PUBLISHER: IPC/FLEETWAY (1984-1985)
WRITER: TOM TULLY
ARTISTS: MARIO CAPALDI, KIM RAYMOND, GEOFF SENIOR
As anyone who's a long-term reader will know this has long been my little pet love. The Robo Machines comic ran for two arcs in the 1980s version of Eagle and remained pretty obscure until only a few years ago. I certainly hadn't found much information until I hunted down the old issues and found it to be not all that bad at all and scanned it to inflict on other people. Since then someone's done better scans, which is all good. What would be lovely would be a proper TPB reprint as the original comics were on newsprint but sadly with a fragmented rights situation - the Gobots trademarks co-opted for Robo Machine are possessed by Hasbro, the likenesses for the Robo Machines by Bandai and the actual comics by IPC/Fleetway - this seems unlikely. While the latter have shown a willingness to work with fans on reprints, such as for Doomlord and Leopard of Lime Street, the involvement of two rival toy giants would be a stumbling block.
The Black Archer initially featured in Tiger & Hurricane
in 1967. Clem Macy, a clumsy TV reporter, could transform
himself into the Black Archer by simply thinking about it.
The Archer had no particular superpowers, but was an expert
shot with a crossbow and had all kinds of special arrows - a
bit like the Green Arrow.
Indeed, judging by the one story I've got, the strip has very little originality - his skills are the Green Arrow's,
his secret identity is Superman's and he's got sidekicks and
a stupid interfering cop antagonist straight out of The
Spider. To be fair the strip here seems to be a later one
which drops the original medieval-style hooded costume (which
can be seen at International Hero)
for a black number which doesn't even hide his face. It's
pretty boring actually - especially considering how superb
the cynical, grumbling Archer is in Zenith.
This story is from a 1985 edition of Eagle Picture Library, but if there's any doubt it's from the sixties, check out Chango's vely lasist
speech patterns. Just to make sure we know he's Asian, he's
randomly karate-chopping something the first time we see him
too. Bolts of steel!
