Marshal Law #1 - Epic Comics

MARSHAL LAW No. 1, October 1987

Introducing the comic book world to a “spoof of the 2000 A.D. strip Judge Dredd”, Pat Mill’s script to Issue One of “Marshal Law” must have proved something of a disconcertingly dark experience to its readers in October 1987, what with the comic’s all-pervading predilection for gratuitous violence and sexual references. However, whilst this twenty-eight page periodical undeniably contains its fair share of bodily mutilation, eye-winching physical injuries and assorted discharging firearms, much of this publication’s perceived ‘vulgarities’ are actually more implied than actually depicted ‘on the big screen’.

Indeed, a good deal of the unhealthy background to this book’s “near-future metropolis built from the ruins of San Francisco” is to be found in the British writer’s tantalising text-boxes, which provide just enough information about “midnight assaults ending in murder” being common place in San Futuro to help make any perusing bibliophile think they see a killer in each and every shadow. This palpable sense of threat adds an enormous amount of atmosphere to the point where you can actually hear the trembling fear in the Sleepman’s latest victim’s voice as she desperately tries to flee through the deserted streets surrounding her; “If I could run faster. If I wasn’t in when the phone rang… If I hadn’t agreed to the job. If I wasn’t wearing this stupid costume…”

Similarly as terrifying is Mill’s depiction of life in the conurbation if you’re a super-hero, with the truly discombobulating Gangreen, complete with a necklace of severed ears, patrolling his fiefdom like some deranged futuristic maniac from a John Carpenter science fiction film. Resplendent in his all-green costume, and accompanied by a motley crew of well-armed “ex-SHOCC Troopers from the Zone”, the former-super-soldier seems destined to hang poor Sorry -- The Nearly Man for a crime he didn’t commit, until the titular character arrives just in the nick of time to rescue the partially-throttled innocent.

Adding enormously to this comic’s story-telling are Kevin O’Neill’s instantly recognisable layouts, which seem to contain a near endless supply of nods and winks to “the superheroes of the Golden Age and Silver Age” in his panels. Featuring a truly staggering front cover illustration of Marshal Law himself, there’s plenty of dynamic drawing to enjoy within this book, especially once the post combat syndrome-suffering Gangrene erroneously decides to make an attempt to infiltrate the cave-cop’s secret police precinct inside the Bart Bay Area Rapid Transport Station “under what used to be Hallidie Plaza.”

Writer/Creator: Pat Mills, Artist/Creator: Kevin O'Neill, and Letterer: Phil Felix