1993: COMICS SCENE ARTICLE ON MARVEL UK'S SUPER SOLDIERS

From May 1993: COMICS SCENE issue 33 previews MARVEL UK's SUPER SOLDIERS, one of the burgeoning number of UKverse books to hit in the booming months of early '93.

The book eventually ran for eight issues before being cancelled suddenly in the Genesis Massacre (the sudden decision, in the face of plummeting sales across the industry, to withdraw the British Bullpen from the US market).

The first issue, enhanced with a silver foil cover, shifted more than 200,000 copies. Issues can still be found in retailer dump bins to this day.

Issues 9 &10 were announced in the pages of MARVEL AGE MAGAZINE but never appeared. The eighth issue was the only part of the REDMIST 2020 crossover/ launch that actually made it into print. The other three books (DEATHDUTY, BLOOD RUSH and ROID RAGE) were all scrapped at the last possible moment.

1993: MARVEL UK in WIZARD MAGAZINE ISSUE 19

From March 1993: WIZARD MAGAZINE covers MARVEL UK's transatlantic incursion.

At this point, after a triumphant 1992, it was all boom and no bust (except Tuck) at the Annex of Ideas (and, more generally, within the industry) so this decently put together piece looks ahead to another year of UKverse expansion. Indeed, Marvel UK, published a lot more books that year than the article mentions. Possibly a sign of how swiftly new projects were added to the schedule. 

Wizard, notorious for hyping the next big thing (especially if their pals were involved somehow), never quite fully embraced the British books. Maybe being in London meant the British creators and PR people couldn't quite tap into that informal network. Or maybe Wizard thought its hype machine was better deployed to other projects. 

The new piece of Liam Sharp artwork on the first page looks like it was bidding to become an prospective Wizard cover. The purple wizard's cloak was a semi-consistent feature in the newly commissioned art on the early covers and it looks like Sharp was playing by the style guide. 

1994: THE CLANDESTINE PROMO TRADING CARD (Marvel UK)

From February 1994: the free MARVEL UK CLANDESTINE Trading Card, cover-mounted with COMIC WORLD magazine issue 24.

This, unfortunately, really was the last gasp of the British Bullpen'smarketing mahine. Even as this freebie adorned issue of COMIC WORLD magazine was hitting British newsagents (it had pretty good distribution through WH Smith stores and selected independent newsagents, including inexplicably my own local shop which probably didn't carry more than 100 titles overall) and specialist stores (where it served as a nice compliment to the more news-based COMICS INTERNATIONAL from the House of Skinn), word of the Genesis Massacre was spreading through the industry.

The British Bullpen had put a lot of promotional weight behind this and LOOSE CANNONS in the hope that they would address the perception issue that the whole UKverse line was suffering from quantity over quality. Twelve months earlier it had been perfectly acceptable to flood the market with (sometimes) substandard fodder but, now the speculators had bailed, readers and retailers were being more choosy with their pounds and dollars. And, frankly, the amount of British books still surfacing in the 50p boxes twenty years on suggests a lot of retailers had been overordering on an epic (not Epic) scale. 

The speed of the collapse was so fast that dozens of books and projects were caught in the final maelstrom. And very few emerged unscathed. 

THE CLANDESTINE was one of the lucky ones. Having Alan Davies' name above the door certainly helped but being a Marvel UK book didn't. So it shifted to the US operation. LOOSE CANNONS also looked like an obvious winner but didn't make the cut. 

If it comes as any consolation to the Annex of Ideas, TOPPS COMICS, publishers of THE MARK OF ZORRO, also didn't last... Despite bankable franchises like THE X-FILES, MARS ATTACKS, STAR WARS GALAXY MAGAZINE, JURASSIC PARK and XENA WARRIOR PRINCESS.

Those were indeed hard times. 

1991: DEATH'S HEAD in SHE-HULK

From 1991: the original DEATH'S HEAD crosses the Atlantic for a rare US appearance in the pages of THE SENSATIONAL SHE-HULK 24.

Appearances by Marvel UKverse characters (except, of course, it didn't exist when this appeared) outside their own books are so rare that its often easy to overlook them because you just assume they don't exist to begin with.

This has a higher profile than most because it was included in the DH Panini trade paperback collections.

The She-Hulk, somewhat of a second tier title, was by this point in the care of Brits Simon Furman and Bryan Hitch, a dream team combo of DH collaborators that made the guest shot possible. 

Unfortunately, it wasn't enough to convince incoming British Bullpen boss Paul Neary to relaunch the Freelance Peace Keeper in a new limited series, pitched at the States, and he scrapped the project in favour of DEATH'S HEAD II and the start of the UKverse the following year. 

There was, except for the much more recent trade paperback, no contemporary UK edition but it was reprinted in the hard-to-find final issue (12) of THE INCOMPLETE DEATH'S HEAD in late 1993/ early 1994: one of the final titles to emerge before the Genesis Massacre shredded the UK line. 

1992: DEATH'S HEAD II debut in OVERKILL House Ad (Marvel UK)

From October 1992: A MARVEL UK promotion for the belated arrival of Death's Head II in OVERKILL... backed-up by a great set of exclusive UKverse trading cards (see here for the cards).

The add, somewhat lazily, just recycles the cover for issue 12 with some additional copy appended to the lower-third.  Probably not the marketing department's finest hour...

1992: DEATH'S HEAD II Limited Series Issue 1: silver ink second printing (Marvel UK)

From 1992: the harder-to-find second-printing of DEATH'S HEAD II (the limited series) issue one.

It's fair to say, in my experience, that none of the Marvel UKverse/ Genesis line are hard-to-find, at a good price, here in the UK.  With the possible exception of this silver-ink special.  

The British books are mainstay fodder of 50p boxes and, with some perseverance (and, it has to be said, a reasonable amount of cash as the British Bullpen certainly churned out a lot of books between 1992 and 1994) it's possible to build up a full collection (part of what makes collecting the failed universes so much fun... a finite number of books at a good price).  Dealers often still have them polybagged which means titles that were given a jump-start with exclusive trading cards can still be found for pennies.  

The one exception, the only book I would consider in any way elusive, is this one.  The unexpected demand for DH II's debut (and the chance to make a few more bucks) sent M-UK back to the printers for this silver ink-enhanced quickie.  The contents are identical to the (easier to find) first printing but the cover looks spiffing in silver. 

The UKverse books, thankfully, didn't indulge in alternate versions and variants, although cover enhancements (and the aforementioned trading cards) did become par of the course as the line struggled for attention throughout 1993.  This is, to my knowledge, the only comic they published that exists as two different editions.  

My way of a comparison, the first edition is below. 

1993: DEATH'S HEAD II "FAMILY" House Ad (Marvel UK)

1993: Bring on the clones!  Imitation is the surest sign of success and MARVEL UK certainly tried to make the most of the initially perky sales of DEATH'S HEAD II by knocking out several in-house immitators.

Great art on this Summer 1993 House Ad from the US-format books. 

1992; OVERKILL ISSUE 3 Letters Page (Marvel UK)

From 1992: The first OVERKILL letters page (remember those?) from the third issue (cover-dated 22 May). 

1992: WARHEADS Issue 1 (Marvel UK)

From 1992: WARHEADS issue 1, the official start of the MARVEL UKverse!

This copy is still bagged and sealed with the original "Genesis Seal", a brief scheme by the British Bullpen to cross-promote the new fortnightly OVERKILL, an anthology of the original "Genesis Five" books (WARHEADS, MOTORMOUTH, HELL'S ANGEL, THE KNIGHTS OF PENDRAGON and DIGITEK).

What the sticky plug neglects to mention is that, in terms of strips, Overkill readers were under served: The US editions contained twice as many strip pages that each story received in Overkill.  But... were the Overkill versions (heavily) edited... or were the US versions padded?

Warheads were a team of dimension-jumping mercenary scavengers employed by Mys-Tech (the hitherto unknown movers and shakers of this part of Marvel Earth) to jump between worlds and dimensions to grab new technology for the benefit of their employers.  A really nice idea oft-undermined by their continuing encounters with existing sales-boasting Marvel characters.  

Nick Vince was the writer, Gary Erskine supplied the stunning art and John Freeman was editor.  

The book eventually ran for fourteen regular issues and a two-part limited series.  Plans for more were terminated (without mercy) in the Genesis Massacre. 

1993: OPENING SHOT TV DOCUMENTARY in THE EXPLOITS OF SPIDER-MAN (Marvel UK)

From 1993: some behind-the-scenes stills from Tim Quinn's (who also happened to be both the Editor of the very comic these appeared in... as well as the author of the gag strip below) OPENING SHOT documentary devoted to MARVEL UK. 

The documentary captured the British Bullpen at the height of the Genesis Explosion, a time when it genuinely looked like it might be a contender... even if some of the titles being churned out seemed a little - ahem - on the rushed side.  

Unfortunately.... it all collapsed when the bottom dropped out of the market at the end of the year.  

This reveals that the overall series, a spin-off from LWT's Sunday night mainstay THE SOUTH BANK SHOW, had the working title 'The Young Bank Show'.  I can't imagine why they changed that...

This is from THE EXPLOITS OF SPIDER-MAN issue 9, cover-dated 2 June 1993. 

1993: ON SALE THIS MONTH: OVERKILL Issue 20 (Marvel UK)

On sale this week in 1993: OVERKILL issue 20, from MARVEL UK, with (slightly surreal) cover by Steve Sampson.  

Following the successes of the previous year, early 1993 was a boom time for the British Bullpen with the "Genesis Explosion" in full swing.  OVERKILL started-out as a UK vehicle for the US-format 'Genesis' strips (albeit heavily edited) but, by the turn of the year, the amount of material heading across the Atlantic from Arundel House couldn't possibly be crammed into one comic.  

Overkill's line-up had already been shuffled with DIGITEK fading in and out of the running order (to accommodate delays in the fully-painted art) and KNIGHTS OF PENDRAGON dropped in favor of (inevitably) DEATH'S HEAD II.  

 The heavy editing of the strips also ended, subtly shifting Overkill from a fantasy adventure anthology (chasing the 2000AD crowd) closer to a traditional Marvel superhero book (albeit still with the unique British sensibilities which made the Genesis line so interesting).

1992: STAN LEE PLUGS MARVEL UK in BULLPEN BULLETINS (Marvel Comics)

From late 1992: Stan "The Man" Lee turns his monthly plug machine to selling the wares of MARVEL UK across the US Marvel line.  

Marvel's output was growing so fast (and, some may argue, indiscriminately) during this period that securing such a lengthy bit of hard sell in BULLPEN BULLETINS must have been quite an achievement.  However, it's unlikely that Stan, firmly ensconced on the West Coast trying to convince someone (anyone!) to produce movies and TV shows based on the Marvel pantheon, ever actually read any of the British books.  

There a few titles there that must have been changed before the books went ahead: Team Helix (possibly published as Genetix), Death Rattle and Gene Machine.  Night Raven (or Nightraven according to Stan) presumably refers to the second edition of the House of Cards graphic novel (which I've covered in previous posts). 

1993: DARK ANGEL: AFTERMATH (Marvel UK)

The fallout from the Mys-Tech Wars: a (very nineties) double-page spread from MARVEL UK's DARK ANGEL issue 12, July 1993. 

1993: KNIGHTS OF PENDRAGON House Ad (Marvel UK)

From January 1993: A MARVEL UK House Ad for the retooled KNIGHTS OF PENDRAGON (already ready retooled once for their 'Genesis 92' launch... and rebooted again within the year) ongoing book.

You can imagine the edict that led to this Alan Davis makeover: "Sales are bad... we need to make this look more like a superhero book!".  But I don't think this is anyone's finest hour.

The reboot had come, two months earlier, with the sixth issue.  This ad reuses the cover art from the eighth issue.  The title eventually clocked-up fifteen issues (three issues less than the 1990-91 run) before succumbing to the house clearing of the Genesis Implosion of late 1993. 

The Knights were one of the initial "Overkill Five" strips designed for publication on both sides of the Atlantic.  However, they were soon dropped from the UK fortnightly and only continued to appear in the US edition. 

1993: MYS-TECH WARS House Ad (Marvel UK)

From 1993: Fight! Fight! Fight!  MYS-TECH WARS was an ambitious multi-book MARVEL UK crossover (then, as now, all the rage) that, in addition to the core four-issue limited series, also crossed over into a number of other UKverse books.  

I always got the impression, possibly entirely misplaced, that the British Bullpen had high hopes that they could bring some of the American books into the fold and make this a truly transatlantic event... but couldn't persuade the US editorial team to play along.  

The Genesis books that were official part of the arc were:

MOTORMOUTH AND KILLPOWER Issue 9 (the "it starts here" prelude)

DARK ANGEL Issues 10 and 11

WARHEADS Issue 11

KNIGHTS OF PENDRAGON Issue 12

DEATH'S HEAD II Issue 5

The black and white art in this House Ad was part of the massive, and most impressive, gatefold by Bryan Hitch.  

The series wasn't reprinted in OVERKILL, although it was considered for THE EXPLOITS OF SPIDER-MAN.  I can't recall whether the crossovers ever appeared either. 

1992: WARHEADS Issue 1 (Marvel UK)

From April 1992: an unread copy of WARHEADS, the first of the original "Overkill Five" books from MARVEL UK to ship.  

Another three (the revived KNIGHTS OF PENDRAGON, MOTORMOUTH and HELL'S ANGEL) appeared over subsequent weeks and the fifth, DIGITEK, launched in the States later in the year but also formed part of OVERKILL's launch line-up (starting with the second issue). 

This copy, which I snapped-up in a 50p box earlier this year, is still in the original comic bag that all the early GENESIS '92 titles were distributed in here in the UK.  The sticker (the "Genesis Seal") holding the bag shut is, as you'll see, a plug for the British fortnightly.  It neglects to mention that the strips appearing in the British edition were heavily edited (with about half the story pages removed and the remainder reworked so that they still made sense) so fans were actually better off, storywise, sticking with the US editions.

This weird compromise, which also saw imported copies held at warehouses until Overkill had shipped, was because the British Bullpen were concerned that easily available US copies would undermine the appeal of the UK edition.  The policy was abandoned once Overkill became a straight reprint (or dual-commissioning) title and the Genesis line expanded so fast that it was impossible to accommodate all the strips in the fortnightly (and even less so when the quantity of strips were cut and the frequency reduced to fortnightly).

Of all the first wave of Genesis titles, I was initially most won over by this one.  The idea (mercenaries dispatched by Mys-Tech to scavenge alien tech on other worlds) was a cracker (and, I suspect, inspired by the Colonial Marines) and Gary Erskine's art was very impressive.  I did, however, find it odd that, with all of time and space available to them, they kept running into the obligatory sales-boosting existing Marvel characters. 

1992: HELL'S ANGEL becomes DARK ANGEL (Marvel UK)

Here's what happens when your legal guys are asleep at the wheel... the hasty reboot of MARVEL UK's HELL'S ANGEL as the little less trademark lawsuit-baiting DARK ANGEL after only six months on sale.  Not a great way to build a loyal audience in a febrile market.  

Apparently, Marvel had to make a $35,000 donation to the charity Ronald McDonald House as recompense for troubling the biker collective.  Harley Davidson obviously didn't read a lot of British comics at the time.

It's telling that Marvel weren't even able to insert a "Hell's Angel becomes Dark Angel" type cover splash to ease the transition on this issue.  

I also vaguely recall that a small indie also had prior claim to the second title... but I can't find anything to that effect online.  

Under the two titles, the book ran for a total of sixteen issues which makes it one of the longest survivors of the Genesis books.  The strip, complete with name-change, was also reprinted in OVERKILL for the home market. 

1993: MARVEL UK's MOTORMOUTH AND KILLPOWER in THE INCREDIBLE HULK (Marvel)

 

Well £+<$ me!  These two issues of THE INCREDIBLE HULK (408 and 409, August and September 1993 respectively) are little landmarks in the history of MARVEL UK and - more specifically - the Genesis Project.

The constant guest appearances and cameos by bankable US characters in the UK books (deemed vital for giving them some traction and credibility in the febrile US market during the early 1990s boom times) became something of a running joke (and, potentially, a great source for a Drinking Game... should you be so inclined).  But, conspicuously, the British characters had a much lower profile in the US books.  

Despite (or, perhaps, because of) omnipotence in the UKverse, DEATH'S HEAD II couldn't even crack the New York Bullpen.  

The one exception to this one-way flow of talent was MOTORMOUTH and KILLPOWER's two-part sojourn into the pages of the Hulk.  In truth, 408 only amounts to a cameo (see above) but the following issue has them front-and-centre with even MM/KP's logo as part of the cover design.  

The legendary Peter David scripted both installments (which brought the Green Goliath to London... for a punch-up), joined by Marvel UK stalwart (and MM artist) Gary Frank.  

They were never reprinted in the UK.  

Ironically, these issues appeared around the time that the Annex of Ideas shuttered Harley's own book after a twelve issue run, depriving them of the cross-promotional opportunity.  Ms. Davis did form part of the DARK GUARD line-up (the UKverse answer to The Avengers/ JLA... except without the longevity, sales figures and movie franchise) but that proved a short-lived venture (four issues) before it fell victim of the Genesis Implosion.

Plans for two MOTORMOUTH mini-series floundered (fatally) in the Genesis Massacre. 

This lack of success Stateside (at least until this year's REVOLUTIONARY WAR) ironically makes the original DEATH'S HEAD (the character Paul Neary loathed so much) as the most successful British character when it comes to infiltrating the mainstream MARVELverse. 

1993: REDMIST 2020 House Ad (Marvel Uk)

Another Mighty Marvel UK What If: a UK advert for the it-never-happened REDMIST 2020 multi-book event from MARVEL UK's GENESIS line.  

Apparently the material for these three new interconnected new launches was actually on the way to the printers (and I've wondered, on several occasions, whether the freebie trading cards went to print earlier than the main book) when the GENESIS IMPLOSION hit and the orders came down from upon high to suspend most of the British Bullpen's publishing plans.  

None of the three new books ('ROID RAGE, DEATH DUTY and BLOODRUSH... three very nineties titles) ever made it into print and, of the two crossovers, only SUPER SOLDIERS 8 hit the shelves.  That proved to be the title's finale and the ninth issue was lost.  WILD THING stalled after issue seven and neither of the two-parts of the crossover appeared.  

The 'Implosion' was only supposed to put M-UK's new launches on hiatus (and clear out some of the underperforming titles, like SUPER SOLDIERS, CYBERSPACE 3000 etc) in order to slim down the line until the market stabilized in the wake of the speculator crash.  However, it turned into the "Genesis Massacre" when the whole line was shuttered at the end of 1993.  Everything already on hiatus was chopped alongside the implosion survivors.  Wipe out. 

But... just look at the list of the creators attached to these books...

1993: BLACK AXE House Ad (Marvel UK)

Another MARVEL UK "Genesis era" House Ad from 1993: this time plugging the virtues of the fifth issue of BLACK AXE.

You can almost picture the thought process that led to Black Panther turning-up as the shipped-in US guest star.