RIPWIRE

Real Name: Rip 

Identity/Class: Robot 

Occupation: Weapon

Group Membership: None

Affiliations: Warheads

Enemies: Mys-Tech (see comments), unidentified intergalactic bounty hunters 

Known Relatives: None 

Aliases: None

Base of Operations: None 

First Appearance: Comics International#35 (September 1993)  

Powers/Abilities: Armed with unspecified advanced weapons systems (the "ultimate weapon technology").

Height: Unrevealed
Weight: Unrevealed
Eyes: Red
Hair: None

History:
(Ripwire#1-2) - Mys-Tech were involved with creating Rip, a robotic advanced weapons system with fudged emotional responses, but it went on the run across New York with Mys-Tech's forces in pursuit, taking on SWAT teams and blowing up helicopters.

(Ripwire#3-4) - Rip later befriended the Warheads in an alternate universe, before facing off against a gang of intergalactic bounty hunters.  

Comments: Created by Craig Houston and Stuart Jennett.

   Ripwire was one of many characters and projects planned by Marvel U.K. in 1993 that were delayed and then ultimately cancelled when the comics market collapsed late in that year. The project was announced in Comics International#35 (September 1993), noting it was due to ship on November 16th 1993, but Comic World#22 (cover dated December 1993, but presumably released circa October 1993) announced that Ripwire was one of the titles being delayed by Marvel U.K.'s financial woes.

   Giving credit where credit is due: Though I'd read a little about the lost Marvel U.K projects in solicitations in the comics and comic news magazines back in 1993, I first learned more about them from the excellent blog Starlogged. This profile was put together with information from there, articles on Down The Tubes, and from interviews I did with creators for an entry on the lost projects for Eaglemoss' Marvel Fact Files. Space constraints for the Fact Files entries meant I could only use a tiny fraction of what was so kindly provided, so this and similar Appendix entries are a way of hopefully addressing that injustice, letting fans know more about some of the fun characters and concepts that were in the works. I have zero clue how the rights issues now lie, but assuming those wouldn't be a problem, I'd love to see all these characters eventually make it into proper publication; I want to read these stories!

   Stuart Jennett was kind enough to provide some additional background on the series when I was researching these lost projects for Eaglemoss' Marvel Fact Files. Sadly, space constraints meant only a tiny fraction of what he told me could be used for that project, but the Appendix doesn't have those limitations:

   "The strip started out entitled Razorwire but I think they had some issues with it being confused with the Clive barker Razorline series so we had to change the title at the last minute. His look was pulled from a character I'd help develop for an indie creator whilst at college, I don't think he changed that much as the wires protruding from his head was distinctive enough in my eyes, anything else would have just made him look fussy, although we did lose and scar one of his eyes in the Marvel strip. The strip was kinda co-written with Craig Houston and partly illustrated by me (as a collection of sample pages) way before we both worked at Marvel but it was Craig who took over the key writing duties once we took it 'in-house' post Warheads.

   In terms of the fiction I can't quite remember who created 'Rip' (the titular Robot), I think it was something to do with Cytek, Marvel UK's key bad guy organisation that ran through a number of their strips (given the context, I presume that here Stuart meant Mys-Tech). The plot consisted of Rip (who was an advanced weapons system with fudged emotional responses) basically going on the run across NY with Cytek's guys in pursuit in a sorta rip off Robocop-T2 fashion (on trend at the time), taking on SWAT teams, blowing up helicopters and the like. It was pretty violent stuff compared to most of the other Marvel UK titles at the time, I remember being asked to tone it down on a number of occasions.

   In the final two issues we had a request to cross him a little more into the official UK universe and so we tied it up with him befriending the Warheads in an alternative universe and facing off against a gang of nasty intergalactic bounty hunter types. That's as much as I can remember really; I know issues one and two were in the bag (and the cover art produced) with the other two issues being thumbnailed at least."

   Stuart also kindly provided the artwork for Ripwire used at the top of the page, one of the finished covers. He's gone on to have a successful career in the gaming industry, and a few years ago returned to comics to co-create Titan Comics' Chronos Commandos (well worth checking out) with his wife Donna. In an interview with Down The Tubes, he confirms that he got back all the artwork for Ripwire when Marvel U.K. closed down, but has misplaced the rest of it over the subsequent years.

   The other Ripwire image on this page is another of the covers, and was printed in an article in Comics International#35 which listed forthcoming Marvel U.K. projects, most of which ultimately never saw publication; that article mistakenly identified the image as the cover of an issue of Officer Outbody, but given that the individual in the picture looks like Ripwire and nothing like Outbody, I think it's safe to say the article mislabeled it. Normally for an Appendix entry I'd use the body shot for the main image and the headshot for the secondary, but the body shot is small and black and white, and the headshot large and in color. 

Profile by Loki.

CLARIFICATIONS:
Ripwire has no known connections to:

images: (without ads)
Ripwire#? cover (main image, colored headshot)
Comics International#35 article, Ripwire#? cover (full body image)

Appearances:
None

First Posted: 01/26/2019
Last updated: 01/26/2019

Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.

Non-Marvel Copyright info
All other characters mentioned or pictured are ™ and © 1941-2099 Marvel Characters, Inc. All Rights Reserved. If you like this stuff, you should check out the real thing!
Please visit The Marvel Official Site at: http://www.marvel.com

Special Thanks to www.g-mart.com for hosting the Appendix, Master List, etc.!

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