Havoc 08

⭐ Issue Number 8 - Dated 31st August, 1991 ⭐

METAL MEN  ●  FIERY FIENDS  ●  COSMIC COMBATANTS!

"Is there nothing we might say, Cimmerian, that might persuade you to accept our offer?"

☆ Deathlok: The Brains of the Outfit:

Part Seven ☆

Script: McDuffie / Wright | Art: Guice / Wright

Like almost every lonely hero in Marvel comic-dom has done at some point in time, Deathlok retreats to the rooftops to mull over his life choices - including the ones that were made for him by his unscrupulous employers.

His conclusion is one befitting the tragic tone that's been present from the beginning, but it's still pretty extreme.

But before he takes direct action in the hope of preventing the men who played God with his brain from committing similar atrocities to other employees in the future, he's got one more personal matter to attend to.

Without going into detail, the strip got me nostalgic for Milton Bradley's wonderful HeroQuest board game, even though it doesn't actually feature in the comic.

What does feature is a scenario in which Deathlok gains new insight about his own situation whilst trying to impart wisdom to another. It's a classic literary device — the hero ultimately taking his own advice — but when it's done correctly, as it is in the scene in question, it's as powerful as ever. Taken as a whole, The Brains of the Outfit: Part Seven is arguably the best the strip ever got in Havoc's pages.

Interestingly, the eye level page mentions the return of Bill and Ted in Bogus Journey (1991). As I type these words now the world is waiting on the return of Bill and Ted yet again, in the third film, Bill and Ted Face the Music (2020).

☆ RoboCop: Vigilante ☆

Script: Alan Grant | Art: Sullivan / DeMulder / White

Initially I thought Vigilante was a standalone story, a kind of hiatus between longer works, but it turns out that it isn't, even though that's what it feels like. But it sets the groundwork for what was planned to follow.

It has an opening splash page that's very Batman-esque. I've mentioned previously how Grant's RoboCop is like Judge Dredd reskinned at times. Grant was co-writer on the first Batman/Dredd crossover (i.e. Judgement on Gotham) in the same year that Havoc was on UK shelves, so perhaps having fun with a costumed hero was an easy one for him to tell. There's more comedy in the script than in the Dredd/Batman crossover, so maybe it was also undertaken as a way for the author to unwind from the seriousness of Bruce Wayne. I'm speculating too much, but what's sure is the man behind the mask in Detroit even has a comedy name and a puntastic slogan.

☆ Ghost Rider: Life's Blood: Part Eight ☆

Script: Mackie | Art: Saltares / Texeira / Wright

As in real life, just because someone dresses differently to you and/or has a hairstyle that you couldn't or don't have the confidence to wear, it doesn't mean they're a bad person. It also applies if the 'person' in question wears leather, rides a motorcycle with flaming wheels and has a fiery skull for a head. A good Samaritan can be in any guise.

But even exceptional people need an occasional ear to bend. For Dan, it's another confessional with his comatose sister/girlfriend as she lies in her hospital bed. I really like those moments because they get to the naked core of Dan's feelings. The accompanying heart rate monitor pulses a yearning rhythm, as if in sympathy with his conscience.

But the wider picture needs attention, too, so we witness the big bad being big and bad and boring before the end.

Following that is a feature on Walt Simonson, creator of The Star Slammers. It's a dry bio of his work, etc, amounting to one page of text and one page of montaged pictures. It would've been an opportune lead into his Star Slammers strip, but instead we get:

☆ Conan: Barbarian Death Song ☆

Plot + Art: Buscema | Dialogue: Fleisher

The Cimmerian is back, and on the cover, too (courtesy of Bill Sienkiewicz). Like with RoboCop it's not described as Part One of a longer work but that's what is. Even if Havoc was your introduction to the barbarian, it should be clear enough that he doesn't like to stay in one place for very long. He's a nomad, a wandering mercenary that moves around - the whole of that ancient world is his home. So when he's asked by a prideful King to stay and lead the Royal's armies, it's no surprise that he's barking up the wrong tree.

All of which eventually leads to a frenetic battle on horseback and Conan being the issue's other good Samaritan. There's a rather pleasing campfire story, which is a setting that has benefited the art for thousands of years, but, alas, the storyteller's account is cut short after just four panels, to be continued in Issue 09.

☆ The Star Slammers: Part Eight ☆

Script + Art: Walter Simonson

The event that the Slammers have been building toward is at hand. But like all plans, no matter how intricate or lengthy the development period, nothing is 100% guaranteed or foolproof. Being prepared isn't enough, for there's a difference in visualising something and actually being inside of something, and the Silvermind is no exception.

What's perhaps most exciting is how the chaos is presented, with the difficult to maintain plan complemented by overlapping images, communicating to the reader the notion that there's dozens of minds trying to speak all at once.

Even in exactitude a leap of faith can open opportunistic doors. The situation allows one of the primary Slammers to come to the fore, with a strength that's inspired by a former comrade's honourable sacrifice.

- End -