Number 1669: The millionaire robot

The final entry in our theme week, Strange Robot Adventures, is a 12-page story split across two issues, numbers 53 and 54 (1955), in 6-page chapters. The robot in this tale is a crook.



It is written by Otto Binder (who created the sentient robot pulp character, Adam Link, and was chief scripter for Captain Marvel for many years), so in the robot we have an interesting character, at least. In my opinion this reads like a Captain Marvel story without Captain Marvel and without the whimsy that character represented. That isn’t to say there isn’t satire; at second glance it appears to be a jab at greed, wealth and materialism. And the message to me in the robot Tim Steele’s “scorn for money” is an attack on The American Way of Life! You can draw your own conclusions.



The first episode, “The Millionaire Robot,” is from the last pre-Comics Code issue of Strange Adventures, and the second is from the first Code-approved issue. It doesn’t seem to make much difference. There does not seem to be anything in the earlier tale that would be blocked by the heavy hand of the censor.



According to the Grand Comics Database the art is by Henry Sharp and Joe Giella.

Here is a two-part story of the Black Rider, where the first part is pre-Code and the second part produced under the Comics Code with perceptible differences. Just click on the thumbnail.

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