If you missed the last one…
The Bronze Age of Robots is all about franchises. Movies, TV, comic book and especially, TOYS! This is the time of the SF products: Star Trek, Star Wars, Battlestar Galactica, The Black Hole, Doctor Who, Buck Rogers, etc. etc. Sure, there are a few superheroes still at it, but the Science Fiction series are king. The top of the pile for robot creation is 2000 AD, the British SF weekly: Judge Dredd, Sam Slade, ABC Warriors, and so many others. Only the toy companies seem to put out more: Transformers, Starriors, Rom the Spaceknight, Shogun Warriors and so on. There hasn’t been so many tin robots around since 1939!
And the reason is pretty obvious: George Lucas’s 1977 film, Star Wars! The droids C3P0 and R2D2 were so popular that every show, every comic had to have metallic characters and enemies. Because of this blockbuster change in the Summer of 1977, I have divided this post into Before/After Star Wars because the effects of the movie were startling and quick. We will continue to see this change into the next post when we delve into the 1980s.
Before Star Wars
The comics that appear before 1977 feel different from those that came after. The Pre-Star Wars comics borrow from older franchises like Doctor Who, Flash Gordon, Captain Marvel, Space 1999, Logan’s Run and Star Trek. The robots look like the classic tin robot. After Star Wars, robots will become “droids” though they still are actually robots or mechanical men. Androids usually are artificially made humans like Data from Star Trek TNG. Even as far back as 1940, Captain Future had one of each. Krag is the typical tin robot while Otho is more human.
“Robot King” (Doctor Who Annual 1970, September 1969)Â Technically this is a Silver Age comic if you go by the date it was published but the title is 1970 so I have included it as our first Bronze Age comic. (These ages are rather arbitrary at times.) Trailer
“The Robot That Wasn’t There!” (Donald Duck #129, January 1970) was written by Vic Lockman.
“War Robots” (Flash Gordon, 1971) was written and drawn by Dan Barry.
“The Steel Commando” (Thunder #17, October 17, 1970 – Lion Annual 1978)
“Timeslip” (Look-In Magazine, 1971) was written by Angus P. Allan.
“Tin Man Alley” (Underdog #9, November 1971) was written and drawn by Frank Johnson.
“Dr. Who and the Robots” (TV Comic #67, 1972?) was written by an unknown author.
Dr. Atomic #1 (September 1972) was written and drawn by Larry S. Todd.
“Die Kidnapper” (Bravo #32-35, 1972) was written by Dirk Hess.
“Blook en De Robots” (Pep #7, February 12-18, 1972) was written by Lo Hartog van Banda.
“The Dark Traveler” (Star Trek # 13, February 1972) was written by Len Wein.
“la rebellion des robots” (Meteor #184, September 1972) was written by an unknown author.
“Mangle, Robot Mangler” (Slow Death #4, November 1972) was written and drawn by Richard Corben.
Cover for reprint “The Machine Age”, Journey Into Mystery #17, August 1954. Too bad that reprint doesn’t live up to this cover!
“De Brutale Robot” (Trompie #37, 1973) was written by an unknown author.
“The Prisoner” (The Twilight Zone #54, January 1974) was written by John Warner.
“That Was No Lady!” (E-Man #6, January 1975) was written by Nick Cuti.
“Robot Assassins” (Espace #6, March 1975) was written by an unknown author.
“Planet Death” (The Twilight Zone #62, March 1975) was written by an unknown author.
“War Toy” (Unknown Worlds of Science Fiction #2, March 1975) was written by Tony Isabella.
“A Phoenix Berserk!”/”Lady of the House!” (The Frankenstein Monster #17-18, July-September 1975) was written by Doug Moench and Bill Mantlo.
“The Strange and Terrible Disappearance of Maxwell Zodiac!” (Shazam #20, September-October 1975) was written by Elliot Maggin.
“Night of the Storm” (Starstream #2, 1976) was adapted from the story by Dean R. Koontz by Wally Green.
“Wide Open Spaces” (The Twilight Zone #68, January 1976) was written by an unknown author.
“Out Of Its Mind” (Boris Karloff Tales of Mystery #69, August 1976)
“The Infinity Mechanism” (Space 1999 Magazine #7, September 1976) was written by Mike Pellowski.
“Enter the Eternal Ice-World of Box!” (Logan’s Run #4, April 1977) was adapted by David Anthony Kraft. Box from this movie was a fav!
“Robot Wars” (2000 AD #10-17 April 30-June 18, 1977) was written by John Wagner. Art by Carlos Ezquerra, Mike McMahon and Ian Gibson
After Star Wars
George Lucas’s Star Wars premiered on May 25, 1977 and everything changed. Battlestar Galactica was TV’s version. Old franchises like Buck Rogers got a reboot. In comics, 2000 AD began just before (February 26, 1977) but it featured a plethora of robots in various comics. Star Wars may not have spurred IPC originally but it certainly didn’t hurt its rise to being the UK’s top Science Fiction comic. After Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader showed up, robots and all things adventure SF were tops in Hollywood and the comics.
Star Wars #1-107 (July 1977-July 1986) Roy Thomas adapted George Lucas’s script for the first six issues.
“The City in the Sky” (The Warlord #8, August-September 1977) was written and drawn by Mike Grell.
“Star Hawks” (Comic strip began on October 3, 1977 and ran to May 2, 1981) It was written by Ron Goulart, Archie Goodwin, Roger McKenzie and Roger Stern. Art by Gil Kane, Ernie Colon and Howard Chaykin. It featured a robot dog named Sniffer.
“The World’s Mightiest Race” (Shazam #33, January-February 1978) was written by E. Nelson Bridwell.
“Walter the Wobot Bluepwint” (2000 AD #53, February 25, 1978) was written and drawn by Kevin O’Neill.
“Ro-Busters” (Starlord #1-22, May 13-October 7, 1978) was written by Pat Mills. Art by Carlos Pino, Jose Ferrer and Ian Kennedy Part of the ABC Warriors universe
“What If…The Avengers Had been Formed in the 1950s?” (What If #9, June 1978) was written by Don Glut from an idea by Roy Thomas.
“A Death of Tiny Voices” (Star Hunter #5, June-July 1978) was written by David Michelinie.
“Robo-Hunter: Verdus” (2000 AD #76-84, August 5-September 30, 1978) was written by John Wagner. First appearance of Sam Slade, Robo-Hunter
“Battlestar Galactica” (Marvel Super Special #8, October 1978) was adapted by Roger McKenzie. This was followed by a color comic #1-23, March 1979-January 1981) Trailer
“Star Trek: The Robot Masters” (Peter Pan Records #46, 1979) was written by an unknown author.
“The Omega Experiment” (Starblazer #1, April 1979) was written and drawn by Alan Rogers.
“A. B. C. Warriors” (2000 AD and Starlord #119, June 30, 1979) was written by Pat Mills.
Buck Rogers in the 25th Century #2-16 (August 1979-May 1982) was written by Paul S. Newman, J. M. DeMatteis and B. S. Watson. Art by Frank Bolle, Jose Delbo, Al McWilliams and Mike Roy Trailer
“Doctor Who and The Iron Legion” (Doctor Who Weekly #1-8, October 17-December 5, 1979) was written by Pat Mills and John Wagner. Trailer
ROM the Spaceknight #1-75, December 1979-February 1986) was written by Bill Mantlo. Primary art done by Sal Buscema and Steve Ditko.
Conclusion
The 1970s divides neatly in two with Star Wars at the center. The 1980s would see Science Fiction explode in all media as Star Wars proved that fans wanted space opera again, even if they hadn’t known it. For robot fans in America there was the coming of the Japanese style giant robots. And more toy-based products like ROM the Spaceknight.
