Robot Archie
Encyclopedia
Robot Archie is the name of a fictional comic book
character who first appeared in Lion
#1 published in February 1952.
, who were at the time, the biggest publisher of weekly adventure titles in the UK along with DC Thomson
. Lion was a science fiction
action-adventure comic in the mold of Eagle
and was a direct competitor to that comic.
Robot Archie appeared in the first issue but was known as The Jungle Robot in this first issue. The character was created by writer E. George Cowan
and artist Alan Philpott
. The strip lasted 25 weeks before it took a five year gap and returned in 1957. This time the strip was called Archie The Robot Explorer but eventually the strip became better known as Robot Archie.
The strip was one of the most popular in Lion during the 1960s but the character's adventures ended when Lion was finally cancelled in May 1974. However Robot Archie strips did appear in colour (with redrawn art from the Dutch series) in Vulcan, a short lived weekly title which was cancelled in 1976. The series was published and popular in France and the Netherlands too. In the Netherlands the series was published in the comics magazine Sjors (for which Bert Bus made new Archie material - which was translated into French too - from 1971) and two or three series of albums which - like the Archie publication in France - stopped in the early 80's.
After this the character entered publishing limbo but remained well loved by fans. The character made a brief cameo appearance under the name Android Andy in Alan Moore
and Alan Davis
's run on Captain Britain
for Marvel UK
. The next appearance after this was in the pages of Grant Morrison
's Zenith strip in 2000 AD
. This portrayed Archie as a burned out acid
casualty and part of a team of heroes called Black Flag.
In 2004 a new "Classic Archie" adventure by Bert Bus was published in Dutch.
In 2005 it was announced that Robot Archie, as well as all of IPC's adventure heroes, would feature in a new six issue mini-series to be published by the Wildstorm
imprint of DC Comics
. Called Albion
, the series is plotted by Alan Moore, and written by Leah Moore
and John Reppion
, with art by Shane Oakley
and George Freeman. Robot Archie features on the cover of the first issue which was drawn by Dave Gibbons
.
and South America
) and was remote controlled by Professor Ritchie and his nephew Ted Ritchie and his best friend Ken Dale.
Robot Archie's adventures started as conventional action thrillers with Archie and his friends battling criminals and jungle creatures, but eventually he began to fight more fantastic and dangerous villains and aliens, including The Sludge, a monster who had previously had its own strip in Lion.
Initially Archie could not speak, but around 1966 a voice box was added, which gave the robot a boastful, but charming, personality.
When Robot Archie reappeared in the pages of Grant Morrison's Zenith, he was a burned out 1960's acid casualty (renaming himself Acid Archie) who helped Zenith fight the Lloigor. Archie is apparently killed by Ruby Fox in Phase IV when she short circuits him whilst he is trying to rip off her head. But this later revealed as the copy of Archie within the Chimera pocket universe, as he is seen partying with Zenith and Peter St. John during the Epilogue. Archie also appears in zzzenith.com in the special Prog 2001 edition of 2000AD. Zenith explains that rust in the brain-pan has caused Archie's personality to change from anarchist Acid-House aficionado into a vigilante, hunting down sex offenders with a lethal vigour. He is last seen in the story escaping on a bus in a false beard after sexually assaulting popstar Britney Spears
.
In Albion, the character was found in the basement of a Manchester
pub by Penny Dolmann, who repaired and modified him to rescue her father. Archie was destroyed acting as a decoy for Penny.
Comic book
A comic book or comicbook is a magazine made up of comics, narrative artwork in the form of separate panels that represent individual scenes, often accompanied by dialog as well as including...
character who first appeared in Lion
Lion (comic)
Lion was a weekly comic published by Fleetway from 23 February 1952 to 18 May 1974. It lasted for 1,156 issues.-Publishing history:...
#1 published in February 1952.
Publishing history
Robot Archie first appeared in the first issue of Lion, a weekly British boys adventure title published by IPC MagazinesIPC Media
IPC Media , a wholly owned subsidiary of Time Inc., is a consumer magazine and digital publisher in the United Kingdom, with a large portfolio selling over 350 million copies each year.- Origins :...
, who were at the time, the biggest publisher of weekly adventure titles in the UK along with DC Thomson
D. C. Thomson & Co. Ltd
D. C. Thomson & Co. Ltd, is a publishing company based in Dundee, Scotland, best known for producing The Dundee Courier, The Evening Telegraph, The Sunday Post, Oor Wullie, The Broons, The Beano, The Dandy and Commando comics...
. Lion was a science fiction
Science fiction
Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...
action-adventure comic in the mold of Eagle
Eagle (comic)
Eagle was a seminal British children's comic, first published from 1950 to 1969, and then in a relaunched format from 1982 to 1994. It was founded by Marcus Morris, an Anglican vicar from Lancashire. Morris edited a parish magazine called The Anvil, but felt that the church was not communicating...
and was a direct competitor to that comic.
Robot Archie appeared in the first issue but was known as The Jungle Robot in this first issue. The character was created by writer E. George Cowan
Ted Cowan
Ted Cowan, being the best known familiar name of Edward George Cowan, is a British comic book writer.His early career included working as a laboratory assistant prior to World War II when he enlisted firstly in the Royal Air Force and subsequently in the British Army where he was a dispatch rider...
and artist Alan Philpott
Alan Philpott
Alan Philpott was a footballer who played in The Football League for Oldham Athletic, and Stoke City. Philpott spent eight years at Stoke in that time he was used as backup and was used sparingly by manager Tony Waddington.-References:...
. The strip lasted 25 weeks before it took a five year gap and returned in 1957. This time the strip was called Archie The Robot Explorer but eventually the strip became better known as Robot Archie.
The strip was one of the most popular in Lion during the 1960s but the character's adventures ended when Lion was finally cancelled in May 1974. However Robot Archie strips did appear in colour (with redrawn art from the Dutch series) in Vulcan, a short lived weekly title which was cancelled in 1976. The series was published and popular in France and the Netherlands too. In the Netherlands the series was published in the comics magazine Sjors (for which Bert Bus made new Archie material - which was translated into French too - from 1971) and two or three series of albums which - like the Archie publication in France - stopped in the early 80's.
After this the character entered publishing limbo but remained well loved by fans. The character made a brief cameo appearance under the name Android Andy in Alan Moore
Alan Moore
Alan Oswald Moore is an English writer primarily known for his work in comic books, a medium where he has produced a number of critically acclaimed and popular series, including Watchmen, V for Vendetta, and From Hell...
and Alan Davis
Alan Davis
Alan Davis is an English writer and artist of comic books, known for his work on titles such as Captain Britain, The Uncanny X-Men, ClanDestine, Excalibur, JLA: The Nail and JLA: Another Nail.-UK work:...
's run on Captain Britain
Captain Britain
Captain Britain , briefly known as Britannic, is a fictional character, a superhero appearing in the comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by Chris Claremont and Herb Trimpe, he first appeared in Captain Britain Weekly, #1...
for Marvel UK
Marvel UK
Marvel UK was an imprint of Marvel Comics formed in 1972 to reprint US produced stories for the British weekly comic market, though it later did produce original material by British creators such as Alan Moore, John Wagner, Dave Gibbons, Steve Dillon and Grant Morrison.Panini Comics obtained the...
. The next appearance after this was in the pages of Grant Morrison
Grant Morrison
Grant Morrison is a Scottish comic book writer, playwright and occultist. He is known for his nonlinear narratives and counter-cultural leanings, as well as his successful runs on titles like Animal Man, Doom Patrol, JLA, The Invisibles, New X-Men, Fantastic Four, All-Star Superman, and...
's Zenith strip in 2000 AD
2000 AD (comic)
2000 AD is a weekly British science fiction-oriented comic. As a comics anthology it serialises a number of separate stories each issue and was first published by IPC Magazines in 1977, the first issue dated 26 February. IPC then shifted the title to its Fleetway comics subsidiary which was sold...
. This portrayed Archie as a burned out acid
LSD
Lysergic acid diethylamide, abbreviated LSD or LSD-25, also known as lysergide and colloquially as acid, is a semisynthetic psychedelic drug of the ergoline family, well known for its psychological effects which can include altered thinking processes, closed and open eye visuals, synaesthesia, an...
casualty and part of a team of heroes called Black Flag.
In 2004 a new "Classic Archie" adventure by Bert Bus was published in Dutch.
In 2005 it was announced that Robot Archie, as well as all of IPC's adventure heroes, would feature in a new six issue mini-series to be published by the Wildstorm
Wildstorm
WildStorm Productions, or simply WildStorm, published American comic books. Originally an independent company established by Jim Lee and further expanded upon in subsequent years by other creators, WildStorm became a publishing imprint of DC Comics in 1999...
imprint of DC Comics
DC Comics
DC Comics, Inc. is one of the largest and most successful companies operating in the market for American comic books and related media. It is the publishing unit of DC Entertainment a company of Warner Bros. Entertainment, which itself is owned by Time Warner...
. Called Albion
Albion (comics)
Albion is a six-issue comic book limited series plotted by Alan Moore, written by his daughter Leah Moore and her husband John Reppion, with covers by Dave Gibbons and art by Shane Oakley and George Freeman. As a result of a deal forged by Vice President Bob Wayne of DC Comics and Publishing...
, the series is plotted by Alan Moore, and written by Leah Moore
Leah Moore
Leah Moore is an English comic book writer. She is the daughter of Alan Moore and Phyllis Moore, and is married to John Reppion. She has worked with both Alan and John on the comic Albion. She has also written for other comics and publications including Tom Strong and The End Is Nigh...
and John Reppion
John Reppion
John Mark Reppion is a British writer. He is married to Leah Moore, the daughter of Alan Moore, and he has worked with both on the comic Albion.-Biography:...
, with art by Shane Oakley
Shane Oakley
Shane Oakley is a British illustrator and comic book artist from Stoke-on-Trent, England.-Biography:He began his career contributing to the alternative comics review Deadline Magazine in the 1980s . In 1989 Shane worked as the penciller on issues 1 to 6 of Mister X volume two...
and George Freeman. Robot Archie features on the cover of the first issue which was drawn by Dave Gibbons
Dave Gibbons
Dave Gibbons is an English comic book artist, writer and sometime letterer. He is best known for his collaborations with writer Alan Moore, which include the miniseries Watchmen and the Superman story "For the Man Who Has Everything"...
.
Character biography
Robot Archie was built by Professor C.R. Ritchie to be the world's most powerful mechanical man. Originally he was called The Jungle Robot (due to his early adventures taking place in the jungles of AfricaAfrica
Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...
and South America
South America
South America is a continent situated in the Western Hemisphere, mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere. The continent is also considered a subcontinent of the Americas. It is bordered on the west by the Pacific Ocean and on the north and east...
) and was remote controlled by Professor Ritchie and his nephew Ted Ritchie and his best friend Ken Dale.
Robot Archie's adventures started as conventional action thrillers with Archie and his friends battling criminals and jungle creatures, but eventually he began to fight more fantastic and dangerous villains and aliens, including The Sludge, a monster who had previously had its own strip in Lion.
Initially Archie could not speak, but around 1966 a voice box was added, which gave the robot a boastful, but charming, personality.
When Robot Archie reappeared in the pages of Grant Morrison's Zenith, he was a burned out 1960's acid casualty (renaming himself Acid Archie) who helped Zenith fight the Lloigor. Archie is apparently killed by Ruby Fox in Phase IV when she short circuits him whilst he is trying to rip off her head. But this later revealed as the copy of Archie within the Chimera pocket universe, as he is seen partying with Zenith and Peter St. John during the Epilogue. Archie also appears in zzzenith.com in the special Prog 2001 edition of 2000AD. Zenith explains that rust in the brain-pan has caused Archie's personality to change from anarchist Acid-House aficionado into a vigilante, hunting down sex offenders with a lethal vigour. He is last seen in the story escaping on a bus in a false beard after sexually assaulting popstar Britney Spears
Britney Spears
Britney Jean Spears is an American recording artist and entertainer. Born in McComb, Mississippi, and raised in Kentwood, Louisiana, Spears began performing as a child, landing acting roles in stage productions and television shows. She signed with Jive Records in 1997 and released her debut album...
.
In Albion, the character was found in the basement of a Manchester
Manchester
Manchester is a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. According to the Office for National Statistics, the 2010 mid-year population estimate for Manchester was 498,800. Manchester lies within one of the UK's largest metropolitan areas, the metropolitan county of Greater...
pub by Penny Dolmann, who repaired and modified him to rescue her father. Archie was destroyed acting as a decoy for Penny.
See also
- AlbionAlbion (comics)Albion is a six-issue comic book limited series plotted by Alan Moore, written by his daughter Leah Moore and her husband John Reppion, with covers by Dave Gibbons and art by Shane Oakley and George Freeman. As a result of a deal forged by Vice President Bob Wayne of DC Comics and Publishing...
- LionLion (comic)Lion was a weekly comic published by Fleetway from 23 February 1952 to 18 May 1974. It lasted for 1,156 issues.-Publishing history:...
- Zenith