I recently posted about Western Publishing's Dr. Solar, Man of the Atom and Turok, Son of Stone. Here now are my thoughts on the third of the Dell/Gold Key triumvirate, Magnus, Robot Fighter, the best (IMO) of the three. I first became interested in Magnus, Robot Fighter in 1991, when Valiant Comics brought him back. More-or-less concurrently, they released four issues of Vintage Magnus, which reprinted issues key to the revival.
- Reprinted #1, the orgin/first appearance of Magnus
- Reprinted #3, the first appearance of Xyrkol
- Reprinted #13, the first appearance of Dr. Lazlo Noel
- Reprinted #16, the "Cloud Cloddies" vs. the "Gophs"
Then, in 1992 (along with Original Solar and Original Turok), Valiant released a single issue of Original Magnus which reprinted #2. Like the other two, Original Magnus was "reformatted" to better appeal to readers of the day, but unlike the other two, I could not bring myself to re-read it this time around. More recently (2004), Dark Horse collected all 21 of the non-reprint Gold Key issues in archival format. The series begins toward the end of the final year of the 40th century (on August 5th to be precise) and, because the full title is Magnus, Robot Fighter - 4000 A.D. and never changed, I assume the rest of the series takes place within a (roughly) five month span until the end of the calendar year.
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YEARBOOK:
Valiant called their annuals "Yearbooks," and Magnus Yearbook #1 was set before the events of Valiant's own ongoing series. The year is not specified, but because of the word "yearbook," I like to think it takes place in late 4000 or early 4001. In any case, it has to take place somewhere between August 5, 4000 (when the original series began) and March 16, 4001 (when the new series began). The artist for the Yearbook was Paul Smith, just about the best possible choice. Moreso than any other other artist, his style more closely resembles that of the late, great Russ Manning.
Between 2011 and 2014, Dark Horse released three DC-style archive editions reprinting the entire run of Western's original Magnus, which I own. I enjoyed the series mainly for Russ Manning's art (and Leeja). After all these years, I just found out that Mr Manning was also the writer.
Are yours first edition hardcovers? Those are the ones I mentioned above, but mine were published in 2004, 2005 and 2006.
All three are first editions, but they are softcovers.
Ah. I have not seen those. Dark Horse, I know, reprinted Gold Key's Doctor Solar, Man of the Atom first in hardcover (on glossy stock), then in softcover (on non-glossy stock). Dark Horse reproduced the original color and, to my eye, the Solar stuff looked better on non-glossy stock than on glossy. I'm guessing that would hold true for Magnus as well, but I really liked Valiant's version (but that was only four issues). I am currently re-reading the Gold Key material, then (if my purpose holds), I intend to move on to the Valiant series. Up now...
MAGNUS & NEXUS:
In 1993, Valiant and Dark Horse co-published the two-issue Magnus & Nexus inter-company crossover series. Like Paul Smith's, Steve Rude's style is highly complementary to russ Manning's. This series is not counted in the "official" numbering of Nexus comics (because of rights issues), but it is by both Mike Baron and Steve rude and is most definitely considered canon on Earth-J. The first issue is told mostly from Magnus's point of view, with Nexus arriving on the scene in North Am only on the last five pages. He is pursuing a mass murderer who has fled to the future, and Baron does a good job smoothing over the approximately 1500 year gap (and other discrepancies) between the two universes. As with the Magnus Yearbook, I place the events of this series in early 4001, after the yearbook but before Valiant's ongoing series.
Back in the '90s, Peter David wrote a "But I Digress" column about "unusual match-ups" or something like that, then he invited readers to send in their own suggestions. I sent in Magnus, Robot Fighter vs. The Robot from Lost in Space. My suggesation saw print, but I couldn't get the image out of my mind. I even pictured it in my mind's eye as being depicted by Steve Rude. Several Years later, at the Mid-South Con, Rude was a guest and I had him render it in pencil and ink for me. Tracy, if you would do the honors...?