I have quite the read for this week; nearly 400 pages, in fact. With the end of Agents of SHIELD still fresh on my mind, I thought this would be a somewhat appropriate read in honor of the show. BACKGROUND:
I've only ever been vaguely familiar with Deathlok until the first season of Agents of SHIELD adapted his character for TV and properly put him on my radar. At that point, I started reading more about him, and have since learned more. I've never encountered this run of comics, however, so this is a blind read. THE WRITING: This collection has a whopping 16 issues in it, each containing all sorts of stories featuring Michael Collins as Deathlok. Some are tied to his origins as a Cybertek project, others include guest appearances from various characters, and a few are weird side adventures. Apart from the issues explicitly labelled as part of a story arc, these are mostly standalone affairs. Although you don't see the actual origins of Deathlok here, it is described quite well that you don't have to seek out the original issues unless you want to see it for yourself. In some of the issues, it is shown that Michael Collins wasn't the first Deathlok, something I was aware of, but have never explored in the comics. The stories where Deathlok meets up with other Marvel characters is pretty fun. He gets to team up with Misty Knight, talk to Mr. Fantastic, go toe-to-toe with Ghost Rider, and argue morality with the Punisher. Nick Fury even shows up to help Deathlok out in certain situations. It's always cool to see lesser-known characters interact with more well-known names, and it makes me wish Deathlok showed up in the movies. Deathlok faces off against a good variety of villains in these issues. Some are connected to his Cybertek origins, like the awesome Warwolf and the grotesque Biohazard, while others are villains from elsewhere in the Marvel Universe (like Silvermane, as well as Nightmare, which was interesting to read about considering the supernatural nature of the character). One of the more interesting ones was Mechadoom, a machine connected to none other than Doctor Doom himself, and his encounter with Deathlok provided some poignant philosophical musings. As a character, Deathlok is a compelling one to read about. His eternal struggle to defy his programming as a killing machine is engaging, and seeing him always take the high road (despite being constantly nudged to use lethal force) cements him as a hero. His condition has also driven him away from his wife and child, and it's heartbreaking to see him desperately find a way to return to his human body just so he can be with them again. I also quite enjoy his banter with the Deathlok operating system, and his very human responses to the cold, emotionless programming of his cyborg frame was rather endearing. Deathlok has meaningful interactions with various characters, like Misty Knight (who, to a lesser extent, is a cyborg herself, and they connect over that), Punisher (who, once again, is the "extreme vigilantism" foil to the more straight-and-narrow character), and even villains like Mechadoom, Nightmare, and Biohazard (who put him in a position to be introspective and contemplate his condition). His bonds with characters like Jesus (his roommate/not-sideckick, not the son of God) and his family also provide a good helping of nice character moments. The comic does not shy away from the fact that Collins is black, and some of the issues tackle race despite not being the main focus of the stories. In terms of real-world themes, there's a bigger emphasis on "violence is not the answer," which is the crux of Deathlok's character. The Deathlok Annual comic is also in this book, and it's a series of short stories that don't really tie into anything or progress the narrative. The longest one is a weird time travel story where he finds himself in a Skynet-esque dystopia, which was interesting. The others are much shorter, but the one I liked the most was the story where Deathlok had a dream that his son took him to Show and Tell at his school. It's as weird as it sounds. THE ART: This run of Deathlok has this classic comic feel: relatively simple colors and shading, but a decent amount of detail in terms of lines and faces. Despite these comics being published in the '90s, the art reminded me of art styles from before then, and I mean that in a good way. Deathlok's overall design is cool, but both in the writing and the art, the fact that his face is sort of grotesque is highlighted, which makes him seem like a bigger monster than he actually is. The freakier designs are still the villains, as the like of Nightmare and Biohazard looks rather monstrous (especially the latter; that thing looked fucking disgusting). VERDICT: Deathlok: The Souls of Cyber-Folk is an enjoyable collection of comics starring the cyborg himself; the protagonist is engaging to read about both in terms of action and character, the stories have a lot of variety and feature interesting villains, the guest appearances are substantial and not just cameos, and the themes are meaningful food for thought. Apart from the debut comics, I cannot think of a better jumping-in point for the Deathlok character; if you're curious about this guy (especially coming off Agents of SHIELD), this is the book for you. Read Deathlok: The Souls of Cyber-Folk on Comixology: https://m.comixology.com/Deathlok-The-Souls-Of-Cyber-Folk/digital-comic/177278?ref=c2VhcmNoL2luZGV4L21vYmlsZS90cmFkZUl0ZW0 - end -
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June 2024
Derryck
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