The Valiant Annual 1977 - The Prisoner of Zenga.

 An interesting one this. The cover caught my eye, and I must learn to check inside the covers of annuals that don't have a robot on the cover.

The story features the Robot Zenga, but it turns out that this robot is actually a mechanical body within which 'intelligence of ex-arch criminal Max Zenga' controls the 'merciless metal monster' towards some great crime.
As you can see from the cover the robot can fire lasers from his eyes, and is quite happy to do so, killing the inhabitants of the helicopter (in this instance). I guess having a human mind implanted in the robot means that Asimov's Laws don't apply.
This 8 page snippet seems to be somewhere in the middle of an ongoing story. Poor lab assistant Julian Caine 'has become the terrified slave' of Zenga and appears to be being dragged along for the ride. I'm not entirely sure that Caine is as innocent as this makes out though, as he appears to care for the robot and certainly does very little to change his path. From searching the web, and there's very little up there about this robot, it seems that Julian Caine was actually looking to control the robot, as it was being created, for a robbery he was planning himself and so is certainly not the innocent victim here. Looks like he got more than he bargained for.

It's a nice twist to have the robot be evil and therefore move away from Archie and Iron Teacher territory.

I also like the way the body is pitted and not the shiny expanse of metal shown on the other robots of the time.

 I'll have to see if I can find out more about the character in other annuals.

Robot Maria by Garen Ewing.

Garen Ewing has been a good friend for a long time now. He's one of those talented guys who has been around the independent UK comic scene for quite a while (even longer than I have) and has gone on to great things with his excellent Rainbow Orchid.
I asked him for this commission a little while before Rainbow Orchid was picked up by Egmont, back in the days when I think he probably had more spare time than he has today.
As the saying goes, it's the early bird that gets the worm, and in this case the Maria commission.

Maria Rediscovered - by Garen Ewing.

A very thoughtful piece that demands a story to accompany it. Feel free to make up your own, and here's the inked version for those who like things in black and white.

Lovely work as always from Mr. Ewing.

Original Robot - John Kenn Mortensen.

I've just returned from the Copenhagen Comic Convention. Had a great, and very busy, time selling comics but also spotted a John Kenn Mortensen sat at a table diagonally opposite mine.
I discovered John's books only recently and was stunned by the thought of someone drawing such exquisite images on post-it notes. Yep. The things we all use everyday in the office.
I got John to sign a copy of Post-It Monsters for me and also asked for a sketch. Not a monster but a robot please. He obliged with...

...nice and creepy.
If you've not come across John's books then I recommend you pick them up.

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.

Original Robot - Lars Rahm.

Here's an original robot, sketched at a Comic Convention.
It's often interesting when asking for robot sketch to ask the artist if he or she'd create one and rather than produce their version of a specific robot from film or comic.
I love this image from Lars Rahm, which he kindly produced at the Komiks.DK event in Copenhagen back in 2006. I love the the oversized jaw and big clunking nut holding it to his head.

I'll be off to another Copenhagen Comic Convention at the beginning of June. If I have time I'll see if I can get a few more robot sketches for the blog.

The Gigantic Robot.

I've been a fan of Tom Gauld for a while now and it was really nice to meet him at a couple of Cons last year, one in London and the other in New York.
The Gigantic Robot is typical Tom Gauld and sees the ultimate weapon being built during a time of war and... well... let's just say it doesn't do much to change things.
Meeting Tom I, of course, took the opportunity to get my copy of the book signed, and sketched.

He does draw great little robots...

Robby The Robot by Ian Gibson.

Ian Gibson produced the first comic work that I ever read that had me wishing my life away. How long would I have to wait for the next issue of 2000AD and my next fix of Halo Jones ? Together with Alan Moore he made me realise that I was going to be into comics for a very long time.
I love the way Ian portrays women in comics, the strong characters but with very feminine physiques and without making them too top heavy (if you know what I mean).
When I came to ask Ian to do a Robot commission, it had to be something that had a female in it. I was torn between two ideas, Miranda and Robby the Robot on planet Altair-4, from Forbidden Planet or Robot Maria from Metropolis. In the end I went for both, but here's the first, Miranda and Robby.
Ian was an easy person to deal with and seemed genuinely interested, and set off to work his magic. A month or so passed and I'd heard nothing from Ian so I dropped him an email. Just a little friendly questioning type of thing. Ian was of course busy, as he should be, but was also having a few problems getting the thing to work right.
He was playing with the image whilst doing his other work, but informed me that it hadn't come together yet, or at least he wasn't happy with how it had come together so far.
After the commission had been completed I asked Ian if I could have the preparatory sketches, just so that I could see how the final image come to be. Here are a selection of the pages he sent me for you to look at...



I think Ian pretty quickly settled on Robby's look ...

I love the curves that make up Robby's body. Showing similarities to the Robby of the movie, and yet very different. Movie Robby had a problem walking, whereas Ian's version looks perfectly able to nip in front of Miranda and protect her from the soldiers sent to investigate her father's activities.

Once happy with Robby, Ian then works on Miranda...

working on the dynamics of the composition.

and the background, capturing the strange sky that instantly places the scene on a distant planet...

and then tightening up the characters...

until finally it all comes together, with the eye flowing from Miranda's outstretched had to that plaved on Robby's chest and across to Robby's own hand, as she hold him back from being perhaps a little over protective.

Using purple as the predominant colour is a great way to add to the feel of it all taking place on a different planet, and not our grey moon, and this is nicely offset by Miranda's green body suit.
What a fabulous image, and what a privilege to be able to leaf through all the preparatory sketches.
I'll leave you then with one last look at what might have been...

Ha ... humourous Robby ... great stuff.