested in reading more, John has shared the document up here: http://www.scribd.com/doc/217618955/Marvel-UK-Comics-Pending-01-1993

I'd also recommend looking over the ongoing list which John has been keeping of all Marvel UK projects, past and new, over at his own site. It really is a comprehensive list, both of published titles and the many projects with never saw the light of day.

Well, that's it for now folks. Hope that's proven to be of interest to you.

Until we meet again... (and hopefully it won't take as long next time)

Mark (Sword)

The Time has Arrived: Revolutionary War starts This Week!

Well, 'Hello' everyone. I hope you had a suitably enjoyable Christmas and New Year break. I have been giving myself a little time away from the internet during December. Recharging for all that 2014 has to offer.

And boy, DOES it offer!

This week brings us the start of the Marvel UK mini event 'Revolutionary War'. Marvel UK stalwarts Andy Lanning and Alan Cowsill are bringing back the largely forgotten characters of the Marvel UK 90s imprint, for a multipart story played out over three months.

This all begins this coming Wednesday (8th January, 2014), with Revolutionary War: Alpha, by Lanning and Cowsill, with art by Richard Elson.

 

 

 

The solicit for the issue itself reads as follows:

 

 

REVOLUTIONARY WAR: ALPHA #1

ANDY LANNING AND ALAN COWSILL (W) • RICH ELSON (A)

Cover by MARK BROOKS
Variant Cover by BARRY KITSON
Part 1 of “Revolutionary War”
• Marvel UK’s greatest heroes come together for the first time in 20 years to face a threat that could destroy the world.
• Featuring Captain Britain, Pete Wisdom, Death’s Head II, Motormouth and Killpower, the Warheads and a host of British heroes.
32 PGS./ ONE-SHOT/Rated T+ …$3.99

 

 

I cannot overemphasize both how excited I am about this and just how important this issue is to all fans of Marvel UK. Marvel probably doesn't have huge expectations for this series, so please join in me in surprising them by exceeding those expectations in a definite way.

 

Ask your comic store to put a copy aside for you, do not miss this issue. That's the cover you are looking for, or this Barry Kitson variant:

 

 

 

 

 

 

And for those who are curious a 4 Page Preview is now up over at Comic Book Resources.

 

Want more? Well, now we have a much clearer picture of what is coming via Marvel's own solicitations and via Alan Cowsill himself over on the Make Mine Marvel UK Facebook page.

 

So, Revolutionary War: Alpha is effectively Chapter 1 of this story. Here is how the rest of Revolutionary War will break down.

 

 

Wednesday January 15th 2014:

 

 

REVOLUTIONARY WAR: DARK ANGEL #1

KIERON GILLEN (W) • DIETRICH SMITH (A)
Cover by MARK BROOKS
Variant Cover by SALVADOR LARROCA
Part 2 of “Revolutionary War”
• When Shevaun Haldane experiences a troubling vision in Darkmoor Castle, she realizes danger may be coming for the heroes of Marvel UK.
• With time running out, Shevaun has no choice but to suit up as Dark Angel once again.
• An adventure that will take fans through the past, present, and future of Marvel UK!
32 PGS./ ONE-SHOT/Rated T+ …$3.99

 

 

 

Wednesday 29th January 2014:

 



REVOLUTIONARY WAR: KNIGHTS OF PENDRAGON #1

ROB WILLIAMS (W) • SIMON COLEBY (A)

Cover by MARK BROOKS
Variant Cover by TBD
Part 3 of “Revolutionary War”
• A corporate deep-mining setup unearths an old MYS-TECH base, where magical cloning experiments have been taking place.
• What mysteries or monsters are waiting in Britain’s subterranean bones?
• Featuring fan-favorite Marvel UK characters Dai Thomas, Pete Wisdom, and Union Jack!
32 PGS./ ONE-SHOT/Rated T+ …$3.99

 

 

 

Wednesday 12th February 2014:

 

 

REVOLUTIONARY WAR: DEATH'S HEAD II #1

ANDY LANNING & ALAN COWSILL (W) • NICK ROCHE (A)

Cover by MARK BROOKS
Variant Cover by LIAM SHARP
Part 4 of "Revolutionary War"
• The long-awaited return of DEATH'S HEAD -- one of the biggest hits of the original Marvel UK!
• Death's Head! Death's Head II! On an adventure together for the first time EVER!
• What threat could be grave enough to bring these two heroes together from across time? How about the villainous Mys-Tech organization resurfacing with an army?!
32 PGS./ONE-SHOT/Rated T+ ...$3.99

 

 

 

Wednesday 19th February 2014:

 

 

REVOLUTIONARY WAR: SUPERSOLDIERS #1

ROB WILLIAMS (W) • BRENT ANDERSON (A)
Cover by MARK BROOKS
Variant Cover by DAVE GIBBONS
Part 5 of "Revolutionary War"
• Some of the most popular heroes of Marvel UK return for SUPERSOLDIERS – and where the Supersoldiers go, trouble isn't far behind!
• It's the Supersoldiers versus Mys-Tech in all-out war!
• When a vast army of Mys-Tech Psycho Wraiths come calling on a small Scottish town, it's up to the Supersoldiers to put them down for good!
32 PGS./ ONE-SHOT/Rated T+ ...$3.99

 

 

 

Wednesday 12th March 2014:

 

 

REVOLUTIONARY WAR: MOTORMOUTH #1

GLENN DAKIN (W) • RONAN CLIQUET (A)
Cover by MARK BROOKS
Variant Cover By DECLAN SHALVEY
• When Mys-Tech returns and threatens the safety of Great Britain, MI:13 need to try to convince MOTORMOUTH to come out of retirement.
• Harley Davis’ days of being a hero are over, though.  Now, her day job is being the mother of  her two children. Until an explosive Mys-Tech attack calls her out of retirement!
• Be there as Motormouth gets her mojo back!
32 PGS./Rated T+ …$3.99

 

 

 

Wednesday 19th March 2014:

 

 

REVOLUTIONARY WAR: WARHEADS #1

ANDY LANNING & ALAN COWSILL (W)
GARY ERSKINE (A)
Cover by MARK BROOKS
VARIANT COVER BY GARY ERSKINE
• Colonel Liger, formerly of the evil organization Mys-Tech, has started working as an agent of MI:13, Mys-Tech’s rival agency.
• Not everything is as it appears, though – because Liger has just discovered that his old team, The Warheads, are still alive – and nothing’s going to stop him from finding them.
32 PGS./Rated T+ …$3.99

 

 

 

And finally...

 

Wednesday 26th March 2014:

 

 

REVOLUTIONARY WAR: OMEGA #1

ANDY LANNING & ALAN COWSILL (W) • RICHARD ELSON (A)
Cover by MARK BROOKS
Variant Cover by JAMIE McKELVIE
THE FINAL ISSUE IN AN 8-PART EPIC
• Marvel UK’s triumphant return reaches its epic conclusion!
• Will the agents of MI:13 be able to stop whatever Mys-Tech has been planning?
32 PGS./Rated T+ …$3.99

 

 

And there you have it. A list of issues, dates, variant covers and creators. And with this again may I reiterate what is fast becoming somewhat of a mantra for me, right now. Make sure you Order (or Pre-order) your copy.

 

I'm sure that most of you, much like myself, are eager to read these books. They're kind of a big deal to us, we want to read more Marvel UK character stories, and we know that the only way that is going to happen is if this series succeeds. The best way to ensure that is for you to go to your local comic book store, speak to the guy who orders them in, and ask them to pre-order you a copy of each book. You have the issue names. You have the dates they come out. They can do this for you.

Why? Well, it's no secret that the characters involved here are not as high profile as, say, the Spider-man, Avengers or Wolverines of this world. Those Mark Brooks covers are gobsmacking. Really standout covers. But the Marvel UK characters have been away for a while, and some store owners out there might not even be completely aware of Revolutionary War as a series or event.

So go and spread the word to them. :)

Pre-ordering the book, asking the owner to put an issue aside, guarantees that you'll get your copy, but it also lets the owner know that people are interested in the series. So hopefully they'll order enough copies in for others too.

If championing Marvel UK appearances over recent years (Such as Captain Britain & MI13, for example) has taught me anything it's that there's nothing more frustrating than wanting to support a series only to find that you cannot get hold of a copy - either because the store owner didn't order enough copies in, or didn't order it in at all. I've received a number of emails over the years from guys telling me just that. So let's make sure this does not happen this around.

Avoid disappointment, get your Revolutionary War order in today, and pick up Revolutionary War: Alpha this Wednesday. I have a really good feeling about this.

 

Speak soon.

 

Mark (Sword)

ICFD Cover of the Week - 24th February 2013

For this week's cover I have to admit to cheating a little bit...

How?

Well this week's cover was never actually published. At least not in print form. But don't let that put you off, because it actually is readily available online.

Right back when I started this Blog (Ouch! Was that really 2007?) my first entry proper was a piece on a wonderful little series which, while advertised, never saw print before Marvel UK was closed.

Loose Cannons was a fully painted spin-off series from Marvel UK's Warheads - the book about the heavily armed dimension hopping units of the same name, who traversed Marvel's multiverse in order to claim artefacts and technology for the Mys-Tech corporation. 

The Warheads program comprised of a number of different troops sent out to secure different objectives, and explore different universes, each mostly named after the different 'emanations of God' from the Kabbalah. The main Warheads series principally focussed on, 'Kether Troop,' was fronted by Col. Tigon Liger - A grisly old action hero with half his face torn off. courtesy of Wolverine.

Loose Cannons was to introduce a new, all-female, faction by the name of 'Virago Troop,' fronted by Bodicea 'Bo' Kildare (front and centre), leading this new troop on similar kinds of missions. As the cover here shows (and I'm sure this won't exactly shock you, for a Dan Abnett Marvel UK book of this period) Death's Head II makes an appearance. As do a number of other familiar Marvel UK faces, from the logical periphery characters or the Warheads and the Mys-Tech board, to appearances from Evelyn Necker and Dark Angel. But what perhaps pleased me the most was that from the outset we had a further interaction with the cosmic elements of the greater Marvel Universe. The first issue opens with an encounter with the Shi'Ar, for example.

I love the artwork throughout this series, as with Harrison's work on a number of Overkill covers from the early 90s. It gives these characters a wonderfully three dimensional feel to them, in a way that regular comic book art of the period didn't. Back in the early 90s Marvel US was still very much a four colour world, barely even embracing airbrushing in its colouring. Yet here in Britain fully painted artwork wasn't exactly uncommon, and not just on cover work for that matter. It just seemed that we were streets ahead of our cousins across the Atlantic. Seeing explosions, or lightning, rendered like on the cover above was like associating in a totally different world.

The pairing of Mark Harrison's artwork with Dan Abnett writing will be greatly familiar to readers of 2000 AD, of course. The pair had quite notable success working on Durham Red, using a similar aesthetic. This series actually pre-dates that. Arguably it was probably the running of those Loose Cannons adverts in Marvel UK books which in part helped Harrison get work at 2000 AD. And we're damned glad he did. 

So, yes, unpublished in print. However, still readily available for viewing online. It's been a few years since I posted a link to it, but back in 2005 Mark Harrison posted a version of the complete 4 issue series online. The final 10 pages of issue 4 exist as storyboards, as the art was never completed before the axe fell. But they're perfectly readable, and I'd certainly recommend checking them out.

The series can be found here: www.2000ad.org/markus/loosecannons

ICFD Cover of the Week - 25th Aug 2008

Yes, three weeks in a row...

This week's cover is from Overkill #24 and comes from the oils of Mark Harrison, who provided quite a lot of covers for Overkill during its run.


As I've mentioned before, while Mark is quite well-known here in the UK for his work on 2000 AD (Especially with characters such as Durham Red) I have always felt it to be an incredible shame that Marvel never took the opportunity to export Mark to their US line. The quality of his work is always exceptionally high, but back in the early 90s Marvel US seemed very reluctant towards the concept of painted artwork in comics. Maybe because of reproduction costs, maybe because it didn't match the colouring direction they were going down (With the acquisition of Malibu Comics, for example), but here (As with other fully-painted art guys, like Carl Critchlow) I really do feel that they were missing a trick.

This cover features Harrison's first foray into drawing Warheads characters - in this case new recruit Leona McBride. It's a book which was originally pencilled (And very well, for that matter) by Gary Erskine. Harrison matches it's gritty tone very well, and it was no doubt on the back of his depictions of the team that he was given the (sadly ill-fated) Loose Cannons limited series - a series about another, all-female team of Warheads - later on into Marvel UK's imprint days.

You can find more about that here: http://itcamefromdarkmoor.blogspot.com/search/label/Loose%20Cannons

I really like this cover. It captures Leona's innocence in her early Warheads outings very well. Anybody who read up as far as Warhead's: Black Dawn will know things definitely changed in her by the the end, but this cover captures the character from those early Vince/Erskine issues brilliantly.

A Blog from across the Atlantic

Greetings! Well, as regular visitors will have doubtless noticed, I've been a little absent since around about the release of Captain Britain & MI:13 #1. Well, right now I've taken this a step further and actually quit the UK for a while. Don't worry, it's only for a fortnight. And everybody needs a holiday. Some time away from work, from the norm, even from this little obsession of mine... Right?

Oh, I so wish I could...

But, no.

By now you'll probably have noticed the photo (Please forgive its slightly fuzzy quality and my own attire - they're having somewhat of a heatwave here in New Jersey, with temperatures up to 100 degrees F, a couple of days back. It's no sleeves, or die - and damn the British stiff upper lip ;) ). It seems that even half the world away I cannot escape from Marvel UK...



In my hands I have a copy of #13 of Warheads, found in an aging comics rack in a bookstore on the Boardwalk in Wildwood, New Jersey. I suppose this should not be SO surprising. The Bargain Bin is, quite honestly, where you are most likely to find the majority of Marvel UK's 90s titles. But this seems to be the way it works with me. I wasn't looking for the damned issues. I wasn't even looking for a Comic Book store, yet. There I was, just minding my own business, and all of a sudden ot was THERE! Facing me, at the top of the rack, almost as if somebody had put it there, with the intention of grabbing my attention.

My girlfriend groaned when I told her I'd found it. She expected SOME comic book focus on this trip (We're in the States, after all!) but was probably hoping for a little more warning... ;)

To the unitiated Warheads was one of the longest running titles of the early 90s Marvel Uk imprint. I haven't, as of yet, given it much of a mention on this blog - although that shouldn't be read as being indicative of anything quality wise. It was actually pretty good.

The Warheads basically are a highly armed group of scavengers, who loot technology and weapons from their travels across space, time and thedimension. When the book began they were doing this for MYS-TECH, the occult-centric corporation of bad guys who were at the centre of so many of Marvel UK titles of this period. That changed later on, but certainly for the most part that's who these guys are - kinda like Pirates who loot other worlds via wormholes.

This issue, from the tail end of the run, is scripted by Ian Rimmer and Craig Huston and pencilled by Stuart Jennett, and it's a pretty simple, straight-forward, stand-alone issue. As with most of the Warheads stories we are guided through by Leona - who started off as a new-recruit at the beginning of the series. Her first person perspective is part of what made the series flow so well.

The issue delivers us a shoot-out in a swamp, the busting of a few alien skulls, a new recruit losing an arm, and several moments of Col Liger's inappropriate relationship with his gun - Clementine (Seriously, didn't anybody else think that weird voice-activated flirting was a little creepy?). It's actually not at all bad, especially for the 50c I spent on it!

So there you go! Even on the other side of the Atlantic Marvel UK stalks me. It'll get you too...