Ro-Busters
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Ro-Busters is a British comic strip that formed part of the original line-up of Starlord. Similar in premise to that of the Thunderbirds television series, Ro-Busters was created by writer Pat Mills and was drawn by Dave Gibbons, Kevin O'Neill and Mike McMahon.
Along with Strontium Dog and the belated Time-Quake, Ro-Busters survived Starlord's merger with 2000 AD, its sister comic at IPC Magazines Ltd.. The series introduced the de-commissioned war robot Hammerstein and the sewer robot Ro-Jaws, and gave rise to the popular ABC Warriors and Nemesis the Warlock series.
Mandate
Robots are going to take over Man's dirtiest jobs . . . clearing his garbage, tending his sick, even fighting his wars! By the year 2078 people will change their robots as today they change their cars. So step now through the slick plasto-glass doors of "Flash" Harry Lowder's robo-mart in the year 2078 . . .Quoted from Ro-Busters "Day of the Robot", Starlord Starzine 1.
Overview
Ro-Busters depicts a world where artificially intelligent robots are so ubiquitous they are treated with contempt by humans and there is a class hierarchy among the robots themselves. Ro-Busters is a commercial rescue organisation run by Howard Quartz, known as "Mr. 10 Per Cent" because 90% of him is robotic. Quartz uses robots to carry out his perilous rescue missions because no-one cares if they live or die. Any insubordination in the ranks is dealt with by his enforcer, the psychotic and stupid "kill-dozer" Mek-Quake. Ro-Jaws and Hammerstein, the two main characters, are hugely courageous but after each successful mission they are usually greeted with indifference by the authorities.When the owner of Ro-Busters decides to destroy the robots in an 'accident' as a tax evasion measure, Ro-Jaws and Hammerstein lead an escape plot. Once free they learn that a robot underground exists and that a safe haven for free robots has been established on the Saturn's moon Titan. The Ro-Busters by this stage are being pursued by a ruthless police unit charged with suppressing robot liberation. A transport is arranged to take the robots to Titan but at the last moment the police close in so Ro-Jaws and Hammerstein with a few volunteers lead a seeming suicide mission to fight off the authorities and buy time for their comrades to escape. The mission is a success and Ro-Jaws and Hammerstein are seen walking off into the sunset.
The series has a high degree of satiric comment on contemporary Britain as Pat Mills had shown on other series. The brutal police squad sent to capture the robots is a parody of the Special Patrol Group while the willful destruction of a productive and loyal workforce reflects the effects of Thatcherism. Ro-Jaws and Hammerstein's names are a word play on the musical writing pairing of Rodgers and Hammerstein and the story also features a number of song and dance routines.
It is also a ruthless parody of the Gerry Anderson puppet series Thunderbirds. In Thunderbirds, International Rescue carried out its missions for purely altruistic reasons. In Ro-Busters, however, Quartz's team is only sent to help those who have paid for his overpriced 'disaster insurance', and the entire business is operated with a healthy profit margin as its highest priority - actually saving lives is some way down the list.
Stories
Timeline: 2078 — 2080
NB: All untitled stories not known by a popular name have been designated by their 'Next Week' taglines.
- Day of the Robot
- The North Sea Tunnel"
- Red Mist
- Midpoint
- The Ritz Space Hotel
- Farnborough Droid Show
- Massacre on the Moon
- The Taxman Cometh!
- Avalanche!
- Earthquake!
- Bax the Burner
- Old Red Eyes is Back!
- Stormeagles Are Go!
- Death on the Orient Express
- Hammer-Stein's War Memoirs
- Ro-Jaws's Memoirs
- The Terra-Meks
- The Rise and Fall of Ro-Jaws and Hammer-Stein
Trivia
- Ro-Busters twice"Hammer-Stein's War Memoirs" (part 4) 2000 AD Prog 91, page 1.3 and "The Rise and Fall of Ro-Jaws and Hammerstein" (part 1) 2000 AD Prog 103, Page 6.2. makes reference to Mega-City One, the vast megalopolis patrolled by Judge Dredd.
Footnotes
External links
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