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- The Deathlords of Nox
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31st
May 05 |
Editor's note:
From time to time we like to bring reviews of projects with a 2000AD link that
might have passed under your radar. With that in mind, we bring you...
Doomlord - The
Deathlords of Nox
By John
Wagner, Alan Grant and Heinzl
What to Expect:
Deep in the cosmos spins the unnatural world of Nox, home of the servitors,
ruled over by the Dread Council. For countless millennia they have watched over
the galaxy, deciding the fate of individual planets against the greater needs
of galaxy…Masters of Life…Bringers of Death!
Yet when servitor
Vek is sent to judge mankind, he refuses to carry out his mission to destroy the
Earth, having become tinged by human emotion during his stay amongst them: “Bad
or good…I am neither. Just a servitor who has disobeyed his masters. A servitor
who is trying to save the human race.”
Originally appeared
in: The Eagle (vol. 2) 24/9/83-03/3/84
Review by Ed
Berridge
When I was a kid
comics were apparently everywhere: newsagent’s shelves were seemingly crammed
with a multitude of titles like The Dandy and The Beano, Commando, Battle Action,
Whizzer & Chips, Buster, Oink, and Roy of the Rovers. Even American comics
seemed to make fairly regular appearances, whilst in the school playground children
would pass round 2000AD (the ‘big boys’ comic) like some strangely
addictive contraband.
Yet for me there
was one comic that I used to love above all others: The Eagle. Taking
its name from the fondly remembered sixties publication, it featured strips like
Joe Soap, MANIX, Virus, Death Wish, and yet another revival of Dan Dare, the lead
strip of the original Eagle.
But for most readers,
the central character of the 1980’s Eagle was a strange, alien character
called Doomlord. Sent from the planet Nox to destroy humanity, Doomlord rejected
his mission, believing humanity had enough potential to make them worth saving,
and instead battled for the survival of humanity against both his own people and
mankind itself. Like most British comics characters, he was a definite anti-hero
– he not only killed his enemies, but regularly slaughtered innocent human
beings too, either for information he gleaned from absorbing their identity or
simply as a personality with which to disguise himself.
As I got older,
boys comics slowly faded from both my life and popular fashion. But Doomlord always
remained an affectionate memory for me. So, when plans were announced by new publisher
Hibernia to reprint a collection of Doomlord strips, it was fair to say that I
was slightly more than excited in anticipation.
The first volume
in the series seems to be a substantial publication, collecting as it does almost
six months worth of weekly strips. The publishers have also decided to reprint
in the original size in which the strip first saw print, which is both a boon
for the reproduction of the art (as those who have seen some of the squashed repackaged
collections produced by companies like Quality and DC can attest), as well as
providing something of a thrill for those who are returning to the story. The
cover is, upon first inspection, perhaps the least exciting aspect of the whole
publication, but in the simplicity of its photograph of Doomlord it neatly reflects
the ethos of the strip, as well as providing a nod to story’s origins. The
layout of the book too is simple but effective, making it an extremely attractive
and easy to read package, and it is obvious that a lot of love and hard work has
gone into producing this title.
It also includes
an enjoyably affectionate introduction from Alan Grant, who obviously still feels
a lot of love for the strip and, as usual, he is a mine of entertaining information
(including an interesting titbit about Alberto Giolitti, agent of Massimo ‘Ace
Trucking’ Belardnelli).
Volume one reprints
the entirety of The Deathlords of Nox storyline, the fourth Doomlord story to
see print. The first three strips were fumetti, or photo strips, but the technique
did not prove popular with readers, and they were eventually dropped in favour
of more traditional linework. Hibernia have wisely decided to begin their reprint
with the drawn strips as opposed to the photographs, which will undoubtedly sell
much better in today’s marketplace, but leaves a potential problem in that
new readers might find it hard to comprehend a strip already well established.
However to counter these possible problems, there is an enjoyably concise synopsis
from Paul Scott, of Solar Wind fame, which fills you in on all the necessary details
in a simple and well-written fashion.
The reprinted strip
has been lovingly reproduced – the art looks probably the best it has ever
been, no longer being printed on something suspiciously like cheap toilet paper.
The art itself looks great, featuring none of the fading, stretching or other
problems that have been associated with recent reprints of stories of a similar
age. In fact, it seems that Rebellion and other companies could learn a thing
or two about production values from Hibernia, considering that apparently all
the artwork for this publication was scanned by hand from old yellowing copies
of The Eagle!
The artwork by Italian
artist Heinzl is also something of a revelation: his highly detailed, dynamic
artwork genuinely looks beautiful on the page, as well as employing a nicely similar
style to the later Eric Bradbury-drawn strips. The artwork is of a style that
has sadly all but disappeared from today’s comic market, but which was absolutely
perfect for the type of stories that appeared for the youth market during the
British industry’s heyday. Heinzl proves to be particularly adept at illustrating
the story, with an eye for detail that ranges from the Bob Dylan posters on a
biker's bedroom wall to the finer details of Butlins holiday camp. He is also
more than capable of producing the dynamic visuals the story requires, whether
it’s the genuinely sinister appearance of the undertakers that the Deathlords
disguise themselves as, the tension filled horror as the police begin shooting
dogs in Bradford, or the quixotically bizarre image of Doomlord dressed up as
Santa Claus.
The greatest asset
to the strip though, has to be the writing skills of John Wagner and Alan Grant,
who together wrote half of 2000AD’s output and most of The Eagle’s,
as well as innumerable other titles. Doomlord was easily the cream of the strips
that the pair wrote for The Eagle and The Deathlords was the first strip that
I actually read. So I was somewhat nervous coming to read the story again after
so many years. So often a fondly remembered story, film or television programme
from one’s youth can, with the removal of rose-tinted spectacles, be revealed
as just another load of disappointing old rubbish.
Thankfully, this
proves not to be the case with The Deathlords of Nox. The story is incredibly
entertaining right from the off. It is also interesting because it is the sort
of story that Wagner and Grant never really had the chance to tell in more high
profile arenas, and so has remained largely unseen since its original publication.
It gives the rare opportunity to allow them to mix the two distinct styles they
had developed writing for both boys' science fiction and girls' melodrama comics.
The plot itself
is strictly an action story with a dash of sf, as the Dread Council of Nox send
the Deathlords, a chapter of assassins, to kill servitor Vek and finish the job
that he refused – the destruction of Earth. Yet perhaps the most interesting
aspect of the strip is to be found in the almost soap-operatic nature at its heart:
Doomlord’s relationship with his landlady Mrs. Souster and her sons. Living
in the bed & breakfast under the assumed identity of commercial traveller
Eric Plumrose, having hypnotised the family into believing his cover, at one point
they even ask Doomlord to come on holiday with them to Butlins! Yet what could
have simply been a throwaway moment of humour becomes one of genuine emotion as
Vek is deeply touched by the human’s gesture, even considering trying to
be a father figure to Mrs. Souster’s two sons.
And ultimately
this is indicative of the strips strongest component – Doomlord himself.
On the one hand he is a typical British anti-hero: though he defends the Earth,
he kills innocent strangers purely to learn more about the emotional and mental
makeup of human beings. Yet he never kills through anger or fear, rather necessity:
his credo is that the fate of the individual is unimportant compared to the fate
of the many (an element of the strip that echoes the overtly political overtones
of other great comics strips, such as Pat Mills and Kevin O’Neil’s
Nemesis the Warlock). Vek often comes across as the most ‘human’ of
the characters in the book: the childlike wonder he experiences as he transforms
into a bird flying through the air, or the ‘trace of decency’ that
he notes in the mind of a would-be mugger eloquently express Doomlord’s
deep affection and fascination for both mankind and the planet we live on.
It is this character,
perhaps one of Wagner and Grant’s least known but most entertainingly original,
that makes this collection a ‘must buy’ for anyone interested in the
work of either writer or the entertaining milieu of the 1980’s British comic
scene. It certainly makes all the obvious hard work and loving dedication that
has gone into the production of this book worthwhile. Personally, I feel like
I’m four years old and reading it all for the first time again – quite
frankly, having read this I’m even more excited to read volume two!
Doomlord
can be purchased from Doomlord@eircom.net
Buy
2000AD collections from the 2000AD Review shop
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