Issue(s): Deathlok annual #2
Cover Date: 1993
Title: "Quarry / Air Strike / One day at a time"
Credits:
Evan Skolnick / Gregory Wright - Writer
John Hebert / Steven Butler / Kirk Jarvinen - Penciler
Mark McKenna & Roy Richardson / Al Vey / Sam DeLaRosa - Inker
Mindy Newell - Assistant Editor
Tom Brevoort - Editor

Review/plot:
The main story is by Evan Skolnick. The back-ups are by Gregory Wright.

The new character introduced in this annual is Tracer. Tracer looks like a jacked-up Paladin in his purple super-suit and he's also a mercenary. He trains to fight super-characters. In his introduction he's fighting, and losing to, a virtual version of Spider-Man, which is who he'll go after in his next and only other appearance.

Tracer's origin is that his father was killed during a fight between unknown super-powered characters. He originally thought his dad was just killed in the crossfire, but then later learned that he may have been targeted. So in addition to doing it for the money, he checks everyone he fights to see if they were involved in his father's death (and Deathlok wasn't). His father was a target because his company - Bloom Industries - was dabbling in super-power tech, which is how Tracer got his suit (and the company). Tracer - Rick Bloom - actually got surgical implants in addition to the suit.

Tracer's lackeys then run through a list of options and decide to go after Deathlok next.

There is a contract from an envoy of Harlan Ryker to destroy Deathlok. But Ryker has lied to Tracer. Tracer is unaware that there's a human consciousness inside Deathlok; he thinks it's just a malfunctioning robot.

Tracer attacks while Deathlok is trying to get to the hospital because his newborn baby, Patricia, has been taken there with a fever. The baby will turn out to be fine. But Tracer destroys Deathlok's helicopter and his roommate Jesus' van. And he uses his First Appearance Advantage (and an ability to scramble Deathlok's computer) to easily defeat Deathlok.

But when he's interfacing with Deathlok's computer to confirm that Deathlok isn't his father's killer, he learns that Ryker lied and that Deathlok is a real person.

So he has Deathlok transported to the hospital, and tells him that a tech team will be waiting to repair him when he goes back to Coney Island (Deathlok caused his cybernetic eye to overload to knock Tracer away at one point).

In a back-up, Siege is in Iraq (although the country isn't named in the story), voluntary helping the US Airforce, who are being ambushed by jets (it's said that "the bad guys aren't stickin' to their bargain to allow United States security sweeps"). Siege destroys one of the Iraqi planes and the others retreat, and Siege is upset that the US planes don't pursue them. "Who'm I kiddin'? It's always the same. Them what's got power won't let them who know how to use it win one."

So Siege goes after them on his own.

Siege then goes to a US plane that was downed and learns that the pilot was a friend from Vietnam. Siege tries to carry the friend back to base, fighting off enemy soldiers and tanks. But the friend dies, and Siege swears that he's never going to run from a fight.

Siege is, uh, certainly in character.

In the second back-up, Deathlok is hanging out in Coney Island. One interesting thing about Deathlok's book, and we saw this in the main story of this issue too, is that no one really seems to care that there's a cyborg-zombie walking around. Anti-mutant hysteria is at an all-time high, Spider-Man is perpetually slandered at the Daily Bugle, the Human Torch has recently burned down ESU, but everyone's cool with Deathlok. First two scans are from the main story, third is from the back-up:

This story is just a day in the life of Deathlok. Jesus has painted him a nice painting...

...and then Deathlok helps a roller coaster operator repair a rail, and then takes a subway ride where he fights some thugs (of more interest is the Star Wars poster in the background. That's what the first prequel should have been called. And it should have been good.)

He then spends some time with his family.

Quality Rating: C-

Historical Significance Rating: 1

Chronological Placement Considerations: Takes place after Patricia is born in Deathlok #26. This takes place after Wonder Man's powers "started changing", although that could refer to anything as far back as Galactic Storm (assuming Tracer's organization has good intel, which they seem to). I'm counting Harlan Ryker as appearing in this series with the assumption that he's in some way behind the scenes.

References:

• When he scans Deathlok's mind to confirm that he's not his father's killer, he sees images from Deathlok's origin in Deathlok #1-4.

Crossover: 1993 Annuals

Continuity Insert? N

My Reprint: N/A

"In character" is a nice way of putting it.

What's the point of having the regular creative teams introduce the new characters if the regular writer won't even do the story introducing the new character? Tracer was doomed from the start...