Ro-Busters: Prologue – The Day Of The Robot

As a result of Mek-Quake's appearance in Walter The Wobot, here's Ro-Busters:

NAME
Ro-Busters: Prologue – The Day Of The Robot

FIRST PUBLISHED
Starlord No. 1

DATELINE
13 May 78

The first ever Starlord came out on the same day as Prog 64 and also featured the first ever Strontium Dog, the first ever Timequake, the first ever Planet Of The Damned and came with free Starlord Trooper badges and a cover by Ramon Sola.

PAGE COUNT
2

REPRINTS
The Complete Ro-Busters.

SYNOPSIS
Ro-Jaws and his unnamed friend narrowly avoid destruction and are sold to Howard Quartz for his International Rescue Operation.

FIRSTS & LASTS
First appearance of Ro-Jaws, Mek-Quake, Chatterbox, Howard Quartz, Ro-Busters and an as yet unnamed Hammer-Stein.

INFORMATION
(This strip takes place at some point in or after 2078)

Robots are used to do dirty and difficult jobs, for example collecting rubbish, tending the sick, fighting wars etc. BSA, Honda and Pioneer all manufacture robots. Examples of advanced robots include War 'Droids and Federal Recycling and Environmental 'Droids 2-L (or F.R.E.D. 2-L). 'Chatterbox' Sky Spies are not advanced robots, but computer based.

Humans can have artificial body parts incorporated into their bodies and as long as the individual undergoing organ replacement remains at least ten per cent organic they are still considered legally human.

Plasto-Glass is a building material.

RO-JAWS
A F.R.E.D. 2-L Robot. He has only done 5,000 miles. He has a flaw in his obedience circuits. He hit his master when he tried to force food waste into him and his master was hospitalised. He is due to be destroyed by Mek-Quake, but is sold at the last moment to Howard Quartz to work in his International Rescue Operation.

AS YET UNNAMED WAR 'DROID
A war 'droid. He is due to be destroyed by Mek-Quake, but is sold at the last moment to Howard Quartz to work in his International Rescue Operation.

OTHER CHARACTERS
'FLASH' HARRY LOWDER
He sells new and second hand robots.

MEK-QUAKE
He is by his own understanding a "pretty basic robot". He is due to destroy Ro-Jaws, Hammerstein and a 'Chatterbox', but is instead sold at the last moment to Howard Quartz to work in his International Rescue Operation.

HOWARD QUARTZ
A billionaire who was afraid to die and kept having his human organs replaced. He has been nicknamed Mr. Ten Per Cent. He runs an International Rescue Operation.

DEATHS
None.

BEST LINES
Ro-Jaws (to a clearly terrified 'Chatterbox'): "Go on...you won't feel a thing. Only us advanced robots feel pain."

WORST LINES
Japanese Mannikin 'Droid: "I velly, velly honoured if you be my masters."

CATCHPHRASES
Mek-Quake does a big job and Quartz answers a phone and says "I'm on green" (see INFLUENCES & REFERENCES).

CONTINUITY & CROSSOVERS
None.

INFLUENCES & REFERENCES
The Howard Quartz "I'm on green" telephone routine is straight out of The Fall And Rise Of Reginald Perrin (1976-1979). International Rescue is also the name of the organisation with similar goals (albeit more altruistically) from TV's Thunderbirds (1965-1966).

MISTAKES
None.

RETROSPECT
None.

NOTES
None.

CREDITS
There are no credits on the strip itself, these are taken from 'The North Sea Tunnel'

Script: Pat Mills
Artist: Carlos Pino
Letters: Tom Frame

Carlos Pino drew plenty of Ro-Busters for Starlord, Invasion, Flesh, Disaster 1990, Angel and Tharg's Future Shocks for 2000 A.D. as well as hundreds of Judge Dredd for the Daily Star.

REVIEW
This is a brilliant beginning. Ro-Jaws and Quartz automatically leap off the page and become instant favourites.