Ultimate Death's Head by LiamSharp

This was produced for a recent pitch to Marvel, originally as an "Ultimate Death's Head" mini series. It's been 15 years sinse I drew Death's Head II for Marvel UK - my biggest ever success - and I really relished the idea of returning to the character, but adding a modern spin, kind of rebooting the whole series.
Sadly it wasn't to be. But enjoy the art!

Very best,

Liam.

Aoristos Featured By Owner Apr 28, 2015

Would have been super cool! Minion is such an awesome character. I just got the original 4-issue mini-series (again), near mints. And I've got to say, your art still impresses 23 years later!!! Not so with other artists/titles I went looking for recently. Thanks again for giving us Minion/Death's Head II! Any chance on a reboot now?

Leebo4 Featured By Owner Mar 13, 2015

As a fan of the ultimate books, what would his story in this universe be?

Dulera666 Featured By Owner Jul 15, 2013

Big fan, always buy a copy of DHII when i come across it. No matter how many I already own. Wish this had seen the light of day. Thank you.

LiamSharp Featured By Owner Aug 7, 2013 Professional General Artist

Aw. That is so lovely to hear! Thank you, and very much appreciated. I still get a thrill looking at my old copies once in a blue moon...

metalzerofour Featured By Owner Jul 27, 2012 Hobbyist Writer

God, I wish this had gone ahead.

Stumm3r Featured By Owner Aug 18, 2011

Amazing artwork, remember reading this back in the day, Love the style , love the attitude.

mcandy78 Featured By Owner Dec 4, 2010

i remember when deaths had 2 first came out and became a big fan within 2 issues.your art raised the bar and the storys were great.i loved the fight with wolverine.its a shame marvel let the character go but must say thanks for the memorys.

Andy1976 Featured By Owner Aug 15, 2010

I was a fan of your run on Death's Head II which I read in Overkill. This idea did look promising and may have been great as a series.

Jantrix Featured By Owner Apr 8, 2010

I'm sorry this wasn't published. DHII was one of my favorite titles, it was different and had a great sci-fi feel. I really enjoyed the mini-series and the regular series. Great character, great art.

Bludgeon589 Featured By Owner Apr 15, 2009

???? uh, not really diggin the design, waaaaaay to diffrent than the Death's Head of old.

LiamSharp Featured By Owner Apr 18, 2009 Professional General Artist

It's all subjective, but fear not - it's not happening anyway.

I designed DHII, never much cared for DHI. This one was a reboot of my design, so if you liked the original DHII will always be inferior!

Take care,

L.

Bludgeon589 Featured By Owner Apr 18, 2009

And well, it was kinda a rude statement, ultimate U redesigns the marvel universe anyway, i'm just kinda a transformers fan and loved the original character, and lost intrest by Death'shead 2.0 and 3.0

LiamSharp Featured By Owner Apr 19, 2009 Professional General Artist

You're not alone - loads of people didn't like my design, but at the time the sales jumped from 30,000 to almost half a million, so clearly a great many more did!

I guess that debate will always rage!

Take care, and DHII or not, you might like some of the other stuff in my gallery.

Best,

L.

Bludgeon589 Featured By Owner Apr 19, 2009

hmmm good point

Brahma Featured By Owner Feb 25, 2009 Hobbyist Digital Artist

Death's Head II has always by far been my favourite character in the whole Marvel universe. It's such a crying shame we don't see him anymore. DH2 had more personality than 90% of Marvel characters put together.

What I liked the most about the character was that DH2 was in a strange way one of the most believable character in the MU. Disregarding the fact that he was a hitech-cyborg, that thing that made the character believable was that DH2 was not clearly a hero or a willain, but made his moral choices on case-to-case basis.

LiamSharp Featured By Owner Feb 25, 2009 Professional General Artist

I think it's huge oversight. I miss him a lot. Sadly Marvel UK became kind of a laughing stock when the boom turned to bust mid nineties, and now DHII is no longer considered commercially viable. I think that's wrong, but the boys that call the shots at Marvel think otherwise, sadly.

Thank you, and great to hear your thoughts.

Best,

Liam.

Mrtrainfreak12 Featured By Owner Jun 1, 2014 Student Filmographer

I agree that while I'm not a big fan of this particular version of DH (Been a fan of both DH I and III for some reason), but it would be nice to see him return to Marvel (Would love a DH cartoon though)

deimosmasque Featured By Owner Oct 22, 2008 Professional Photographer

Wow! I have to say that Death's Head 2 saved my love for comic books when I was 13 or so and I have missed the big guy ever since. I even made a mask of his face plate once and used him in a dozen different RPG systems.

I would have loved to see a new series about the guy or even just to know what he's doing now.

This is an amazing reimagining of the character! I've always loved your work Liam!

TzaoTao Featured By Owner Sep 25, 2008

Nice, hope its gets published in the future

LiamSharp Featured By Owner Sep 25, 2008 Professional General Artist

No chance of that I'm afraid! Marvel fell out of love with Death's Head a LOOONG time ago.

Great memories though.

Take care,

L.

TzaoTao Featured By Owner Sep 25, 2008

thank you, you too

SunDog126 Featured By Owner Jun 13, 2008 Student Interface Designer

Too killer. I loved DHII when I was a kid, and it sucks that Marvel wouldnt want to revive him. Awsome work though.

Carnivius Featured By Owner Jun 10, 2008

Cant say I was fond of Death's Head II (the original all the way for me) but this is a great pic.

Heckfire Featured By Owner May 10, 2008 Hobbyist Traditional Artist

It's odd to say this considering I'm a much bigger fan of the original DH than DHII, but this is an awesome design that I think Marvel SHOULD have gone with.
Side note, it's interesting to see the loyalty both versions have from their creators, both you and Simon Furman. Maybe the two of you should collaborate on bringing the character back properly?

misfit320 Featured By Owner Apr 24, 2008

Death's Head has been my favourite comic book character for years... i'm collecting everything he's ever appeared in (a bit obsessive I know). i wish they had used Ultimate DH. i mean, come on, not even a cameo?

beautiful work, love your gallery!

thedarkcloak Featured By Owner Feb 3, 2008 Professional General Artist

I really enjoyed your Death's Head art... definitely an inspiration.

Really glad to see some DH in here.

AndyTurnbull Featured By Owner Jan 30, 2008 Hobbyist General Artist

Looks great, shame they never went with this.

Andy

Taskmaster09 Featured By Owner Jan 27, 2008

This is very cool! I loved Death's Head II and really wish that Marvel had given this a chance.

LiamSharp Featured By Owner Jan 29, 2008 Professional General Artist

Yeah, me too. Shame.

RenoxDarklore Featured By Owner Jan 11, 2008

Deaths Head II was very inspirational for me growing up, i still sketch him now from time to time, loved your work on the books, just wish there was more! This is an amazing picture, love it!

LiamSharp Featured By Owner Jan 11, 2008 Professional General Artist

You're too kind.

Yeah, I miss him too...

Best,

L.

DragonScythe Featured By Owner Sep 27, 2007

I really have to agree with ~NexusDX... Since I discovered DH II back in '95, there has not been much that impressed me more in the ways of character design!!

-And when I thought he couldn't get more awesome-lookin' - YOUR lines stepped it up one notch further in that X-Men crossover...!

I also dearly love your work on the Venom-comic!
All of it has been a huge inspiration to me!

LiamSharp Featured By Owner Jan 11, 2008 Professional General Artist

Thank you! Man, somehow I missed this comment, so sorry I took as long as I have to reply.

Glad to have been an inspiration.

Very best,

Liam.

DragonScythe Featured By Owner Jan 14, 2008

You're welcome! -heh, no worries there, Liam...

I bet you get TONS of comments every day, so... no grudge from me!

Just keep up the sweet arts, man.

-one of these days I'll post some DH II fanart, but when is the bigger question!

chachaman Featured By Owner Sep 18, 2007

luck with this one... I really liked your work in spawn and I´ve always loved that xmen issue after the wedding of jean and scott

NexusDX Featured By Owner Sep 1, 2007

A missed opportunity by Marvel. Death's Head II was, no, is one of my all time favorites. The art you produced really helped me start drawing back oh so many years ago. Man-Thing helped it evolve further.

LiamSharp Featured By Owner Sep 4, 2007 Professional General Artist

Thanks man.

Always great to hear that you've been an inspiration to somebody...

Very best,

Liam.

Huntsman97 Featured By Owner Apr 15, 2007

HOLY SHIT! I have some of those "Death's Head" issues, I actually bought them on my way to Somalia at a Comic book shop in Oceanside, Ca way the hell back in 1992. Also followed up with the 'X-Men' cross-over and I'm trying to remember, but I'm pretty sure you also did the pencilling for the 'Warlock, Ifintitey Gauntlet' also gonna have to check my files. Love your work!

LiamSharp Featured By Owner Apr 16, 2007 Professional General Artist

Thank you!

Yeah, I did a couple of XMen issues after Death's Head II, then the Hulk, Manthing, Batman, all sorts of books! I never did Warlock (though I'd have loved to. I've always been a Warlock fan) or the Infinite Guantlet.

Very best, and thanks for dropping by.

Liam.

Huntsman97 Featured By Owner May 4, 2007

Sorry haven't gotten back sooner, work's been hellish and have a ton of projects going on, I'm glad you mentioned the Hulk, correct me if I'm wrong but did you do a few issues with the Abomination as the major villian, haven't checked my archives yet.

Keep up the good work, and I'm gonna hit the Shop and look for your new works, Later! Allan

ntholden Featured By Owner Mar 26, 2007 Professional General Artist

Loved your original take on the character for Marvel UK. been a fan since. This version looks great.

LiamSharp Featured By Owner Apr 16, 2007 Professional General Artist

Thank you!

It would have been fun to revisit this stuff, but sadly...

Very best,

Liam.

StevenWilcox Featured By Owner Jan 10, 2007 Professional Traditional Artist

Yeah, Death's Head was the first place I saw your art. It was great seeing your rendition of the classic Marvel Characters... Surprised Marvel hasn't had the guy show up since the 90's...

Like the new design. Very cool.