Issue(s): Battletide #1, Battletide #2, Battletide #3, Battletide #4
Cover Date: Dec 92 - Mar 93
Title: "Battletide"
Credits:
Dan Abnett & Andy Lanning - Writer
Geoff Senior - Penciler
Geoff Senior - Inker
John Freeman / Jacqui Papp - Editor

Review/plot:
This is the first of two Battletide mini-series. The story is basically what people make fun of Secret Wars or Contest of Champions for being: a bunch of characters selected at random and made to fight somewhere. There does turn out to be a bigger thing going on, but there isn't much going on in terms of characterization or anything like that.

The story starts with Algernon Crowe from Mys-Tech hiring Death's Head II to kill Killpower. But while they are fighting, they are both teleported away. And so are Wolverine and Psylocke, Dark Angel, Sabretooth, and Hercules. Only the last of whom is really an interesting choice. They're all split into teams of two. There are a lot of aliens also participating, including the reigning champions Termawhatsit and Megasomebody.

And the title of the series, "Battletide" refers to a raging space wave full of demon beings that fell in the final conflict of the mythical Demonwars. Yeah, i don't know.

Killpower is in the contest by accident; he was only grabbed when they were going for Death's Head. But he and Death's Head get teamed-up.

Wolverine and Sabretooth are paired up, but they waste time fighting each other.

Dark Angel is teamed up with someone named Smith, who doesn't talk much.

And Psylocke is with Hercules.

All the captives are fitted with collars that prevent them from trying to escape. But after the first round of contests, the Earth characters (including Death's Head) and Smith get together to try to figure out how to escape. Psylocke brainwashes Sabretooth into going along with them.

Dark Angel and Smith were contacted by some mysterious armored figures from the Tempered Brotherhood, who offer to explain what is really going on, and she brings the rest of the group. They apparently resurrect people who die during the contests, but this year Termagent won't allow it, and the contest has drawn the attention of the Battletide.

Dark Angel says that the Battletide threatens the entire galaxy.

The good news is that it turns out Killpower can remove the control collars thanks to his natural knack with machinery. So they're able to escape and rebel. But the Battletide demon horde is already here.

And on top of that, Termagent and Megaira merge to form Termagaira, the leader of the demons.

Luckily Killpower has an inspiring battlecry.

The heroes (and Sabretooth) fight the demons...

...and Death's Head II gets damaged...

...but they manage to push Termagaira back into the tide. Then Killpower does a hasty repair on Death's Head using the remains of one of the Tempered Brotherhood...

...and then Death's Head climbs a tower to channel electricity to finish off the "hate-storm" (or something like that).

The group then heads home.

Killpower manages to repair Death's Head again when they get back.

Any issue with Killpower and Hercules can't be all bad.

...but this is still mostly bad. The problem isn't the plotting, which is generic but fine. The art is on the mediocre side (and Geoff Senior has done better) but that's not the problem either. And the UK characters are at least in character, resulting in fun moments from Death's Head II and Killpower, and Hercules is a jolly addition as well. I guess the problem is that there are just so many books that each individual story feels pretty weightless. I find myself thinking that a lot around this time, but it's especially true of the Marvel UK books. And add to that the number of superficial guest appearances. I was moderately excited for the Mys-Tech Wars crossover, and ok, that fizzled but it did suffer from last minute re-writes. So here's another chance at a kind of crossover. And it's not... terrible, but it's not good, either. This is going to be a repeat theme for me, but it seems like instead of doing 25 things poorly, they should have concentrated on doing a few things well.

Quality Rating: C-

Historical Significance Rating: 1

Chronological Placement Considerations: This begins with a Dec 92 cover date. Motormouth and Killpower are living at the Kamuni Atoll that became their home directly before Mys-Tech Wars. Death's Head II asks Wolverine if he recognizes him, and they met in Death's Head II #1-4. But Tuck appears in this story, and she is stranded on her home planet in DHII #4, and doesn't return until after at least DHII #9.

Unfortunately Hercules has a beard, which shows you the kind of time table these UK books were working on. Hercules shaved his beard in Avengers #350, which had an Aug 92 cover date. Hercules doesn't appear until the second issue of this series, which is Jan 93.

So this has to take place after Mys-Tech Wars (which takes place circa DHII #5), and after Death's Head II #6-9, but before Avengers #350. That requires this and Death's Head II #6-9 to get pushed back in publication time.

Since Mys-Tech Wars ended in a continuity reset, i guess it doesn't matter that someone from Mys-Tech wants to hire Death's Head II in this story.

For what it's worth, Wolverine and Psylocke are mountain climbing together when they are taken). In the comments, Francisco makes a note about Wolverine and Sabretooth's costumes. I don't think Wolverine's is a problem; he accepted his brown and tan costume back in Wolverine #57, so it should be ok for him to alternate (and, as Francisco notes, thanks to other Marvel UK appearances, he does). And while Wolverine really did swear off his brown and tan costume for a while, we don't know what made Sabretooth change his costume, so it's probably ok for him to have switched back to his old one for a while.

References: N/A

Crossover: N/A

Continuity Insert? N

My Reprint: N/A

also wolverine has the brown costume and sabretooth is still in his bryne original costume and not on the jim lee design bigger look from x-men 4-7 early 92

its like in 1992 some writers and artists weren't so accepting of Logan going back to his original yellow blue and insist on drawing the brown costume with no explanation usually the UK books like Dark Angel.

@Francisco- this is a recurring problem with the Marvel UK books- outdated information. Sunfire appeared in his old costume in Battleaxe, US Agent was still talking to his dead parents in Supersoldiers 1-5 when that problem was solved long ago, Mandarin appears in Supersoldiers 6-7 when he's supposed to be handless and in a coma, etc.