Axel Pressbutton is a fictional character appearing in comic books. A violent cyborg with the face of Ernest Borgnine, a button on his chest which delivers orgasmic pleasure when pressed, and a phobia about vegetation, he was created by Steve Moore (under the pseudonym "Pedro Henry") and Alan Moore (no relation to Steve Moore), under the pseudonym "Curt Vile".
Publication history
Dark Star and Sounds
Axel first appeared in the strip "Three-Eyes McGurk and his Death Planet Commandos", serialized in four issues of the British
rock music magazine
Dark Star in 1979–1980. Further Axel stories appeared in
Sounds in the period 1980–1983; these were mostly written and drawn by "Curt Vile" (
Alan Moore).
From that period onward, all Axel stories were written by "Pedro Henry" (Steve Moore).
Warrior
Steve Moore worked with editor
Dez Skinn at
Marvel UK, and when Skinn set up his own title
Warrior he asked the writer to join the project. Steve Moore struck on a revival of Axel Pressbutton for one of his contributions to the
anthology.
Skinn requested a female co-lead be added to the strip, leading to the creation of
Mysta Mistralis a futuristic hit woman or "Laser Eraser". As Alan Moore had decided to focus on writing,
Steve Dillon came onboard as artist. Some stories featured the bizarre supporting character Zirk, drawn by such artists as
Garry Leach and
Brian Bolland.
Zirk won the 1983 Eagle Award for Favourite Supporting Character.
[ "The Eagle Awards - Results: 1983", Eagle Awards website. Archived at the Wayback Machine. Accessed 27 Jan. 2020.] Laser Eraser and Pressbutton was featured on the cover of the magazine's debut issue, and the fourth issue (also known as the
Warrior Summer Special) was detailed Axel's origin in a standalone story with art from David Jackson.
[ Steve Moore continued to use his Pedro Henry pseudonym when writing the strip, despite others in the magazine coming out under his real name; that Moore and Henry were one and the same was something of an open secret within British comics fandom. The strip, however, hit trouble when Dillon "disappeared", leading to a reprint of material from Sounds. Alan Davis instead took over as artist, but only three more episodes followed before Warrior ended in January 1985.][
]
Eclipse Comics
Before Warrior had ended the character had already made his debut in American comics. Skinn had initially struck a deal with Pacific Comics to print Warrior material, but the company went bankrupt before any was published; the deal was taken over by Eclipse Comics.[ They repackaged the Warrior strips, along with other material from the magazine such as Zirk, Warpsmith and Ektryn, as a bi-monthly 6-issue colour mini-series called Axel Pressbutton, from November 1984 to July 1985.]
Eclipse then continued the series with new material written by "Henry", also offering a free subscription to anyone who correctly guessed the writer's identity.
From #5, the price increased to 95¢, and the comic was cancelled after 6 issues.
Revivals
Moore retained copyright to the characters, and later one-off stories appeared in anthology publications such as A1 and Blast!, always written by "Henry". In 2006, artist Jon Haward announced a new story featuring Laser Eraser and Pressbutton. Written by Moore, the story was planned to go online on Haward's website
Character biography
Pressbutton's origin was given in a stand-alone story in the Warrior Summer Special (Quality Communications, 1983), drawn by David Jackson. Originally a mild-mannered and plant-loving florist, he took delivery of plant matter which included a sentient, telepathic, anesthetic, carnivorous fungus which attacked his body from the feet upwards. All the time it was consuming him, it was empathising with him, apologising for eating him and preventing him from feeling the pain. By the time he was rescued, the only remaining parts of his body were his head, right arm and part of his chest. As a result of this damage, he became extremely embittered, especially against vegetation. When rebuilt as Pressbutton, he was fitted with a cleaver as a left arm and, because of his lack of genital equipment, an orgasm-inducing button on his chest clearly marked "Press". This was sometimes used by later adversaries to disable him (in rapture) while he was attacking them.
Bibliography
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"Three-Eyes McGurk and his Death Planet Commandos", serialized in Dark Star #22–25 (1979–1980) – by Pedro Henry and Alan Moore; later reprinted in Rip Off Comix #8 (April 1981)
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"The Stars My Degradation" (a reference to The Stars My Destination), serialized in Sounds (12 July 1980 – 19 March 1983) – Vile wrote and drew the strip from 12 July 1980,
[ "Sounds 1980", 4 Color Heroes. Retrieved 6 Feb. 2020.] to December 1981,[ "Sounds 1981", 4 Color Heroes. Retrieved 6 Feb. 2020.] and then again from 5 February 1983, to 19 March 1983;[ "Sounds 1983", 4 Color Heroes. Retrieved 6 Feb. 2020.] Henry wrote the strip from 6 February 1982,[ "Sounds 1982", 4 Color Heroes. Retrieved 6 Feb. 2020.] to 15 January 1983;
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"Christmas on Depravity", Sounds (8-page story, 26 December 1981) – story by Pedro Henry and Curt Vile, art by Curt Vile; later reprinted in Warrior #16 (Dec. 1983).
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"The Bride of Pressbutton", Sounds (8-page story, 25 December 1982) – by Pedro Henry and Curt Vile
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Laser Eraser and Pressbutton, in Warrior issues #1–12, 14 (text piece only), 15, 16 (reprint from Sounds), 21, 24–25 (Quality Communications, March 1982–August 1984) – stories by Pedro Henry, art by Steve Dillon (issues #1–3, 6–11), David Jackson (issues #4 and 5), Mick Austin (issue #12), and Alan Davis (issues #21, 24–25)
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Axel Pressbutton (Eclipse Comics, Nov. 1984–July 1985) – by Pedro Henry and Steve Dillon, David Jackson, and Alan Davis; reprints from Warrior
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Laser Eraser and Pressbutton (Eclipse Comics, November 1985 –July 1986) – by Pedro Henry and Mike Collins
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3-D Laser Eraser and Pressbutton (Eclipse Comics, August 1986)) – by Pedro Henry and Mike Collins
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"Corsairs of Illunium", in Miracleman #9 (Eclipse Comics, July 1986) – by Pedro Henry and Mike Collins
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"Corsairs of Illunium part 2", in Miracleman #10 (Eclipse, Comics, December 1986) – by Pedro Henry and Mike Collins
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"Time after Time", in Miracleman #11 (Eclipse Comics, May 1987) – by Pedro Henry and Mike Collins
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"Time after Time", in Miracleman #12 (Eclipse Comics, September 1987) – by Pedro Henry and Mike Collins
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"A Long Time Dead", in A1 Volume 1 Book #2 (Atomeka Press, 1989) – six-page text story by Pedro Henry, art by Glenn Fabry
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"Famous for Fifteen Minutes", in Blast! #1 (John Brown Publishing, June 1991) – six-page story by Pedro Henry, art by Steve Dillon
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"Axel Pressbutton – The Movie", in A1 Volume 2 Book #3 (Marvel Epic, 1992) – seven pages & cover, story by Pedro Henry, art by Martin Emond & poster page/cover by Simon Bisley
External links
