Magnus Robot Fighter

• Magnus' Life
• The Comic's Origin
• Name Sign

This section is under reconstruction after a screw-up

Here in North Am, the incredible city that covers every habitable area of the North American continent... on August 5th, 4,000 A.D., Magnus strikes the first blow in his fight to save mankind...

Intro to Magnus Robot Fighter 4,000 A.D. (C) Western Publishing Inc. Written by Russ Manning

The first person Magnus met on that day was Leeja Clane, daughter of Senator Clane (later to become President Clane).

Magnus was born during Unity as the son of Torque and Kris and sent to the future by Solar. The freewill robot 1-A raised him to be the champion of mankind. His childhood was mostly spent in 1-A's secret base, but at least once he went on a vacation.

After the Malev wars in 4001 there are 20 "unknown" years. As president of North Am he helped rebuild what the Malevs had destroyed and outlawed robots. He married Leeja Clane and they have a son named Torque.

After the Chaos Effect he visited our time for an unknown period during which he met his grandfather.

More to come...

This section is copied from Vintage Magnus Robot Fighter #1 (C) 1991 Voyager Communications Inc. (C) 1995 Acclaim Comics Inc. The text itself (C) Russ Manning. The character Magnus Robot Fighter is a trademark of Western Publishing Company, Inc. Valiant added the following credit: We would like to thank Ken Webber for providing us with Russ' recollection of creating MAGNUS. As the publication of this text is done with a journalistic intent, I need not bother about the new censorship laws of Sweden

In March 1962, Jack Taylor, Art Director, Whitman Pub. Co., mentioned, in passing, that the company was considering a comicbook with the story laid in 4,000 A.D., and that I was being considered as the illustrator. Intrigued, I went to Chaise Craig's office and asked about it.

Chaise showed me a letter he had sent to the head office and various department heads. I do not know how much discussion Chaise had had with the others prior to his letter, but the letter seemed to imply that the origin of the idea was Chaise's. The points that Chaise's letter marked were: That comicbook readers seemed to be buying subjects not possible (because of cost, etc.) on T.V. 4,000 A.D. would be science fiction adventure, ala "Jetsons," only realistic. Robots would have become the master race; subordinating man. The hero would be human, would leap to resistance, would find literature, etc. from the 20th Century that would inspire humans. The letter was dated February 26th, 1962.

After discussing the idea, Chaise stated that they had just started thinking about the book, and hadn't assigned a writer. I told him of my reading in science-fiction, and asked to be allowed to make a stab at it. He handed me the above mentioned letter, and the script for the movie that had just been made of H.G. Well's TIME MACHINE. Whitman had done the comicbook adaptation of that movie (illoed by Al Toth), and Chaise stated that the format was along the lines he had been considering, only with robots. I said that my first impression would be to make the 4,000 A.D. hero a Tarzan of the future... man at his simplest. Chaise said it sounded good and to 'op to it! I headed for the nearest bear and relaxed into a glow of euuphria... a whole brand new hero and world to create... almost a carte blanc! MAN!

Shortly, I submitted a two page layout, describing the world of 4,000 A.D. and the hero, as I pictured and thought of them. I personallly rejected the world as TIME MACHINE showed it... too wishy-washy... and instead, pictured it much as the comicbook shows it now. But the hero, still a Tarz of the future, had a gimmick... a great stone hammer, slung at his waist, which he used to power robots. Had THOR (Marvel) been originated then? At any rate, I hadn't seen it at that time. The names I submitted were HAMMER... MANN... and MAGNUS (this latter inspired mostly by MAXIMUS, in Mary Perkins, ON STAGE strip.) Chaise, and his assistant, Zetta De Voe, went over my layout, made suggestions and changes, and chose MAGNUS as the new hero's name.

I then submitted a synopsis for a 27 page script, which Chaise, Zetta... and I, in conference, went over thoroughly. I was given the go-ahead to write the actual script, and did so. Again, Chaise and Zetta tore into it, and made suggestions that, when rewritten into the script, did wonders for it. Then came the day when they said it was ready for illustration.

I had submitted custume and character studios to Chaise, and these boiled down to two... a pair of trunks, red, of the material his whole suit is now, and a pair of soles that stuck to the bottom of his feet (no straps), and nothing else.

The second costume was a sleeveless jump-suit like everyone else wears in the book. We chose the trunks as being more distinctive and simple. I then illoed the whole 27 pager, with MAGNUS in a pair of metal-mesh trunks and strapless sandals.

The artwork went back east and bounced back with a request to put some clothes on the guy. Tarzan could go around bare-chested because of the jungle (I guess), but not MAGNUS! Among the designs for the costume that I then submitted was the one MAGNUS now wears EXCEPT that I had indicated blue-black boots. Obviously, the red suit was the one chosen, and I went through the entire artwork, putting MAGNUS into a ceramic-durium tunic. In the margin of the first page artwork, I made color notes to the colorist, calling for red on the suit, red-brown on his hair,... and figuring that no colorist needed to a color note to know that boots are either blue-black or dark brown, I made no suggestion for boot color. Hense... no boot color!

Ah, yes, I see I forgot the hammer! In writing the synopsis, I discussed the neo-hero with Dodie, wife, help-mate, and she suggested doing away with the kookie hammer, and maybe having him karate the robots, or leap up on their shoulders and UNSCREW their heads! I laughed deprecatingly at the unscrew bit, and sneakingly adopted her superb "bare hand against robot metal" idea... and must certainly give her credit for what I feel is surely one of the deepest felt reasons for reader association with the Robot Fighter.

I suspect that an absolutely one man-creation is an extreme rarity, and certainly MAGNUS is not one of the items... quite a number of us worked to hone MAGNUS into the more or less consistant fellow he is. One more person also added a fine bit... Jesse March, at a dinner party one evening, suggested the train of thought that led to the human-brain computer in the first book. And still unknown: The name of the colorist who digs white boots!

Page-maintainer's comment: The blue-black boots can be seen on several covers of 4000 AD.