Dragon's Claws

Publication history

The regular series began in June 1988, intended as the flagship title for a line of American-format, monthly comics from Marvel UK. It was written by Simon Furman and drawn by Geoff Senior, Furman's first choice for artist and a collaborator on Marvel UK's Transformers. Original marketing for the comic in other Marvel UK comics called the team and comic Dragon's Teeth, but an independent comic already had the title. Shots of the cover to the first issue reflected this.

The series was promoted with the tagline "Earth, 8162. Not a nice place to live..."

The UK market was never big enough to support the series, which was cancelled due to low sales at #10. It was exported to America in limited numbers. Furman has said one reason for the failure was the size of the comic: the US monthly format was smaller than the standard A4 size of UK comics, meaning newsgents weren't sure where to place it and it was "lost" when placed with the A4 comics. The comic was also "quite explicitly brutal... boys love that kind of stuff", but this meant that it was quite likely "the parents of Transformers and Thundercats readers drew the line at Dragon’s Claws.”

Furman has said that the behind-the-scenes politics and sports-as-panacea plot of Rollerball, the costumed gangs of The Warriors, and the future dystopias of 2000 AD all had a strong influence on Claws, and "even the NURSE/Matron thing is an affectionate nod to Hattie Jacques and the Carry On movies I grew up with." Live Aid had a mark too, leaving "so the concept of starvation on a global scale... indelibly printed on my brain."

Plot

The story took place in 8162, and followed a team of former game players, the Claws, led by Dragon. The exact nature of the game is only hinted at, but it basically involves team members trying to get to a certain part of various ruined cityscapes, with the opposing team members trying absolutely anything to stop them. It was used as an opiate for the masses, to ease unrest about global concerns as the Earth moves closer to the sun.

At the start of the series, the game has been banned for the levels of violence involved, but Dragon, one of the most successful players, is having trouble adapting to civilian life with his wife, Tanya, who he lives with on a farm. He is contacted by Deller, an agent of N.U.R.S.E [National Union of Retired Sports Experts], who offers him, and his old team, the Claws, a role as government enforcers. Dragon initially declines, but when the farm is attacked by another former team, The Wildcats, he changes his mind. Reunited with the other Claws - Mercy (an ex-vigilante), Steel (a samurai honour-bound to Dragon since the latter saved his life in the Tokyo Riots of 8156), Digit (who had a computerised brain) and Scavenger (to quote, "No-one quite knows who or what Scavenger really is..."), and they are given a brief to stop the many former game teams who are causing trouble. Among these were The Vanishing Ladies, Split Infinity and the Jones Boys, but the recurring threat was the Evil Dead, led by Dragon's old nemesis Slaughterhouse.

Other adversaries were the mechanoid freelance peace-keeping agent Death's Head, who was hired by the surviving members of the Evil Dead, and was heavily damaged when he clashed with Dragon, leading to his redesign and leading into the launch of his own title, and a future take on the vigilante Scourge.

The main plotline concerns N.U.R.S.E's manipulation of the Claws, who were revealed to be involved in corrupt dealings and had actually reformed the Claws as "bully-boys" to take out and intimidate any gang that challenged N.U.R.S.E.. They deliberately kept Dragon from his family so he won't question his orders, eventually sending Deller to kill Dragon's wife; he was unable to do it, but his presence led to the family being abducted by another rogue Game team (who believed they were his family and who had a grudge against him). Dragon eventually teamed up with Slaughterhouse and Deller in overcoming N.U.R.S.E's corrupt kingpin Matron in #9.

With N.U.R.S.E. closed down and the Claws directly under the control of the World Development Council, Dragon elects to stay on leading the Claws, with Deller now as part of the team.

The final issue, #10, left several plot threads dangling. Dragon is still unaware of much of Deller's part in the N.U.R.S.E. conspiracy (or that Deller has murdered a villain who knew the truth), while the fate of his wife, Tanya, last seen in a burning building, is unknown.

For the 2004 edition of the charity project Just One Page, Furman and artist Paul Ridgon created an epilogue/teaser for Dragon's Claws, which was later recoloured and reprinted in the 2008 trade paperback. It featured Dragon holding a defeated Slaughterhouse at gunpoint, after a battle where Slaughterhouse was responsible for leading an army in sacking whole cities and killed two of the Claws. Dragon debated whether or not to simply kill his nemesis and end the conflict forever, or "play it by the book one last time" and live up to what the Claws are meant to represent. It was not revealed what decision he took.

Characters

The members of Dragon's Claws are:

Guest appearances

Collected editions

The series has been collected into a trade paperback: