Walter The Wobot: 'Walter’s Brother', Part 3

NAME
Walter The Wobot: 'Walter's Brother', Part 3

FIRST PUBLISHED
2000 A.D. Prog 54

DATELINE
4 Mar 78

PAGE COUNT
1

REPRINTS
Judge Dredd The Complete Case Files 01.

SYNOPSIS
Walter is saved by his brother who promptly kidnaps him.

FIRSTS & LASTS
First appearance of Gus (apart from his shadow).

INFORMATION
Sudso Splurge Guns drown their victims in bubbles.

Spitting on the sidewalk is a crime with a penalty of 5c.

WALTER THE WOBOT
He is rescued from the mugger by his brother, Gus, who then kidnaps him.

OTHER CHARACTERS
GUS
He is a robot of the same model as Walter. They were assembled on the same day and regard each other as brothers. He disguised himself as Walter. The plaque on his front reads reads: 'Gus Rules OK?', but he has covered it up with 'I'm Walter, Try Me'. He kills the mugger accosting Walter and then kidnaps his brother.

JUDGE-MARSHAL DREDD
Walter believes Dredd will get Gus for his crimes.

ARRESTS
None.

DEATHS
One. Gus drowns the mugger with his splurge gun.

BEST LINES
Walter: "You dwowned him, you wotter!"
Gus: "Shaddup, bums like him deserve The Bubbly Death. He ain't had a bath in years!"

WORST LINES
Gus: "Haw, Haw! You shoulda brought your rubber duck!"

CATCHPHRASES
Walter says bwother, cwipes, cwuel, Dwedd, dwowned, gwacious, pwetending, wascal, wat, wefuses, wob, wotter and scoundwel.

CONTINUITY & CROSSOVERS
None.

INFLUENCES & REFERENCES
Bugsy Malone (1976) features splurge guns which shoot custard.


MISTAKES
None.

RETROSPECT
None.

NOTES
None.

CREDITS
Script: Joe Collins
Artist: Brian Bolland
Letters: Tom Frame

REVIEW
This potentially throwaway silly little strip that relies heavily on puns takes a much darker turn here. From mugger to murder is a big step and drowning in bubbles doesn't do anything to moderate that. Brian Bolland's art is still beautiful and The Bubbly Death is a fantastic panel.

Next Pwog - The Owigin Of Walter!

Walter The Wobot: Walter’s Brother, Part 2 - The Night Of The Mugger

NAME
Walter The Wobot: Walter's Brother, Part 2 - The Night Of The Mugger

FIRST PUBLISHED
2000 A.D. Prog 53

DATELINE
25 Feb 78

PAGE COUNT
1

REPRINTS
Judge Dredd The Complete Case Files 01.

SYNOPSIS
Walter runs into an unsavoury character whilst on the run.

FIRSTS & LASTS
First Walter The Wobot story to reach two parts and the first to be named. Possibly the first use of the word "fink".

INFORMATION
The dark alleyways of Luna-1 are a criminal hangout.

WALTER THE WOBOT
He is still a wanted robot. There is a reward for his capture, alive or deactivated. He meets a mugger who threatens to deactivate him, wants to steal his bag of precious things and when he realises Walter's identity he intends to claim the reward. Someone intervenes.

OTHER CHARACTERS
JUDGE-MARSHAL DREDD
He has been featured in the press thousands of times. Walter has collected the cuttings.

ARRESTS
None.

DEATHS
None.

BEST LINES
Unknown: "Hands off, creep! He's mine, you old buzzard. Walt an' me got a score to settle!"

WORST LINES
Mugger: "Wha-? Thoussands of press cuttings - all about that crumb Dredd!"

CATCHPHRASES
Walter says bwave, cwipes, cwumb, Dwedd, gweat, memowies, pwecious, pwetending, wotten, wun, scoundwel and scwewdwiver.

CONTINUITY & CROSSOVERS
None.

INFLUENCES & REFERENCES
Unknown.

MISTAKES
None.

RETROSPECT
None.

NOTES
None.

CREDITS
Script: Joe Collins
Artist: Brian Bolland
Letters: Tony Jacob

REVIEW
Things go from bad to worse for Walter and yet he stays true to what is most important to him. There is something very sinister, but secure about this. The cliffhanger is great too. I'm surprised by how much I'm enjoying Walter's own strip.

Next Pwog: The Bubbly Death.

Walter The Wobot: Walter’s Brother, Part 1

NAME
Walter The Wobot: Walter's Brother, Part 1

FIRST PUBLISHED
2000 A.D. Prog 52

DATELINE
18 Feb 78

PAGE COUNT
1

REPRINTS
Judge Dredd: The Complete Case Files 01.

SYNOPSIS
Walter is accused of a bank robbery.

FIRSTS & LASTS
First Walter The Wobot strip to end on a cliffhanger.

INFORMATION
Interplanetary News is a current events television programme.

Luna Bank 6 is in Luna-City.

WALTER THE WOBOT
He drinks oilade and has rusty joints. A robbery is committed at Luna Bank 6 by a robot purporting to be Walter, so he goes on the run in disguise. There are wanted posters with his picture up in Luna-City.

OTHER CHARACTERS
JUDGE-MARSHAL DREDD
He repairs Walter's rusty joints.

ARRESTS
None.

DEATHS
None.

BEST LINES
Walter: "Walter's been at home all day iwoning Judge Dwedd's underwear Walter's innocent!"

WORST LINES
Newsreader: "The metal maniac-apparently called 'Walter-squirted pursuing Judges with oil. "He gave us the slip," said one."

CATCHPHRASES
Walter says Dwedd, fwame, fwidge, gwief, iwoning, wascal, pwove, weconised, wefuge, wepair, wobot, wusty, scwam and twouble. He also writes with his speech impediment which isn't as silly as it sounds.

CONTINUITY & CROSSOVERS
The Walter lookalike bank robber stole 3 million groats, a currency mentioned in Inferno, Part 10. The robbery takes place at Luna Bank 6, while the First Lunar Bank recently also suffered an identity theft related robbery in Judge Dredd: 'The Face Change Crimes'.

INFLUENCES & REFERENCES
Unknown.

MISTAKES
None.

RETROSPECT
None.

NOTES
None.

CREDITS
Script: Joe Collins
Artist: Brian Bolland
Letters: John Aldrich

REVIEW
Coming in the same prog as the Judge Dredd strip 'The Face Change Crimes', but with a potentially more sinister vein of identity theft running through it, this is a fascinating situation to see Walter in.

Find Out Next Prog In...Night Of The Mugger

Futuregraph: Walter The Wobot Bluepwint

NAME
Walter The Wobot Bluepwint

FIRST PUBLISHED
2000 A.D. Prog 52

DATELINE
18 Feb 78

PAGE COUNT
1

REPRINTS
Judge Dredd Annual 1981

SYNOPSIS
A schematic of Walter.

FIRSTS & LASTS
First time Dredd does an advert. First mention of British Leymek.

INFORMATION
(It is March 2100)

The D-2000 AI Vending Robot is manufactured by Global Dynamics Corporation (Robotic Division) of Houston, Texas.

The robot's head screen unit is made by Sony and contains a video screen, two cybo optic eyes, an instant cine camera, audio sensitive panels and houses its memory retention transistors.

The robot's 'neck' includes its voicebox made by British Leymek and an oil intake tank, which allows oil to be pumped to all moving parts.

The torso area boasts a juke box made by Bang and Olufson, a tape recorder, a Synthi-Caf dispensor (with external buttons for manual drink selection), a washing and drying up unit, a hot and cold air conditioner, a locked drink storage unit, a friction drive motor, an ash tray, a drink intake and pleasure circuit.

The arms are detachable and bracelet jointed for greater flexibility and contains a water pipe. The wrist units are interchangeable and can be either a three fingered hand, water hose, vacuum cleaner or power scissors.

The legs feature drives in both the upper and lower legs and two spring clips on each ankle joint.

Publications featuring robots include 2000 A.D. Mega-City Edition and Mega-Mechanik Monthly.

Judges are not permitted to be connected with advertising, except with permission of the Grand Judge.

WALTER THE WOBOT
He is a D-2000 AI Vending Robot.

OTHER CHARACTERS
JUDGE DREDD
He makes an appearance in an advert for D-2000 AI Vending Robots.

THE GRAND JUDGE
He has made an exception to allow Dredd to advertise for D-2000 AI Vending Robots, because the advert will not be seen in Mega-City edition of the publication.

ARRESTS
None.

DEATHS
None.

BEST LINES
Walter: "I am so pwoud that I have been allowed to pwint this diagwam. I hope you enjoy it."

WORST LINES
Dredd: "...normally we Judges are not permitted to be connected with anything like advertising..."

What?

CATCHPHRASES
Walter says bluepwint, bwacelet, camewa, diagwam, dwink, dwinks, dwive, dwying, fwiction, gweater, gweetings, memowy, micwowave, pwint, pwoud, weaders, wecorder, wetention, wobot, scween, spwing, stowage, twansistors, tway and wist, but at one point has no problem with drive.

CONTINUITY & CROSSOVERS
Global Dynamics Corporation made the Powergear.html and Super Liner used by the Harlem Heroes.

Walter's pleasure circuit was a reward given to him in Judge Dredd: 'Robot Wars' Part 8 while his ankle spring clips were put to use in Judge Dredd: Meet Mr Moonie.

INFLUENCES & REFERENCES
Unknown.

MISTAKES
None.

RETROSPECT
None.

NOTES
None.

CREDITS
Artist: Kevin O'Neill

REVIEW
It's credit to Kevin O'Neill that Walter's construction is as plausible as it is and largely mirrors human anatomy. Note the location of Walter's pleasure circuit.

Judge Dredd: 'The Face-Change Crimes'

NAME
Judge Dredd: 'The Face-Change Crimes'

FIRST PUBLISHED
2000 A.D. Prog 52

DATELINE
18 Feb 78

PAGE COUNT
7

REPRINTS
Judge Death: Judge Dredd featuring Judge Death, Judge Dredd 2, Judge Dredd Chronicles Book 1, Judge Death: Classic Judge Dredd, Judge Dredd: Future Crime, Judge Death Dredd vs. Death, The Complete Judge Dredd 5 and Judge Dredd The Complete Case Files 01.

SYNOPSIS
Dredd goes in search of some unlikely bank robbers.

FIRSTS & LASTS
First appearance of twentieth century 'celebrity' figures.

INFORMATION
The First Lunar Bank is based in downtown Luna-City.

Justice Central has its own face-changing machine. Some criminals can serve forty years on a dome repair gang.

JUDGE-MARSHAL DREDD
He suspects the Tooley brothers of using a face-changing machine to commit bank robberies so he alters his own features to appear like those of their lawyer, Manny Bloom, and records their conversations as evidence.

OTHER CHARACTERS
ALBERT, BRAD AND LAPSLEY TOOLEY
They bought a face-changing machine and altered their appearance to commit bank robberies. They first wore the faces of Charlie Chaplin, Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy before changing again to those of Groucho Marx, Harpo Marx and Chico Marx respectively. When Dredd discovered they bought the machine he had them interrogated, but their lawyer, Manny Bloom, successfully got them released. Dredd replaces Bloom using a face-change machine and accompanies the Tooley brothers back to their apartment and arrests them.

MANNY BLOOM
A lawyer on Luna-1. He represents the Tooley brothers. Dredd impersonates him usng a face-change machine.

ARRESTS
Three. Dredd arrests the Tooley brothers.

DEATHS
None.

BEST LINES
Dredd: "The face is Manny's - but the fist is Dredd's."

WORST LINES
Al Tooley: "Thanks, Manny. If you hadn't got here they'd have tried to do us."

CATCHPHRASES
"That's another fine mess you've got us into" was Oliver Hardy's catchphrase.

CONTINUITY & CROSSOVERS
Face-changing machines were previously seen in Judge Dredd: 'The New You'.

INFLUENCES & REFERENCES
Stan Laurel (1890-1965) and Oliver Hardy (1892-1957) formed a double act and made over a hundred films films together. Charlie Chaplin (1889-1977) is famed for his little tramp character in silent films such as The Kid (1921), The Gold Rush (1925), Modern Times (1936) and The Great Dictator (1940). The Keystone Cops were incompetant policeman that appeared in several films between 1912 and 1917. Groucho Marx (1890-1977), Harpo Marx (1888-1964), Chico Marx (1887-1961) were unsurprisingly three of the Marx Brothers and their films include Monkey Business (1931), Horse Feathers (1932), Duck Soup (1933), A Day At The Races (1937), The Big Store (1941) and mentioned in dialogue here A Night At The Opera (1935). In addition, Groucho presented a game show called You Bet Your Life. Although not explicitly a changed face, the Tooley's brothers lawyer, Manny Bloom, bears an uncanny resemblance to Rondo Hatton (1894-1946), who is also name-checked in the face-change parlour sales book. Hatton's distinctive features earned him roles in The Pearl Of Death (1944), Spider Woman Strikes Back (1946), House Of Horrors (1946) and The Brute Man (1946) among others.

MISTAKES
None.

RETROSPECT
Dredd doesn't choose to keep his new facial features.

NOTES
None.

CREDITS
Script: John Howard
Artist: Brian Bolland
Letters: Tom Frame

REVIEW
This is a brilliant concept, but it would have been undermined by poor likenesses. Thankfully the likenesses in Brian Bolland's artwork are extraordinary. The opening double page and the panel of the Marx brothers in a stolen ambulance are fantastic. Dredd's solution is great and somehow comes as a complete surprise.

Keep Calm + + + Thrill Factor Overload + + +

Walter The Wobot: ‘Shoot Pool!’

NAME
Walter The Wobot: 'Shoot Pool!'

FIRST PUBLISHED
2000 A.D. Prog 51

DATELINE
11 Feb 77

PAGE COUNT
1

REPRINTS
2000AD Extreme Edition 30 and Judge Dredd The Complete Case Files 01.

SYNOPSIS
Walter prepares for a swim in the wrong sort of pool.

FIRSTS & LASTS
First entirely Dreddless Walter The Wobot strip.

INFORMATION
Luna-City has a pool hall.

Robots can rust.

WALTER THE WOBOT
He decides to take up swimming, but does so in a billiard hall. He accidentally breaks a pool table and leaves with a bil for the damage.

OTHER CHARACTERS
JUDGE-MARSHAL DREDD
He has repeatedly told Walter to drown himself.

ARRESTS
None.

DEATHS
None.

BEST LINES
Walter (whilst leaping into the water): "Gewonimo...Cwikey!"

WORST LINES
Walter: "Ulp. Walter not in swimming pool. Walter made a boo-boo!"

CATCHPHRASES
Walter says afwaid, cwikey, cwowded, Dwedd, Dweed, dwown, gewonimo, ministwy, pwivacy, pwoper, wefweshing, weplaced, weport, wespectable, witten, wobot, wooms, wusts and stwess.

CONTINUITY & CROSSOVERS
None.

INFLUENCES & REFERENCES
Unknown.

MISTAKES
Walter refers to Judge Dweed at one point.

RETROSPECT
None.

NOTES
None.

CREDITS
Script: Joe Collins
Artist: Ian Gibson
Letters: Tony Jacob

REVIEW
Another strip based entirely around a pun, but here there is less here to hold your interest. That said Walter's dialogue is great.

Next Pwog: Walt's Bwother

Judge Dredd: 'Luna 1 War'

NAME
Judge Dredd: 'Luna 1 War'

FIRST PUBLISHED
2000 A.D. Prog 51

DATELINE
11 Feb 78

PAGE COUNT
6

REPRINTS
The Complete Judge Dredd 4, Judge Dredd (Volume 2, Issue 53), Judge Death: Judge Dredd Featuring Judge Death, Judge Dredd Chronicles Book 1, Judge Death: Classic Judge Dredd, Judge Death: Dredd vs Death and Judge Dredd: The Complete Case Files 01.

SYNOPSIS
The war between Luna-1 and the Sov-Cities is fought like a team sport.

FIRSTS & LASTS
Last appearance of Sov Judge Cosmovich.

INFORMATION
Wars are no longer fought by armies, but instead by combat units of four with one reserve each and an umpire. The fighting is televised.

The war between the Sov-cities and Luna-1. Troops on both sides wear anti-blast suits, but the Sov suits seem stronger. The Sovs have an electro beam gun that can pass through two feet of concrete and explode at a specified range, when coupled with an infra-red sight it can essentially shoot through walls.

The Sovs wanted Luna-1's Apollo Territories, but when they surrender and they are forced to concede some territory to Luna-1.

JUDGE-MARSHAL DREDD
He is Luna-1's observer. When Luna-1's reserve is drugged, Dredd takes his place and after the death of Sgt. Sam Stone he is needed in the field. He and Brown are the only survivors of the Luna-1 combat unit. The charge the Sov position and find themselves inside the range of their electro beam guns.

OTHER CHARACTERS
JUDGE COSMOVICH
He is apparently the Sov-cities observer. He bargains with Dredd that he will call off the war in exchange for the Apollo territory. Dredd declines.

PRIVATE IKE BROWN
He and Dredd are the only survivors of the Luna-1 combat unit. The charge the Sov position and find themselves inside the range of their electro beam guns.

ARRESTS
None.

DEATHS
Five. Sgt. Sam Stone is dead as the strip begins, Al and Del Shoemaker are shot with the electro beam gun and explode, when Dredd and Brown seize the guns they return the favour and kill two Sov soldiers.

BEST LINES
Dredd: "Listen, you folks at home...today we won a piece of Sov-Cities dirt. So what? Three good men died to do it-that's what matters...Sometimes war is necessary- but don't ever let creeps like this ever tell you it's fun. War is pointless. War is evil...War is hell!"

WORST LINES
Sov: "You have beaten us!"

CATCHPHRASES
None.

CONTINUITY & CROSSOVERS
The war from The First Lunar Olympics continues, while Luna-1's Apollo Territories were previously mentioned in The Oxygen Desert, Part 1.

INFLUENCES & REFERENCES
The phrase "war is hell" is attributed to American Civil War General William Tecumseh Sherman (1820–1891).

MISTAKES
None.

RETROSPECT
Later wars shown in Judge Dredd will not be fought this way.

NOTES
None.

CREDITS
Script: John Howard
Artist: Brian Bolland
Letters: Tony Jacob

REVIEW
The juxtaposition between the sporting triumphs of The First Lunar Olympics and war is well-handled and once again Brian Bolland's art is a beautiful thing to behold.

Keep Calm + + + Thrill Factor + + + Keep Calm