Deathlok Appreciation Page: All versions welcome

[616MarvelYear is LeapYear]

Mr. Pérez's art has been wowing us for three-and-a-half decades on titles like the Avengers, Fantastic Four, Justice League of America, New Teen Titans, Crisis on Infinite Earths, Wonder Woman, Action Comics, Infinity Gauntlet, JLA/Avengers, Brave and the Bold, Final Crisis: Legion of Three Worlds, and so much more.
But like everyone else, George had to start somewhere--and that somewhere was with a two-page filler in the back of Astonishing Tales #25 (the premiere of Deathlok) in May of 1974.
Here's another look at the "real origin" of Deathlok, written by Doug Moench with art by Pérez and Mike Esposito
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_qZK742rc1h...les+025+18.jpg http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_qZK742rc1h...les+025+19.jpg
http://www.comicsreporter.com/index....eorge_p233rez/

[Captain Craig]

I didn't feel that in issue #6 of the most recent Agents of SHIELD that Deathlok got too many moments. I did like this splash page though. Running alongside Quake at the center as she shouts Avengers Assemble!
thumb_IMG_3596_1024.jpg

[codystarbuck]

In 1974 Deathlok was indeed something totally knew. He preceded The Terminator released in 1984 by a decade!

To me, Deathlok The Demolisher is to have served as an inspiration for The Terminator for sure!

Not directly, but in spirit. Cameron swiped a ton of that; but more from cinematic sources. Skynet is pretty much the computer, in Colossus, The Forbin Project. The Terminator is a combination of the robot gunslinger in Westworld, and the eponymous Soldier, of Harlan Ellison's Outer Limits story. Kyle Reese is very much Robert Culp's character in Ellison's other Outer Limits episode, Demon With a Glass Hand. Westworld also preceded Deathlok, so it may have influenced Moench, while Martin Caidin's Cyborg novel was in 1972, which definitely predates it, as does the Six Million Dollar man pilot movie, though Moench claimed coincidence on that. I always suspected it at least put the idea of a cyborg in Moench's mind, rather than a robot, like in Westworld. The finished product is nothing like Steve Austin; but, I suspect they fell from the same family tree.

[616MarvelYear is LeapYear]

Deathlok by Denys Cowan & Jackson Guice

Gregory Wright on What did Jackson Guice contribute to the project?

Jackson “Butch” Guice did a Wonder Man story with us for Solo Avengers and we really loved his work. He and I had become pretty friendly and we asked him to come on board as the artist when we did the proposal for the mini series. We had been creating detailed character bios and ideas for set design. So Butch was given all this material, and he created a whole bunch of visuals to help sell the book. His character designs helped us to develop the characters further. I’d say his art was a tremendous boost to our proposal, and on the final outcome of the first issues. Any time you have an artist of Butch’s talent working with you, it pushes you as a writer to write better.

http://www.comicsreporter.com/index....y_butch_guice/

[616MarvelYear is LeapYear]

Amazing Spider-Man #379, written by David Michelinie and drawn by Mark Bagley.
http://www.aminoapps.com/page/comics...ts-mark-bagley

[Will.S]

So I've read the Henry Hayes series and been wondering, have any SHIELD related comics continued the whole Biotek/Andrea Hope-is-a-sleeper-Deathlok sub-plot?

I've read some of the Guggenheim/Peralta Agents of SHIELD books and currently there seems to be a subplot involving Hayes perhaps turning a sick SHIELD agent into a Deathlok but has the above mentioned parts of the Edmondson book been addressed?

[Captain Wessex]

no it has not

[616MarvelYear is LeapYear]

Not directly, but in spirit. Cameron swiped a ton of that; but more from cinematic sources. Skynet is pretty much the computer, in Colossus, The Forbin Project. The Terminator is a combination of the robot gunslinger in Westworld, and the eponymous Soldier, of Harlan Ellison's Outer Limits story. Kyle Reese is very much Robert Culp's character in Ellison's other Outer Limits episode, Demon With a Glass Hand. Westworld also preceded Deathlok, so it may have influenced Moench, while Martin Caidin's Cyborg novel was in 1972, which definitely predates it, as does the Six Million Dollar man pilot movie, though Moench claimed coincidence on that. I always suspected it at least put the idea of a cyborg in Moench's mind, rather than a robot, like in Westworld. The finished product is nothing like Steve Austin; but, I suspect they fell from the same family tree.

Thanks for the info codystarbuck. Appreciate it!

[Winterboy]

Deathlok by Denys Cowan & Jackson Guice

Gregory Wright on What did Jackson Guice contribute to the project?

http://www.comicsreporter.com/index....y_butch_guice/

Jackson "Butch" Guice is so underrated.

[Winterboy]

I really would like to see Butch Guice or Mike Perkins drawing a Deathlok/Winter Soldier showdown...

[Will.S]

no it has not

Thanks for the info.

[616MarvelYear is LeapYear]

Captain America 286-289

This Set of Captain America came from a huge run in the 80’s that I loved.
It was written by J.M. DeMatteis and drawn by the great Mike Zeck.

[Captain Craig]

So I've read the Henry Hayes series and been wondering, have any SHIELD related comics continued the whole Biotek/Andrea Hope-is-a-sleeper-Deathlok sub-plot?

I've read some of the Guggenheim/Peralta Agents of SHIELD books and currently there seems to be a subplot involving Hayes perhaps turning a sick SHIELD agent into a Deathlok but has the above mentioned parts of the Edmondson book been addressed?

Sadly, no. I do wish we had gotten more of where Edmondson was going with his larger arc. Be nice if someone on the AoS book would ask Edmondson where he was going so that a sub-plot with Hayes on that could be addressed.

I assume you didn't mention who the sick SHIELD agent was for reasons of Spoilers, but it's safe to say she likely somehow manages to get reverted back or not fully transformed. Altered enough to save her though.

[616MarvelYear is LeapYear]

It revolves around Deathlok, a cyborg from a future where all the heroes disappeared without a trace, almost overnight.
This was caused by Roxxon/Brand a group of companies involved in energy production and pretty much everything else.
Well except for the fact that they are totally evil and bent on world domination and like to create super-villains.
They cropped up a lot in Marvel Comics starting in the mid 70’s and still show up today, they even show up in the Marvel movies in the background, for now.
In the future they created Deathlok as a super soldier, after a while he broke free but ended up shunted back in time where Roxxon/Brand got ahold of him and he cropped up a few time over the course of a decade or so.

The series starts off with a clone of Luthor Manning, Deathlok’s human body being sent through time to 1983 in search of Deathlok. And of course he’s being held at a “shut down” Brand facility, and while breaking in he’s spotted by Cap who is on the way to meet his girlfriend’s parents. So as usual I’m skipping over a bunch of stuff but Cap joins up with the clone and they find Deathlok. It turns out the clone’s job was to make contact with Deathlok and restore Manning’s memories and when he finds out Brand has kept him in storage for years Deathlok turns a bit vindictive. Then he heads off to the place where the clone popped in to make the return trip to the far future of 1993.

Of course Cap being, well Cap, goes with because people need his help, and because he’s awesome like that. In 1993 the hook up with Godwulf and his band of freedom fighters and they go up against the man responsible Deathlok and a good deal of why the future is so bad, Hellinger. Godwulf also explains what happened to the heroes of the past. The day Cap and Deathlok went to the future was the eve of Roxxon/Brand launching an attack on all the super teams. The Nth command launched a program called “Purge” where squads of commandos use Nth Projectors to send all the super groups in to alien, hostile, and fatal dimensions, when that was done they did the same to all the “lone wolf” heroes and then took over and ruined the world. Godwulf knows this because he led one of the teams.

So of course in the end Cap makes it back and that’s not a spoiler since 30 years later he’s still fighting (although I am now realizing I bought these issues on from the news stand as they came out and feel rather old.) One of the things I love about this arc is a recurring theme about the power of Captain America, not the man but the symbol. People rally to the man and the idea of what he fought for, this shows up the classic and 1990’s “Guardians of the Galaxy” where they fight to free humanity from alien control. The Guardians ship is “The Captain America” and in the 90’s series they go looking for a relic of amazing power to help in the fight. The relic is Cap’s Shield. The same kind of idea crops up in the late part of Marvel’s 2099 line. Cap has pretty much always been “the good guy” and they keep true to that so even guys like the Punisher respect him. And by being this symbol Cap helps DeathLok become a symbol to the people of the future.

And Mike Zeck is amazing, I have always been a fan of his art. He makes me think of Jack Kirby, both draw larger than life heroes and do great tech, the main difference is where Jack loved straight lines and corners (a fist Jack drew looked like a foundation block and it was COOL) Mike goes with curves and rounded corners. I really wish he would do more comics work, well that and that I could afford some of his pages. As for J.M. DeMatteis, if his name is on it, it’s worth reading.
http://talesfromthekryptonian.blogsp...mike-zeck.html

[Nomads1]

Captain America 286-289

This Set of Captain America came from a huge run in the 80’s that I loved.
It was written by J.M. DeMatteis and drawn by the great Mike Zeck.

This trilogy in Captain America was actually my introduction to the character. Later on I got some back issues featuring him, but this was the first contact.

Peace