Comics character
| Robo-Hunter |
|---|
Ian Gibson |
|
| Alter ego | Sam Slade |
|---|
| Abilities | None |
|---|
Robo-Hunter is a recurring
that have gone renegade. Though action oriented, the series was noted for its humorous tone.
Publication history
The character first appeared in 1978. José Ferrer was the original artist, but the editorial team were not happy with his work and quickly replaced him with Ian Gibson, who redrew parts of Ferrer's episodes before taking over himself.
Plots
Verdus
In the first storyline, "Verdus" (also known as "The Robot Planet"), Slade is dispatched to a distant colony planet to solve the mystery of its vanished
space craft causes
time dilation during the trip, meaning that Slade arrives at the planet restored to his early 20s while the ship's pilot, Kidd, is now a cynical talking baby. The colony world is populated entirely by robots. These robots, charged with
terraforming the planet and preparing it for
colonization, have been programmed by their initial creator, a wood-burning droid called Smokin' Joe, to believe that "humans are superior to robots in every way". By the time the first colonists arrive, however, the robots' strength and technology is so far advanced that this thesis no longer holds true, thus the Verdus robots deny the humanity of their masters. Colonists are imprisoned as "simulated humans" on arrival.
The robots adhere to a strict
First World War
, is annihilated. Slade resolves the problem by building a radio transmitter that destroys all the planet's Robots - including Slade's ally "Boots", the first robot to believe the duo are human. Slade and Kidd show little remorse for any of the robots, although Smokin' Joe is repaired and taken back to earth, where Slade receives the "World Medal of Honour".
The Day of the Droids
A second long-running story, "The Day of the Droids", followed. Back on Earth, Sam investigates a plot replacing key officials with lifelike robot doubles in his unspecified home city (which judging by various references is located somewhere in America). This is part of robot
IPC Comics, is given a Cuban robot cigar called Stogie, designed to help him cut down on
nicotine. Ultimately Sam defeats the God-Droid with the aid of the East Side Androids
American football team, but Molotov takes all the credit, and after saving the city Sam finds himself out of a job. Slade quits the city for pastures new, spending his meagre reward money on a ticket to
Brit-Cit.
Brit Cit cases
In 1982, Wagner, now working with his co-writer
campaign. Sam solved a very lucrative case and retired rich, but was eventually forced out of retirement after Hoagy and Stogie spent all his money. When the series ended in 1985, Sam was back where he started, aging and down on his luck. Hoagy was given his own short story in the 1984
2000 AD album.
Revival
2000 AD revived the character in 1991, written by newcomer Mark Millar, who had a different interpretation of the characters. Peter Hogan, who replaced Millar in 1993, returned the series to a more traditional interpretation. These episodes were illustrated by Rian Hughes. In 1995, Robo-Hunter was cancelled once again. A final, one-off episode appeared a year later.
Samantha Slade
In December 2003,
Ian Gibson
reunited for a revival of the strip starring Sam's granddaughter,
Samantha Slade, Hoagy and Stogie. As of September 2007, 2000 AD has presented 28 episodes of the revived series, comprising six short stories.
External links
