Menace #11Issue(s): Menace #11 (Human Robot story only) Review/plot: This story, intended as a one-off, introduces the Human Robot, who will become a member of the Agents of Atlas. The Human Robot's secondary name will be M-11, a nod to the fact that he was introduced here in Menace #11. A scientist (who will later be named Cyrus Virro) has developed a robot. His business partner wants to sell the robot now, but the scientist says he won't release it until it's perfect. And indeed, right now it just keeps acting out whatever command it is given. Tell it to pick up a chair, it will proceed to pick up all the chairs. The professor needs to install a regulator to make him stop before he's started. But the professor takes a break for the night, and the business partner sneaks into the lab, modifies the robot, and grabs a spare control microphone. When the professor comes back into the lab the next day, the partner commands it to kill the man in the room. So it kills the professor. But of course it continues to kill all the mans in the room, so when the partner walks in, he's killed too. The robot then leaves, in search of more mans in more rooms. If we believe What If? #9, the robot luckily falls into the river immediately after leaving the lab. In that story he's located by Namora and given to the proto-Avengers. It's always fun to see how robot technology was imagined in earlier eras. Why, this thing would work perfectly if only we could install a regulator to get it to stop repeating its last command! Quality Rating: C Chronological Placement Considerations: As Thanos6 notes in the comments, the events here differ from what we'll see in the Agents of Atlas series, and in fact the MCP lists this as an appearance of the alternate universe Human Robot that appears in the What If story, as opposed to the one in the regular Marvel universe. I'm treating this as one of those cases of a story being similar to, but not the same as, what really happened (similar to the What If story, actually). References: N/A Crossover: N/A Continuity Insert? N My Reprint: Agents of Atlas TPB Inbound References (1): showCharacters Appearing: Human Robot Box 1 / Golden Age / Post-WWII CommentsIt should be noted that the story as it's presented here isn't really compatible with a flashback we see at the end of AGENTS OF ATLAS. There's definitely some continuity differences, and not minor ones either. Posted by: Thanos6 | May 24, 2016 1:17 PM Yeah, thanks, Thanos. I meant to make a note about that. See the updated Considerations. Posted by: fnord12 | May 24, 2016 1:32 PM Looks more like the art of one of the EC staff guys than John Romita. Posted by: Red Comet | May 24, 2016 6:30 PM I wonder if the story here is an urban legend/"ghost story" that spread among the populace, with the truth (seen in ATLAS) not known. Posted by: Thanos6 | May 24, 2016 7:09 PM I admit that I absolutely love the idea of a robot wandering the world and killing every man in every room he can find... ;) Posted by: Piotr W | May 24, 2016 7:41 PM Well, time to stay outdoors then, it seems. I wonder at which age the robot stops thinking of males in rooms as 'children' or 'boys' and sees them as 'men'. Also, it's kind of funny it sort of looks like Bender from Futurama, especially when you remember Bender used to dream about killing men. Posted by: OverMaster | May 28, 2017 8:47 PM Cleary, that unknown writer did not give a crap about AsimovĀ“s Laws of Robotics.... Posted by: Jay Montoya | December 8, 2017 7:59 PM Comments are now closed. |
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