Death's Head – Boom Boom Boom

[angelophile]

More of the comedic Death's Head over his next couple of appearances, a far cry from fighting dark gods back in the pages of Transformers a year or so previously. It's clear the dark humour is starting to become a firm part of the character's appeal, so it's played up on here.

Firstly, Death's Head #7 by Simon Furman. Art by Bryan Hitch and Jeff Anderson.





As we slip into this, the most darkly slapstick issue of Death's Head, some setup:

Death's Head has managed to aggravate rival gang leaders The Undertaker and Dead Cert, due to his habit of taking the highest paying jobs and foiling both their plans.

As seen in a previous issue, The Undertaker hired the unimaginatively named gun-armed psychopath Big Shot to off Death's Head.

Meanwhile, we're introduced to explosives expert Short Fuse, who's working for Dead Cert with the same aim in mind – assassinate Death's Head. The only problem is, expert is not a word that describes him, and he's probably the most incompetent bounty hunter 8162 has ever seen, but he's also kinda adorkable.

Elsewhere, Death's Head has had his old ship recreated in this time era and his first trip out in it is tracking a shape-shifting assassin named Photofit, who has a bounty on his head.

Which is when his ship explodes, not once, but twice.

Something to do with the duo of killers on his tail, yes? Although Death's Head himself puts it down to cowboy builders.








"No, yes?"






Yep, it turns out Photofit's plan is to win a gameshow, claim the grand prize and get to flee to Rio. He kills the reigning champion and takes his place, a plot that Spratt discovers when he stumbles onto set and ends up competing against him.



Death's Head and Big Shot got into it after Short Fuse badly timed another explosive assassination attempt and put Big Shot off his aim.





Sigh. He tries, bless him.

Anyway, Photofit tries to flee after his plans go awry when Spratt turns out to be actually good at the game show they're competing in, while the distracted Death's Head continues to duke it out with Big Shot. He has a cunning plan to escape in a form Spratt won't question!





Alas poor… well, everyone really. Although a post script shows the badly injured Big Shot crawling from the wreckage and vowing vengeance. I don't know why he's mad at Death's Head in particular, it's not his fault things kept blowing up around him, right?

The pair wander off to new adventures, totally oblivious to Short Fuse even existing.


Anyway, Death's Head getting his ship back does mean at least one off-planet adventure, which takes us over to Marvel Comics Presents #76, which includes a short Death's Head tale from the now familiar team of Simon Furman and Bryan Hitch.

In which Death's Head finds himself caught on the back foot on the planet of Yel-Jek by notorious big game hunter Thaddeus Soul. The governor of the planet has put a bounty on his head, but Soul proves to be a wily opponent, sending the local lifeform, the elephantine stakks, stampeding and turning Death's Head from the hunter into the hunted.

While trying evade Soul, Death's Head stumbles on one of the locals, who the hunter left for dead when he tried to stop him slaughtering the stakks.

Not that the profit driven Death's Head cares, but then his new friend suggests a way they can kill Soul.








LOL, I guess? Although the animal rights activist killing a creature to get the game hunter always struck me as very…. PETA.

Next issue of Death's Head – the Doctor is back. The back end of a pantomime horse, in fact.

Comments

[iamrman]

I feel that Death’s Head rather... goofy appearance lends itself to the more comedic elements.

[angelophile]

Certainly the way Hitch drew him. I doubt it's a coincidence that Senior drew his more serious appearances.

(On a personal level I really dislike this cover, the proportions are really weird and it is really, really goofy.

It's sort of salvageable, but needs a hell of a lot of work:

)