Robot Archie

Robot Archie
Robot Archie in the 1968 story "Robot Archie and the Shark Monster of Aronda Bay"
Publication information
Publisher	IPC Magazines/Wildstorm
First appearance	Lion #1, 23 February 1952
Created by	E. George Cowan Ernest also known as Jim Kearon
In-story information
Alter ego	N/A
Team affiliations	Black Flag
Notable aliases	The Jungle Robot, Archie The Robot, Archie de Man van Staal (Dutch), Archie Le Merveilleux Robot (French), Archie l'homme d'acier (French)
Abilities	Super strength, bulletproof, telescopic limbs.

Robot Archie is the name of a fictional comic book character from Lion, a weekly British boys' adventure title.

Robot Archie appeared in Lion Issue #1 in February 1952; it was published by IPC Magazines -- at the time, the biggest publisher of weekly adventure comics in the UK, along with DC Thomson. Lion was a science fiction action-adventure title in the mold of Eagle, and was a direct competitor to it.

Archie began his career in Lion with the moniker The Jungle Robot. The character was created by writer E. George Cowan and artist Ted Kearon. The strip lasted 25 weeks before it took a five-year hiatus and returned in 1957 as Archie, The Robot Explorer, eventually becoming better known as Robot Archie.

The strip was one of Lion's most popular during the '60s, but the character's adventures ended when Lion was finally cancelled in May '74. However, Robot Archie strips did appear in colour (with re-drawn art from the Dutch series) in Vulcan, a short-lived weekly title which lasted until 1976. The series was published in France and the Netherlands, and was popular there. In the Netherlands, beginning in 1971, Robot Archie appeared in the comics magazine Sjors, for which Bert Bus drew new Archie material (which was translated into French, as well), and two or three series of albums, which -- like the Archie publication in France -- were halted in the early '80s.

After that, Robot Archie entered publishing limbo but remained well-loved by fans. He made a brief cameo showing under the name "Android Andy" in Alan Moore and Alan Davis's run on Captain Britain for Marvel UK. Subsequently, Archie emerged in the pages of Grant Morrison's Zenith strip in 2000 AD. There, he was portrayed as a burned-out acid casualty calling himself "Acid Archie".