The A.B.C. Warriors: 'The A.B.C. Warriors'

NAME
The A.B.C. Warriors: 'The A.B.C. Warriors'

FIRST PUBLISHED
2000 AD & Starlord Prog 119

DATELINE
30 June 79

PAGE COUNT
7

REPRINTS
A.B.C. Warriors Book 1, The Best of 2000AD, A.B.C. Warriors Mek-nificent Seven and A.B.C. Warriors The Meknificent Seven.

SYNOPSIS
Hammer-Stein, Joe Pineapples and Happy Shrapnel capture a Volg HQ.

FIRSTS & LASTS
The first The A.B.C. Warriors features the first appearances of Joe Pineapples, Happy Shrapnel and an as-yet-unnamed Colonel Lash.

INFORMATION
Volgow is a Volg city.

In the 21st Century, the ABC War is fought by robots able to withstand Atomic, Bacterial and Chemical weapons with their human officers some fifty miles behind the front line in underground bunkers.

A 'Sin' gun is a standard robot weapon. A 'Scrambled egg' grenade (S.E.G.s) scrambles a robot's brains and then they can attack their own side. Torc tube is a ground to air unit. A Lazer dagger can cut through armour. 'Cry baby' mortar fires cryogenic shells which create freezing flames. 'Balls' bazooka fires implosion shells, which suck their targets into balls of debris. Koroda gas is fatal to robots.

Synthi-Champagne is synthetic champagne.

HAMMER-STEIN
He has a sensor organ that provides him with a sense of smell. Sergeant of the A.B.C. Warriors. He is known to the Volg robots as Old Red Eyes. The rest of his squad are rookie robots. Hammer-Stein leads a mission to capture a Volg HQ. He puts a disabled robot out of his misery and in doing so transfers his pain to Rodney.

JOE PINEAPPLES
He doesn't talk much. He is armed with a 'Balls' Bazooka.

HAPPY SHRAPNEL
He has a sense of smell. He is armed with a pair of Kolt 45's he 'borrowed' from a Volg general.

OTHER CHARACTERS
RODNEY
Lieutenant. Hammer-Stein's superior officer. When Hammer-Stein puts a rookie robot out of his misery, the pain kills Rodney. He will be decorated with a medal posthumously.

DEATHS
At least twenty-four. Joe Pineapples kills two Volg robots with his 'Balls' bazooka. Fifteen rookies are killed by the gas and five more in mid-air. Hammer-Stein finishes off a robot in pain and in doing kills Rodney as well.

BEST LINES
Officer: "I say, Rodney...steady on with the old champers!"

WORST LINES
Volg Robot: "Smashing through the roof - Aaaah!"

CATCHPHRASES
Happy Shrapnel says "Bzzz!" (or variations thereupon) four times.

CONTINUITY & CROSSOVERS
Hammer-Stein first appeared in Ro-Busters and was seen to fight the Volgans in Hammer-Stein's War Memoirs, while Invasion! saw the Volgans invade Britain.

INFLUENCES & REFERENCES
Unknown.

MISTAKES
None.

RETROSPECT
None.

NOTES
None.

CREDITS
Script Robot: Pat Mills
Art Robot: Kevin O'Neill
Lettering Robot: Pete Knight

REVIEW
This intends to introduce three of The A.B.C. Warriors, but it's really only about Hammer-Stein. As a vehicle for him it works quite well. The art is wonderful and Rodney's death is well-earned, but the eclectic charm of Ro-Busters is sadly lacking here.

Next Prog: Retreat From Volgow!