Magnus was, essentially, Tarzan of the Robots.
“A robot fighter in 4,000 A.D., he has been specially trained from birth by Robot 1A to have the speed and power to karate chop and destroy automatons that have gone rogue,” observed comic book historian Mike Conroy. “Created by editor Chase Craig and writer/artist Russ Manning, the 41st century hero was conceived to provide the sort of science fiction adventures that TV couldn’t produce because of budget.”
“The first issue introduced us to Magnus and the world of 4000 A.D.,” wrote James Van Hise. “It is the glittering world of the far future often pictured in science fiction. The entire continent of North America is now one multileveled city called North Am. But there is a fly in the ointment.”
The Magnus feature struck a note of discord in the chorus of the can-do scientific optimism that dominated comic books at the time (particularly DC’s), suggesting caution might be necessary in accepting seductive advances in technology.
And despite the fact that he’d been trained by a noble robot mentor, Magnus, like Tarzan, was a “natural man” who relied on his own self-contained strength, courage, ingenuity and sense of moral purpose.
Magnus, Gold Key’s Utopian superman, would contrast with Mighty Samson, the company’s dystopian superman who premiered the following year.
“Ostensibly created solely to serve man, many robots had — through accident or design — become agents of evil, independently plotting against humanity or acting on the wishes of corrupt individuals,” noted John Wells in American Comic Book Chronicles. “Emerging into this society, Magnus soon found a like-minded soulmate in the form of Leeja Clane, the daughter of an influential senator and a woman who was tired of being monitored by machines.
“Together, the couple discovered that the Pol-rob chief H8 (pronounced hate) had acquired sentience in an atomic accident and was now using all his officers to undercut humans.
“Demonstrating his superior fighting techniques (including his trademark karate chops), Magnus destroyed H8, but acknowledged that there would be many more threats to come.”
“Although the premise may seem limited, Manning managed some elegant world building with the title, bring(ing) back friends and foes to good effect,” Craig observed. “For example, when the anti-robot fanatic Laslo Noel kidnaps a group of people that includes Magnus’ girlfriend Leeja Clane and places them together in suspended animation, they develop a telepathic bond. Noel later develops this ‘ectotheric magic’ as a weapon against Malev-6, the robot planet.”
The group’s psychic powers come in handy later in the series when Noel teams with another recurring foe, Xyrkol, to create a giant robot based on sorcery.
Magnus Robot Fighter 1 went on sale in November 1962, alongside Gold Key’s Boys and Girls March of Comics 240 featuring the long-running Jesse Marsh Tarzan.
Much of Manning’s career would involve various versions of Tarzan, whether futuristic or not. Manning, who drew the backup feature Brothers of the Spear in Gold Key’s Tarzan title, would launch Gold Key’s Korak, Son of Tarzan comic in 1964, and then take over the Tarzan title from the ailing Marsh in 1965.
About Author
