{"id":84,"date":"2008-06-09T07:00:29","date_gmt":"2008-06-09T11:00:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/onceuponageek.com\/2008\/06\/09\/doctor-whos-original-bad-ass\/"},"modified":"2009-07-27T21:35:58","modified_gmt":"2009-07-28T01:35:58","slug":"doctor-whos-original-bad-ass","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/onceuponageek.com\/wordpress\/2008\/06\/09\/doctor-whos-original-bad-ass\/","title":{"rendered":"Doctor Who’s Original Bad Ass"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Abslom<\/a>Doctor Who’s first bad ass (and one of my favorite characters) was Abslom Daak, Dalek Killer<\/a>.\u00a0 He first appeared in 1980 in a back-up comic strip published in Doctor Who Weekly (later called Doctor Who Magazine).\u00a0 He was created by writer Steve Moore and artist Steve Dillon.\u00a0 Dillon went on to fame as one of the primary artists on Garth Ennis’ “Hellblazer” and “Preacher”.<\/p>\n

Daak was a hardened criminal that was sentenced with D-K duty.\u00a0 This entailed being teleported from the human empire to a planet deep within enemy Dalek territory.\u00a0 While there, condemned criminals served the human empire by killing as many Daleks as possible before being killed themselves.\u00a0 The life expectancy of a D-K was about 2 and 1\/2 hours.<\/p>\n

To give you an idea just how bad ass Abslom Daak was, here is the dialogue from his first couple panels…<\/p>\n

Judge: “Abslom Daak… you have been found guilty on 23 charges of murder, pillage, piracy, massacre and other crimes too horrible to bring to the public attention. There are two choices: death by vapourization or exile D-K!!”<\/p>\n

Daak: “Vapourization doesn’t hurt… I’ll take Dee-Kay!!”<\/p>\n

Awesome!\u00a0 Abslom cut a swathe through the Daleks with his chainsaw-sword, blaster, and his never-give-up attitude.\u00a0 Along the way he found love, friends, booze, and adventure.\u00a0 Interestingly enough, the Doctor did not appear in any of\u00a0Daak’s adventures until 1989. Abslom appeared in several issues of Doctor Who Magazine over the years, ending in 1993.\u00a0 He also appeared in one of the Virgin “Doctor Who New Adventures” novels (well… sort of).<\/p>\n

Throughout his appearances, he remained a bad ass,\u00a0a bastard, and killed a bunch of Daleks.\u00a0 He was a real jerk, but you couldn’t help liking him and cheering for him.\u00a0 I think that’s why I love this character so much.\u00a0 I’m always drawn toward the heroic assholes – Guy Gardner, Nathan Petrelli, and guys like that.\u00a0 Y’know, the irredeemable type.\u00a0 \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n

\"AbslomYou can still find copies\u00a0on eBay<\/a> of the collection reprinting his appearances, “Abslom Daak – Dalek Killer” by Marvel Comics.\u00a0 Additionally, a group called Altered Vistas<\/a> has produced some Abslom Daak audio adaptations that might be worth checking out.\u00a0 Finally,\u00a0at one point you could get a\u00a0t-shirt with Abslom Daak (see picture to right).\u00a0 My good friend Ravenface<\/a> bought me this t-shirt when he visited England in the early 1990’s.\u00a0 I seriously doubt you could find one nowadays.\u00a0 I’m eternally in Ravenface’s debt.<\/p>\n

So if you find yourself trying to decide who is the toughest\/coolest Doctor Who character, and you’re wondering is it Captain Jack Harkness,\u00a0Christopher Eccleston’s Doctor, or Duggan?\u00a0 Forget all those bitches… its Abslom Daak, Dalek Killer!<\/p>\n

Tell the world about ONCE UPON A GEEK:<\/h3>