Think you know Magnus, Robot Fighter? Here’s what Magnus used to do (Beautiful Balloons, CBG #1670, October 2010

You saw the ads. “Think you know Dr. Solar? Think again.” And that took me back. Way back. With Dark Horse’s first issue of Doctor Solar, Man of the Atom (written by Jim Shooter and drawn by Dennis Calero) now in circulation, the second Gold Key super-hero Dark Horse will bring back is Magnus, Robot Fighter. His reboot (written by Shooter – who, of course, has rebooted him before – and drawn by Bill Reinhold) will be out before this issue reaches you, but … Man, I remember picking up that first Gold Key issue (dated Feb 63) – and much later seeing some of the original art by Russ Manning. And then I remember … Hey, didn’t I revisit those issues once before? Well, yes. It was almost two decades ago, when Cliff Biggers wrote a feature titled “Welcome to the Machine: Magnus, Robot Fighter: 4000 A.D.” for CBG #885 (Nov 2 90)- and I summarized the series issue by issue. Climb into the WABAC machine with me, and let’s revisit (with tidbits of fresh commentary in italics): #1 (Feb 63) Magnus strikes “the first blow in his fight to save mankind” on Aug. 5, 4000 A.D. On that day Robot 1A brings Magnus in an unregistered air-car to North Am. With the robot receptor 1A put in Magnus’ skull, Magnus can hear robotic communications. He also possesses “incredible steel-smashing strength.” In this issue, Magnus begins his war to protect humans against evil robots — and meets Leeja Clane, the daughter of Senator Clane. They confront H8, the robot chief of police, whose brain-circuits were altered by an atomic accident centuries earlier; as a result, the chief can disobey The Robot Law — which forbids robots to cause harm to any human. H8 has made a computer using 1,000 people as a living machine. In the confrontation, Magnus and Leeja learn that there are many evil robots — some made evil by accident, several tampered with by men for personal gain.
#2 (May 63) ‘Operation Disguise” The villainous Mekman kidnaps Leeja by using a robot with a human appearance – the appearance of Magnus. Mekman calls the humanoid robots he has created “idents.” Soon, North Am leaders have been rounded up.
#3 (Aug 63) “Giant from Planet X” Mysterious objects from space observe North Am, and a giant robot says his master, Xyrkol, is going to take over North Am. Using Space-Probe Headquarters computers, Magnus learns Xyrkol is a genius electronic scientist who left Earth eight years earlier and is controlling the giant robot from Planet X. Xyrkol intends to return to North Am as master of its people and robots. “I deserve to rule the universe!”
#4 (Nov 63) “Menace from the Depths” Sabotage destroys underwater food-processing labs, and Magnus learns that T-1, a think-rob, is behind it. The robot intends to destroy all humans. Magnus says mankind, “became lazy! He made machines that do everything for him except think! And now, we must find a robot that does think … but with a madman’s thoughts!” (The letters column “Robot Rostrum” begins. In it the editor says, “Russ Manning is the artist. As for the author, no one writer is credited. The story ideas are conceived by our staff and are worked out before they are turned over to a writer or to writers.” Another response is, “As to story material, our stories are written on assignment, by writers who are available for conference.”)
#5 (Feb 64) “The Immortal One” The issue is one of the few with a line-drawing cover. New riot-robs surround the civic sector power station and turn off all power broadcasts. Sigma, the Immortal Robot, says he controls the riot-robs. Magnus combats Sigma, but each time the robot is defeated it reappears intact and ready to fight again. Magnus goes to 1A, living in a secret bubble-house deep on the floor of the Antarctic Ocean, for advice. Sigma’s master turns out to be Xyrkol, who has perfected remote control for faster-than-light-speed travel. (An editorial answer to a letter in “Robot Rostrum” says, “The 4000 A.D. we use is the era from 4000 to 4999 A.D., not just the year of 4000.”)
#6 (May 64) “Alone against Talpa” Scientists and their families exploring deep-earth living are attacked by robots led by their robot master Talpa. The robots are created using metal so strong it defies destruction. Monster troglodytes pose additional hazards.
#7 (Aug 64) “The Power of the One Thousand” A spacecraft at Civic Sector Spaceport disgorges robots who carry a plague of insanity to other robots. Infected robots eventually fall apart, and the plague is sweeping the city. Though the plague is isolated, a new threat comes from the gophs, “petty criminals and anti-socials … gopher-like people who never leave the lowest levels except to cause trouble.” Behind the turmoil is Xyrkol, whose base is 60,000 light years from Earth — on the planet Malev-6. The thousand people saved by Magnus in #1 unite to help him.
#8 (Nov 64) “Havoc at Weather-Control” Every decade people gather at the Grand Canyon to celebrate a victory over those who opposed the weather-control tower 1,100 years earlier. Leeja is Queen of the Weather Festival (and wears some different styles of clothing) — but the forces of weather become destructive when an antique battle-rob goes on the offensive. This is the first appearance of “The Outsiders,” four teenagers who have decided to do things for themselves so they won’t be dependent on robots.
#9 (Feb 65) “Robot Ghost” Professor Wade sees death for all mankind when he is asked to retire from his post as director of robot research. Knowing he is dying, he transfers his knowledge and thoughts to the indestructible robot Nadmot — which can project a forcefield that repels matter and energy. With his last breath, he commands Nadmot to destroy all who opposed him.
#10 (May 65) “The Mysterious Octo-Rob” Lokryna and Strengi appear and say they are from another planet; Lokryna says she has picked up an extrasensory message. It spells Xyrkol — who is back to threaten North Am with his octo-rob. (The statement of ownership says the average paid circulation of Magnus, Robot Fighter is 247,279 [with 579 of those copies going to subscribers]. In the “Robot Gallery” art page is a picture of a “Guard-Rob, complete with visi-plate, audio unit and a death ray” by Walter Simonson of College Park, Md. — yes, that is the Walter Simonson.)
#11 (Aug 65) “Beasts of Steel” Food travels via magnetic-beam conveyors all over North Am. When wolves attack at a sector distribution center, Magnus goes to help. Danae has worked to increase intelligence in neo-animals — “true companions for man in this 41st century.” Her neo-animals assist Magnus in his attempt to find what lies behind animal attacks — an attempt that leads him to Mekman. (A letters-column response says that four different writers have contributed to Magnus but that Russ Manning wrote the story in this issue.)
#12 (Nov 65) “The Volcano Maker” Dr. Zen Arbon was once director of all advanced science in North Am. Now mentally ill, he is making volcanoes that endanger the citizens. (Editorial response in the letters column says “The Aliens,” the Magnus back-up story, occurs in the early 3000s.)
#13 (Feb 66) “The Evil Ark of Doctor Noel” Leeja is kidnapped by Noel, who wants to take her as his wife on a trip spanning 100 years that will take them beyond the Andromeda galaxy to start life without robots.
#14 (May 66) “The Monster Robs” Bubbles from a meteorite turn robots into menacing giants. (Chase Craig is identified as the editor in chief in “Robot Rostrum.” It says he “originally conceived Robot Fighter.”)
#15 (Aug 66) “The Weird World of Mogul Badur” A robot with the power to destroy insists Magnus go through a strange, projected door to meet Mogul Badur; Leeja accompanies him. Mogul Badur rules Sarkorum, which vanished in the great earthquake of 3200 — but the vanishing was a trick by Mogul Badur. The land now lies in a world in sub-space — “side-by-side with … and unsuspected by … our world!”
#16 (Nov 66) “Cloud-Cloddie, Go Home!” Pert Doner lives among the gophs with her talking neo-dog and introduces Magnus, Leeja, and Danae to a goph boy who fixes robots. (“Robot Rostrum” points out that a photo of Russ Manning appeared in Tarzan #155 [Dec 65].)
#17 (Feb 67) “The Deadly Peril from Sirius” Zypex, an alien from Planet Five of the double star Sirius, brings the most advanced robot of Sirius 5 to Earth to exchange for an Earth robot. Thinking of the Trojan Horse, Magnus is suspicious — and he’s right.
#18 (May 67) “Magnus vs. North Am!” Magnus is accused of being a non-human alien. The evidence is that there is no record of Magnus’ brainwave pattern, life, serial number, growth, or schooling, although every human being on Earth is recorded in central records — and that no human can destroy robots with his bare hands, though Magnus does. Leeja finally meets 1A.
#19 (Aug 67) “Fear Unlimited” Magnus’ trial continues — but The Outsiders interfere. They have joined Derkaiser — but Magnus recognizes him as Dr. Laszlo Noel under a new name.
#20 (Nov 67) “Bunda, the Great” Prince Shandor of Himalhina, the highest city in the world, comes to get help, because the Himalayan weather-control station has been repeatedly sabotaged by robots. Bunda, a giant robot, has added units to itself and says it has supreme powers.
#21 (Feb 68) “Space Specter” The space specter frees Xyrkol and Dr. Laszlo Noel and forces them to build an ectothere robot — a magic robot. Together, the villains cast a spell causing all who eat food from the food distribution centers to become weak, indifferent, and easily conquered. But Blackfeet raise their own food, and The Outsiders help. Magnus learns that Malev-6 still exists.
#22 (May 68) Reprints the origin from #1 (Statement of ownership gives average paid circulation as 216,100 — including 825 subscriptions.)
#23 (Aug 68) “Mission Disaster!” Art is by Dan Spiegle. Rob-control chief Marag, charged with thievery, and his sister take advantage of rob-poisoning mist-rays from asteroid debris to try to destroy Magnus, manipulate public opinion on Marag’s behalf, and attack the Niagara Complex.
#24 (Nov 68) “The Pied Piper of North Am” Art is uncredited (Paul Norris?). The price goes from 12¢ to 15¢. The Grand Comics Database (www.comics.org) says the script is by comics critic and historian Richard Kyle [identified in #29], pencils are by Paul Norris, inks by Mike Royer. Malev-6 and Dr. Laszlo Noel are back, with Malev-6 using a weird “piper” to lure people with psychic powers (including Leeja) to an asteroid (doggone asteroids!) in order to destroy North Am. Long story — but Noel becomes an ally of Magnus.
#25 (Feb 69) “The Micro-Giants” Art is uncredited (Paul Norris?). The GCD says pencils are by Paul Norris, inks by Mike Royer. Huge robots attack around the world, but Magnus figures out how to disable them — whereupon they shrink. Too bad for Commander Lud Arnolt of Alpine Emergency Force, who shrinks when he’s caught in one he’s disabled. And where do these “micro-giants” come from?
#26 (May 69) “The Venomous Vapor” Art is uncredited (Paul Norris?). The GCD says pencils are by Paul Norris, inks by Mike Royer. Zemo is a cybernetic man, artificially engineered 1,000 years earlier to explore deep space and now he’s back on Earth. Turns out he hates Earth enough to bring back with him vapor from Andromeda that can destroy the world. But then he changes his mind. And there’s another Magnus story: “Journey to the End of the World,” also drawn by Norris and Royer. What could go wrong, when Magnus, Leeja, The Outsiders, and others take a jaunt through time? Oh, come on. Take a guess. Statement of ownership gives average paid circulation as 234,262 — including 849 subscriptions.)
#27 (Aug 69) “Panic in Pacifica” Art is uncredited. The GCD says pencils are by Paul Norris, inks by Mike Royer. Scheming businessmen who hope to purchase the floating city of Pacifica when their disruptions lower its value endanger it. And there’s another Magnus story: “Web of Fire,” also drawn by Norris and Royer. Ball lightning in space threatens Earth, and countering it is complicated by the terrified scientist in charge of a space-traveling observatory.
#28 (Nov 69) “Threat from the Depths” By this point, the comic book had gone for a year and a half without new art by Manning — and the story involved a meteorite whose radiation changed 1A into “Magnus’s most formidable foe.” Art is uncredited. The comic book continued to #46 using reprints. Interestingly, the GCD says Mike Royer wrote and inked “Threat” and that Paul Norris pencilled most of the story but Russ Manning did four pages of pencilling, “done in various panels spread throughout the story.” When 1A fights Magnus, Magnus is hampered by the obligation he feels toward the robot that raised and trained him. “A Secret Kept,” pencilled by Norris and inked by Royer, which follows, is the sequel.
The feature in CBG #885 noted in a box: “Collectors looking for a complete collection of original *Magnus* issues (not counting those after #28) could expect to spend $60-$500 to get them, depending on condition, if they could be located. Voyager plans to release reprints of the Manning material next year — and to continue the series from the point at which Manning left it.” So much for the reprints from CBG #885 — and the italicized addenda. I didn’t provide the list of Gold Key reprints then, but they were as follows: #29 reprints #7 #30 reprints #15 #31 reprints #14 #32 reprints #2 #33 reprints #21 #34 reprints #13 #35 reprints #6; the price goes to 20¢ #36 reprints #8; the price goes to 25¢ #37 reprints #11 #38 reprints #12 #39 reprints #16 #40 reprints #17 #41 reprints #18 #42 reprints #19 #43 reprints #20 #44 reprints #23 #45 reprints #24; the price goes to 30¢ #46 reprints #25 I must say that what seemed to be fresh science fiction for kids in 1963 seems in retrospect to be too basic. On the other hand, kids in the early 1960s had little enough future fiction as background. There had been Star Trek and Lost in Space, but the field was still not routine — and a society in which mankind was a species living in luxury thanks to hordes of robot servants was pretty fresh for the comics. And Russ Manning’s art was stunning. So it was exciting in 1991, when Valiant Editor in Chief Jim Shooter brought back the series with fresh stories and numbering, writing it himself, with pencils by Art Nichols and inks by Bob Layton. By series’ end (#64, Feb 96), stories were being written by Keith Giffen, and the basically cheery (albeit combative) future of the Gold Key era was, yes, a thing of the past. Acclaim picked up the series more than a year later (beginning with fresh numbering again) and took Magnus from the future to the 20th century to alter the world’s future and prevent robots from becoming what they did in the earlier series. That series, written by Tom Peyer, lasted for 18 issues and was to have been involved in the company’s crossover story “The Final Solution” but was canceled before the event. In the post-Gold Key era (in 1993, to be exact), Dark Horse and Valiant did connect on a few crossovers, such as the two-issue Magnus Robot Fighter/Nexus by creators Mike Baron and Steve Rude. More recently, Dark Horse has released “Archives” collections of the Gold Key material.Now, it has the Robot Fighter to itself — along with the writer who saw to his earlier revival. It should be fun.