Deadlock

ABC Warriors Project No 9

2000AD WALLPAPER PROJECT No 8

I personally find Deadlock the most enigmatic of the Warriors. After all, who doesn't like robot wizards? Originally he was the Grand Wizard of the Knight Martial and was given special authority to try and execute Volgan war criminals throughout the Volgan war. He was notably absent during the ABC Warriors run in the pages of Nemesis (Nemesis taking his place). When he returns in The Black Hole he is in a more authoritative position, causing greater friction between himself and Hammerstein and culminating in a marvellous battle between the two at the end of The Black Hole. After The Black Hole he leads the Warriors on a mission in the name of Khaos. Khronicles of Khaos is one of the most entertaining pieces of work by Pat Mills. Deadlocks leadership really comes to an end at the end of this story line as the rebellion of the other Warriors against him was the final lesson of Khaos they were to learn from him. In Hellbringer he instigated the reunion of the Warriors and provided another mission. Hellbringer was the story that featured in the early days of my collecting 2000AD, so it's naturally one of my favourites. Deadlock has since fallen more into the background like during those early days of ABC Warriors.

He was also blessed with his own story line as a sort of epilogue to the Nemesis series. I really enjoyed this strip - fantastically illustrated by Henry Flint, but it was probably the final nail in the coffin for those Khaos inspired days of Pat Mills writing. A great shame, in my humble opinion.

For the picture itself, I leant more towards the Simon Bisley interpretation. The pose was very easy to conceive as the Ace of Swords would, by necessity, have to feature prominently. I did initially have some trouble with the arc of the legs, but overall I'm really happy with the design. I think that this is probably the best looking of the stand alone pictures of the ABC Warriors.

Deadlock and ABC Warriors are copyright of Rebellion.