If you missed Part One…
Continuing our look at robots in Superman comics in the Silver and Bronze Age, I noticed the return of elder creators, Jerry Siegel and Al Plastino. Both men worked in the Golden Age (Jerry, of course, created Superman in 1938!) Al’s work has a nice, new polish to it that the Golden Age stuff didn’t have. As for the robots, they haven’t changed much. In fact, several old plots will be re-used as late as the 1970s.
“The Super-Foes From Planet X” (World’s Finest #96, September 1959) was written by Edmond Hamilton. This one is similar to the first story ““The Alphabetical Animal Adventure!” in that the tale ends with a revelation of a highly developed race of aliens. They aren’t robots this time though, but a race that has struggled with having robots do everything for them.
“The First Superman Robot” (Adventure Comics #265, October 1959) was written by Otto Binder. A convoluted plot to trick Dad Kent into thinking Superboy has been turned into Superman. So much time and energy spent on something that could be solved with an honest conversation… This is a classic Silver Age Sup story, with the superhero going to unusual lengths to preserve the status quo.
“The Menace of the Cosmic Man” (Action Comics #258, November 1959) was written by Bill Finger. Another robotic competitor for Superman. Bill wrote the first one back in 1952 with Krag From Mercury.
“The Trio of Steel” (Superman #135, February 1960) was written by Jerry Siegel. Mr. Mxyzptlk has robots of Superman that he uses to annoy his friends and people in general, a Super-Pest. Sup takes the place of the Superman robot and tricks– well you how these stories go. The art is by Al Plastino who drew his first robot story eight years earlier.
“Superman’s Return to Krypton” (Superman #141, November 1960) was written by Jerry Siegel. The plot of this one isn’t really relevant. Those musicians in the background are robots.
“Super-Girl in Smallville” (Adventure Comics #278, November 1960) was written by Otto Binder. Super-Girl uses a Linda Lee robot to replace her while she travels back in time for an adventure with Superboy.
“Voyage to Dimension X” (Action Comics #271, December 1960) was written by Otto Binder. Lex Luthor plans to destroy Metropolis while faking aliens from another dimension. Finally, a Lex Luthor robot!
“The Robot Master” (Superman #152, April 1962) was written by Jerry Siegel. Superman discovers everyone he knows is a robot. He and Super-Girl follow the trail back to their own lair where the members of the Legion of Super-Heroes prove to be the culprits. It was all a set-up for a surprise party to celebrate the anniversary of Super-Girl and Superman’s first meeting. (The title of this one made me think of “The Robot Master” by O. Beckwith (Air Wonder Stories, October 1929). An eighteen year-old Binder probably read that one back in the Pulps.)
“Wonder Man, the New Hero of Metropolis” (Superman #163, August 1963) was written by Edmond Hamilton. Ed created Power Man back in 1959. This final Hamilton robot story is pretty much a re-write. Hamilton liked to do this (see here) but usually flipped the idea around. Ed left comics around this time, returning to Space Opera novels with Star Wolf as well as penning his finest SF stories for magazines.
The Bronze Age
In the Bronze Age, we see the plots become more complex, not so much emotionally. But the writers, like Cary Bates, had four decades of background material to use. Readers of Superman comics were familiar with all the crazy ideas of the past ages so some pretty “history-heavy” ideas were used.
“The Romance Machine” (Adventure Comics #388, January 1970) was written by Cary Bates. This one is Part One of a two-parter. Brainiac uses the Casanova of Space, Kimor Dinn for a plot against Super-Girl. Brainiac sends a robot version of Dinn to Earth to break Super-Girl’s heart. The publisher really wanted this comic to appeal to young female readers, making it half a Romance comic.
“Supergirl’s Jilted Boy Friends” (Adventure Comics #389, February 1970) was written by Cary Bates. In the second half, the romance plot takes Super-Girl into Brainiac’s trap to turn her into stone. Brainiac is a super-computer man but in many ways that isn’t all that much different than a robot. Mechanical Brain and Robot stories are interlinked all the way back to the Pulps.
“The Computer-Man of Steel” (Superman’s Pal, Jimmy Olsen #130, July 1970) was written by Leo Dorfman. Brainiac again, this time with a plot to drive Jimmy insane with remorse. In the end the people of Kandor tear the Superman robot apart.
“The Wheel of Super-Fortune” (Superman #231, November 1970) was written by Cary Bates. Lex Luthor is now Superman (minus the hair) and he fights a nasty robot, one of the few that doesn’t look like someone.
“The Girl With the Heart of Steel” (Superman Family #178, August-September 1976) was written by Cary Bates. An alien robot thinks she is the real Lois but was part of a team looking for Superboy. They didn’t know he had grown up to become Superman. The cover says: “Lois Becomes a Bionic Girl”. In 1976 that is pretty obviously pandering to television’s The Bionic Woman.
“Lois Lane Robots” (Superman Family #178, August-September 1976) was written by E. Nelson Bridwell, recapping many of her robot stories over the decades.
Conclusion
I have not included every Superman-related robot story here. There simply were too many, especially in the Silver Age after the invention of Superman’s robot lookalike. Robot Superman appeared in most issues at least as a background character. By 1976, there had been so many times Lois had a robot version of herself that E. Nelson Bridwell could do a clip-show style one-page filler. He could have done the same for most of the characters.
What I find interesting is how the robot tropes are re-used. The superhero who can defeat Superman turns out to be a robot, the robot that is used to show Clark Kent is not Superman, everyone is replaced by robots, etc. These are all classic tropes from the Pulps and earlier though the writers at DC used them in their own way. It shows that each comic book age can adapt and re-use robots as needed.
Next time…The Robots of Batman!
