Made Men - I'm A Robot Man!

In many ways Robot Man of the Doom Patrol is the least and still the most human of the artificial heroes. Not encumbered an alienated doubt like Red Tornado, or overcome with confused self-loathing like the Vision, nor detached from his fellow men as was Professor Dunn before and after he became NoMan. Cliff Steele is human through and through in spirit and drive. 

He afraid of what he's become, but always aware of the power it gives him. He feels like he cannot connect with the outside world and that's true to some extent, but he wants to do so in the most basic and fundamental ways. Cliff Steele knows what he wants and sometimes that means he doesn't want to be Robot Man. But rejecting what we are while at the same time embracing the potential is an all too human failing. 

Surrounded by other so-called "freaks" Robot Man's body is disposable and replaceable. His mind is not, his brain is unique and totally human, full of the emotion and desire we all share. His soul is there in that body beneath the polished exterior. gleaming inside and out.

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Marvel Super-Heroes - Calling The Guardians!

The year is 1967 and Marvel Super-Heroes #18 is all geared up to transport us one and all to the 3007 when the countries of the Earth are united as well as the colonies of human race spread across the solar system. The tale begins by introducing us to Charlie-27, a Jovian military man returning from months-long solitary duty and two months of radio silence to find his home world of Jupiter apparently abandoned.

But soon enough he is attacked by the Badoon, an extra-solar lizard-like race which has invaded and seems to early reports to have conquered the sprawling human colonies. Using his Jovian strength and speed Charlie teleports to Pluto where he finds more Badoon and Martinex, a crystal man native to the planet (Pluto was still a planet back then...sigh). Using his powers to project both heat and cold Martinex helps the two teleport to Earth. On Earth things are not going well as Vance Astro and his taciturn colleague Yondu have been captured by the Badoon. Astro is a thousand-year old migrant from an Earth which depended on Einstein's physics, but found that that had been supplanted and he was met by many Earth men who had settled not just the solar system but also some of the nearest star systems. With the appearance of Charlie-27 and Martinex, Astro is able to use his telekinetic powers and Yondu his maneuverable Yaka arrows to get all four of these desperate souls free of the Badoon hold for now. The four become the  Guardians of the Galaxy and pledge to defeat the Badoon empire.

This is a whopper of a delightful yarn by Arnold Drake and Gene Golan with the assistance of inker Mike Esposito (under his "Mickey Demeo" guise). These heroes are a far far away from the Marvel Universe and one is left to wonder when if ever we'd see them again. Many years later they popped up in Marvel Two-In-One, coming to our time to get more help for theirs and so begins a long and vibrant history. The Guardians in those successful movies are a ton of fun, but they aren't my Guardians, this is them and I cherish them still.

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