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. 

MARVEL UK HANDBOOK: ALBION

THE ROAD TO THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR:
THE MARVEL UK HANDBOOK

A few days ago I posted the OFFICIAL HANDBOOK TO THE MARVEL UNIVERSE entry for Marvel UK's Knights of Pendragon so it seemed appropriate to next post the one-page entry for ALBION (who also did a spot of out-of-time moonlighting in M-UK's wannabe Avengers team book DARK GUARD).

MARVEL UK HANDBOOK: KNIGHTS OF PENDRAGON

THE ROAD TO THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR:
THE MARVEL UK HANDBOOK

The Knights actually predate the GENESIS 92 project, they made their debut back in 1990 in their own pre-GENESIS US format monthly.  That book (the complete run is available in a must-have Panini trade) clocked-up an impressive eighteen issue run before being canned by a combination of marginal sales and the new broom of the incoming Neary regime.

A revamped Knights returned the following year as part of the inaugural GENESIS 92 line-up, reprinted in the pages of OVERKILL in the UK.

That book - which many fans of the original didn't exactly take a shine to - was a slow burner of the G92 line and eventually clocked-up a 15 issue run making it more successful than some of its higher profile companions.

The illustration comes from Alan Davis' overhaul of the characters.  Hmmm...

MARVEL UK HANDBOOK: THE KNIGHTS OF PENDRAGON

THE ROAD TO THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR:
THE MARVEL UK HANDBOOK

Here's another of the MARVEL UK GENESIS 92 sneak-peeks that appeared in the original DEATH'S HEAD II limited series during the first part of 1993.

The Knights had already enjoyed an 18 issue run in the a semi-US format (the dimensions matched US books but - unlike the Genesis 92 line - it never felt like it was fully integrated into the larger Marvel New York output) between July 1990 and December 1991.

This second incarnation, launched in July 1992, grafted the Knights into the MyS-TECH anchored sub-universe and ultimately ran 15 issues to September 1993.

The strip also formed part of the inaugural OVERKILL line-up here in the UK.

Typically of the UK expansion, only the first series has been reissued in trade paperback format and - once again - nothing from the G92 era is currently in print.

1992: AMAZING HEROES: THE MARVEL-UK UNIVERSE LAUNCHES

Today, Slow Robot ushers in the Marvel-UK Universe (M-UK-U) with this article from US pro-zine AMAZING HEROES 202, June 1992 (actually the penultimate issue: the double-numbered 203/204 was the last regular edition).

GENESIS '92 was the working title for the five original M-UK US-format monthlies (THE KNIGHTS OF PENDRAGON, MOTORMOUTH, WARHEADS, HELL'S ANGEL and the limited series DIGITEK) which also, in edited form, formed the inaugural line-up for the UK fortnightly OVERKILL.

DEATH'S HEAD II, the first of the M-UK monthlies specifically produced for the US market, wasn't originally part of the 'Overkill family' but his (brief) runaway sales success ensured he appeared there (and everywhere else) as well.

Slow Robot will have lots more on the M-UK-U in future postings.