Robot Archie uses, then loses, his head.

Robot Archie has two stories in the 1970 LION annual.

In the first we find the mechanical marvel in India and whilst wandering around a local bazaar, with Ted Ritchie and Kan Dale, the robot begins to experience problems with his balance.

It seems that a crystal that is his movement co-ordinator has worn out (maybe we all have these and they are effected by alcohol... just a thought). This crystal is a semi precious gem, which whilst not expensive is not going to be easy to find in India. So they all set off for the biggest jewellery firm in town.
And you just know something is going to go wrong.
Yep, just as they arrive robbers who have just hit the firm are making a quick exit.
Archie, being the hero that he is rushes off to catch them.

But his balance is off and he catches the tram instead of the crooks.

The crooks make their escape and the even worse news is that the jeweller doesn't have the gem required to repair Archie (and you were thinking that he'd say the robbers just took the only one he had didn't you). But fear not, The Mad Maharajah has one. He sounds like the kind of person who would be only too happy to help, from behind his 'high walls' (as he never leaves the palace).

A short trip, avoiding a booby trap, being shot at, minor elephant crushing and head butting a heavy wooden door sees Archie behind the walls and chasing down an escaping helicopter (yep, it appears that The Mad Maharajah didn't get rich by lots of hard work (maybe not so mad after all then)).

Except that The Mad Maharajah had in fact died years before and the criminals had just moved in and pretended that he was still around, spending without a care.

In the second story, this time illustrated text rather than full blown comic pages, we see Archie pit his abilities again 'Head Hunters'.

In this tale the three get attacked by a tribe of head hunters, who manage to steal the transmitter that controls Archie before beating a hasty retreat back into the jungle. The heroes then allow themselves to get separated and finally catch up with Archie to find him having his head unscrewed by the Head Hunters.

It all looks pretty bleak for them all until Professor Zing turns up and saves the day. Why the Head Hunters had never removed the Prof's head is a mystery that is neither questioned nor answered, leading me to suspect him of being some evil matermind or somesuch, but I guess I may never know.

 

Steel Commando.

Also appearing in the 1976 LION Annual is a story about the Steel Commando.
More Beano than Lion, this character is a World War II secret weapon put under the control of Lance Corporal Ernie 'Excused Boots' Bates. What could possibly go wrong ?

You can tell what sort of story you're going to get when you discover that the man who created the robot is called Professor Brayne.

and it starts to play out in this story as a short circuit causes the Steel Commando to go 'loopy' whenever anyone says 'Blockhead'.
This 8 page story sees Bates and the Steel Commando go behind enemy lines in to try to get hold of an important map. They come across the German's own robot, which for some reason is used as a butler rather than a soldier, and there's a nice toouch when the Steel Commando is disguised as the robot Butler in order to get closer to the German command.

Not my cup of tea but it is a robot, so it's not all bad.

When it came to a real battle of the Robots, Archie was king...

The 1976 LION annual has two Robot Archie Stories.

In the first we find an illustrated tale of Archie meeting a robot adversary in the shape of Robot Reg. Ted Ritchie finds himself in an angry confrontation with a man only ever referred to as Harrison. After an initial clash, in which Archie appears to be sent flying by Robot Reg's repulsor beam, Ted is taken captive leaving Archie and an injured Ken Dale to lick their wounds.

But all is not what it seems, and Robot Archie has been onto Harrison all along, playing the role of a weaker robot in order to draw him out. He soon sets off with Dale and tracks down Harrison, Robot Reg and their captive.

Turns out the repulsor was a dud. Archie threw the fight and always knew he was the superior robot. This he demonstrates in the final conflict where he knocks Reg's block off.

A fitting end to the tale, and Robot Reg. Although to be fair to him he was only doing what he was programmed to do and was merely a tool being used by Harrison.
In the second story, this time a comic book tale, we see Robot Archie and friends in the Caribbean.

This eight page story sees Archie combat The Living Dead. Yep. Zombies. 'Beware  - I am Archie Lord of the Scrapyards' is Archie's challenge to Baron Samedi, Lord of the Graveyards, who turns out to be a bloke on stilts...

and the Zombies ? Well, they turned out to be men who had been hypnotised. Nothing is as it seems in the world of Robot Archie. Except Robot Archie himself.

The Iron Teacher.

Whenever I visit a book shop that stocks old books, or an antique fair, I keep my eye open for any old copies of LION, looking out for a new Archie story.
I was quite surprised then to come across this issue of Hotspur...

...which sports what at face value looks a bit like a Robot Archie clone.
Were Hotspur trying to attract readership from LION with its own mechanical marvel ?
The 6 page story tells the tale of Jake Todd, a teacher, who finds himself teacher school children in what looks to be Alaska. I've no idea how he ended up there but he and his mechanical pal take on some pirates and during the action manage to sink a Destroyer.

This is achieved by The Iron Teacher punching a hole in, and then ripping plates of steel, out of its hull and so sinking it.
But is the mechanical marvel actually a robot ?

Not by my definition.
Jake Todd appears to control all of The Iron Teacher's motions through a control device in his glove, and the words that appear to come from the Iron Teacher are actually spoken by Jake Todd through a 'throat microphone'.
The Iron Teacher is not self aware then and seems to be more a remote controlled device than anything else.

It's a nice design though and he may actually have been self aware as this version is a re-design and Jake Todd is a new addition to the character's tale. He may even become self aware in a later issue.

Guess I'd better add Hotspur to my list of things to look out for.

'But Archie was never more dangerous than when he was in danger'.

The cover of the LION Annual for 1979 shows Robot Archie in combat with a giant octopus...

A little disappointingly the robot only appears in 4 pages of an illustrated story in the annual itself, but the book does have a great Adam Eterno story so it's not all bad news.