Number 2063: Robotman: man-robot in the moon

Hmmm. This story is credited by the Grand Comics Database as being written by Otto Binder, who, when it was published in 1948, was one of, if not the main writer of Captain Marvel stories. So how did Binder work both sides of the street? I don’t know, but at the time Fawcett was being sued by DC for copyright infringement on Superman by Captain Marvel. It seems odd that Binder was writing for both publishers.

Robotman was created by Jerry Siegel, Superman’s co-creator, in 1942. I assume that Binder was aware that Robotman was a robot with a transplanted human brain. It made a puzzler of the panel where Robotman, marooned on the moon, thinks, “. . . there’s no sound on the moon because there’s no air to carry it! Good thing I don’t have to breathe!” But how did his human brain stay alive if he didn’t breathe, or have a blood supply to deliver oxygen to the brain? One also presumes, because of the original intention of the rocket to crash land on the moon, that no oxygen was provided during Robotman’s trip through space.

Arrrgh. My brain hurts just thinking about it.

Jimmy Thompson, an excellent but underrated Golden Age artist, did the artwork. He left comics after 1952, but was known for also working both sides of the street, having worked for Timely and DC at the same time.

From the Canadian printing of Detective Comics #141 (1948):

I have shown other Robotman stories, including this one with yet another serious error. Just click on the thumbnail.

Number 1724: Star Spangled robots

Today we begin a theme week I’m calling Deceased Comics Week. Postings will come from DC titles no longer being published. Like the other comic book publishers, DC (aka National Comics or Superman DC), published what sold, and if it didn’t they axed it and published something else. The public is fickle, fads come and go, including what comic books sold the most.

First up are two stories, both featuring robots, from Star Spangled Comics #36 (1944, published in an anthology format for 130 issues, from 1941 to 1952 ). The character, Robotman, masqueraded as a human. The feature was drawn by veteran cartoonist Jimmy Thompson. Thompson was a good artist, but in this case it appears he didn’t read the script. Creatures are thawed out of the ice, and the script says they are “mammoths” and ancestors of elephants, but Thompson drew dinosaurs.

The second story features one of the female patriotic heroes of the World War II era, Liberty Belle, created, written and drawn by Chuck Winter and Don Cameron. In the story an inventor creates robot soldiers. Liberty Belle makes a rah-rah speech about Nazi soldiers acting like robots, and that American men, superior because they fight for democracy, should fight. Not robots. Say what...? Modern robots, as we know, are useful in many industries as utility devices, designed to do critical but repetitive work. I would say that if robots could stand in for humans when bullets and bombs are flying, then we need robots, not humans, to take the brunt of the attack.

Number 1451: Battlin’ ‘bots

I used to watch my younger brother playing Rock’em Sock’em Robots with his buddies. I was a little too old when they became a fad in 1964...I was way too mature. I’d sniff with derision at the youngsters’ juvenile antics in trying to knock each others’ robot heads off, then go in my room and read comic books.

The idea for fighting robots wasn’t new, and had been used in science fiction before. It was used as recently as Real Steel, a movie from 2011.

So, we have two roughhousing robot stories today: “Stuart Taylor in Tales of the Supernatural” is from Jumbo Comics #101 (1947), and the Robotman story, “The Battling Robots” is from Star Spangled Comics #81 (1948). Robotman is drawn by Jimmy Thompson, and Stuart Taylor is credited by the Grand Comics Database as being drawn by Jack Kamen.

Number 977


Robotman and the bad robot


Jerry Siegel and artist Ed Dobrotka are credited with this Robotman story, which appeared in DC's Star Spangled Comics #17, in 1943.

There's something familiar about the criminal robot: he looks like he was inspired by the Golem from the 1920 German movie.

The bad robot's size changes throughout the story. In one panel he's shown riding in the back seat of a car with two thugs, and in another panel he's shown nearly as big as a car, holding a much smaller Robotman.

Come back Sunday for another story from this issue of Star Spangled Comics: the Newsboy Legion by Simon and Kirby.