Marshal Law #6 - Epic Comics

MARSHAL LAW No. 6, April 1989

Packed with just the sort of pulse-pounding pugilism this mini-series’ audience probably expected from a comic containing the final confrontation between Marshal Law and Public Spirit, “Nemesis” certainly proved Pat Mills’ was entirely right when he decided to make Joe Gilmore’s alter-ego a government-sanctioned “superhero hunter” rather than “much like Road Warrior/Mad Max” following Kevin O’Neill’s initial concept art and naming of the book’s titular character. In fact, "the godfather of British comics" arguably goes one step further by leaving the law enforcement officer’s story very much open for future escapades by having Doctor Shocc outrageously resuscitate the body of Danny Mallon, despite the formidably-powered serial killer almost being “clinically dead” for twelve hours…

This disconcerting sub-plot, which quite cleverly provides the author with an opportunity to intermix Buck Caine’s final battle with something more than just flashbacks to Lynn Evans’ newspaper article on the secret symbolism of the Public Spirit, demonstrates just how fixated Virago’s son has become with the “cave-cop”, and rather excitingly hints as to the future dangers Law might face when the mass murderer is fully-recovered from his near lethal injuries. Seemingly just as dauntingly deadly as his homicidal father, as well as fully conversant with both Marshal’s methods and resources, the Sleepman’s revenge upon the man who “stood over the spot where he sank” for six hours “to make sure he didn’t come up again” could be truly horrific.

Undeniably this twenty-eight page periodical’s highpoint though is Gilmore’s fight against the deranged colonel in an old airport. Public Spirit’s sheer strength and astounding skills are on full show in this sense-shattering sequence, with Caine not only savagely dispatching a uniformed policeman for having the effrontery to shoot a pistol at him, but later smashing his way through a derelict aeroplane in order to get his hands on the “leather-clad tinker-bell” who has supposedly brought ruination upon his life; “I’ve lost… I’ve lost everything. They expected too much of me.”

O’Neill’s contribution to this comic’s success cannot be overstated either, with the three-time Harvey Award-winner pencilling Buck as just the sort of wildly-exaggerated, grotesque-looking monster a bibliophile might expect from an anabolic steroid-abusing superman. Wide-eyed and snarling like a banshee, the contrast between the colonel’s controlled public image and one depicted when he angrily loses all sense of self-control makes for a mesmerising read, especially when the supposed “brightest, most colourful of all the super heroes” doesn’t hold back with his deadly laser-beams.

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