Magnus, Robot Fighter Volume 1 (Magnus, Robot Fighter A… (2024)

Louie the Mustache Matos

1,226 reviews112 followers

October 17, 2022

Although the comic book industry can be a cutthroat, dog-eat-dog world, I believe it is necessary to acknowledge that Dark Horse was smart enough to purchase and reprint much of the classic work of now defunct comic companies such as EC, Tower, and Gold Key. Case-in-point, Russ Manning was a one-man show during the sixties writing, drawing, and lettering these Magnus, Robot Fighter comics. These are extremely beautiful with painted covers, spacious panel design, and minimal narration. The art is allowed to breathe, to tell the story as sequenced art is supposed to do. Manning's work was not just singularly drawn, but he also had a unique process delineated by Mike Royer in the foreword. Manning would work on all the pages of a book, simultaneously. He believed that by completing his work in just such a way, no singular page would be affected by "a bad day." Also, considering that Manning was a contemporary of Stan Lee, Manning's storytelling style is much more svelte. Although Magnus is essentially a one-note character, (see a robot, smash a robot) the stories are surprisingly engaging. The action is phenomenally drawn with overt movement throughout. The robots are often horrifying and other times clean and distinct. The issues collected here are Magnus, Robot Fighter 4000 AD #1-7 originally published in 1963 and 1964 introducing the satellite characters: 1-A, Leeja, Senator Clane as well as continuing villains Mekman, Xyrkol, and H8. I know that they are not Marvel Master Works, but these most certainly ARE Master Works.

    adventure classic comic-books

Dan Schwent

3,136 reviews10.7k followers

April 29, 2022

Magnus, Robot Fighter 4000 AD collects Magnus #1-7.

This book was really hard to find at a price I could live with. I found one that had been sitting on ebay for months and shot the dealer a lowball offer at $50 below the asking price. She agreed, making me wish I would have went $10-15 lower.

Russ Manning cut his teeth on the Dell/Gold Key Tarzan comics before jumping on board Magnus before jumping back to the Tarzan camp for the Tarzan newspaper strip. He was a fitting choice since Magnus is best described as Tarzan with robots.

Raised by 1A in the far future of 4000 AD, Magnus is trained to be able to destroy robots with his bare hands. This sounds somewhat ridiculous but the tone of these stories is surprisingly dark considering the sunny future setting. Magnus rails against man's overdependence on robots and chops them down to size when they invariably violate the rules of robotics, which they always do.

I rated this a three because some of the stories are kind of weak but I love the Russ Manning artwork. Manning is from the Wally Wood/Alex Raymond school and he wears his influences proudly on his sleeve. He's also a forerunner of later artists who use a more minimalist style like Steve Rude. Manning's future is sleek and his robots manage to be menacing while simultaneously looking somewhat ridiculous.

More stuff from here made it into the Valiant version of Magnus than I thought: Everyone knows Magnus and Leeja made the jump but I had no idea Mekman, Xyrkol, and the Malevs originated here as well.

I'm rating this a high 3. Squeeeee!

    2022 2022-comics

S. Zahler

Author27 books1,168 followers

February 12, 2021

How many treasures did Gold Key Comics publish in the fifties and sixties?

After enjoying the bizarre and violent Kona Monarch of Monster Isle, the far classier Brothers of the Spear, tons of Donald Duck and Uncle Scrooge stories, and some Paul Murry Mickey Mouse, I read and relished this first collection of Magnus, Robot Fighter stories, which were written and drawn by the superb Russ Manning. This comic was better and far more conceptually engaging than the "smash bad robots" premise led me to believe, though delivers plenty of robo-smashing as well.

(Mild spoilers for three issues follow in this paragraph.) Robots discover an ultra dense, unbreakable ore that they intend to use for building a robo-army in one tale, and in another story, a seemingly immortal 'bot creates an encoded sonic burst that contains all of its memories so that it can be "reborn" in another body with newly gained knowledge. In another issue, a repair robot cannibalizes an entire world to grow the size of its brain on a planetary scale.
Magnus Robot Fighter stories are family friendly, but they certainly engaged my sense of wonder more than I'd ever have expected. A couple of times, the tales brought to mind some of my favorite contemporary sci-fi authors---Greg Egan, Ted Chiang, and Stephen Baxter.

Each issue has a strong robot-gone-amok concept that Manning delivers with sharp art, which brings to mind Hal Foster (albeit simpler) and with the dramatic shadows of Wally Wood. And unlike many comics of this era, the momentum of these stories is not hampered by over-explaining things and describing what has been drawn or should have been drawn. Magnus Robot Fighter is very visually told and readable. It feels like and is a singular and coherent artistic vision.

Intriguing premises, menacing robots, a serious viewpoint on the perils of relying too much upon technology, pristine art, dramatic lighting, and plenty of mano-a-roboto fisticuffs add up to make this an incredibly enjoyable sci-fi comic that is different from, but just as successful as my other sci-fi comic favorites---Oesterheld & Lopez's The Eternaut, E.C.'s Weird Science, James Robert's More Than Meets the Eye, Jim Starlin's Dreadstar, Jack Kirby's Kamandi, King & Walta's The Vision and select issues of Moore's Swamp Thing run.

I look forward to reading the rest of Manning's Magnus Robot Righter, as well as more of his work elsewhere and other Gold Key Comics.

    illustrated-comic-books

Stephanie Griffin

906 reviews161 followers

January 6, 2012

MAGNUS, ROBOT FIGHTER 4000 A.D., Volume 1, is a collection of the first seven issues of the fabulous comic which started in 1963. It was created and drawn by the phenomenal Russ Manning. It is now my favorite old-fashioned comic art.
Magnus is the only person on Earth who can fight evil robots; he always wins, and he always has the adoration of his damsel-in-distress girlfriend Leeja. Here he manages to save the world in seven different stories. Also included is a short biography of Manning and some concept art.
Dark Horse, the publisher of this collection, has done a remarkable job in reprinting the comic. It is obvious that they took great care in the printing by using vibrant colors and crisp, clear lines.
If you miss the days when men were men and women liked it that way, be sure to get this volume!

    favorites

Jason Pym

Author4 books16 followers

December 7, 2022

A Dark Horse reprint of 1960s pulp scifi. Great fun in its own right, but also nice to discover the roots of Judge Dredd - the council chamber with the giant golden eagle looking like the Justice Department, it all takes place in a giant metropolis that covers the North American continent, scenes of the city looking like Mega City One, cheesy robot designs looking like the ABC Warriors.

    comics

Travis

Author26 books38 followers

January 21, 2011

Wonderful collection of the original Magnus comic stories.
A man, raised by robots, returns to 'man's world', the futuristic city of North-Am to help mankind fight back against the robots that are slowly taking over the world.Some through evil schemes ( they can be stopped by punching them so hard their heads fall off) and some by just being way too protective and helpful to their human masters.

The stories have a kind of 'Tarzan in the future' feel and the art reminds me a lot of the old Hanna-barbara super hero cartoons.
Lots of action, funky science, pretty pictures and the occasional lecture about how man cannot let himself become too dependent on his machines.

The part of my brain that loves irony wonders if this is one of the comics can be downloaded to your cellphone?

One of the great things about this mad rush of comic companies buying the rights to older characters, is while the newer stories can be really uneven, there have been lots of these kinds of collections of the old stories.

    classics comic-books manly-literature

Mike

699 reviews

June 11, 2017

In the mid-century modern world of the year 4000, humans are really lazy, and expect robots to do all their work. The robots frequently freak out and try to destroy the gleaming future city-continent of NorthAm. Magnus is the only person that can stand up to them. Repeat as necessary.
The stories are simplistic, but the art is charming.

Zach

2 reviews1 follower

August 13, 2010

They don't write them like this anymore. A little cheesy but I like Russ Manning's story lines

David

28 reviews

February 13, 2014

I'm totally afraid of robots now.

Bill

652 reviews17 followers

February 17, 2018

One of my favorites when I was young. Very dated. But very fun.

    graphic-novel-comic on-shelf sf

Erica

85 reviews

April 3, 2018

Oh so deliciously 1950's. It's like someone threw a fedora, repressed emotions and patting the secretary's ass into a still and this is the prison hooch that came out. Glorious and painful.

D. Meador

178 reviews5 followers

August 28, 2019

Read all these (issues 1-7 of volume one) when they were originally released; loved them then and love them more now. Amazing how relevant they are to today's world.

    read-2019

Ben

244 reviews3 followers

July 28, 2023

I did not have the opportunity to get any trade of this series in hand, as they are all out of print and extremely expensive on the second-hand market. Instead I settled for scans of the originally seven floppy issues, which fortunately included the "Key of Knowledge" educational insert on the inside of the front and back cocvers, as well as the back up comic stream "The Aliens." Both of these I enjoyed very much.

Magnus, Robot Fighter Volume 1 (Magnus, Robot Fighter A… (12)

Magnus Robot Fighter is an atomic-era wish-fulfillment vehicle set in the retrofuturistic 4000 A.D.. The setting incorporates contemporary ideas of what the future might bring. Isaac Asimov is an obvious inspiration. Our titular hero, Magnus, reminds me of Tarzan. He is a supreme athlete who deftly navigates this strange, futuristic environment in order to rescue his damsel. He is a conservative who wants to strengthen man, and lectures at every opportunity that the individual of this era has become weak and subservient to the machines. It's a very manly attitude.

The art is unbeatable, except that Magnus very rarely has more than a single facial expression (one that is overall serious, discerning, and unapproving). I especially love the archetypal design of the robots. Their design will remind all curent-era readers of Bender from Futurama.

The story is silly and contrived, but far from boring. I did roll my eyes with how much Magnus gets away with on charisma alone (and his imposing stature next to the deteriorated WALL-E-esque bodies of the common future denizen). It only takes a brief introduction to Senator Clane (Leeja's father) before Magnus starts being regularly summoned for his opinion on current events before the senate. Perhaps people are more trusting in the year 4000! Or perhaps, they see themselves completely at his mercy? In that way, it feels very similar to early Superman comics.

Magnus, Robot Fighter Volume 1 (Magnus, Robot Fighter A… (13)

I absolutely recommend these issues to anyone finding themselves in a phase of retrofuturism appreciation, or any fans of other sci-fi from the 1950-60s.

Joseph

371 reviews15 followers

September 8, 2022

Great art. Plotting is weak and repetitive, Robot/Evil-Genius/Robot Evil-Genius wants to take over the world, Magnus smashes them into oblivion. If they are human, and we don’t see a corpse, one or two issues later they will return, to try and take over the world. That said, the writing is decent, the action flows well and it never becomes to talky, and there are some nice touches, now and again, and it has a darker tone than you would expect. Enjoyable
For what it is, and worth it for Russ Manning’s art alone, the painted covers are fabulous.

Michael P.

Author3 books69 followers

April 21, 2022

I was told by a former comic book writer that I should give this a try. I gave it a try. I should not have given it a try. Russ Manning is a masterful artist and visual storyteller, but the stories told are not worth telling. I have the next volume, so I suppose I'll give that a try as well and hope for improvement.

Alex Fyffe

456 reviews43 followers

June 26, 2018

3.5

Fraser Sherman

Author9 books30 followers

March 25, 2013

Russ Manning takes a familiar concept—man becoming too dependent on his machines—and adapts it for comic-book action. In far-future Nor-Am, robots do everything, leaving humans complacent; some robots and some scheming roboticists seek to exploit that. Enter Magnus, a man trained in martial arts to the point he can smash steel—and trained for the purpose of stopping the evil robots. Not deep, but solidly done.

    graphic-novels

Matthew

167 reviews3 followers

April 27, 2014

I thought that this would be some campy fun, as most Silver-Age, sci-fi comics are, but I did not expect how good this would be. Manning has such a command of the form that every panel is a masterpiece. The stories are fun and well written and the designs of the future tech and robots are stunning.

Mark Dickson

105 reviews4 followers

April 23, 2010

Loved them then, love them now.

Keith Edwards

Author15 books1 follower

December 23, 2011

The stories are simplistic mid century sci-fi pulp, but the designs are pure Retrofuturistic fun. Robots, rockets, mile high city-scapes and flying cars as far as the eye can see.

Forrest

Author46 books814 followers

May 30, 2013

To say these haven't aged well is an understatement. The only thing I enjoyed was some of the art.

Eric Onkenhout

31 reviews5 followers

January 4, 2014

Really well written and drawn comics that predict mans reliance on robots and mechanics.

Michael Laflamme

257 reviews3 followers

January 9, 2022

A wonderful classic 'Dark Horse (TM)' Comic from my past. Amazing that the memories of so many make these old characters available today. Long Live Comics!!

Magnus, Robot Fighter Volume 1 (Magnus, Robot Fighter A… (2024)
Top Articles
Latest Posts
Recommended Articles
Article information

Author: Duncan Muller

Last Updated:

Views: 6100

Rating: 4.9 / 5 (59 voted)

Reviews: 90% of readers found this page helpful

Author information

Name: Duncan Muller

Birthday: 1997-01-13

Address: Apt. 505 914 Phillip Crossroad, O'Konborough, NV 62411

Phone: +8555305800947

Job: Construction Agent

Hobby: Shopping, Table tennis, Snowboarding, Rafting, Motor sports, Homebrewing, Taxidermy

Introduction: My name is Duncan Muller, I am a enchanting, good, gentle, modern, tasty, nice, elegant person who loves writing and wants to share my knowledge and understanding with you.