Robot
Created by Robert E. Wronski, Jr.
Real Name: Jim Hawkins
Alias: 6 Year Old Robot, 16 Year Old Robot, 26 Year Old Robot
Current Occupation: Hero
Parents: Doctor John Grandly
Siblings: None
Spouse: None
Children: None
Group Affiliation: Super Rock, Revengers
Place of Birth: Grand Little, Minnesota
Current Place of Residence: Unknown
First Appearance: Super Comics # 23, September 1981
Biography:
Doctor John Grandly was a scientist whose expertise was robotics and artificial intelligence. He had previously worked with inventor Ted Lawson. In 1981, Grandly actually created a robot that looked like a six year old boy. He was able to pass the robot off as a real boy. He named him Jim Hawkins after the boy from his favorite book, Treasure Island. Though the boy had some trouble initially adapting and learning, he soon began to feel like a real boy.
Two years later, Grandly upgraded Hawkins into a 16 year old model. Unfortunately, Hawkin's new personality programming worked to well as Hawkins became rebellious, as teens are towards their parents, and exposed himself to the public for who he truly is. This brought him to the attention of a music promoter who was putting together a rock band whose gimmick was that all band members were teen super heroes. Hawkins toured for a year with the band, until their fame faded and the band broke up.
Eventually, Hawkins would get Grandly to implant him into an adult body around the age of 26. Hawkins went off on his own, trying to live a normal life while committing acts of heroism from time to time. Recently, Hawkins fought alongside Earth's other heroes to defeat the New Power Organization. He hasn't been seen since, but it was clear when last seen that his new life of heroism was just beginning.
Comments:
This was a character with only a few appearances, but over a long period of time.
"The 6 Year Old Robot" was a feature in Super Comics for a year from September 1981 to August 1982. It was not a super-hero feature, but rather a simple, cute story of a robot child trying to learn to be human.
In 1983, when I created Super-Rock, which was a spoof of the New Teen Titans, I needed characters to take the form of the Titans. I could have created new characters, but instead I felt it would be more fun to use already existing characters that would fit the mold. So my Cyborg choice was the 6 Year Old Robot. But of course, I had to upgrade him into a teenager for the part. After the title ended a year later, the character went back into obscurity.
He did of course appear in the Crisis Within. But every character I had created up to that point did.
He returned in December 1988 in Super Spotlight # 76. This one shot was basically to update the readers on what the character has been up to, making him now an adult adventurer. The appearance was meant to be a pilot for a new series, but there wasn't enough interest.
So the character appeared recently in Crisis, along with every character I've ever created up to that point. He was no longer coping with trying to be human. He has come to terms with who he is and embraces both his learned humanity and his robotic abilities.
Showing posts with label 16 Year Old Robot. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 16 Year Old Robot. Show all posts
Monday, May 23, 2011
Sunday, May 22, 2011
Daniel "Blacky" Falkner
Real Name: Daniel Falkner
Alter Ego: Robber, Danny, Blacky
Current Occupation: Police Detective
Parents: Unknown
Siblings: None
Spouse: None
Children: None
Group Affiliation: (Earth B) Super Rock; (Earth 5) Heroes of Earth
Place of Birth: Worcester
Current Place of Residence: Worcester
First Appearance: Mystery Comics # 1, September 1982
Biography:
Danny Falkner grew up an a very abusive environment in the city of Worcester. His parents were criminals and drug users who were always either neglecting or abusing the boy. When Danny was 12, he ran away from home and took on a life of crime himself while living homeless. Danny started using the alias "Blacky" in his new career. Though Blacky became a thief, he never used violence except in defense and never used or sold drugs. That was the lifestyle he was escaping from, after all.
However, his new life only lasted a few months when he was apprehended by the vigilante known as the Unknown who caught him ambitiously and single handedly robbing the penthouse of a local millionaire. The Unknown, rather than taking the boy in, instead heard his story, and feeling bad for him, took him in as his ward. He also trained the boy to be his partner in crime fighting, and jokingly dubbed him "Robber".
The Unknown and Robber worked together for four years, until Robber nearly perished at the hands of the Trapster. After that, the Unknown asked his friend, Private Eye Peter Lebane to take the boy in.
Blacky stopped operating as Robber, but would assist Lebane in his own crime fighting investigations.
It was also at this time that a music promoter thought up the gimmick of having a rock band consisting of teen heroes. The band was called Super Rock, and Blacky was recruited as lead singer. The rest of the band consisted of Princess Angela of Booer, the Rocket Kid, the 16 Year Old Robot, Changer, and Witch Woman. Of course while on tour, the band also fought against super villains such as the Dragon, the Booers, the New Power, and the Legion of Doom. The team was very effective as crime fighters, but though the band quickly rose in popularity, it faded just as quickly and the band was disbanded.
A few months later, a team of heroes called the Heroes of Earth arrived from an alternate universe called Earth-5. Amongst the heroes was an alternate version of Blacky. This Blacky shared the exact same history, except that he was never a member of Super Rock, which didn't exist on his world, and of course his membership in the Heroes of Earth. During the Crisis in Infinite Earths, Earth-5 was destroyed, and Blacky and his teammates were stranded on Earth-B. Allorin Vonski used his powers to merge the two into one being, with one shared history. Thus after that Blacky had memories of both lives on both worlds.
After that, Blacky graduated from high school shortly after. He dropped the "Blacky" and started going by Danny. He enrolled in the police academy, and graduated, and within two years made detective and was partnered with Lebane, who had rejoined the force.
They spent much of the time for years assigned to catching a new vigilante called Justice (who was actually Danny's cousin Peter Falkner.) After a while though, the two established a working relationship with the hero.
During the time when the mutant Adam became ruler of Earth, Danny was a member of NighTrain's underground resistance movement. Following Adam's defeat, Danny returned to the force.
In recent years, Danny had started a working relationship with a new Justice (Michelle Wrigley), who has since retired. Danny still works as a detective in Worcester as of this writing.
Comments:
Danny Falkner started off as a spoof of Robin, which is probably obvious, though his physical appearance and personality were modeled after John Stamos' character "Blackie" on General Hospital.
Danny's commonality with Robin continued with Super Rock, which was a spoof of the New Teen Titans. His change from working with the Unknown to working with Lebane was due to Lebane taking over the lead story in Mystery Comics.
The doppelganger from Earth-5 came from my desire to do a two part homage to the JLA/JSA crossovers. Earth-5 was a world of nonpowered vigilantes and magic users. Thus Blacky fit into that category. But of course, Blacky was firmly planted in the main Wronskiverse (Earth-B) as the Unknown was a member of the Powerkid Police and Blacky had been a member of Super Rock. Thus there were two.
The two merged after the Crisis just as Earth-1 and Earth-2 characters merged (such as Wildcat, for instance).
Danny stopped appearing regularly when Detective Lebane was replaced by Doctor Mystery in Mystery Comics. Danny returned though with Justice # 1, and remained a supporting character in that series for years, until it ended in 1992.
He appeared again in the Timeline mini-series, and then recently returned again as a supporting player in the new Justice series, though now that Michelle Wrigley has retired and left Worcester, to be replaced by a new Justice (Holly Frost), who operates in Amherst, Danny has stopped appearing in the series, and is currently in comic book limbo, but is sure to return somewhere, somehow in the future.
Alter Ego: Robber, Danny, Blacky
Current Occupation: Police Detective
Parents: Unknown
Siblings: None
Spouse: None
Children: None
Group Affiliation: (Earth B) Super Rock; (Earth 5) Heroes of Earth
Place of Birth: Worcester
Current Place of Residence: Worcester
First Appearance: Mystery Comics # 1, September 1982
Biography:
Danny Falkner grew up an a very abusive environment in the city of Worcester. His parents were criminals and drug users who were always either neglecting or abusing the boy. When Danny was 12, he ran away from home and took on a life of crime himself while living homeless. Danny started using the alias "Blacky" in his new career. Though Blacky became a thief, he never used violence except in defense and never used or sold drugs. That was the lifestyle he was escaping from, after all.
However, his new life only lasted a few months when he was apprehended by the vigilante known as the Unknown who caught him ambitiously and single handedly robbing the penthouse of a local millionaire. The Unknown, rather than taking the boy in, instead heard his story, and feeling bad for him, took him in as his ward. He also trained the boy to be his partner in crime fighting, and jokingly dubbed him "Robber".
The Unknown and Robber worked together for four years, until Robber nearly perished at the hands of the Trapster. After that, the Unknown asked his friend, Private Eye Peter Lebane to take the boy in.
Blacky stopped operating as Robber, but would assist Lebane in his own crime fighting investigations.
It was also at this time that a music promoter thought up the gimmick of having a rock band consisting of teen heroes. The band was called Super Rock, and Blacky was recruited as lead singer. The rest of the band consisted of Princess Angela of Booer, the Rocket Kid, the 16 Year Old Robot, Changer, and Witch Woman. Of course while on tour, the band also fought against super villains such as the Dragon, the Booers, the New Power, and the Legion of Doom. The team was very effective as crime fighters, but though the band quickly rose in popularity, it faded just as quickly and the band was disbanded.
A few months later, a team of heroes called the Heroes of Earth arrived from an alternate universe called Earth-5. Amongst the heroes was an alternate version of Blacky. This Blacky shared the exact same history, except that he was never a member of Super Rock, which didn't exist on his world, and of course his membership in the Heroes of Earth. During the Crisis in Infinite Earths, Earth-5 was destroyed, and Blacky and his teammates were stranded on Earth-B. Allorin Vonski used his powers to merge the two into one being, with one shared history. Thus after that Blacky had memories of both lives on both worlds.
After that, Blacky graduated from high school shortly after. He dropped the "Blacky" and started going by Danny. He enrolled in the police academy, and graduated, and within two years made detective and was partnered with Lebane, who had rejoined the force.
They spent much of the time for years assigned to catching a new vigilante called Justice (who was actually Danny's cousin Peter Falkner.) After a while though, the two established a working relationship with the hero.
During the time when the mutant Adam became ruler of Earth, Danny was a member of NighTrain's underground resistance movement. Following Adam's defeat, Danny returned to the force.
In recent years, Danny had started a working relationship with a new Justice (Michelle Wrigley), who has since retired. Danny still works as a detective in Worcester as of this writing.
Comments:
Danny Falkner started off as a spoof of Robin, which is probably obvious, though his physical appearance and personality were modeled after John Stamos' character "Blackie" on General Hospital.
Danny's commonality with Robin continued with Super Rock, which was a spoof of the New Teen Titans. His change from working with the Unknown to working with Lebane was due to Lebane taking over the lead story in Mystery Comics.
The doppelganger from Earth-5 came from my desire to do a two part homage to the JLA/JSA crossovers. Earth-5 was a world of nonpowered vigilantes and magic users. Thus Blacky fit into that category. But of course, Blacky was firmly planted in the main Wronskiverse (Earth-B) as the Unknown was a member of the Powerkid Police and Blacky had been a member of Super Rock. Thus there were two.
The two merged after the Crisis just as Earth-1 and Earth-2 characters merged (such as Wildcat, for instance).
Danny stopped appearing regularly when Detective Lebane was replaced by Doctor Mystery in Mystery Comics. Danny returned though with Justice # 1, and remained a supporting character in that series for years, until it ended in 1992.
He appeared again in the Timeline mini-series, and then recently returned again as a supporting player in the new Justice series, though now that Michelle Wrigley has retired and left Worcester, to be replaced by a new Justice (Holly Frost), who operates in Amherst, Danny has stopped appearing in the series, and is currently in comic book limbo, but is sure to return somewhere, somehow in the future.
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