Issue(s): Deathlok #8
Cover Date: Feb 92
Title: "The ultimate war machine"
Credits:
Gregory Wright - Writer
John Hebert - Penciler
Jimmy Palmiotti - Inker
Mindy Newell - Assistant Editor
Tom Brevoort - Editor

Review/plot:
We've had a lot of guest stars in this series, but this issue, for a change, uses elements from the original mini-series.

Mainframe, a villain that Cybertek sent after Deathlok in the mini-series, escapes from the Vault.

And he connects with Ben Jacobs, also from that series.

Deathlok is supposed to be helping his friend Jesus Badalamente in his job of creating monster displays for the Coney Island amusement park, but Mainframe's arrival interrupts that. It's a pretty straightforward fight issue. Mainframe's power is to animate machinery, so in the beginning Deathlok is just dealing with overloading power generators and the like.

Mainframe is able to take control of Deathlok, and he and Jacobs use him to raid an AIM warehouse.

When Mainframe learns about Deathlok's No Killing parameter, he tries to override it, so he and Michael Collins fight in cyberspace.

That results in Deathlok regaining control of himself. But Mainframe still wants to try to take over Deathlok again, so he doesn't like it when Jacobs tries to fight Deathlok directly.

Mainframe controls Jacobs's exo-skeleton, and they flee.

I'm waiting to see how things split out with the rotating writing duties between Gregory Wright and Dwayne McDuffie. So far, it seems like Wright's stuff is more straightforward and McDuffie's is more thought provoking, but it may be too soon for that to be a fair assessment. It is good to see an issue building up some actual story relating specifically to Deathlok and attempting to develop a rogues gallery for him (not that Mainframe or Jacobs are all that interesting), but we are back to guest stars again next issue.

Quality Rating: C

Historical Significance Rating: 1

Chronological Placement Considerations: N/A

References:

• Mainframe fought Deathlok at Coney Island in the Deathlok mini-series.

Crossover: N/A

Continuity Insert? N

My Reprint: N/A