I’ve read stuff that say this book is not in Marvel continuity, but I’m not sure that’s true. At a minimum, the character was a big enough part of the Marvel Universe to warrant inclusion in the Marvel television universe…
The story feels very familiar by today’s standards, but remember: In 1974, there hadn’t been any Terminator movies yet.
The character was designed and created by Rich Buckler, and you can see he was trying to recapture some of the great work Jim Steranko did in early Nick Fury comics—very artsy.
Or maybe the goal was to juxtapose artful illustration against an extremely violent character concept.
Luther Manning is an American soldier who is killed in combat and is turned into a cyborg killing machine. He decides not to do the bidding of the Army and breaks free, becoming a soldier for hire, so he can earn enough money to be transferred to a human body. There’s not a lot of story here—most of the book is filled with panels showing where Deathlok hides his weapons and having him pose in various character-design type sketches.
Perhaps the most notable thing about this particular issue is that it was written by Doug Moench, in one of his very early Marvel scripts. He’d go on to create one of the company’s best characters, Moon Knight.
Also, there’s a diagram of Deathlok’s head.
For a character who was clearly inspired ( ripped-off ) by ABC-TV’s “Six Million Dollar Man”, and who would go on in turn to inspire ( be ripped off by ) DC Comics’ “Cyborg” character, ( I don’t get it- why didn’t ABC pop for a copyright on this word-?? ) these issues of ‘Astonishing Tales’ are not half-bad funnybook cinema. Of course, when it comes to the late, awesome Rich Buckler, I am severely prejudiced. He’s a little bit Kirrrrrrby, a little bit John Busceeemmma, but all awesome! Actually, that sounds just like a 1974 ABC Network house advertisement for “The Six Million Dollar Man”- ” He’s part machine-but ALL MAN!!!! Lee Majors is ‘The Six Million Dollar Man’- coming to ABC this Fall!!” Yep!! Sounds like it!!!