Astro Boy (NOW Comics)
| The Original Astro Boy | |
|---|---|
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| Publication information | |
| Publisher | NOW Comics |
| Schedule | Monthly |
| Publication date | September 18, 1987 - June 23, 1989 |
| No. of issues | 20 |
| Creative team | |
| Written by | Ken Steacy, Michael Dempsey |
| Artist(s) | Ken Steacy, Brian Thomas, Andrew Pratt |
| Letterer(s) | Andrew Pratt, Marc Hansen |
The Original Astro Boy is a twenty-issue 1980s comic book series (with one Astro Boy short story in Speed Racer #17) by NOW Comics, based on the original Japanese Mighty Atom series by Osamu Tezuka. The series was based mostly on the 1963 Astro Boy anime series, but begun to include elements from the 1980 series in later issues. The comic went through three writers and artists, and embellished the original plotline, despite only covering the first episode of the 1963 series.
The series begins with Dr. Boynton (Doctor Tenma) putting together Astro Boy, and immediately adopting him under the name "Astor." After only a few days, Boynton becomes fed up with Astro's cold, unchildlike behavior, and plans to shut down and discard him. However, Astro begins to discover that he has powers and was based on Boynton's dead son. In the meantime, the army attempts to capture Astro, as it is hinted that Boynton borrowed money from the military and couldn't repay them. Dr. Elefun (Professor Ochanomizu) is also trying to find Astro, as well as keep the Institute of Science under control. Astro is sold to the circus with an implanted robot named Bruno (a sentient bomb looking like a spider), where he discovers his fellow robots are constantly in anguish. From there, Astro is pulled into the middle of the robot rights revolution. This story was covered in issues 1-10.
Following the end of the initial storyline, issue 12 focused on the president of a large company called Megacorp hiring a cloaked figure named Agent R to lure in and destroy Astro. Agent R (shown later to be Lance Lumiere, former Institute of Science researcher) used a bulky robot named 'Megathreat' to kidnap a boy named Archie from Astro's school. Archie happens to be the Megacorp president's son, and the plan begins to fail. Astro, in the meantime, is recovering from an internal overload after saving a police car from sinking in the bay. Despite Elefun's warning, Astro goes out to save Archie, destroys Megathreat and earns the Megacorp president's respect.
This was the point in the series when Brian Thomas took over as the main artist, adopting Astro's 1980 character design. Issues 16-18 featured Astro going on a rocket to space, with General Hawkins hoping to find out the reason for multiple shuttle disappearances around a certain area. As Astro and the flight crew prepare to depart, Astro Girl hides on board, with Dr. I.Q. Plenty and Spud doing the same. Dr. Boynton appears one last time and gives Astro a special back-up battery cell, but warns Astro not to let it overload. While in space, the ship is attacked by a grotesque monster, and crashes on the planet of the Cybots. Astro and the crew are dragged to the palace of King Cosmo, the leader of the Cybots. The Cybots, as it was hinted in earlier issues, were a brand of extremely advanced androids who faced human discrimination and were forced to flee to space. King Cosmo finds Astro Girl and orders his men to destroy her, forcing Astro to fight them. After Astro tells Cosmo that humans and robots are equals now, he explodes from the overloading battery. While I.Q. and the shuttle crew try to repair Astro, King Cosmo announces that the population of Cybots will be returning to Earth, along with the members of the previously captured ships.
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