Mekano (not the
X-Men villain of the seventies) was a one-shot character appearing in
Wonder Comics #1. Mekano, a large robot, falls in love with a human woman, Sandra,* after doing a bash job on some Nazis. The story is drawn by Bob Oksner, who in 1964 would draw
this lovestruck robot:
Robots in love would have some real problems, so maybe it’s a good thing for Sandra that Mekano didn’t appear again. Do robots have fantasies? We are assured in a caption on page three that although this story is fantasy, so once were airplanes and telephones, and that currently “great scientists are working with mechanical men.” **
From
Wonder Comics #1 (1944):
*A spoiler, since it is discovered in the next-to-last panel. Sorry.
**And a fine job those great scientists did, too, as evidenced by this picture of my personal robot, Isaac. He is shown here attending to me in the fifties when I was a boy. I wish I still had Isaac, but in the early sixties I traded him for the down payment on a used car.
Gah! Woozy Winks was a more competent side-kick than Tommy Clark!
ReplyDelete"Sandra Kent of the Tribune"? As Captain John J. Adams said, "Oh, murder!"
ReplyDeleteThanks!
Pap,
ReplyDeleteI'm a sucker for a good robot story, and I never saw this one before. Mekano was not as cool as Robbie would be, or Gort, but robots had developed a bit since Quality's BOZO hit the stands 5 years earlier(at least Mekano didn't have bozo's stupid perpetual smile).
On page 6..."Let her pull abreast...and then..." I'd say a little wishful thinking on their part!
I don't know why Mekano fell for Sandra, even though she was the only female in the story, she wasn't real bright, and not drawn that pretty either. Ah, robot lust knows no reason, I guess! I envision the never realized second story showing a married Mekano and Sandra, Mekano sitting in his easy chair reading the paper and smoking a pipe, with Sandra in the kitchen making dinner, and later dying from toxic shock from blood poisoning after steel slivers from Mekano's manhood impale Sandra's (censored -- due to naughty words, Blogger has censored this filthy thought for the sensitive readers' protection).
I don't usually plug my own blog in comments, but, speaking of robots, I am presenting "Robot Week" on my blog starting Sunday...
http://apocolytesworldofcomics.blogspot.com/
Thanks for posting!
Pappy's is the best comics blog ever!
Apocolyte, ewwww. Impaled naughty bits from steel slivers...ouch!
ReplyDeleteNo accounting for tastes, I guess, even robotic. Mekano is probably struck by propinquity because Sandra is the only female he knows.
I'm looking forward to your own choice of robot stories. Thanks for the link.
Oh yeah I forgot to say, your robot Isaac looks cool! Did you build him yourself, or is he from outer space? What a lucky young Pappy you were! Hope you got a good deal on those wheels!
ReplyDeleteApocolyte, I saved up cereal box tops to get the robot.
ReplyDeleteIn 1964 I bought a 1957 Chevrolet Bel-Air 2-door hardtop, white roof over yellow body, for $375. I had it for two years and sold it before I went in the Army. It is still the best deal I ever made on a car in my life.