Robots in dis poncho.
So I was pricing up some comics the other day, and my eyes just happened to light upon a title I hadn’t ever seen before on one of the price guide pages. I looked up the comic on the Grand Comics Database and sure enough, that was a cover entirely unfamiliar to me.
Well, I was intrigued, so one visit to the eBays and the passing of some mailing transit time later, I am now the proud owner of the one and only issue of Zody the Mod Rob, published by Gold Key in 1970:
A representative panel:
I’ve done this sort of thing before…I spotted in the price guide some Popeye educational four-page something or ‘nother I hadn’t known about, and after finding a cheap copy on eBay here it is in my hot little hand.
It just showed up in the mail on Thursday, so I haven’t had a chance to read it yet. Online pals who have tell me not to bother, but c’mon, look at this dumb thing. It totally smacks of someone in his 40s sittin’ around his office, puffing on a cigarette and thinking of What The Kids Are Into and scripting the comic accordingly. (See also that first run of the Teen Titans.)
Anyway, if you need to know more, here’s a good write-up from some years back (though I’ll add the reason the title is in plain type up above the logo, as wondered by that writer, is so the comic could be more easily identified on the rack if a bunch of books are overlapped on a single shelf — same reason for the corner boxes showing the characters on Marvel books).
I’m probably gonna close voting on the Final ’90s Countdown at the end of next week, so get in your favorite 1990s indie book over at that post sooner rather than later!
It looks like a rip-off of Brother Power the Geek. Also in that sense of “middle aged guy trying to write a comic that will appeal to the youngsters of today”.
The first issue of Brother Power wasn’t too bad, upsetting the squares at DC editorial. The second issue is really hilarious with Brother Power getting a corporate job and using his powers to make the factory run more efficiently. Yeah, that’s going to endear Brother Power to the hippies.
I can’t lie: if I’d seen this around 2003 it would have informed my entire internet persona.
BANISH YVOORG NAM! NOW ONLY MOD ROB!
Where you see “dumb,” I see fun! I love the first iteration of the Teen Titans. Bob Haney wrote fun, zany stories. Later, when Bob Kanigher and Steve Skeates came on board, the Teen Titans stories did become more serious and topical, addressing bigotry, poverty, the generation gap, the environment, etc. –just like the acclaimed Green Lantern/Green Arrow run by O’Neil and
Adams.
I think someone should research and publish a book about Mod style in comics. There must have been at least a hundred issues of various Romance comics published between DC, Marvel, and Charlton, that had late ’60s/early ’70s Mod fashion going on. I know I found a few early ’70s Charlton Romance comics recently that had beautiful artwork by Jose Luis Garcia Lopez, before he worked for DC.
Anyway, I was going to note the Zody and Brother Power similarities but Chris V beat me to it. However, it could be a fun project for Mike Allred or somebody to do a Zody/Brother Power crossover set in 1969–maybe also bring in The Mod Squad, Mod-era Teen Titans, and Scooby Doo. There could be cameos by Scooter, Angel and the Ape, and the Mad Mod. Perhaps Professor Ivo–or whoever created Amazo–has turned
Zody and Brother Power evil. The covers could feature the famous DC Go-Go checks.
@ Chris V
Steve Jobs must have read that second issue of Brother Power the Geek and been inspired to go from hippie to corporate overlord.
This looks AMAZING.
A little weird they didn’t just call him the Mod ROBOT, but that’s Gold Key for you.
“a hundred issues of various Romance comics published between DC”
Saw an ad for an old DC romance comic that was clearly referencing Woodstock, something i don’t think would’ve been in batman or Superman!
Yes, DC and Marvel both had an issue of their romance comics set at Woodstock. DC’s story actually predated the Marvel story. It was in Falling in Love #118, “I Found My Love at Woodstock”, from 1970.
Hilariously, “her love” was named Robin. It has his name on the cover. Apparently, DC was hoping to get some Batman fans to pay their money to see Batman’s sidekick falling in love at Woodstock.
The Marvel rendition was in My Love #14, “It Happened at Woodstock”, written by Gary Friedrich from 1971.
now there’s a crossover with “Magnus, Robot Fighter” I’d like to see!
Sounds like the right year. It was an old issue of JLA.
@Chris V
Do you happen to know who illustrated the DC Woodstock-themed story with a character named Robin? Was it George Tuska, by chance? I ask because I was reading an early ’70s DC horror comic awhile ago (it might have been an issue of Tales of the Unexpected) and the protagonists in one story, who were drawn by George Tuska, totally looked like Dick Grayson and Lilith Clay from the Teen Titans– which Tuska was also drawing during that same time period.
Also, that reminds me of the Bronze Age Teen Titans story where Aqualad and Aquagirl are hanging out at the free rock concert circa the Woodstock era.
Sean-Murphy Anderson is listed as artist for the DC story. There’s no information to be found about who might have been the writer.
@ Chris V
Thanks for the info. Murphy was certainly a talented artist. I appreciate his Silver Age Hawkman stories, and also his inking over Infantino on Adam Strange stories. His early Bronze Age John Carter of Mars, and Korak work is really nice as well.
In the case of that George Tuska story, I wonder if he just had “stock” attractive faces he drew for young adults and then the colorist just made the woman a redhead, but the characters really do seem to resemble Dick Grayson and Lilith Clay.
I think the issue of Tales of the Unexpected that has the Lilith/Dick Grayson lookalikes is no. 127, from the story “Follow the Piper to Your Grave” –unless I am getting it confused with another George Tuska story from a romance comic, which may be the case. Anyway, Robert Kanigher wrote that TOTU story, and since he created Lilith, maybe he indicated to Tuska to draw the character similar to Lilith, or maybe it was just Tuska’s whim?!
Thanks for the aside about the Marvel corner boxes… I always kinda wondered if there was a specific reason they were there (other than looking cool).
I recall reading that Steve Ditko came up with the idea for the corner boxes on Marvel Comics–so that they could be more easily identifiable on the crowded news stand racks–and pitched it to Stan, and Martin Goodman approved it. I don’t know whether or not Ditko ever got any credit for that idea through Stan mentioning it in a letters page in a Marvel comic. But there is the instance of Stan crediting Ditko for Dr. Strange’s creation, writing ” …’twas Steve’s idea” in a letter page, so perhaps Stan gave him credit for the corner boxes as well. Does anybody out there know?
Then over at DC awhile later there were the Go-Go checks at the top of DC Comics for a short period in the Silver Age, and in the early Bronze Age DC somewhat modified the Marvel corner boxes idea by having small drawings of Superman, Batman, Flash, Aquaman, Green Lantern, and maybe a few other characters, appear (usually) in the top left corner of their individual books, next to the trade dress. In some cases there would be Batman in the left corner and Robin or Batgirl in the right corner of an issue of a Batman comic or a Detective Comics comic. Kind of a neat concept, but it could also distract from the cover art–especially if it was a cool Neal Adams cover. What I think looked better were the early Bronze Age JLA covers with the heads of various JLA members drawn on the left side of the cover in a descending margin–and, when it was that Crisis time of the year, the heads of various JSA members drawn on the right side of the cover in a descending margin. Those covers were cool! And there was even that one time when the heads of the Earth-S (Fawcett Comics) heroes were drawn along the bottom of a JLA covers as well–to quote Gomer Pyle and Billy Batson–“Shazam!” But I think the coolest early Bronze Age DC superhero covers were the run of the Teen Titans which featured individual drawings of Robin, Kid Flash, Wonder Girl, and Speedy along the left margin of the comic, along with those artfully designed Nick Cardy covers.
But here’s a question, why did Gold Key Comics avoid putting issue numbers on their covers and why did Charlton Comics, in the early Silver Age, have the issue number print on their covers so tiny that it was very difficult to read?
“why did Gold Key Comics avoid putting issue numbers on their covers”
That’s ALWAYS been a petty annoyance!