Death's Head's Triumphant Return!
Death’s Head has been around since the late eighties and starred in his own comic every couple of years but never really stuck around for to long. His popularity reached its peak in the early-mid nineties but he faded into obscurity once his comic ended. Since then, he’s had a various cameo’s over the years and the odd full appearance, yet never a main role in a story.
Twenty-six years since he starred in his own comic, Death’s Head finally re-enters the spotlight. But the question is, is it any good?
The answer, kind-of. It’s got some minor flaws, but what doesn’t?
Written by Tini Howard (Rick and Morty) with art by Kei Zama (Transformers) and colours by Felipe Sobreiro (Spread).
Review
You know, I was hoping for a space theme or a robot action heavy comic where Death gets to show why he’s one of the best bounty hunter’s in space. Instead, we get a comedy comic starring Hulkling and Wiccan with the occasional appearance from the titular character and even then he’s not the one winning. I’m not complaining though, it’s a great comedy book with realistic characterization of a gay young adult couple. Death even gets a few quips in here and there that make me chuckle.
The dialogue is questionable at best. Due to the heavy focus on the now young adult Wiccan and Hulkling, the majority of the story is told through them. Tini Howard tries her best to portray them as realistic adults, yet fails by overusing the word “babe” (which bugs me to no end as I hate that word) and constantly trying to use a mobile phone as a metaphor for how Death’s Head functions.
There’s a moment in this issue in which Wiccan uses his powers to see all possible realities to see what could potentially happen in his future, we see some featuring Billy and Teddy together and other’s where Billy is in charge of his own Avengers team featuring a new incarnation of Death’s Head as part of those teams. Hopefully this is foreshadowing the reformation of the Young Avengers and not just pointless moment that doesn’t come to fruition.
I’m happy that Wiccan and Hulkling get more time spent on them, but I would much rather see them in their own solo/duo comic then piggyback off another character who gets even less focus. The main point of a “Death’s Head” comic is so that the titular character gets the majority of the panel space, yet a good seventy percent of the issue is focused on Wiccan and Hulking. I’m all for more LGBT representation, I just wish that its not just shoehorned into character’s that don’t really have much to do with each other.
I’ve just got a feeling that Tini Howard doesn’t know what to do with Death’s Head so just dumped him on Earth and let the more established human characters deal with the story while Death tags along for the ride.
But for real, can we focus more on the main protagonist please?
While the story is mediocre the art by Kei Zama is fantastic whenever Death is on screen, aided by the wonderful colours by Felipe Sobreiro who makes each panel stand out on its own with vibrant colours that pack a punch. However, faces are slightly clunky in design, even if they’re expressive. It’s not a bad thing, it just has its moments where it looks terrible in certain panels due to the heavy inking used.
Overall, I think this has potential. It’s a fun comic that’s not afraid of trying to be something different, it just struggles in places. Even though this is a four-issue mini-series, I’m just hoping that Death’s Head doesn’t get pushed to the side-lines in his own comic to focus more on the side characters.