Top Of The Pile: Deathlok The Demolisher #1

Deathlok is a character I remember fondly from the British black and white reprints of American comics of my youth. I never really got a true handle on the character, I just thought he looked really cool!

Marvel's latest reimagining of the character, Deathlok The Demolisher, is a seven-issue mini-series in its Marvel Knights range written by Charlie Huston, the crime writer who also brought back Moon Knight for the House Of Ideas.

There's nothing particularly original, so far, in the story - although this first issue doesn't even feature the cyborg killing-machine Deathlok (except on the cover and the 'next issue' teaser) - but it is well written by Huston and finely illustrated by Lan Medina.

Highly reminiscent of a 2000AD future sports/future war/future shock story, this new Deathlok run is set on a near future Earth where warfare has been reduced to a controlled, spectator sport and the "teams" are corporate-sponsored mercenaries.

Segueing from a prologue of a young man and his grandfather preparing to refight the battle of Agincourt as a miniatures wargame into the brutality of "Saturday Night Battlezone", the story switches focus between the over-the-top event commentators and the clashing personalities of Roxxon Rockers' team captain Luther Manning and the team's cocky, billion-dollar star 'player' Lieutenant Mike Travers.

Manning is a no-nonsense, military man, determined to keep his troops alive, while Travers is a gung-ho, gloryhound... and you just know wackiness is about to ensue from the interaction of these two strong-willed, polar opposites!

Issue one is very dialogue heavy, but the injections of dark irony and dry wit make it an enjoyable read nonetheless - especially for us old school 2000AD readers who grew up reading this sort of tale.