Following the character’s television debut as part of Marvel’s Agents of SHIELD on ABC, Deathlok has been in the spotlight in a way that he’s hasn’t really enjoyed since his creation forty years ago. Tomorrow sees the release of Original Sins No. 1, an anthology that sees the character return to comics in a story by Nathan Edmondson and Mike Perkins — a team that THR can exclusively reveal will be handling the character’s solo title when it debuts this fall, as well.
“Deathlok is an opportunity to turn the distinction between ally and foe within the Marvel universe right on its head,” Edmondson told THR via email. “Wrapped up in bleeding-edge tech, our Deathlok series will take what readers remember of the iconic anti-hero and what viewers love now of the character portrayed by J. August Richards in Agents of Shield and dive in with a twisting story of espionage and family.”
The Deathlok in the new comic book series won’t be exactly the Deathlok from the show — instead of Richards’ Mike Peterson character, the new comic book focuses on Henry Hayes, someone Edmondson described as “at war with the machine of war and the machine of global enterprise — and the machine inside him that makes him a lethal, unstoppable one man army.”
Edmondson is no stranger to comic book intrigue. In addition to his current, critically-acclaimed, Marvel series Black Widow and The Punisher, he’s also the co-creator of Who is Jake Ellis?, an Image Comics title about a CIA analyst on the run that is being developed as a movie by director David Yates and Fox.
The new Deathlok, the writer explained, “is a father and a medic who doesn’t know that he’s a machine, a killer behind some of the sweeping changes in geopolitics.” When asked to sum up the tone of the series, he suggested, “think Manchurian Candidate meets Robocop. With great friggin’ art.”
The art comes from Captain America and The Stand veteran Perkins, who said that Deathlok is “such a visually exciting character to tackle.” Calling the character “without a doubt, one of my favorite protagonists in the Marvel Universe,” he told THR that working on the series “is not just a long-held dream come true for me– although that plays a massive part in my excitement – it’s also a chance to introduce a new player into the Marvel Universe, albeit borrowing some existing tropes.”
The new series, he went on, will offer “excitement and thrills on a par with any James Bond opening or Jason Bourne set-piece nestling alongside some touching character interludes. After the 10 page introduction featuring in the first issue of Original Sins, we’re attempting to grab the reader by the lapels and thrust them into a world of espionage, secrets, betrayals and action. This is a persona with a clean slate…but accompanied by a history that is anything but spotless.”
Edmondson and Perkins get started in Original Sins No. 1, in comic stores and available digitally Wednesday, with the new Deathlok series launching in October.
