Death’s Head Review: Munchkyn

During the brief run of the Death’s Head series, it was advertised across Marvel’s other titles with a one-page comic strip. This was reprinted in the second volume of collected works, so in the interests of completeness, I’m giving it a quick glance.
The piece has no credits, although I’d say Simon Furman and Bryan Hitch did the writing and art respectively. We begin on the planet Godliux. Death’s Head and Spratt are side-by-side, blasting away and under heavy fire from an unseen source.
Spratt is complaining about the nature of their work, and that Death’s Head, as a ‘freelance peacekeeping agent’ (ahem, ‘bounty hunter’) should have found them something better. Death’s Head replies that he doesn’t care who his clients are, and for the right money he’ll kill anyone.
“Yeah, but really…” Spratt says as the scene opens up to reveal their opponents are a bunch of knee-high marauders, “…wiping out invading Munchkyns?”
Their employers are also in view: little teddy bear people who offer to pay with ‘candycard’. Death’s Head sighs, “It’s a living, yes?”
It’s a funny little story, and certainly sets out the stall for the Death Head’s series: a blend of action and comedy. Death’s Head gets to display his ruthless, businesslike personality – only to have it sweetly undercut by the final panel. Even in full heroic stance – gun smoking, cape flying – the mechanoid looks like he’s swallowing a lot of embarrassment.
The artwork is well done: solid action scenes for the set-up panels, with some good pathos in the last panel. Particularly funny are the inhabitants of Godliux, who look adorable in their little bow ties (one is even clinging to Spratt’s leg for protection).
Though necessary for the joke, it’s interesting that Death’s Head and Spratt are off-planet for this job – something that never happened in the series. With his spacecraft rebuilt, there’s no reason they have to stay in Los Angeles, and I think planet-hopping adventures would have been fun to read. (I also think there would have been great comedic potential in a whole issue of Death’s Head versus the Munchkyns.)
The Munchkyn one-page advert was republished ‘Death’s Head Volume 2’

Bish's Review: Marvel UK #134 "Headhunt" Part 2

Headhunt Part 2 was written by Simon Furman, drawn by Geoff Senior, coloured by Steve White and lettered by Richard Starkings.

The cover is by Lee Sullivan and is a lurid but fairly effective portrait of Scourge and Cyclonus. Once again, it doesn't need the speech balloon, which seems to have been some kind of misguided editorial policy but while it cannot quite match Dave Gibbons' contribution from the previous issue, it's a good illustration of where the issue begins.

Down in the utility tunnels beneath Cybertron Scourge and Cyclonus are arguing. It turns out that the explosion that ended last issue was Scourge shooting Death's Head in the back. Now Death's Head is down but Rodimus Prime has taken advantage of the confusion to escape. Scourge is adamant that he owed Death's Head after the bounty hunter critically wounded him in their last encounter and Cyclonus concedes the point, but insists they hurry after Prime, or the Decepticons will never accept them as joint leaders.

As the two stalk off down the tunnel a twitch of a mechanical gauntlet suggests that perhaps Death's Head is not as dead as the Decepticons might have assumed...

Nearby, Rodimus has a head start but is flagging badly as the wounds he took last time are taking their toll. As he tries desperately to keep going his thoughts betray the immense pressure he feels from the responsibility of leadership and the unthinkable notion that Death's Head's gun to his head might have been a blessed release.

Scourge and Cyclonus catch a glimpse of the Autobot leader as he goes around a corner and release a barrage of insanely powerful firepower. Confident that nothing could have survived their onslaught they go looking for the body, missing the fact that Rodimus has slipped through a grating beneath their feet.

When they move off he climbs back up into the tunnel, in a torrent of unsavoury looking toxic waste. Dicing with death is slowly building back Rodimus's confidence as he reaffirms to himself that the creation matrix is too great a responsibility to give up and if he cannot defeat the Decepticons they will spread their tyranny through the universe!

Determining that he needs a weapon, Rodimus heads for Death's Head's corpse, only to find it gone, with only his shield remaining! The shield has a hole right through the middle but the mechanoid's corpse is nowhere to be found.

Elsewhere, Death's Head, very much alive and well, confronts Scourge and Cyclonus. He adminishes the Decepticons for not checking that he was dead and is very angry with them for possibly costing him Shockwave's 10,000 shanix. He attacks and thr Decepticons run, which Death's Head admits he enjoys much more.

Rodimus Prime, somewhat lost, stumbles upon a large red capital A marking a tunnel wall and is struck by an idea. Scourge and Cyclonus charge past him and bundle him over, all thoughts of assasinating him gone in their panic at Death's Head's fury.

Death's Head slows up, realising he can still claim his bounty as Rodimus gets back up. Rodimus hurls the bounty hunter's own shield back at him with a throw that would make Steve Rogers proud. It knocks Death's Head backwards and straight into a wall, giving the Autobot leader time to scale a ladder leading to a hatch.

While Death's Head curses him for running and gives chase, Rodimus reveals his endgame - the red A markings have lead him back to Autobase and when Death's Head pops his head out of the hatch he finds himself surrounded by Autobot blasters.

Death's Head concludes that perhaps it's time to let Rodimus Prime off but the Autobot has other ideas. He proposes a counter offer - 10,000 shanix for the heads of Scourge and Cyclonus. Death's Head is only too pleased to accept!

Part 2 zips along at a fair pace and delivers us a very enjoyable pay-off. It is with decisions like this that Furman can distance Rodimus Prime from his predecessor. Much less blinded by idealism than Optimus Prime, Rodimus has no qualms about once again hiring Death's Head to go after his enemies. Optimus would never have done business with such an individual but Rodimus takes a calculated risk that could very well pay off, given Death's Head's proven ability to cut through the stalemate situation on Cybertron.

A critic might argue that Rodimus' similar course of action with Galvatron went badly wrong when Death's Head got involved and that he is being foolhardy to use similar tactics again. However, I think that the margin for error is much lower here. As far as the Autobots know, Scourge and Cyclonus do not possess Galvatron's time-jump ability and probably will not make it far from Cybertron with Death's Head on their tails. In addition, Rodimus has paid Death's Head in advance, which means he has the bounty hunter's loyalty sewn up. There will be no repeat of Death's Head's fury at having his contract cancelled last time as if Rodimus wants to cancel it, Death's Head will get to keep the money. I also very much enjoy the way that Rodimus mocks Death's Head by using his verbal ticks when he has the better of him. Perhaps there is some Hot Rod showing through there. Certainly, this is not something that Optimus Prime would do, except maybe in the Sunbow cartoon.

Scourge and Cyclonus suffer some serious setbacks in this issue and their bickering is always fun to read. I like the way that they never even question the fact that if one leads the Decepticons they both will. Apparently Unicron-forged Decepticons are much more loyal to one another than the regular kind, or perhaps they both recognise that they are unpopular and need the other's firepower to maintain control. Or maybe they're just in love. Who can say? That said, they never look further from achieving their goal as at the end of this issue - running ignominiously away, with a very cross bounty hunter on their trail.

With these events, Furman has established an intriguing framework for future stories set in this time-period. This is a good standalone story but with Death's Head still at large, and out for revenge, it doesn't look like the status will remain quo for very much longer.

Geoff Senior's art is marked improvement over Dan Reed's. The title page splash, with Cyclonus and Scourge arguing like an old married couple is perhaps funnier than two Unicron-forged Decepticons ought to be, but it's still a great, memorable image.

A very enjoyable two issue story that tells a fast action story while setting up events for the future. Highly recommended. Next week, however, we go back to the past to examine the story of the Dinobots' hatred of the Predacons. Stay tuned for Grudge Match!

The Ark Addendum - Masterforce flight crew

As promised, this week I finish off the model pack from the Masterforce episode Kidnapping!? The Targeted Jumbo Jet.  We get to see the pilot, co-pilot, and the pre-zombified flight attendant.  Isn't she adorable?  She wears leggins, by the way, so that miniskirt actually isn't inappropriately short.  I also included another angle on the 747 that was cut from the episode.  They all work for Monte Port Airlines - you can see the symbol their hats and on the wings of the plane.  It looks vaguely Starfleet to me.

Next week, I'll plumb my archives and see if I can't get something from the US of A.

Bish's Review Space Above and Beyond Episode 13: Level Of Necessity

"You act without even thinking about it, because you have no other choice, because it matters, because you've reached your level of necessity" - Matt Burke

Level Of Necessity was written by Matt Kiene and Joe Reinkemeyer and directed by Thomas J. Wright. Genre fans might enjoy knowing that Kiene and Reinkemeyer were both story editors for the entire first season of Buffy The Vampire Slayer and had writing credits on the Buffy episodes, The Pack and Inca Mummy Girl.

While on a mission in the hellish tunnels of the planet Daedalus, Damphouse has a premonition that the 46th squadron are walking into a trap. When all but one are killed Matt Burke, a colonel from the Psi-Ops division, becomes interested in her and leads her through a series of tests, culminating in him observing her on a mission back to Daedalus and a fateful raid on a Chig ammunition dump. Vanessa's psychic visions happen again, predicting the death of one of the team. As tensions in the tunnels run high the Chigs attack and Burke is fatally wounded. The 58th escape but Vanessa is left wondering if her abilities are even real and if so, are they a gift, or a curse.

The Good
The basic idea of psionic soldiering is worth exploring in this kind of show. Damphouse could do with an arc beyond being "the nice one" in the squadron and this could have unfolded into something interesting.

Richard Kind, who plays Matt Burke, puts in an excellent performance as the slightly crazed colonel. He manages to go very naturally from annoying to sympathetic as some of the reasons behind his obsession with psychic visions come to the fore. He is a man who has been cast down from the position he used to enjoy and desperately needs something to believe in - there are definite shades of Wong and Morgan's other big show - The X-Files - in this character arc.

The tunnels of Daedalus are very well designed and atmospheric. I do not generally suffer from claustrophobia and certainly not while watching characters on TV but the sheer thought of having to crawl through those booby-trapped shafts for hours on end actually made me feel quite bad. Plus, it's another different sort of warfare for the 58th to showcase and put me in mind of the sappers in the First World War who used to tunnel under enemy trenches and blow them up.

The Bad
Unfortunately, while the premise had some promise, Level Of Necessity fails to deliver the essential ingredient - interest. The plot summary sounds like a decent idea and there are some genuinely well-done scenes but the whole thing is too slow and too vague. Damphouse is a likeable character and I can see why the writers felt the need to give her something to do but they dropped the ball here.

For all the fancy speeches about seeing time as a circle, all Damphouse's powers really boil down to is knowing for certain that someone in the vicinity will die soon. That is a maddening ability that, as is actually stated in the episode, isn't any use in a combat situation as it only serves to put everyone else on edge and for Damphouse to second-guess her every thought.

Irritatingly, Kiene and Reinkemeyer make her situation too unambiguous to believably dismiss as luck or "a trick of the light". It is clear, in this episode at least, that when Damphouse has a vision, it will come true, which really should pay off in subsequent episodes but will not. Of course, Space only ran one season and they could have revisited Psi-Ops in a hypothetical Season 2, but that's purely speculation. Damphouse's last speech in the episode is the traditional serenity (not that one) prayer:

God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, Courage to change the things I can, And wisdom to know the difference.

which could serve as an explanation for why this ability doesn't really come up again, but only if you were really generous and accepted that Damphouse's will is iron enough to stop her trying to warn her friends when they are about to die, which, from everything we know about her, it definitely is not. It is much more likely that the writers found this idea unworkable and quietly dropped it, rendering this episode pointless as well as boring. A pointless episode that had something to say, or some exciting action might have been salvageable, and a less good episode that was a major turning point in the arc of the show might have had redeeming features but unfortunately Level Of Necessity is neither.

There is also a "token sceptic" character, Luben, who joins the 58th as the only survivor from the 46th and believes that Damphouse either got lucky in delaying the 58th from entering the tunnel or didn't act fast enough to warn the 46th. It is always annoying when shows feel the need to add an external character to bring up a valid point of view because, as happens here, it tends to be done with the subtlety of a sledge-hammer and, because he's not one of the gang, the audience is automatically predisposed to disagree with him. If you know your science ficiton you'll probably remember that Star Trek did this all the time, because the characters as written always had to be basically on the same page. Space isn't that kind of show, however, and better writing could have avoided this cliche.

Less important, but worthy of mention: the effects of the auras that Damphouse sees around doomed individuals are really quite ropey, which harms verisimilitude much more than a poor special effect usually does, because we're supposed to be in the mind of the character, and she wouldn't see in dodgy green-screen.

Future History
A very nice one here when Wang explains how an early attempt at gathering intelligence by psychic vision resulted in a disaster for the United States in the mountains of Karakoram in the 2050s. This is especially fun because it calls back to the fifth episode, Ray Butts where this engagement is briefly mentioned.

Past History
I don't think there was anything this week.

Ultimately, just not a very good episode, and a big disappointment after the triumphs of the previous two and for fans of Damphouse in general.

Death’s Head Review: Issue #7 – Shot By Both Sides

Quite the changed line-up for Issue 7: Bryan Hitch returns as penciller; we get Jeff Anderson as inker and Stuart Place as colourist; even the editor, Steve White, is new. The only constants are Annie H on letters and, of course, Simon Furman as writer.

The cover is another by Bryan Hitch and Mark Farmer: a close-up of Death’s Head examining a fizzing bomb. “Hrrm…” he wonders, “think someone’s out to get me, yes?”. It’s appropriately deadpan, and the bomb itself is a cartoon-style sphere with a hissing fuse (and ‘BOMB’ written on it, for good measure). It’s a nice enough gag, and certainly in keeping for what’s to follow.

The story starts with a bang. Death’s Head’s newly-constructed spacecraft has just launched from Los Angeles Spaceport, only to be rocked by two simultaneous explosions . Blaming shoddy workmanship, Death’s Head struggles to regain control of his plummeting vehicle. It appears that the second explosion lightened the load enough to counter the damage of the first and he pulls up in time to avoid a crash.

All this is observed by the diminutive bounty hunter Short Fuse, who was responsible for one of the explosions and is forced to flee as Death’s Head comes into land – upside down and with his landing gear in the air – right on top of his car.

Watching from the rooftops overhead is Big Shot, a second bounty hunter whose energy blast caused the other explosion (as a complaint, this is not that clear from the artwork, since we never see him make the shot, and could easily assume both detonations were Short Fuse’s work). He swears his next attack will finish Death’s Head.

Later that night, both bounty hunters are reporting to their respective employers (who helpfully recap the plot that has been unfolding over the epilogues of the last few issues). The Undertaker wants Death’s Head killed as punishment for killing his attack beast – Big Shot is already calculating that, once successful, he will also gain Death’s Head’s clients. Meanwhile, the equine Dead Cert wants to deny his business rival this face-saving revenge by killing Death’s Head first – Short Fuse guarantees success, then cheekily asks to borrow a car.

The plot thickens further at the local television studios. A car bursts in and the driver murders a security guard. Introducing himself as ‘Photofit’, he assumes the guard’s face and, with flash of light from his outfit, duplicates his uniform.

Death’s Head and Spratt arrive moments later, in the middle of a case to hunt down Photofit. Oblivious of the “Run to Rio” gameshow poster right behind him, Death’s Head wonders how Photofit plans to escape. They agree to split up – Spratt to search the studio and Death’s Head to fetch an identification device from the office.

Death’s Head returns to his car, as Big Shot lies in wait. The car explodes (Short Fuse’s work once again) and knocks Death’s Head to the ground, once more avoiding Big Shot’s blast. Both Big Shot and Short Fuse curse their bad luck, and Death Head’s finally gets suspicious: “Another explosion, eh? Well, you know what they say, once is happenstance, twice is coincidence … three times is enemy action, yes,?”(which strikes me a fairly high-tolerance attitude to explosions).

Searching the TV studios, Spratt discovers another dead body – a bespectacled man in a purple suit. He deduces that it must be Photofit’s latest victim, and therefore he now knows what his quarry will look like. He dashes off, and inadvertently gets on the set of ‘Run for Rio’, where he is mistaken for a contestant. The host forces him to take part, and introduces his opponent – Amos Snucker, a bespectacled man in a purple suit. “Entertainment lovers everywhere … let the mayhem begin!”

Elsewhere, Death’s Head is smashed through a wall as Big Shot dispenses with subtlety. He is about to deliver another blast when a bomb explodes behind him, taking him off balance. Rather than angry or afraid, Death’s Head seems mildly interested to meet a fellow bounty hunter, and the two set about brawling. Also getting impatient is Short Fuse, who prepares a magnetic bomb, then accidently drops it on his belt buckle. Death’s Head and Big Shot are still trading punches as an exploding belt is lobbed in their direction.

Back to the gameshow, Photofit has just been penalty-slimed and Spratt is one question away from the jackpot. Photofit discretely puts a gun against Spratt’s back, warning him to start getting questions wrong, when Death’s Head and Big Shot burst through the wall. Spratt exposes Photofit, though Death’s Head currently has his hands full.

Photofit flees, swearing vengeance, and immediately takes on the appearance of Death’s Head, in order to catch Spratt unawares. Unfortunately he is discovered by an angry Short Fuse, who has another bomb ready for him. Photofit panics and tries to reveal his true identity, but the flash of light causes Short Fuse to drop the bomb. The explosion kills both Photofit and Short Fuse, and also knocks Big Shot through the outside wall and crashing to the ground, fifty feet below.

Still oblivious that there was ever a second bounty hunter setting off explosions, and totally unaware of Big Shot’s motivation, Death’s Head and Spratt set off to collect up the pieces of Photofit. And in a rain-soaked alley, a bloodied and battered Big Shot limps away into the night, uttering the immortal threat to Death’s Head that, “Now it’s personal!”

‘Let the mayhem begin’ indeed, for this one throws everything into the blender. Like the previous issue, it’s a fast-paced, entertaining romp that doesn’t stand up to close scrutiny. However, unlike Sudden Impact, which struggled to stretch out the plot, Shot By Both Sides is straining at the seams with its numerous story threads.

Bringing in rival bounty hunters is a welcome idea that’s been simmering for a while. As characters, there is a nice juxtaposition between Big Shot and Short Fuse, not only by name and stature, but also their methods. Big Shot is blunt and direct – showing a mercenary streak in his eagerness to harvest Death’s Head’s clients ; Short Fuse is tricksy and subtle – so much so that no-one realises he was actually involved in the three-way contest. I liked how his frustrations escalated throughout the story, from ‘oh bother’ and ‘oh dear’ to such murderous aggression he abandons all caution (a ‘short-fuse’ temper, perhaps). Neither bounty hunter is staggeringly competent, which adds to the fun, but both are deadly enough to provide a real threat.

Of the pair, I prefer Big Shot as an antagonist, so it’s good that he was the one to (barely) survive. He is big and tough enough to go toe-to-toe with Death’s Head (absorbing a convincing amount of punishment – no repetition of Ogrus here). His repeated failures drive him towards utter fury, making a great contrast to the mechanoid’s cool detachment. “I’ll carve my name on your hide, Death’s Head!” “Sigh…”

As for their target, Death’s Head does comparatively little in the story. It was a sound narrative decision to have him in the middle of a proper case when all this happens, so he has a goal beyond mere survival. That said, most of the investigating work was done by Spratt, so all Death’s Head gets to do is trade a few punches with Big Shot, and try out his new spacecraft (‘DHII’ is the same design as the one from Transformers – nice continuity – although mid-case seems a strange time to be going for a test-flight).

Regardless of the motives (I found Dead Cert’s plan to foil his rival a little tenuous – if Death’s Head was killed, couldn’t The Undertaker just claim credit for it anyway?), I love the idea of two bounty hunters competing to kill Death’s Head, especially when their efforts serve to cancel each other out.

While this makes for a great comedy of errors, I would suggest it was a missed opportunity not to force Death’s Head to figure out he was being stalked, work out a plan for survival, and untimely turn the tables on the two ganglords. With so much story being seeded beforehand, in the classic Furman style, this had potential to be at least a two-parter. Perhaps a longer payoff was the original plan, but as the series was already nearing its end (the final three issues are guest-starring stories that seem to be marketing-driven), maybe this arc was forced to a premature end.

Bryan Hitch’s return to pencilling duties is a welcome one. There’s a lot of imagination and detail in his scenery, and the multiple bounty hunters are well-rendered (although Spratt seems to have lost a couple of years). There are also some fantastic action shots, particularly the fistfight between Death’s Head and Big Shot. Leaping from explosions and crashing through walls, the two bounty hunters hurl themselves at each other like gladiators – it’s a real treat, and indicates what job Hitch might have done on Sudden Impact slugfest.

There’s a lot of noise in this story, so we get to see some great work by letterer Annie H (the only creative to work on the entire series), providing a superb range of madcap and artistic sound effects.

Next week: Death’s Head gets his chance for payback on Doctor Who in “Time Bomb”.

Death’s Head #7 was the last issue in the republished ‘Death’s Head Volume 1’

Bish's Review: Marvel UK #133 "Headhunt" Part 1

Headhunt Part 1 was written by the ubiquitous Simon Furman, pencilled by Dan Reed, lettered by Richard Starkings and coloured by Steve White.

The frankly excellent cover was by a fellow called Dave Gibbons who worked on an eighties superhero comic called Watchmen. It contrasts rather sharply with Dan Reed's more "organic" style within the actual pages, but, well, look at it. I don't need to tell you why it's good.

We find ourselves on the planet Scarvix in the far-future time of 2007. In an office, within a twisted example of alien architecture we find Blot, a Decepticon with a proposition. He is trying to talk a mostly hidden figure into taking a job.

It's quite obvious if you know your previous comics that this hidden mechanoid is Death's Head, especially as he replies with the iconic "Yes" at the end of his sentences and reacts "poorly" when Blot calls him a mercenary. Blot wants Death's Head to take revenge on Rodimus Prime because the Autobot leader cheated him out of getting any money from the Galvatron job but the ever pragmatic Death's Head doesn't believe in revenge and will only do the deed for profit, which Blot eventually agrees to - 10,000 shanix, naturally.

The title splash is of Death's Head in all his glory, which suffers a bit if you already know it's him and is drawn by Dan Reed, who can't quite match Geoff Senior's iconic version.

A week later, on Cybertron, Rodimus Prime agrees to once again check the state of Autobase's trench fortifications. He is troubled by inaction, by the stalemate that the war has ground down to. In this future the sides are evenly matched and engagements are indecisive.

He fills in some gaps in his history for us by reminiscing about his time as Hot Rod, especially his Targetmaster partnership with Firebolt. His anguish at the memory of Firebolt's death on Earth is palpable.

Meanwhile, at the Decepticon stronghold, Cyclonus and Scourge are incensed that Shockwave has hired Death's Head to assasinate Rodimus rather than tasking them with it. There is obvious tension within the Decepticon command, as Scourge and Cyclonus have a huge superiority complex about being forged by Unicron, whereas Shockwave distrusts them because of it. They invoke Galvatron's name but it falls flat, as he is currently messing about in Earth's past.

They will not be deterred however, and Cyclonus determines that they will take Prime out first and so claim leadership of the Decepticons. Shockwave's contemptuous laughter, spilling out even over an exterior panel of the fortress, shows what he thinks of their chances. It takes a lot to make Shockwave laugh.

While patrolling the heavily armed trench emplacements Rodimus is concerned by a sudden noise. He is momentarily distracted and when he turns around his two Autobot guards are gone. Death's Head stands on a high parapet and lobs something at the Autobot leader.

Rodimus leaps out of the way just in time but is surprised when the object doesn't explode. The surprise turns to horror as it turns out to be the head of one of his bodyguards. Death's Head slams down in front of him and professes his disappointment that Rodimus is not a more elusive prey.

He continues to chastise Rodimus' lack of preparation and challenge as he knocks the Autobot leader around with little effort. The only thing that stops him is the trench floor giving way as the two of them crash down into the sewer tunnels that run under Autobase. Death's Head is unfazed apart from a whistful sense of disappointment at losing his favourite axe.

Unfortunately for Rodimus the "freelance peacekeeping agent" has several other weapons and the "titanium shot blaster" is his tool of choice. After assuring the Autobot leader that this is all "just business" he points and shoots. There is a massive explosion and ... a cliffhanger!

Furman turns in an excellent issue here packed with great ideas and setup. If, like me, you're excited by the possibility of a parallel narrative set in the future of the movie that we can visit from time to time it's nice to see this fleshed out. Shockwave in power is logical, given Galvatron is insane and Megatron is both insane and missing in action in the eighties portion of the storyline and it makes sense that Scourge and Cyclonus don't really fit in with the normal Decepticons.

Furman gets to play with a more war-torn setting here because there are no humans around and the gloves are completely off. Unfortunately it seems that when the gloves come off, the Autobots and Decepticons can't do much more than jab ineffectually at each other, and Cybertron appears to be settling in for another punishing few millenia of total war. Furman and Reed sell this with imagery obviously inspired by the First World War - trench emplacements so tough that neither side (except Death's Head) can hope to penetrate them. It's a bleak idea for a children's comic, but subtle enough to pass by without upsetting anyone.

Similarly bleak, but also inspired is the apparent death of Firebolt. We don't know how he died and we don't need to know, but it's a good indication that things have changed for the characters in the period between the "present day" comics and the "future" and lends a bit of weight to Rodimus Prime's fight. This was a good choice because the reader was, at this point, only just getting used to the Headmasters and Targetmasters and killing one off, even retroactively, would have sent a powerful message, especially as this is an organic, who cannot be rebuilt. Organics hardly ever died "on-screen" in these comics.

As for the story itself, it's difficult not to love Death's Head, especially when he is in full stalking mode. One might imagine that he would very much like to get his own back on Rodimus Prime but it is a great detail that without a profit motive he just won't do it. Furman effortlessly sets up clashes that will clearly have repercussions in who knows how many future issues? Obviously Death's Head vs Rodimus Prime would have been a decent story to tell, but we also have the possibility of Death's Head vs Scourge and Cyclonus, Scourge and Cyclonus vs Rodimus Prime, Scourge and Cyclonus vs Shockwave and any combination of the above. Even from this opening, this is shaping up to a be a twist-packed story and the dour, guilt-ridden Rodimus is a fitting hero for this bleak future world.

Dan Reed's art is... well it's wobbly, isn't it? I mean that in the sense that it literally is wobbly: Everything has organic looking edges and moves in whichever way serves Reed's agenda in that particular panel. I also, unfortunately mean it in the rather more colloquial sense of wobbly meaning "uneven". Reed has some excellent panels - although it's only small, I enjoy Shockwave on his throne, and I love his very VERY busy depictions of Cybertron, which seem reasonable for a metallic world that must have been turned to scrap a thousand times over. However, some of his linework is downright bizarre, and contorts the characters in very unnatural ways. Check out, for example, this panel of Hot Rod and Firebolt, where Hot Rod is doing the splits for no reason whatsoever.

The colouring is mostly fine, but Reed's work is rather difficult to colour particularly well as there are details lines all over the place and there is more block colouring for background characters than I like. Unfortunately I think this is something I'm going to have to get used to as the book continues.

Headhunt kicks off in a very promising way. I can't wait to see where this leads. It was available in the Titan collection Legacy Of Unicron, the title of which should give you some clues. Again, out of print but available here. And if you fancy checking out that Gibbons chap's work beyond Transformers, you could do worse than this.

Part 2, coming soon but fans of Death's Head (and insightful reviewing) should come back tomorrow for another installment in our pal Chuffer's series on the "freelance peacekeeping agent's" solo book.

The Ark Addendum - Boeing 747

As promised, this week's Ark Addendum fetures some more airplanes.  From the same episode, we have an unused model for a Boeing 747.  Since this is a jumbo jet proper, it would have made the title (Kidnapping!? The Targeted Jumbo Jet) more accurate.  I wonder if they switched because of how high up the cockpit is in this aircraft, which would have made the action sequence when Cab and Shuta save the pilot awkward.  Probably I'm overthinking it though.  Regardless, they're rather nice designs.  Of course, after the future tech of 2006/2010, this seems like a step backwards.  However, Masterforce takes place probably somewhere around 2020 or so, and odds are good that, in the real world, 747s will still be in our skies in eight years.

Next week I'll finish it out with the crew from this episode.  Then, maybe some G1 stuff.