Walt Simonson's First Published Work?

From Magnus, Robot Fighter #10, May 1965, about 8 years before his first official work for DC (Weird War Tales) and about the same amount of time before his famed work on Manhunter, one of my favorite series of all time.

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The Aliens

This post was suggested by an emailer named Darell.

I have talked previously about the terrific Gold Key series, Magnus, Robot Fighter.  In the back of each of the Magnus comics was a four-page serial called The Aliens.  The series started with the contact with Earthmen:

After an initial mistaken impression that the aliens were firing at them, they decide to head for home.  But then they realize that they can't do that without risking that the aliens will follow and discover Earth.  The aliens grasp the problem as well:

This is the basic plot of one of the most famous science fiction stories of all time, First Contact, by Murray Leinster.  The dilemma was resolved by having the two species swap ships after wiping out all information that could identify their home planets.  However, that wouldn't make for much of a serial, so in The Aliens, the solution is:

This creates two parallel stories, with one following the captain of the Earth ship (Johnner) and his half-alien, half-human crew heading back to Earth, while the other ship returns to the alien's homeworld.

Over the next several issues, we see the aliens and the Earthmen developing a bond and trust for each other as they help the other species out of difficulties:

While this provides good characterization, it does have one drawback: there is not much conflict.  Oh, sure, there's the obligatory story where one of the Earthmen has an irrational prejudice towards the aliens, that is unsurprisingly resolved when an alien saves his life.  So it seemed to me that the serial started to bog down a bit, until they arrive back at Earth, where the aliens are surprised to discover:

The colonists from Venus had been taken over by another alien intelligence and were infiltrating the Earth.  This provides the conflict the series needed:

Note the slur.  There's something else being talked about here, under the surface.  Over the next several issues, the Earthmen and the aliens battle the Venusians and attempt to discover their plans.  The scripting and artwork on the series was done by Russ Manning, who was also doing the same chores on the Magnus feature.  Check out this gorgeous page:

Overall the series is entertaining and well worth reading.  It has been reprinted several times, most recently by Acclaim as Captain Johner and the Aliens.

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A Robot Did What?

I don't know why, because I've always been an avid reader, but for some reason, while reading comic books of the early 1960s or before, I tend to ignore the text features that appeared in many of them.  But today I happened to be reading Magnus, Robot Fighter #2, and I saw that the text story was entitled "The World of Robots... Today!"

It describes the many robots at work around at the time (1963) including thermostats, parking meters, etc., and points out that they may not be recognized as such because they don't resemble the hulking iron giants of science fiction movies and TV.  So far, so good.  But check out this closing passage:

Whaaaaat?

Update: Do I have the best readers and commenters ever?  Richard Bensam  points out this article in Slate on the way the story evolved (a misfired gun which wounded nobody becomes "his robot shot him"), and David Kilmer contributes this page from an Ogden, Utah newspaper which shows how sensationalized the story became.  I particularly love the photo of Alpha with the dancing girls.  Of course, the iron club and the "fact" that the inventor was killed are more recent additions to the myth.

Diane points to a story by the Binder brothers (Otto and Earl) which also has a similar plot:

Soon afterwards, a heavy object falls on Dr. Link by accident and kills him. His housekeeper instantly assumes that the robot has murdered Dr. Link, and calls in armed men to hunt it down and destroy it.

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Magnus Robot Fighter #7

Continuing my look at this terrific 1960s series, I've skipped ahead to #7. The story begins with several robots returning from a space mission. They go berserk, and more frightening, every robot that comes in contact with them also becomes crazy. It's a robot plague! Fortunately, Magnus is there to save the people:

The robots self-destruct after about five minutes as a berserker, but it looks possible that they will end up contaminating all the robots on the planet. Magnus feels this would not be such a bad thing:

The council decides to evacuate all the robots from the civilian sector, since the plague should die out quickly due to the five minute self-destruct feature. But have all the civilians complied?

Magnus, Leeja and her father go to the Goph level to convince them to give up their robots briefly. But a voice is raised against them:

Xyrkol had already appeared in several issues and was rapidly developing into Magnus' chief enemy. He stuns Magnus with a raygun, and teleports away with the hero:

The woman is no Goph, nor a beggar, as the senator at first suspects. It turns out that she and her son were two of the humans used by H8 in the first issue to make up his computer bank of minds, so she owes Magnus a debt of gratitude. She explains that the 1000 minds have strange powers when brought together.

Meanwhile, Magnus has been transported to another planet, run by robots with a gigantic electronic brain:

We learn that the robot brain had created the plague which is infecting Earth's robots. Magnus attempts to break free, but it turns out that he has been fitted with a collar that chokes him whenever he attempts to resist. Xyrkol brings him to a room where he is tested by robot fighters. The brain soon realizes his ability to destroy robots comes from his strength applied against their weakest part, and sends in a robot with no weaknesses. But Magnus realizes that the brain must have some sort of eyes in the room, and he uses the ray-gun of the new robot to destroy them, and his collar. Now freed, he decides:

Solid characterization there. It turns out that the brain has the antidote for the plague, and turns the entirety of its awesome force against Magnus:

Meanwhile, the old woman has gathered together the 1000 minds that powered H8's computer. They use Leeja's love for Magnus to help them focus on finding him in the universe:

Once Magnus is located, the 1000 minds use their power to short-circuit the robot brain. Magnus is able to force Xyrkol to use his teleportation belt to bring them both back to Earth, where:

Comments: This series goes from strength to strength. I've enjoyed thoroughly every issue thus far, and the superb characterization in this one makes it the best yet.

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Magnus, Robot Fighter #3

It is perhaps not surprising that alien robots would be the next enemies for Magnus. The stage is set with the opening panel:

Hmmm, hadn't noticed it before, but Magnus is wearing, well, kind of a dress, isn't he? Of course, the computer "tape" is a bit of a failure of imagination; I do remember tape like that back in the early 1970s, so maybe I shouldn't criticize Magnus' attire, since it is stretching the envelope a bit.

Magnus and others go into action against the aliens, but it is clear they are outgunned. Fortunately the aliens do not attack, yet. But they do eventually:


I'd have to check, but I doubt even Marvel was doing full page interior panels very often at the time (August 1963). Beautiful art by Manning. Magnus realizes that he must go nuclear:

But:

Things are looking grim, and Magnus decides to find Xyrkol. He reasons that the giant robot will eventually contact its master, and traces the signal:

He blasts off for Planet X, where he confronts Xyrkol, who warns that he can instruct his giant robot to kill everyone on Earth. We get the inevitable offer to join forces:

But when Magnus overcomes Xyrkol and instructs his companions robots to destroy the controls, Xyrkol reveals that he's planned ahead so that this will result in the automated destruction of his own base, and the giant robot going wild. Sure enough:

Magnus has fighter jets attack the robot so that he can slip into the eye-slit unnoticed, and pretty quickly we hear the robot death sound:

Comments: The art saves this otherwise pedestrian story. I'm hoping that we get some more characterization for Magnus, particularly an origin story. At this point, we haven't seen Magnus' mentor, Robot 1A, since the opening scenes of Magnus #1. I still like the series a lot; I'm just looking for a little more depth.

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Science Marches On!

Check out this bit from Magnus, Robot Fighter #3. Gold Key included little bits of education on the inside covers of their magazines, and this is from the Atom Part I. The context is that scientists of ancient Greece were seeking the Elixir of Life, which would give immortality, and the Philosopher's Stone, which would make who ever found it rich:

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Magnus, Robot Fighter #2

If there was one thing that the Silver Age had in abundance, it was covers that featured the hero and his double. But this one is painted and really stands out.

I enjoyed reading the reprint of Magnus, Robot Fighter #1 in #22 so much that I decided to try the next issue of Magnus. I don't remember reading a lot of Gold Key comics as a kid; it is my recollection that they had a somewhat different distribution system than Marvel and DC, and you'd come across them in oddball places like Woolworth's and WT Grant's. I had a couple issues of Turok, and one of Korak, Son of Tarzan.

This issue doesn't waste any time getting to the action. Leeja is being kidnapped by robots when Magnus lends a fist:



The seductive poses of the former continue, and check out the outstanding composition of this panel:



Our eyes are drawn to the woman, whose gaze encourages us to look at the fleeing air-car, which leads us to the dialog bubbles. That is perfectly done.

Magnus and Leeja are curious why the robots attacked her; since H8 was defeated in the last issue, she's no longer wanted, and those weren't pol-robs at any rate.

Via scene change, we learn that the robots were created by Mekman, a robot who has learned how to create human-looking and sounding robots, starting with a mechanical version of Magnus:



The robot Magnus lures Leeja to the Mekman's headquarters. With her as a hostage, Magnus himself has no choice but to surrender to the Mekman himself. Meanwhile the evil robot has created duplicates for North Am's governing council. After the substitution is made, the council makes an announcement:



When Magnus learns that Senator Clane has been arrested and is facing execution, he realizes it's time to kick a little robot butt:



He learns Mekman's startling secret:



Magnus realizes that Mekman's pores still need to breathe, so he coats him with mercury, forcing the secret from his enemy before saving him for the good of humanity:



Magnus and Leeja arrive back at the capitol just in time to save Senator Clane, who is about to be executed. Magnus tells the humans nearby that the President and his council are all robots, as is the fake Magnus. They have an obvious test for him:



And in the end:



Comments: The story is solid, the artwork terrific. What's not to like? I do hope that in future issues we get a little more depth to the characters but so far this series is turning out to be a real gem.

There is a backup feature in this issue called the Aliens, which I see started in Magnus #1. I may get around to reading that series but for now I'm going to stick with the robot fighter stories.

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Magnus, Robot Fighter #22

One of the longest running dramatic comics of the Silver Age that was not published by DC or Marvel, Magnus, Robot Fighter debuted in February 1963, and lasted until issue #28, November 1969. After a two-year hiatus, Gold Key started it up again and it lasted another 17 issues before finally biting the dust in January 1977. It has been revived a few times since then, most notably by Acclaim, which published 65 issues in the 1990s.

As you can see, although this is issue #22 in the Gold Key series, it is also a reprint of the very first issue. The comic was drawn for most of its initial 28-issue run by Russ Manning, who also did a long stint on Tarzan for Gold Key and also did the Tarzan daily strip for the newspapers.

Magnus was kind of a future Tarzan himself; he had been raised apart from the human society of 4000 AD by a robot (named 1A) and trained to battle the evil robots who had arisen when mankind became too dependent on them. Magnus has two main powers: incredible strength, and the ability to intercept the robots' radio signals.

In the first story, Magnus observes a robot tearing up a book that two kids were reading, about Adolf Hitler, after they observe that the robots are becoming Hitler-like. The kids are enraged that the robot did this, and:



Some polrobs (police robots) try to arrest the kids, but Magnus intervenes:



Magnus learns that the robot behind the evil robots is the polrob chief, who orders both humans and robots to capture Magnus, or he will kill all the humans in the sector. Meanwhile, Leeja, the daughter of a Senator, decides that she too is tired of obeying robot orders:



They join forces and enter the Central Rob (police station) under the supposed control of a robot that Magnus has rewired to accept his instructions. They encounter the evil chief polrob:



Now that's pretty interesting. Neo-nazis today use the term "88" as a code for "Heil Hitler", as "H" is the 8th letter in the alphabet. Given the earlier mention of Hitler in the story, it's hard to believe that this is a coincidence. H8 reveals that he lost his inhibition against harming humans due to a radiation incident years ago.

Magnus learns that one of H8's secret weapons is a computer bank of human minds, to which H8 intends to add Magnus and Leeja. As Magnus battles H8, the human minds assist him, and when H8 has been destroyed, he frees them. However, he learns that H8 is not the only evil robot and that others have been made evil by individual humans for their own purposes.

Comments: Solid introduction to the series, with terrific art and interesting characters. Leeja is drawn, well, rather enticingly for a female character in 1963:



Then again, Gold Key was not hamstrung by the Comics Code Authority. I will have to dig up some other Magnus Robot Fighter issues and see if the quality continues at this level.

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