WARHIDE

Real Name: Gregori Pushkin 

Identity/Class: Human technology user, possible mutant (see comments);
   Russian citizen 

Occupation: Fugitive;
   formerly Soviet agent 

Group Membership: Formerly KGB

Affiliations: None

Enemies: Unidentified American industrialist 

Known Relatives: None 

Aliases: None

Base of Operations: Mobile

First Appearance: (Announced) Comics International#35 (September 1993);
    (cover cameo) Body Count (October 1993)

Powers/Abilities: Warhide has transparent diamond-hard skin, rendering him immune to impacts up to and including bullets, as well as high temperatures. He is a telekinetic.

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

History:
(Warhide#1-4) - In the last days of the Soviet Afghan war, psychic KGB agent Gregori Pushkin was captured by the Mujahideen, who skinned him alive before he was rescued. An emergency procedure was carried out that coated his body with a new, long-strand carbon filament, the Warhide, to save his life. With the collapse of the Soviet Union the technology behind the carbon was sold to a sadistic American industrialist, who had Gregori thrown into an industrial furnace. The extreme heat and pressure melted the carbon, but in what should have been his death throes, Gregori used his psychic powers to absorb the liquid carbon and it coated his body in a diamond-hard see-through coating. Surviving, he went on the run, chased by the American's private army.

Comments: Created by David Leach and Jeremy Banx (writers) and Carles de Miguel Bonilla (artist).

   Warhide 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 6th 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!

   David Leach informed me "Just before the MUK bubble burst I had successfully pitched an idea for a brand new super hero called WARHIDE. He was the world's first skinned Communist super hero. I reasoned that since all superheroes had impressive physical attributes and the most amazing muscles then a character with no skin at all, just muscle would be popular. So Warhide was born. He was encased in a special carbon polymer which when it's accidentally melted (in freak incident) becomes a liquid as tough as diamond. Oh he's also a psychic and had telekinetic powers to boot.

   It started in the last days of the Soviet Afghan war with the hero - Pushkin captured by the Mujihadeen and skinned alive. He's rescued and undergoes a procedure that coats him in the polymer. Later with the collapse of the Soviet Union, the Warhide technology is sold to a rich warmongering American Industrialist and that's when the story proper started. Because of my sick sense of humour the main villain was a sadistic killer paralysed from the neck down and strapped into a massive exo-suit. It was planned as a 4 book mini series, and didn't feature Mys-Tech."

    The entire series had been plotted, the first three issues written, issue 1 drawn and inked, and issue 2 penciled, when the axe fell. It had also been advanced solicited, and the first cover art completed, allowing it to appear in Previews and on the cover of Marvel U.K.'s promotional title Body Count (see the Alan Davis artwork left). Sadly, when Marvel U.K. then moved premises from Arundel House to Tunbridge Wells, the artwork for Warhide issue 1 was amongst many pieces of original artwork that was just thrown out. Luckily Carlos retained copies of all the pencils he completed, including the first two covers, as well as character development sketches, which provide most of the art on this page - the full things can be seen on Carlos' blog.

   Given his telekinetic powers, he might be a mutant. With the sliding timescale, he might now be a Russian agent rather than a Soviet and Communist, but it's also possible that the process of applying the Warhide somehow slowed his aging, even before it got melted.

Profile by Loki.

CLARIFICATIONS:
Warhide has no known connections to:

images: (without ads)
Warhide#1 cover (main image)
Warhide#2 cover (headshot)
Warhide character development sketch (Gregori Pushkin headshot)
Body Count#1 cover (Warhide in color)

Appearances:
Body Count (October 1993) - Alan Davis (cover artist)

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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