Death Wish Volume 1: Best Wishes

by Barrie Tomlinson, Vanyo (Illustrator), David McDonald (Introduction)

EVIL KENEVIL MEETS THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA IN THIS ORIGINAL FAST AND THE FURIOUS!

THE GREATEST DAREDEVIL OF THEM ALL – BECAUSE HE DOESN’T CARE IF HE LIVES OR DIES!
Blake Edmonds had it all – fame, money, looks... and then the world-famous F1 driver suffered a terrible accident which left him hideously disfigured. Fashioning a mask to hide his terrible visage, Edmonds has taken on a new career as a stuntman, flirting with death on a regular basis.

Genres: Comics

112 pages, Paperback

First published July 11, 2019

About the author

Barrie Tomlinson (2 February 1938 – 21 April 2026) was a British comics editor, writer and publicist, best known for his influential role in the development of UK comics during the late 20th century. He is particularly associated with the success of Roy of the Rovers and his involvement in titles such as Tiger, Battle Picture Weekly, and 2000 AD.

Reviews

[Alex Sarll]

In short, Brett Sinclair takes part in a race reminiscent of that Planet Of The Spiders episode where Pertwee clearly just insisted on driving everything, except he fucks it, and ends up as Doctor Doom. OK, not quite Doom; contrary to the inexplicable colouring on the cover (a failing which also affects Rebellion's Black Max trades) the mask is leather, not metal, and also Blake Edmonds (as this erstwhile playboy racing driver is in fact called) whips it off most weeks in order to horrify people. Oh, and he's not trying to conquer the world, just do the most insanely dangerous stunts he can, because having lost his handsome face he no longer cares if he lives or dies. Land speed record in a car that's already done for two test drivers? Definitely. Head-on train crash for a film? Sure. A parachute jump with a sack on his head, just because? Hell yes. The joke being, of course, that he keeps surviving it all more or less intact. There's not an ounce of substance here, just ghoulish, nihilistic thrills, without even any Captain Scarlet-style namby-pambiness about telling the young audience not to try this at home. Towards the end there's a worrying hint of sentimentality when Blake inevitably meets a beautiful blind girl, but soon enough a guy comes through the door with a gun and the pace picks up again. The stories here are from the original run in Speed, a comic of which I'm not sure I've ever previously heard, but apparently the strip later ended up in the Eagle, which I'm sure would have delighted that comic's late founder no end - just the sort of morally improving fare he'd felt boys were lacking.

[Jon Shanks]

Great nostalgia, if a little formulaic. However, seeing as the stories are told in 3 page installments, there's only so much you can do at a time. There is a longer story arc with character development later on in the book and I would be interested in seeing if that develops in further volumes. The artwork stills stands up really well too.

[Gary Varga]

An unbelievably original series. Thrilling, engaging and yet so simple. The characters are very real, albeit occasionally a little two dimensional.

Simple yet ever so entertaining.

[Timo]

What a piece of nice simple fun. Fast and highly entertaining.