I would comment too much, since I did have to check and see that Moench only wrote two issues, and then there were still two more writers before the series was over. My previous comment was from memory, but I can't say they seem to be different to me much overall. But that also may have been more to do with it being less a horror title as I was expecting and more of an action title, little to do with true werewolves.

Yes, that's what it was from was Giant Size Chillers. And I have the Haunt of Horrors issues. I'll have to check out the Dracula Lives! I know I have some on my want list so it is probably an issue I was aware of at one time and had forgotten that's why I wanted it.

I also don't think I have heard of/read anything about Gabriel. So that review will be interesting too.

As in Gabriel the Airwalker, herald of Galactus?

And according to wikipedia that is #219, #222-231, Annual #15.  Of those I have #227-230.  I had not realized I had any of Moench's FF, but I probably read them so long ago ....  According to Lone Star's synopsises it seems the issues I have are mostly about a character called the Ebon Seeker.  According to wikipedia again, Gabriel is #222-223.

No problem shax.  With the clz comics application and account I have, I can check my collection from anywhere I have internet or wifi service.  If I hadn't I know I would not have remembered I even had them, as I remember nothing about them.  Though it sounds like something to read here in the near future for a refresher.

Astonishing Tales #25



Deathlok: "A Cold Knight's Frenzy"

conceived, plotted, & drawn by: Rich Buckler
script: Doug Moench
colors: Glynis Wein
letters: Annette Kawecki
editor: Roy Thomas

my grade: A+


The first appearance of Deathlok. Thomas is pain-staking in his efforts to give full credit for the concept to Rich Buckler (not just in the credits here, and not just in the interview at the end of the issue, but also in the write-up in Marvel Bullpen Bulletins), but the story Rich and Doug tell in that affore-mentioned interview is a little different. Yes, Rich had the idea and visual for a half-man, half-machine being named "Deadlock" for three years by this point, but the ongoing internal conversation between Manning and the computer--what I consider to be the truly memorable aspect of this character and series--came from Moench. As Buckler says to Moench in the interview, "Blame yourself for that; it was your idea to play pinball inside his head."



So yes, the basic concept was Buckler's, but crediting the entire character to him would be an over-reach. Thomas and Buckler both go on to explain the amount of time Buckler and Moench spent collaborating to flesh-out the concept and plan the first issue; Buckler's concept was thus far from complete prior to Moench, and what Doug brought to the story was therefore more than a script. Others have similarly argued that the concept for Batman was solely Bob Kane's, and that the concept for Spider-Man was solely Stan Lee's, but those claims have since become contentious. Sure, Buckler created the visual look too, but that interplay between man and machine--the true substance of the character--came from Moench, and apparently so did other aspects of this first issue.

Buckler states in a 2005 interview that

(Source: Cooke, Jon. Comic Book Artist Collection. Vol. 3. Raleigh: Twomorrows, 2005. 73)

Interestingly enough, he completely contradicts this in a 2014 interview, claiming that Doug was not a co-creator. In the end, I think there's plenty of evidence to suggest that the basic concept of a cybernetic anti-hero was Buckler's, but Moench was instrumental in developing the character beyond that.

But as for Thomas working so hard to give full credit to Buckler, Thomas and Isabella did the same thing to Moench with Planet of the Apes #1, where they attribute full credit for the plot and concept of "Terror on the Planet of the Apes" to Gerry Conway, only to redact the claim a few issues later as being entirely inaccurate. To be clear, I don't think there was a deliberate attempt to wrestle credit away from Moench. I suspect Thomas was behaving as a concerned boss, looking out for his veteran creators and worrying that the new guy, over-zealously throwing himself into these projects, might be trying to claim too much credit for himself. In the process, he might have over-compensated a bit in the other direction.

Anyway, I in no way intend to claim that Buckler was the only one who gained from this partnership. It's clear from their conversations, as well as from much of Moench's work that follows, that Buckler taught Moench a lot about visualizing the pace of a story. They worked together on telling this first issue cinematically, and boy does it pay off:



I've always argued in these reviews that Moench was a writer who saw the visuals in his head first, and we can see that his work with Buckler here inspires some of the more striking visuals in his collaborations to come:




Together, their work redefines what a marriage between writer and artist can look like:



Every writer and artist in the bullpen should have been handed this story as a textbook.


Important Details:

- 1st appearance and origin of Deathlok



Minor Details:



Moench was writing Marvel's Frankenstein property for Monsters Unleashed (and soon a self-titled Frankenstein comic) at this point.



Plot synopsis: Deathlok, a marriage between man and computer assassin, was created when military strategist "Manning"'s brain and partial body were saved and merged with cyborg parts and a computer brain for use by the military, as ordered by Simon Ryker, a military official who was once Manning's friend and "boot-camp buddy". The intention was to retain Manning's memory and strategic knowledge, but his consciousness reasserts itself, sharing consciousness with the computer and overriding orders provided by Ryker. Deathlok attempts to become a mercenary in order to raise enough money to fund a surgery in order to restore him to full humanity, but Ryker tricks him through cyborg imposters who look human but are controlled by him. And, it turns out, Ryker may well be a cyborg too.

Easily one of my favorite single issues

I've only read the first ongoing series by Dwayne McDuffie. But there's a TPB that includes Astonishing Tales (1970-1976) #25-28 and 30-36, Marvel Team-Up (1972-1985 1st Series) #46, Marvel Spotlight (1971-1977 1st Series) #33, Marvel Two-in-One (1974-1983 1st Series) #27 and 54, and Captain America (1968-1996 1st Series) #286-288. Would that be a good sampling of most of Deathlok prior to the mini and ongoing series by McDuffie?