in another Marvel comic before appearing in Transformers (this situation had also applied to another Marvel character created for use in Transformers, Circuit Breaker). Unfortunately, it is unknown how Death's Head made it into Marvel's ownership, as the strip that is claimed to be printed first was drawn in 1988 and printed in May of that same year, a year after he made his appearance in Transformers. After the initial Transformers storylines, the character appeared in Doctor Who Magazine #135 (Apr. 1988), in a story which saw him reduced from a giant robot to a more human stature, by means of "one of the Master's Tissue Compression Eliminators." He then made a guest appearance in Marvel UK's Dragon's Claws #5 (Nov. 1988), which led to an ongoing series of his own (December 1988), mostly written by Furman (issue 8 was written by Steve Parkhouse). The first issue prompted a letter from Stan Lee, praising the character and creative team, but a variety of factors, such as distribution and Death's Head smaller size ('US format') causing it to be obscured by larger comics, meant the comic was canceled at #10. After the cancellation of the series, Marvel UK published an origin story for the character, "The Body in Question", initially serialized in the Marvel UK anthology Strip #13–20 and later collected in a single trade paperback. Death's Head returned to the main Marvel Universe in S.W.O.R.D. #1 (November 2009), written by Kieron Gillen. Gillen has confirmed that the character will feature in the first story arc, spanning issues 1–5. Gillen has said, "if you can't bring back a time-traveling dimension-skipper, who can you bring back?" He asked Furman before using the character. It was implied that this was Death's Head before he meets the Transformers (see Fictional Biography). Death's Head appeared in the Panini Comics title Marvel Heroes #33 (March 2011). He appears in the last frame of "The Hero Inside" written by Ferg Handley, with art by John Ross. Death's Head battles The Hulk in part two "The Brute and the Bounty Hunter," written by Simon Furman with art by Simon Williams. In 2013, Death's Head started to show up in "Marvel NOW!". He appeared in both Kieron Gillen's Iron Man, as part of the start of The Secret Origin of Tony Stark and in Avenging Spider-Man #17. In the latter, he's human-sized and still working for the TVA. Biography