Astonishing Tales #26 - Marvel Comics

ASTONISHING TALES No. 26, October 1974

Despite Doug Moench’s utterly disconcerting decision to hurl his audience up and down Deathlok’s timestream to the point where some bibliophiles will struggle to know whether what they’re reading is set in Luther Manning’s past or present, Issue Twenty Six of “Astonishing Tales” still must have landed rather well with those “True Believers” who weathered this storm upon their senses. In fact, the seventeen-page plot is so prodigiously crammed full of adrenalin-fuelled gun-fights, savage shows of cyborg super-strength, as well as an insane roof-top battle against a horde of cannibals, that in many ways it could be argued as being pretty much perfect; “Final assailant aligned with meat-hook rail.”

Much of this success is entirely due to some wonderfully dramatic set-pieces in which the almost completely rebuilt Colonel battles an apparently unending army of United States agents, who are seemingly hell bent on bringing Simon Ryker’s ‘creation’ to his knees. These utterly engaging confrontations range in location from a rancid meat factory all the way to the Tower of Liberty’s foot-pedestal, and really go to great lengths in order to show just how formidable a killing machine the covertly-crafted super-soldier can be – even when facing seemingly insurmountable numbers and weapons fire.

In addition to this comic’s pulse-pounding pugilism and pace though, the American author is also very good at penning some entertaining dialogue between the central protagonist and his chest-mounted computer. Coupled with Deathlok’s evident loyalty to his former army buddy Mike Travers, these conversations go a long way to showing the Demolisher is far from being a generic two-dimensional assassin, but rather a human being who still cares for those who risked their lives alongside him during the war.

Equally adding an enormous amount of vitality to this book are Rich Buckler’s layouts, which genuinely help sell the notion of a walking/talking cyborg brutalising so many ‘enemy’ operatives without so much as a scratch – or at least just a “bum knee.” Furthermore, the artist does a first-rate job of showing just how many pent-up emotions Manning is going through in his search for his old battle buddy, and how desperate he is to see a friendly face after Ryker’s evident betrayal of everything the “Death Machine for Hire” stands for.

Art/Concept/Plot: Rich Butler, Script/Plot: Doug Moench, and Inks: Pablo Marcos