Marshal Law #1

History

The concept originated when Kevin O'Neill sketched a striking future-cop figure and coined the title 'Marshal Law'; Pat Mills then built a satirical superhero narrative around that visual hook, absorbing a plot element salvaged from an earlier abandoned science-fiction project called Mekomania. The pair pitched the series to Marvel's Epic Comics imprint — the company's mature-reader, creator-friendly line — where editor-in-chief Archie Goodwin and associate editor Dan Chichester shepherded it to publication; notably, the series launched just ahead of Epic's own planned line of superhero titles, which Goodwin later acknowledged was generous timing. Production was not smooth: a print-separation house working on issue #2 refused to complete the job due to the content's extreme violence and nudity, forcing Marvel's production department to intervene — a sign of the controversy the series would court throughout its run. The series also lost a Waldenbooks distribution deal after a parental complaint, underscoring how far outside mainstream retail comfort the book sat.

Trivia · 8 facts

• First appearance of Marshal Law (real name Joe Gilmore), the government-sanctioned 'cape killer' and central protagonist of the entire franchise, debuting here as a violent, self-loathing supersoldier turned hero-hunter in the dystopian city of San Futuro.
• First appearance of Danny Mallon / the Sleepman — Marshal Law's wheelchair-using associate who is secretly a masked serial killer and the central antagonist of the six-issue 'Fear and Loathing' arc — as well as Mrs. Mallon, Commissioner McGland, Sorry the Nearly Man, Kiloton, Father Hood, Gangreen, Suicida, Doctor Shocc, Captain Curfew, and Father O'Brian.
• Written by Pat Mills and fully illustrated (pencils, inks, and colors) by Kevin O'Neill — both veterans of British anthology 2000 AD — with lettering by Phil Felix; edited by Dan Chichester under editor-in-chief Archie Goodwin.
• Published by Epic Comics, Marvel's creator-owned, mature-reader imprint; the series is set on Earth-87113, a continuity entirely separate from the main Marvel Universe.
• The story arc running through all six issues is subtitled 'Fear and Loathing' and follows Marshal Law's investigation of the Sleepman, a flying super-powered serial killer targeting women dressed as the superheroine Celeste — with suspicion falling on the Public Spirit, a Superman/Captain America pastiche who is the most celebrated hero in San Futuro.
• Issue #1 carries the chapter title 'Stars and Strippers'; its on-sale date was September 8, 1987, with an October 1987 cover date, and the series was scheduled bi-monthly.
• The original six issues have been collected multiple times, including the Marvel 'Fear and Loathing' trade paperback (1990, with a new prologue chapter), and most comprehensively in DC Comics' Marshal Law: The Deluxe Edition hardcover (2013), which also includes subsequent stories from multiple publishers.
• Issue #1 has been reprinted at least seven times in various formats, including serialization split across Marvel UK's Strip #1–2 (1990) and editions from Zenda (1989) and Graphitti Designs (1990).

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