Deathwish (series)

**Deathwish**, written by Maddie Blaustein and Yves Fezzani, is Milestone Media's first ever mini-series, as well as an early example of a transgender comics creative's coming out story (if not the very first).

## Plot Overview

"The first Milestone miniseries! Dakota Police Lieutenant Marisa Rahm is stymied by a psychotic serial killer until Deathwish, the psycho killer from Hardware #5-7, breaks himself out of jail to help her out!"

## Development and Production

While living in California, Maddie Blaustein went through a messy divorce and was desperately looking for work when Dwayne McDuffie called her looking to wrangle talent for Milestone Media. Asking if she had any ideas for a mini-series, she told him "I'd like to write my own take on Silence of the Lambs using Deathwish, but I want the police detective to be a pre-operative transsexual." Immediately, Dwayne told her to do it. In June 1994 the mini-series was announced. That August, Milestone was handing out previews for the book at San-Diego Comic Con. During their panel at the con, Maddie explained that it would be a love story with a protagonist who would be "a woman, but not a female".

## Issues

Deathwish #1: "This Ain't No Cryin' Game"Deathwish #2: "Some Like it... NOT!"Deathwish #3:"Dakota is Burning"Deathwish #4:"Silence of the Rahm"
## Reception

In the letters columns of Deathwish #3, Kevin Andrew Shaw wrote "Blaustein and Fezzani's deft characterization drew me immediately into the story. This is indeed quite different from anything I'd encountered before, and this is just the first issue's exposition. I like Marisa Rahm. Had lesser talent written this character, I most likely would not have. One of the many appeals of Milestone is the overall absence of stereotypes and cliches. The Dakota universe is populated by real people with all the attendant hopes, fears, joys, sorrows, loves and loathing of real life. What could have been transcendently limned as a vibrant, vital and sympathetic personality."

Leo Padilla added, "It's a shame that this segment of society has never been portrayed in a comic book of high caliber social consciousness as yours. Now, with the DEATHWISH miniseries, I'm enjoying more of what you're good at: GREAT STORIES! A transsexual / serial-killer thriller! Has this ever been done before? I really admire the character of Lt. Marisa Rahm. She really has some big 'stones.'"

Deathwish #4 featured a letter from Norrie-May Welby stating "Thank you, everybody involved, for all the tranys and non-mainstream sexualities in Milestone. Thank you, in fact, for Milestone." Another reader, Jonah Falcon, wrote in to praise the symbology present in the artwork, noting: "The moon behind Boots' head gives the illusion of a halo. It gives a good impression that he views himself as being holy and/or doing holy work." Marlan HarrrisMarlan Harris added in another letter "I can't recall the last time I read a story that involved so much gender bending, and at that, I can't recall when I've read one of these stories that has been so interesting. You don't trivialize the gender bending, I appreciate that."

Transgender Cartoonist Diana Green reviewed the series for "TransSisters: the Journal of Transsexual Feminism" expressing frustration with the book. "On the surface, it's all pretty sordid, from the cop spewing lime-green puke against a lavender background on page 27 of issue #1 to an evening-gown clad Boots shoving a very large gun in his mouth on page 25 of issue #4. Dead TS hookers, cliched costumes and poetry swipes, *film noir* phrases so tough you snarl when you read them. On the surface, pretty bad stuff." Green's tune changes however, when acknowledging how Blaustein and Fezzani's lived experience influenced the writing. "This puts a whole nother smoke on the thing. What seemed at first to be some scared little fanboy's deluded concept of TS life is revealed to be grounded in a harsh reality of TS life, one of which I've been lucky enough to avoid. You know. Something we just don't talk about in our little family, whether it's the family of over-eager comic book fanboys terrified of anything sexual that's not couched in violence, or the more 'genteel' part of our TS family." The review concluded "But this is not a story about logic and reason, It's a story about passions, searches for self, and the price we pay when others try to 'save' us from our own identities. Through the sandpaper-gritty dialogue and stereotyped clothing, from the badly-proportioned and sensationalist art, a truth shows through. The purity and, yes, it's corny, the nobility of our dreams of self shine through.

Reviewing the series for Blerds Online, Darrell Shaffer Jr. stated that the book was at it's best when tackling Martin's transition to Marisa. "I'm not a trans person, and I'll be honest, I hadn't given much thought to the process. See, I figured, the person always knew who they were inside, and then one day they just did it. I figured one day Martin goes to sleep and wakes up as Marisa and that's it. Then they have to deal with all the stuff that comes with transitioning. I hadn't given much thought to the before process. [...] I just never considered that internal struggle as something that would be ongoing even afterwards." He went on to say "Sometimes comics can teach us things, show us new place or give us insight we lack. I never considered my[self] transphobic because I'm of the mind state that we need treat all people like people. After reading *Deathwish* I realize I didn't, and still don't understand the struggle of trans people fully. But, now I know this shit is way deeper than some ID cards and bathrooms."

## Legacy

The events of this series spilled over into the events of Hardware when Maddie Blaustein and Yves Fezzani took over writing duties for the three-part "The Hunt For Deathwish" arc that spanned across Issues #26-28 in the stories "Welcome to the Machine", "Prometheus Unwound", and "The Pain, The Dark and Other Things...".

Police Captain Gil Summers would later appear in the pages of Static in "Shadow of Time, Shadow of Blood", "Full Yellow Jacket", and "Bee, My Love" from issues #30, 32-33. He also had a cameo appearance in issue #2 of the 2010 Milestone Forever mini-series.

1. ↑ Trans-Ponder Podcast (original) [mr\_nobody\_000 (archived by)]. (2021, October 24). *Old Maddie Blaustein interview* [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l8bi5KPPC8c
2. ↑ Wizard News: Company Updates. (1994). *Wizard Magazine*, *#34*, 26.
3. ↑ Blaustein, M. (1995). *Deathwish #3*. Milestone Media.
4. ↑ Shaffer, D., Jr. (2018, February). *Reviewing The Classics: Deathwish*. Blerds Online. https://www.blerdsonline.com/2018/02/reviewing-classics-deathwish.html