Issue(s): Deathlok annual #1
Cover Date: 1992
Title: "Timestream / Show and tell"
Credits:
Gregory Wright / Dwayne McDuffie - Writer
Butch Guice / Denys Cowan - Penciler
Jimmy Palmiotti / Denys Cowan - Inker
Tom Brevoort - Editor

Review/plot:
Deathlok is the only character this year (and indeed, in the last couple of years) to get an annual that isn't part of a crossover (unless you count Wolverine's prestige format books, which are basically annuals but aren't labeled as such). The trade dress on the cover does match the format of all the other annuals this year (and last year), so it does kind of look like it's part of a crossover. I guess you could say it's a crossover of one.

This is a time travel story, and i kind of assumed that it would result in Deathlok meeting the original Deathlok from the alternate "future" of 1990. That's not the case, but the other Deathlok is mentioned. The people that pull Deathlok from the past were actually trying to get the other one, and it occurs to be me now that there may have been a joke embedded in that, i.e., they try to get the Deathlok from the 90s but now there are two of them, so they got the wrong one. In any event, once i saw that this wasn't going to be a meeting between the two Deathloks, i kind of stopped paying attention. The basic story is that Deathlok is pulled into an alternate future where workers have been displaced by machines, and Deathlok feels partially responsible due to his own contributions to the field of robotics. But it turns out that the guy that pulled Deathlok into the future isn't such a good guy himself, and Deathlok is able to convince the local overlord, who turns out to not be such a bad guy, to create some jobs for the people.

The guy that pulls Deathlok into the future is Timestream, who will appear again in the regular series.

The overlord is Emperor Richardson, who starts off looking kind of like a cyborg...

...but turns out to be a normal human in the end.

Deathlok seems to have more trouble than usual getting his computer to follow his orders. I don't know if that's something to do with the time-travel or a sign of things to come.

A back-up story seemingly has Deathlok's son Nick taking him to school for Show and Tell. He winds up getting questions that are straight out of the lettercols.

When the political kid calls him a wuss for not using lethal force, Deathlok makes a point by blowing him away, and that's when you realize that this is all just a dream that Deathlok is having.

Another back-up has Deathlok reviewing the electronic journal of Harlan Ryker, the former head of Cybertek. It's mostly a recap of Deathlok's history and capabilities. One thing that stuck out was a reference to the alternate history Deathlok.

You also saw the question about that Deathlok in the Show and Tell story, and there was the mix-up in the main story. And throughout this series we've had other characters assume that this Deathlok was the one from the future that they've met before. At this point it seems almost like willful ignorance on Deathlok's part to not try to learn anything more about the other one. Maybe this file will change that.

Quality Rating: C-

Historical Significance Rating: 2 - first Timestream

Chronological Placement Considerations: This is context free from Deathlok's perspective. The MCP place it between Deathlok #15-16. As fragsel points out in the comments, Timestream is not from the time period depicted in this story, so he doesn't count as a "local" and i've therefore tagged him as Appearing.

References: N/A

Crossover: N/A

Continuity Insert? N

My Reprint: N/A

Denys' work still looks pretty cool here.

I don't know If it affects Your rules for character listing, but Timestream is not "local". He comes from original Deathlock the Demolisher earth, so he is as much time traveler as Deathlok here.