Friday 7 June 2013

1994: LOOSE CANNONS FROM MARVEL UK IN COMIC WORLD MAGAZINE

Without wishing to be unkind to anyone involved, I think it's fair to say that a certain amount of dross was churned-out by Marvel UK during their dash for growth in the US market between 1992-94.  That's why the bulk of the material - and characters - created during that period have remained untouched ever since (and probably will be until Marvel realises that they need to renew their ownership of the characters and put something copyright-confirming into print).

When the Genesis '92 US line imploded completely in early 1994 I doubt that many fans mourned its passing for long.  There was one book however that looked like it might actually be a classy piece.  LOOSE CANNONS (by Dan Abnett and Mark Harrison) was a planned four-issue fully-pained limited series which continued the concepts introduced in the WARHEADS book (which was one of the better books in the UK line).  It was due to launch in January 1994 but was nixed, along with the rest of the line, at the last minute.  Marvel got as far as placing adverts and articles in the comics press, including these pieces from British magazine COMIC WORLD 24, cover-dated January 1994.

I think the advert says a lot about M-UK's sales pitch throughout this era: Sexy girls (suspenders in space!), hefty armaments and DH.

Marvel UK never rescheduled the project and early hopes that 2000AD might pick it up were spiked because of the inclusion of Marvel characters (including the inevitable Death's Head II appearance).

The bulk of the four issues were completed when the project was killed (which makes the decision even more ludicrous... Marvel had already paid for it!) and have subsequently surfaced on line.

Comic World was a mainstream magazine, available from newsagents, that covered British, American and European comics during the early nineties boom years.  Edited by Steve Holland, it was published by Aceville Magazines in Colchester.







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