Moon Knight’s Charlie Huston to tackle Deathlok series

There has been a recent surge of bronze age comic book characters making a return to the world of comics. After super hero comics made a bold revival in the 1960’s, there was a mad time of invention and experimentation involving monsters, kung fu and even science fiction. A combination of two of these ideas was the robotic cyborg soldier known as Deathlok. Many of the
comics published in what has become known as the ‘Bronze Age’ were once ridiculed as outlandish and absurd but with many writers who grew up on the material, these ideas are finding a way back.

Just announced at the San Diego Comic Convention, the new Deathlok series could put the character back on the map. Former Moon Knight writer Charlie Huston and artist Lan Medina (of Foolkiller) will be penning a 7 issue mini-series published under Marvel’s adult ‘MAX’ line starting later this year.

Set in a dark future of the Marvel Universe, Deathlok is the only ‘hero’ in his world. The product of a corporate experiment that starts with the military and expands into the toy market, the new Deathlok series is a bit of the old along with something new.

“I was a big science fiction guy, and I was probably 11 or 12, and even then I liked stories with dystopian and apocalyptic futures. Plus, Deathlok was another great visual character like Moon Knight [Who Huston discovered around the same time as Deathlok]. Also, I liked the way the character was written in ‘Astonishing Tales’ with the internal dialogue between Manning and Deathlok; there was a separate entity that was Deathlok,” Huston told CBR News. “It was a team concept from Moench and Buckler, and Moench was doing stuff that nobody else was doing, at least not in the comic books I was reading. It just felt different, and I always liked the dark stuff.”

“For the corporate armies, I tried to use as many of the businesses mentioned in the Deathlok stories as possible. Roxxon is, of course, the most obvious. The army that employs Manning and Travers is Roxxon,” Huston explained. “Then I did the same thing with character names. Simon Ryker is in this, and Doctor Hellinger, who was a big character in the original, is a major antagonist here. There’s a minor C.I.A. agent character in the ‘Astonishing Tales’ stories who plays a major role here, and I took a character who was a gangster in ‘Astonishing Tales,’ and now he’s the head of a toy division in Roxxon.”

“This is science fiction in the broadest possible sense,” Huston stated. “It’s not ‘Hard Sci Fi,’ where you take a science concept and try to extrapolate it to its natural conclusion. It’s two-fisted, pulp-adventure, science fiction.”

For any fans of his work on Moon Knight, this should be a book worth checking out.

(follow this link for my article on the original Deathlok series)

New Doctor = New Doctor Who series?

I recently read that the new series of Doctor who will be starting over from the beginning in its numbering. This is more of an internal administrative thing but it could build upon several other key changes that incoming producer Stephen Moffat is making to the series when he takes over from Russell T Davies who helmed the program from 2005 onwards.

Everything old is new again in Doctor Who

It has already been established that the signature tune and opening credit sequence will be updated. Additionally, the interior and exterior of the TARDIS will be changing. I have not seen what will take over from comic book artist Bryan Hitch’s designs yet but pics of the new Police Box has already been leaked online (the difference is minimal, really). But with all of these changes, will Doctor Who be making the transition to an entirely new program?

When Patrick Troughton took over from the first actor to play the role of the Doctor William Hartnell there were many changes made to the series… but it was still the same Doctor Who. Could that not be the case here? The renumbering seems to hint that this is the case.

When writing about the Doctor’s new wardrobe I commented that it could be a nod toward the Troughton era (with its braces and bowtie) and it seems that I may be on the money here if this clip of Matt Smith filming on location is anything to go by:

A return to the old 1960’s style of the program would be a serious break from the esatblished new program. Alien worlds (something despised by RTD) were a key component to the 60’s era and something that fans have been clamoring for since the series returned to the small screen.

The only real connecting thread that I have found is the Doctor Who comic book series by Tony Lee published by IDW. Lee had already established his Doctor Who cred with the ‘Forgotten’ miniseries that really put the series on the map in the comic book world. Doctor Who as a comic book has always fascinated me and has also attracted some of the biggest names in comics from Alan Moore to Grant Morrison so it’s heartening to see that tradition continue.
(for more on the new Doctor Who comic book, click here for an excellent interview with author Tony Lee).