Death's Head II #1
☆ Be the first to review + Add to your collection — Join freeDeath's Head II #1 (The Wild Hunt, March 1992) is the founding issue of Marvel UK's ambitious early-1990s push to compete directly on the American direct-market shelf. It introduces Minion — the AIM-built super-cyborg who absorbs the personality of the original Death's Head and becomes an entirely new character — making this the first full appearance of Death's Head II himself, his companion Tuck, and the villainous Mys-Tech organization. The issue launched what became Marvel UK's best-selling export title and proved, against the skepticism of Marvel US editors who believed 'robot comics' could not sell, that a British-originated character with the right creators could find a transatlantic audience. Both writer Dan Abnett and artist Liam Sharp went on to become major figures in mainstream comics, and the character's cult longevity — eventually returning in the 2014 Revolutionary War event and receiving a Marvel Legends action figure — traces directly back to the creative groundwork laid here.
In "The Lotus FX Part 1: X-Treme Prejudice," mutant activity in Paxton, Oregon, draws the X-Men to a town brimming with tension—and a mysterious force pulling them in. As Wraithchilde captures Tuck and the team faces off against the relentless Death's Head, the stakes rise in a story written by Dan Abnett and illustrated by Liam Sharp, Bryan Hitch, and Andy Lanning, with inks by Cam Smith and colors by Helen Stone. The cover, by Liam Sharp and Paul Neary, captures the clash before it begins.
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Released on January 21, 1992 under the editorial direction of Marvel UK's Editorial Director Paul Neary, the mini-series was written by Dan Abnett with art by Liam Sharp, inks by Andy Lanning, and colors by Helen Stone — a team of British creators operating largely outside the established Marvel US infrastructure. The series was a flagship title of Marvel UK's 'Genesis 1992' initiative, an ambitious plan to produce American-format ongoing series starring original UK characters and sell them through the US direct market alongside titles from Motormouth & Killpower, Warheads, and others. The mini-series' commercial success — it sold over 150,000 copies according to Liam Sharp — immediately earned the character a sixteen-issue ongoing series beginning in December 1992, and the stories were simultaneously distributed to UK high-street readers through reprints in the anthology magazine Overkill.
Trivia · 8 facts
- First full appearance of Death's Head II (the character Minion, redesigned), created by writer Dan Abnett and artist Liam Sharp.
- First appearance of Tuck, the organic replicant who becomes Death's Head II's ongoing partner.
- First appearance of the Mys-Tech organization (in hologram form), a villainous consortium that would become a recurring antagonist throughout the Marvel UK universe.
- First appearance of Dr. Evelyn Necker, the AIM scientist who created Minion in the year 2020 on an alternate Earth.
- The mini-series (four issues, cover-dated March–June 1992) is subtitled 'The Wild Hunt'; issue #1's story is titled 'Mergers and Acquisitions.'
- The cover and interior art were both handled by Liam Sharp, inked by Andy Lanning, with the cover also colored by Liam Sharp — a unified visual identity for the launch.
- The mini-series' success prompted a separate sixteen-issue ongoing series (also titled Death's Head II, Vol. 2, beginning December 1992), which featured guest appearances by the X-Men in its first four issues.
- Adventures from the mini-series were reprinted in the UK anthology magazine Overkill, giving the character mainstream British high-street distribution alongside its direct-market US release.
Full credits
Reprints
Reprinted in Marvel Firsts: The 1990s Omnibus #[nn] (2015), Marvel Firsts: The 1990s #1 (2016)
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