Deathlok: The Demolisher

Deathlok (2010) #1-7

by Charlie Huston, Lan Medina (Contributor)

Marvel's ultimate cyborg is back in this Marvel Knights series written by Charlie Huston (MOON KNIGHT) and breathtakingly illustrated by Lan Medina (FOOLKILLER). In the not-too-distant future, war is a spectator sport, warriors die hard and live fast, and living larger than anyone is super-soldier Lieutenant Mike Travers. That is, until Travers hotdogs it on the battlefield and gets himself and his C.O., Luther Manning, blown to bits. The show must go on. Enter: Deathlok theDemolisher!!!

Collecting:

Deathlok #1-7

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Marvel, Comix, Graphic Novels Comics

144 pages, Paperback

First published August 4, 2010

About the author

Charlie Huston is an American novelist, screenwriter, and comic book writer known for his genre-blending storytelling and character-driven narratives. His twelve novels span crime, horror, and science fiction, and have been published by Ballantine, Del Rey, Mulholland, and Orion, with translations in nine languages. He is the creator of the Henry Thompson trilogy, beginning with Caught Stealing, which was announced in 2024 as a forthcoming film adaptation directed by Darren Aronofsky and starring Austin Butler. Huston’s stand-alone novels include The Shotgun Rule, The Mystic Arts of Erasing All Signs of Death, Sleepless, and Skinner. He also authored the vampire noir series Joe Pitt Casebooks while living in Manhattan and later California. Huston has written pilots for FX, FOX, Sony, and Tomorrow Studios, served as a writer and producer on FOX’s Gotham, and developed original projects such as Arcadia. In comics, he rebooted Moon Knight for Marvel, contributed to Ultimates Annual, and penned the Wolverine: The Best There Is series.

Reviews

[Quentin Wallace · Rating 2 out of 5]

I didn't like this one at all. Honestly I skimmed most of it since I lost interest about two issues in, and the only thing keeping it from one star is the art, which wasn't bad.

I liked Huston's work on Moon Knight, but wow this was just a mess. It was too wordy for one thing, and when the story doesn't make sense(at least to me) that makes it worse. I sorta got the general idea of what was happening but I thought the execution was horrible. Overall I've been a fan of the Deathlok character, but I will admit some of his stories are little too weird for me. But this one just totally lost me. Half of the story took place in Deathlok's mind with the two characters who make up his consciousness in some type of weird alternate universe. The parts in the real universe were out there as well. I just couldn't get into it.

I can't recommend this to anyone, although I'm sure some readers will enjoy it, particularly readers of hard sci fi.

[Hunter Shea · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great artwork but a truly garbled story with some cringeworthy dialogue. Deathlok was always one of my favorite characters, and I'm still waiting for the definitive Deathlok book.

[Ketan Shah]

A new take on Deathlok,one of Marvel's first cyborgs. A functional story but nothing that really gripped.The art is very good though. One major irritation was having evey 3rd or 4th word 'bleeped' out. For example,a speech bubble might literally read "They knew I was a #### killer so they should have ##### listened when I told them to lay off." If it happened once it a while it would be OK,but in this book it's literally in almost every speech bubble from every character,which really breaks up the flow of reading. If Marvel wanted to keep the swear words ,they should have published it under the MAX imprint,like what they've done with the Punisher. And if they knew they didn't want the swears,then they could have tweaked to dialogue to remove the majority. If done intelligently I don't think they'd really have been missed that much. By having this weird self censorship in place it really does a disservice to the reader. In any case ,for a good take on Deathlok,look for the original 1990 series written by Dwayne McDuffie and Gregory Wright, and pencilled by Jackson Guice.

[Mike · Rating 2 out of 5]

Once baseball season arrived, my book reading has dropped like the Indians toward the AL Central cellar. Figured I'd get back to the fundamentals with a graphic novel about a character I don't know much about, Deathlok. He's been a little-used part of the Marvel Universe for nearly four decades. This is a new iteration that takes the old elements of Deathlok and creates a unique, futuristic world where the Roxxon Corporation runs the world, war is a televised sport, and Deathlok is a creation which becomes a combination of Robocop, Jason Voorhees, and The Terminator. It's ambitious, but I just didn't dig it all that much.

Deathlok did make me interested in the writer Charlie Huston, who has written the Henry Thompson trilogy about a former baseball player who gets caught up with the Russian mob through a case of mistaken identity. Huston describes himself as a pulp writer. That one of the main characters in Deathlok uses the catchphrase "Make Them Pay" made me think he has a Cleveland connection and owes Tim Misny an apology, but I couldn't find one.

[Devero · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ho trovato decisamente buona questa rinarrazione dell'avventura fantascientifica di Deathlok, diversa dalla distopia originaria, più attuale per certi versi, ugualmente disturbante.

[tony dillard jr · Rating 2 out of 5]

Deathlok is a lot like the DC Comics character The Demon. Stylistically, he's a pretty awesome character with really great abilities. But unlike the Jack Kirby creation, Deathlok has undergone a ton of complex and often confusing retools. He still looks freakin' amazing. But his backstory is about as jumbled as the memories left in his cybernetically enhanced brain.

This Marvel Knights adaptation of Deathlok takes place in the near future. The corrupt corporation Roxxon owns just about everything to the point that squabbles over water rights and borders are fought in televised battles sponsored by the megacorporation. The bravest and most daring of soldiers are used to sell everything from cola to the newest weapons seen on the battlefield.

An up-and-coming warrior named Travers is about to make squad leader when his CO Luther Manning kills him for disobeying orders. In hopes to still cash in on this profitable character, Roxxon develops a series of clones that just aren't up to par as there's not enough viable tissues remaining. In response, a super solider is created of the remaining Travers stock along what's left of Manning's brain.

At first it looks like Roxxon has created the ultimate solider known as Deathlok. However, it becomes quickly clear that Deathlok is unwilling to become a pawn of the corporate machine. Desperate to find Manning's wife and son, the combined mental forces of Travers and Manning make kindling of Roxxon's military might while subconsciously the duo fight off viruses and other cybernetic stimuli created to destroy Deathlok's brain.

This book was a mixed bag. I really enjoyed the opening chapter and the ending was really good. There were some kick-ass fight scenes spread throughout. But the scenes involving Roxxon trying to control Deathlok were really confusing and quite dull. There's a lot of techno-babble that went a bit over my head and those scenes really slowed the pace of this story down to a tortoise pace.

The metaphysical parts of Manning and Travers working together as the hive mind of Deathlok were also some really interesting segments. I could have done with more of that and a lot less of Roxxon's scientists giving their maniacal ubiquitous monologues on how to kill Deathlok.

This story was also a parody of celebrity culture, especially in how the lines of realism in reality television and the news media are often blurred for the sake of ratings. There's definite nods to several other films about the role of sport and violence in dystopian societies such as The Running Man, Rollerball, and Death Race 2000. Plus, I'd be in serious denial if I didn't mention that the Universal Solider films seem to have played a large part in the plot's inspiration as well.

For the most, writer Charlie Huston's (Moon Knight) vision is quite gritty while border-lining on the absurd. Yet, everyday, I am stunned even more by how much reality television and pro-sports is looking a lot like the Saturday night wars in this book. So maybe it's not too weird after all.

Also, this is a Marvel Knights book, meaning that it's a little more of an adult comic than most things published by Marvel. It's even got a parental advisory on the back. The language in this book is comically X'd out. But the level of gore is quite disturbing. I haven't seen this much graphic representation of the horrors of war since the opening 20 minutes of Saving Private Ryan. Punisher MAX artist Lan Medina must also be a huge fan of the film Scanners as there's quite a few exploding heads in this book as well.

Definitely not a book for the kiddies. Nor recommended for those with weak stomachs and an aversion to blood and gore, even if it is just illustrations of it.

[Fizzgig76 · Rating 2 out of 5]

Reprints Deathlok: The Demolisher #1-7 (January 2010-July 2010). War is hell…but it is profitable and popular. With Roxxon’s Battlezone TV show as one of the world’s must-see-TV broadcasts, Mike Travers has won the hearts of the people as he advertises Roxxon’s products. When Mike’s gung-ho technique to battle leads to the death of Mike and his commanding officer Luther Manning, Mike and Luther discover themselves locked inside of a machine called Deathlok the Demolisher. Deathlok is a tool for Roxxon, but Travers and Manning have other plans.

Written by Charlie Huston, Deathlok: The Demolisher is a Marvel Comics limited series which was published under the Marvel Knights imprint. The collection features art by Lan Medina.

Deathlok was created in the ’70s but surged to popularity in the 1990s when comic books and Marvel began their renaissance. I have a soft spot for Deathlok, but honestly, I didn’t enjoy reading Deathlok much. Much like Iron Man, I have problems with the computer/mechanical aspect of the character, and Huston’s Deathlok does a lot to return to the original concept of Deathlok (aka the ’70s version).

The problem with this collection is how Huston tells the story. I think he is probably trying too hard to be edgy and tells the story in a really staggered and stylized way. As a result, the comic is very jargony, wordy, and filled with #### to cover up the swear words of the tough talking soldiers…it kind of makes you wish that the series had just been released under the MAX imprint.

The core story isn’t bad when it is boiled down. You have the two different ideas on battle, a world where death and destruction is popular, and a main character who is trying to discover who or what he is. This is pitted against the corporate bad guys (a la RoboCop) and for the most part plays out as you’d expect (Godwulf and his followers are the only wildcard in the story that doesn’t really get developed enough). Huston also spends a lot of time developing supporting characters, but then doesn’t give them the “respect” of a death that feels rewarding (like Hellinger, Devereaux, or Ryker).

Deathlok: The Demolisher is a rather quick read, but it isn’t a very satisfying one. I think if Huston had tried to tell a more traditional Deathlok story without trying to stylize it so much, it would have turned out better. Marvel included a version of Deathlok in Uncanny X-Force in 2011 and relaunched a new Deathlok in Original Sins in 2014.

[Your_Average_Magical_Girls_Fan · Rating 1 out of 5]

Uselessly censored words, same old, tired, cliqué (need I more words?) "violent futuristic game arena hurr durr" 80's trope used by countless of other and more interesting pieces of media (The Running Man movie, the original Death Race from 1975, Alita) which I suggest you check before this. Don't bother with this one.

[Alex Sarll]

Charlie Huston has written some excellent comics (half of the best Moon Knight run ever) and some stinkers (I still occasionally remember his Ultimates annual, the first of the many insults done to that once-proud title, and shudder). Somewhere in between comes this. I don't know a great deal about Deathlok (which is to say, I probably know more than 99% of Earth's population), but I'm fairly sure this isn't the character as depicted elsewhere, except visually, and in the basic concept of man and machine warring for control of a weaponised body - still, M.A.C.H. 1 shared that much. This is a RoboCop meets American Flagg! satire of an all-too-near future where war has been reconfigured as a corporate-sponsored spectator sport, everything is privatised and everyone is for sale. It lacks the subtlety of Verhoeven or Chaykin - yes, that sentence surprises me too - but is not without its charms and its thought-provoking moments. Still, I do wish I knew how many levels of irony Huston intends in his heavy use of that conspiracy nut favourite, morgellons.

Should be Demolisher rather than Destroyer, incidentally, but I suspect someone had to add this ahead of time. As I just did with a Lou Reed biography from a major publisher that's out next week; you'd think the Amazon hook-up would, if nothing else, have made the need for such manual intervention a thing of the past.

[Clay · Rating 1 out of 5]

So disappointing. I've been a fan of the Deathlok character from his original inception back in Astonishing Tales 25. After the initial run I'm afraid the character has just not been utilized well. Case in point: this dreck of a reboot.

The world of the near future has adopted limited conflicts to settle disputes rather than full-scale war. These skirmishes are covered like a sporting event (ala "Monday Night Football"). Two soldiers for Roxxon (Manning and Travers) are "killed" and their body parts and mind are used to create the Deathlok cyborg. All through the story Manning and Travers are in some kind of medieval battle that comes from Manning's childhood experiences; at the same time, the cyborg is on a rampage trying to find Manning's family, tearing up the competition on the battlefield, and avoiding Roxxon's attempts to recapture or destroy it.

Is there any connection to what Manning and Travers are experiencing and what Deathlok is doing? Are one or both of them in control of the cyborg? Or is there a third consciousness running things? Is it the author's point that we are becoming desensitized to violence? And do we really need to be constantly hit over the head with the commentators narrating each and every battle?

One nice idea in the book was that the common folk talked with a lot of internet/twitter shorthand. It's just a matter of time before real-world folk start to utter TLAs in place of common phrases.

[Scott Waldyn · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a weird blend of Idiocracy, Robocop, and Marvel Comics woven around this idea of singularity. That said, these pieces and themes fit together very nicely. Deathlok is an even blend of gory violence and story, placed in a bizarre backdrop of the future that seems both plausible and frighteningly moronic. This vision of the future would be where the influences of Idiocracy and Robocop play heavily into this story, modified a bit by recent developments that also make Deathlok more topical, for the time being.

I should note that while this does have a very comic book feel, there aren't any other Marvel characters popping into Deathlok's world that I noticed, unless you count the Roxxon company brand, which by this point has dominated all of its competitors.

Overall, this is just a solid, hardcore scifi tale definitely in the vein that science fiction fans will enjoy, I feel. If you're not too keen on this genre, you may want to stay away. It can be heavy at times. Even the tone of the art feels reflective of the genre, as if the artist wanted to mash the worlds of Blade Runner and Joel Schumacher's Batman movies together.

[Edward · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm a big fan of Charlie Huston, so when I saw this at my favorite second hand bookstore I had to pick it up. Deathlok is a character I've always liked too, though he's one of those characters that pop up every few years, then fall back into obscurity.

I thought this seven issue trade was pretty cool. It had Huston's knack for messing with timelines and point of view, accompanied with great dialogue. Lan Medina's art had a nice clean realistic look to it as well. I was surprised it was set in the future though. Very Running Man meets Terminator meets World War Three. Deathlok's dual identity was a nice touch. I'm not sure if he's always been that way or if it was something new from Huston. The futuristic setting was interesting. I'm not sure if Marvel had plans on bringing him into the modern Universe or not as I don't follow the monthly titles these days.

A cool book that features a world I'm not used to seeing from Charlie Huston. He writes a fresh take on a classic character that I really enjoyed. Worth a read if your a fan of either.

[Phillip Goodman]

the first issue or chapter of the story is with the exception of the first two or three pages a real hard slog to read through, rather than using the medium to its strengths they seem to be trying to replicate the feeling of a rather loud and crass tv show, lots of uninteresting, unimportant background noise, written with the same boldness and colour of the noise in the foreground, meaning that it has no depth or subtlety, however from there on it gets alot better the annoying crassness of the tv show we are confronted with in the first chapter is put in its proper context and procedings are invigorated with a large injection of depth, subtle confusing mystery, and a bombastic unpredictability. at its best the book functions as a graphic treatise on war, technology, capitalism, consumer culture, celebrity, state control, and the individuals place within them, as well as the nature of individuality itself.

[Sonic · Rating 4 out of 5]

Awesome edgy sci-fi carnage! Gorgeous painted artwork take this book to a whole new level. I enjoyed this even more than Huston's psychotic dark Moon Knight work, ... is it just better artwork or is it also better writing? I think it is the later.

I have LOVED this ugly character since I was a little kid, it is so sweet to see him finally handled correctly!

[Robby Goodwin · Rating 3 out of 5]

If Stephen Hawkings, Charles Darwin & Michael Bay had a baby, it would be this book!!
Reading this book was like walking up a hill made of wet mud.
All that techno-babble got in the way of the flow of the book.
Also, Why use curse words if you're going to censored them.
I didn't know what bad word i was suppose to use.
I did love the painted art work!!

[Tomás · Rating 2 out of 5]

Comic bastante aburrido, aunque con cierto toque satírico que se hace querer por momentos. Empieza con mucha promesa, pero le sobran números y ya casi a la mitad se vuelve pesado y demasiado largo.

Destaco sobre todo los dibujos pero el guión deja un poco que desear.

En fin. Comic olvidable.

[Eòsaph · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was never a huge Deathlok fan, but damn. This was some good reading.

[M—]

I swear to god I thought this was Deathklok (link), but noooooooo. How disappointing.

[El Neo · Rating 2 out of 5]

It was just ok. The premise of a media game/reality show seemed just to whimsical for me. Deathlok was still badass, but there wasn't enough of him in the story.

[La Revistería Comics · Rating 3 out of 5]

Superoferta con el desnarizado favorito de la gente en este especial 100% Marvel cabeza de chapa derretida.

[Dony Grayman · Rating 3 out of 5]

Edición española. Tomo único publicado en la Colección 100%, Marvel.

[D.K. · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've always enjoyed Deathlok, but I couldn't get into this book. It was okay.

[Jedhua · Rating 3 out of 5]

ABSOLUTE RATING: {3+/5 stars}

STANDARDIZED RATING: <3/5 stars>