The Secret History of Comics: Marshal Law 1
And Where Will It All End?
Welcome to Chapter One of my new book And Where Will It All End? The Secret History of Comics, where I take you behind the scenes to show you how your favourite subversive characters were created. I published the intro a couple of weeks ago, which you can read for free.
But the rest of The Secret History is a bit of an experiment, because for the first time, I’m making it available to paying subscribers only. Each week I’ll publish a new chapter – or a section, if it’s a really long chapter. A preview is available to everyone (see below). And then the rest is behind a paywall. If you’ve been reading Iconoblast for a while, you’ll know that a lot of my writing is freely available, such as my new serialised book on the craft of writing, Pageturners, the comedy thriller novel Serial Killer (co-written with the late Kevin O’Neill), and various other articles, the most recent being my thoughts on how much historical inaccuracy is acceptable in fiction:
But for the price of a few cups of coffee per month, you’ll gain exclusive access to The Secret History of Comics and the opportunity to engage with the content (and I hope for lots of feedback!). When I publish The Secret History of Comics and Pageturners, you’ll get a free ebook copy of both of them. Plus, you’ll be able to join private Chats to connect with, debate and share ideas with me and other paid members, which I’m really excited about. Finally, you will get early access to key articles, two weeks ahead of them being available to all subscribers.
I’m offering a free seven-day trial on Iconoblast, so you can try it out. You will need to select a subscription plan and provide your payment details to do this.
I look forward to sharing my ‘Writer’s Journey’ with you: my inspirations; where I get stuck; where I hit problems and how I solve them. Currently, my WW1 thriller novel I’m researching has grabbed me by the throat and won’t let go, so it’s hard to tear myself away from it – more on that soon! I hope you’ll join me for the ride on Iconoblast: now, let’s talk about Joe Gilmore. Joe who? This guy wearing the mask…
If you’re new to Marshal Law, Hero Hunter, you may be looking for a quick summary of what he is all about.
I’m particularly fond of our proposed publicity copy for the collected Marshal Law D.C. Comics edition. Some of which may not have seen the light of day before. These are the lines artist-creator Kevin O’Neill and I dreamed up and they may not all have been to DC Comics taste!
BEHIND THE MASK…
Secrets.
Secret identities.
Secret lusts.
Secret hates.
The dark and sordid world of Superheroes.
Pull down the trunks.
You won't like what you see.
When Supermen go rogue, you call on the Court of Last Resort.
MARSHAL LAW
The government have commissioned living weapons of mass destruction to wage war on terror.
The survivors return home broken, bitter, insane.
Some form gangs.
Some go psycho.
Some turn into 'A' list celebrities with 'A' bomb fists.
The city is now a war zone.
San Futuro needs a Super Cop to enforce summary justice.
His eyes will reflect the rocket's red glare.
He is Twilight's Last Gleaming.
MARSHAL LAW
A bad choice is better than no choice
MARSHAL LAW
Giving a boot up the genre
Many of those lines above – like Twilight’s Last Gleaming – were definitely Kevin’s. But the lines below are certainly mine!
MARSHAL LAW
No affection
No homage
Biting the hand that feeds him.
D.C. Comics didn’t use those lines for some strange reason! Here’s a couple of Jonathan Ross’s line from his intro to the book:
‘It’s a comic book for people who have stopped loving comic books but still can’t tear themselves away.”
‘Get ready to have your teeth kicked in by the most subversive superhero saga ever published!’
In summary, Marshal Law, aka Joe Gilmore, a humble hospital orderly, hunts and kills America’s greatest superheroes, because they so deserve it. To me, he’s so clearly a hero, it barely needs mentioning. It’s why I’m genuinely taken aback when fans sometimes say he’s an excellent villain. What do they mean?
THE MARVEL EPIC YEARS
Marshal Law was published by Marvel, then by various other companies, and is currently with D.C. Comics, a premier home of mainstream superheroes. It was definitely a case of ‘letting the fox in with the chickens’. And Law still has the feathers in the mouth slit of his gimp mask to prove it.
So how did all this come about? About as chaotically and weirdly as most of the characters I’ve co-created.
Kevin came up with the name and this amazing looking future cop, and we then searched for a story for him. Initially we trod the Mad Max road with Law taking on weird looking mutants and we were going to sell him to one of Oliver Frey’s 1980s computer magazines; publications like Crash!
Then we decided the title was just too good, and we needed to hold onto it, so we replaced it with ‘Starpo’ which – understandably – our editor, Kelvin Gosnell didn’t like. He said it sounded like a ‘galactic potty’ and turned it down. He was absolutely right, of course.
***Quick heads up: we’ve got a limited quantity of signed copies of the softcover D.C. Comics Deluxe Collection of Marshal Law for sale over on our Gumroad site***
Meanwhile, I’d come up with a plot about future crime for another project which had also crashed. The plot involved the classic SF premise where a hero goes to the stars and returns, young and virile as ever, but decades have passed on Earth with resulting problems for any relationships he has left behind. The project was Mekomania – a robot history of the future, with famous 2000AD artists: Mick McMahon; Kevin O’Neill; Brian Bolland; Dave Gibbons, and Ian Gibson each drawing a character and a section. French publishers Dargaud had shown a keen interest in it and also Big O – who were connected in some way with Roger Dean’s Dragon’s Dream. So we had high hopes for Mekomania, but eventually the project died. So I had this great science fiction plot for one of the characters, Gold Rod, illustrated by Ian Gibson, and it just had to find a new home.
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