Tuesday, August 16, 2022

Warbat probably had vast computing power, like 160 gigabytes or something.

Somehow, the Warbat hasn't gotten an action figure? Honestly, feels like several characters from Legends of the Dead Earth probably could've. From 1996, Detective Comics Annual #9, "Warbat" Written by Chuck Dixon, pencils by Flint Henry, inks by James Hodgkins.
Thousands of years after earth, on the planet Typhon, a time-lost frieghter makes a delivery two thousand years late: a warbot, which is found by some kids on the sunny side of the planet, Sybaris. The planet didn't rotate, so the other side, Crotona, was always night, which eventually led the citizens there to revolt over the less-pleasant living conditions. The war was fought in the stormy region between the two sides, for centuries, but ended in a draw: the Sybarians built a weapon that drove the Crotonans back, and while they hadn't been seen in like a thousand years, the Sybarians still fretted that they might someday attack again. Young Deely thinks the bot is to fight the Crotonans; although it was bought by them instead: his main contribution is a bit of paint and welding bat-ears on it. Geela, "the best gearjock in the gang," is able to alter its programming to make it a "good guy," but she can't change its directive to march to Crotona.
Cue Goonies style adventure, as Deely and Geely independently make themselves Robin outfits for the trip. (Poor Bruggo has to be "Alfred Gordon," one of Batman's friends.) In the stormy region, the Warbat defends them against Crotonan "genetic constructs," lab-built monsters, that seem to be running wild. Eventually, they find a Crotonan city, of the dead: all killed off in the last war, but the Sybarians never knew it. But one grinning warbot remains active, dubbed "the Jokester" by Deely: the two destroy each other. Geela thinks they were just obeying programming from long-dead masters, but Deely believes the Warbat had been a hero to the end.
Returning to sunlight, Geela wonders if they should tell anyone, but considers her people might need "a devil to believe in." (That's how tons of resources get spent on defense!) Deely figures on a smaller lie, a fishing trip, to get into less trouble; but wonders if he doesn't like the night a little bit...Deely also saved the Warbat's head, which will probably have a cult built around it inside of a hundred years, if prior history is any indication. 

Even though there was a better than even chance I had this already, I bought another copy of this and Detective Comics Annual #7 the other day: it was a slow week for me, and I wasn't 100% sure I still had either. #7 is of course "Leatherwing," the Pirate Batman Elseworlds, which did get action figures. Warbat may have just missed a window of opportunity, I guess.

2 comments:

  1. I mean isn't the Batbot that came with the Jim Gordon Batman close enough? Probably. Plus the Hellbat figure as well. But yeah, if Todd's ever interested, there's plenty of potential figure fodder there in those annuals.
    I think I had a couple of those LOTDK figures myself back in the day, specifically Nightwing, Catwoman, and that giant Scarecrow figure.

    How many did you have?

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  2. The Batman with the massive Kelley Jones cape and ears, and Man-Bat! Despite the articulation being a bit dated, that Man-Bat's still a great looking figure.

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