What happens when a taxi-driving robot helps a sweet, well-intentioned, but not-so-bright old lady--who also happens to be a witch? Find out as we continue our journey into...
ROG 2000 was created by John Byrne (If you don't know who he is, welcome to the planet earth. Hope you enjoy your stay.) back in his fan days for a fanzine (duh) called CPL. Here's the whole "origin of Rog 2000" by Byrne himself from the Byrne Robotics FAQ page:"Back in the Jurassic Period, Bob (Layton), along with Roger Stern and a few other names you'd be less likely to know, ran a fanzine called CPL, out of Indianapolis. I got hooked up with them, providing spot illustrations. One day I sent in a drawing of a robot with his arm blown off. Since there were several people named Roger "on staff" at the time, Bob decided this was the latest editor, and dubbed the robot ROG-2000. Roger Stern then got in touch with me and asked for more. Since I had no access to xerox technology at the time, I had to work from memory, and the robot I came up with was somewhat different from the original. The illustration of him sitting behind a desk, reading mail, is the first official ROG-2000 drawing."
He was given the opportunity to create a Rog 2000 strip as a semi-regular back-up in Charlton's magnificent E-Man comic (issues 6-7, 9-10). Written by E-Man co-creator Nick Cuti, Rog 2000 was a breath of fresh air. Whimsical, fun, charming, and yet balancing all of that with a decidedly 70s sensibility, Rog 2000 became something of a cult figure in comics fandom. Here, from E-Man #9 (March, 1975) is Ol' Groove's fave Rog 2000 strip, "The Wish" by Nick Cuti and John Byrne!
Is it just my wonky internet connection, or are pages 3 and 5 missing from this story?
ReplyDeleteGood story, anyway! Interesting to see what a human Rog-2000 would look like, and of course, the ending is hilarious!