ABC Warriors
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ABC Warriors is a long running 2000 AD comic strip written by Pat Mills. The ABC Warriors themselves were a team of seven robots that had fought in the Volgan War (which had featured from the first issue in Invasion!, whose lead character was the human Bill Savage).
One of the characters, Hammerstein, was already well known through the story Ro-Busters (which had come to 2000 AD via the comic Starlord). The foundation of the robotic warriors of the Volgan War had been introduced in the Ro-Busters strip in the form of Hammerstein's recollection of his part. Hammerstein is the only ABC Warrior to appear in film, making a cameo appearance in the Judge Dredd movie.
After the end of the war, the robots were brought together to tame Mars, which had become a futuristic wild west. In further adventures set much later in time, the warriors teamed up with Nemesis the Warlock in his fight against the Termight Empire and to prevent a destabilised Black Hole bypass at the Earth's core destroying the world.
The 'ABC' part of their name stands for Atomic, Bacterial, Chemical, forms of warfare deadly to humans which they were designed to withstand.
Some of the most famous artists working in British comics have illustrated The ABC Warriors, including Kevin O'Neill, Mike McMahon, Brett Ewins, Brendan McCarthy, Carlos Ezquerra, Dave Gibbons, Simon Bisley, Kev Walker and Henry Flint, among others.
Contents |
[edit] Characters
The members of the Warriors have changed over the years. Here are the most long-serving members:
[edit] Hammerstein
Hammerstein has been the leader of the Warriors for most of the comic's run, although after the death of Terri (at the end of 'Black Hole') he surrendered the position to Deadlock for a number of stories. He was the first successful war robot built, the success due to giving him both emotions and a conscience which allowed him to distinguish between combatants and civilians. He was recruited during the Volgan Wars by the mysterious Colonel Lash to lead the ABC Warriors on Lash's post war project. Overall humanoid in form, his right 'hand' is the combat hammer that gives him his name.
[edit] Deadlock
Deadlock was the Grand Wizard of the Knights Martial, a group of highly intelligent robots who had developed psychic & magical abilities and observed the war from the Watch Tower space station. They were given special authority to try and execute Volgan war criminals during the conflict. Deadlock is a follower of the Khaos religion, and as such is often at odds with the order and duty-fixated Hammerstein, which in the story 'Black Hole' ultimately led him to betray and attempt to kill Hammerstein. Deadlock's powers allow him to astrally project and reform his body if it is damaged or destroyed, and he holds the sword X-Caliber, a weapon that allows him to drain the souls of the living to use as psychic 'nourishment'.
Sent to recruit him, Hammerstein duelled with Deadlock but lost through a trick and would have been used for their rituals if he hadn't tricked the wizard into relinquishing his weapon, the Ace of Swords. He then forced him into coming to Mars. After the mission was complete, Deadlock returned to the Knights Martial but discovered that in his absence the Knights had turned to more frivolous pursuits - ignoring the old values of meditation, purity and discipline which Deadlock cherished. In time they would be replaced by a genocidal human order called the Terminators. Deadlock went into isolation, meditating and studying ancient manuscripts in an attempt to reach the highest level of the astral plane, and join with his master Khaos. When he was ready, it was Nemesis himself who came for him, and they became one.
Centuries passed with no word of his whereabouts, though at some point he established a Kollege of Khaos on the comet Tiamat. He finally reappeared in the Time Wastes of Termight, to assist his former comrades in saving the planet from destruction. Although his motives were unclear at first, he assisted The Warriors in their battles with the Monad, a creature from the end of time, only to betray them when they finally reached their goal. It turned out he had been sent by his master Khaos to ensure the destruction of Termight so Khaos might spread throughout the galaxy. With the assistance of Blackblood and Mek-Quake, Deadlock launched a fearsome attack on his comrades in a bid to stop them from repairing the damage done to the Time Wastes; he was forced to betray his master and save Termight so the Monad wouldn't use the planet's destruction to turn Khaos into an evil force.
Escaping the Time Wastes, Deadlock took control of The Warriors and led them to Nemesis' home planet, Gandarva, to settle a score. The repair of the Time Wastes had restored Order to the galaxy and thus Deadlock and Nemesis had both betrayed Khaos. The two of them fought literally to the death, only to be re-born, purged of their guilt. Deadlock then took the Warriors to the planet Hekate, where they collected the seven heads needed to make them fully fledged warriors of Khaos and finally spread Khaos throughout the galaxy, but in the end the other Warriors denounced his command. Following this, he returned to his Kollege with the only member of the team who understood the twisting tides of Khaos even better than he: Ro-Jaws.
Back under the command of Hammerstein, he returned to Mars once more to discover the secrets of a zombie gang terrorising the Martian highways, but stayed on to help broker peace between the human colonists and the planetary consciousness, Medusa. When civil war broke out, Deadlock stayed on to increase the peace. When the mercenary Shadow Warriors team attacked, it was Deadlock's chaos rituals that turned the tide by resurrecting Steelhorn at the last moment.
[edit] Joe Pineapples
Joe Pineapples is the closest thing Hammerstein has to a friend, being his longest-serving comrade. Joe was built as an assassin, a former member of the elite X-Terminators (he was fired for an incident with an officer's wife), and is a sniper without equal. Joe has rebuilt himself many times to give himself new looks over the years, but one thing that has been consistent is his narcissism - the one thing he truly loves in the universe is himself! With an outward image of ice cold professionalism and a habit of seducing women, he has a secret fetish for wearing women's underwear.
Joe's talents saw him sent into Volgograd to assassinate Volgan general Volkhan, and afterwards saw him assigned to the Mars mission; he forcibly recruited General Blackblood by shooting the butcher through the heart. After Mars, Pineapples wound up working as a police instructor in London and once had to neutralise a rampaging Hammerstein who thought he was still fighting the Volgan War. Joe's career with the police continued, and on the free robot planet of Mekka he worked as an undercover officer. At some point he developed a hatred of humans ("meatheads") and was eventually put on the black list for pursuing human criminals with too much zeal. Pineapples also began taking up transvestism, apparently jaded with re-building himself time and time again and wanting to experience something new. Blackblood was able to obtain photo negatives of this.
At the request of Nemesis the Warlock, Joe left the police to rejoin the ABC Warriors in the battle to defend the Gothic Empire. Following the battle against Termight, the Warriors followed Nemesis into the Time Wastes of Termight to find the Warlock's offspring Thoth. He was dispatched into The Time Wastes with the others to repair the damage Thoth had done and save the galaxy. When Deadlock tried to sabotage the mission, Blackblood and Joe fought each other went toe to toe. For Pineapples it was a chance to get the negatives back, and for Blackblood it was a chance to finally discover what Joe had been hiding in his chest locker for the entire journey. As it turned out, the mystery item was a human heart: Joe was carrying it in a desperate bid to feel, so he could enjoy killing again.
After escaping to the planet Hekate, Pineapples helped collect the seven heads needed for the ritual that would spread Khaos through the galaxy, but suffered a breakdown as the 'Night of the Blood Moon' approached. Deadlock took it upon himself to perform an unnecessary operation on Joe, to give him a much more Khaotic outlook on life - and unlock his repressed desires for more exotic crossdressing. After Hekate, the Warriors went their separate ways, and Pineapples, sick of being on the dole for Khaos, signed up with the Terran Empire as a professional hit droid. He gained riches and status as a result, and had to be forcibly recruited into the Warriors when they banded together to take on the Terran super-ship Hellbringer.
He joined the Warriors in returning to Mars to help increase the peace between Medusa, the planetary consciousness, and her human settlers, and eventually when civil war broke out. When the mercenary Shadow Warriors were sent after them, Joe Pineapples developed a severe rivalry with mercenary and highwayman Dog-Tag - caused when Joe foiled one of Dog-Tag's heists, wiped out his gang and caused severe damage to him. Dog-Tag got revenge when he shot Joe through the head, buried him and removed his trigger finger. Due to techniques learned from Deadlock, Joe survived the attack - having shut down his brain to near-death levels - and was able to kill his rival.
[edit] Blackblood
Blackblood is a former Volgan war robot forcibly recruited into the Warriors. A master tactician and interrogator, his skills also extend to treachery and betrayal, two things at which he is highly adept. He dislikes Hammerstein intensely, but this is nothing compared to his hatred of Joe Pineapples - the robot responsible for his capture. His constant undermining of Hammerstein's leadership has lead to many confrontations between the two, and a healthy disrespect that has spanned the centuries. He is currently a member of the Church of Judas, a religion for robots who've betrayed their masters and pray to Judas to take away the guilt.
His creator, the Volgan scientist Dr Zakaroff, sought to create a robot warrior capable of treachery, but initially failed to do so with Blackblood. In desperation, Zakaroff turned to the occult, and used a mixture of black magic and science to harness the betrayal of two lovers he forced to torture each other. Blackblood went on to prove his newly discovered treachery by killing Zakaroff, having one of his eyes shot at in the process. He left the socket empty as a reminder of his greatest act of betrayal.
During the Volgan War he led the Straw Dogs, experts in jungle warfare and terror tactics, and was rumoured to drink the oil of dead ABC Warriors. Realising his skills in guerilla warfare would be a valuable asset, Colonel Lash ordered Hammerstein to hunt down Blackblood and forcibly recruit him; Joe Pineapples took him down by shooting him through the heart, and his worst excesses were then removed by brain surgery. He was then sent on the Mars mission.
After Mars, little is known of Blackblood's activities. He eventually turned up on the free robot planet of Mekka, where he plied a trade as a 'business man' under the name Bunyon Snipe, selling addictive software to robots; he married an exotic dancer, Ruby Yum Yum Gluck, and still drank the oil of other robots. He also came into possession of certain negatives of Joe Pineapples at a party and was using them for blackmail purposes. He would eventually be forcibly recruited by Nemesis the Warlock into the newly re-formed ABC Warriors, fighting against the Terminators before heading into the Time Wastes.
He and the other Warriors went on to repair the damage done to the Time Waste's Black Hole Control Room and save Terra from destruction. During the mission, Blackblood yet again proved his treachery knew no bounds as he betrayed the Warriors to the Eternal Soldiers of Agartha, and then assisted Deadlock in a sabotage attempt to stop The Warriors completing their task. It was during this foray into the Time Wastes that Blackblood lost his leg; he killed a road crew and took their road drill as a substitute. Following this, he and the rest of the Warriors briefly helped Deadlock attempt to spread Khaos throughout the galaxy before denouncing his leadership.
Leaving the Warriors again, Blackblood set up an arms dealership and even took on a pet dog, Spike. Hammerstein, rather foolishly, went to Blackblood for a service, only to find himself welded to a workbench, and used as a guinea pig for his former comrade's exotic array of weaponry. When Hammerstein reformed the Warriors again, Blackblood was forced to sign up and return to Mars to help keep the peace between the human colonists and the planetary consciousness, Medusa.
In the battle against the Shadow Warriors (who he respected for their brutality), Blackblood faced off against the Rev, head of the Church of Judas, and killed him in a vicious battle but not before he was turned inside out in a teleporter accident. He was also revealed to possess Holocusts, a banned weapon that indiscriminately eats any metal.
[edit] Mongrol
The immensely strong Mongrol was originally commander of a ABC paratrooper platoon, and the only survivor (save Zippo) of the disastrous drop into Volgan territory at Vilnus - so disastrous it was nicknamed Zarnhem after Arnhem [1]. Only his head remained undamaged and remained on the battlefield. A scavenger named Lara, daughter of executed robot manufacturers, salvaged his head and built him a new body with other robot parts as an act of defiance against the Volgans. She was caught and executed, and Mongrol was tortured by electricity for information - this inadvertently activated his body and he broke free of his captors.
The torture and Lara's death reduced him to near animal-like behaviour ("Mongrol smush!"), and he was regarded as a threat by both sides. He was recruited when Hammerstein earned his respect by beating him in hand to hand combat. Mongrol's belief that he would go to heaven and meet his beloved Lara once more became the driving force of the metal ape. After being told by Deadlock that only good robots go to heaven, he became determined to live a hero's life and see his beloved again.
After the Mars mission, he found work with P.T. Bar-Num's 'Death Circus' on the free robot planet Mekka. He played the part of The Gawk, a giant metal monster that would be defeated by the heroic Spar-Tekus in every show. So long had he been playing that role, even he sometimes forgot who he really was. He was found by Nemesis the Warlock and brought back into the ranks of The ABC Warriors to help save the Gothic Empire from a Terminator invasion. He was then dispatched with the other Warriors into the Time Wastes of Termight to repair the damage done to it. During their journey, Blackblood broke the news to Mongrol that robots simply go to the smelter rather than heaven, so he would never see Lara again. As a result, Mongrol turned to his 'father' - a screwdriver.
After saving Terra from destruction, Mongrol followed the others to the planet Hekate, to collect the seven heads needed for the ritual that would spread Khaos throughout the Terran Empire. Mongrol was freed of the power of speech, but as compensation was bestowed with the instant reactions and speed of a natural born beast. After completing their mission on Hekate, Mongrol left for the Temple of the Night Mara's with Morrigun, and became nothing more than her mindless (and overly protective) pet. Both he and his 'mistress' joined The ABC Warriors again to take on the Terran super weapon Hellbringer.
On the return to Mars, Mongrol's body was destroyed, forcing him to relocate his positronic brain into his new body. As a result, he regained his original intelligence and taste for cigars. He is still suffering from deep-seated issues over Lara, and when her memory was mocked by the Shadow Warrior Warmonger, Mongrol ripped him to pieces. [2]
[edit] Steelhorn/The Mess
An elite droid who ended the Volgan War by killing the Volgan Marshall, Steelhorn was built from indestructible alloys. Following the war, he went to a demob camp to be reprogrammed for civilian life, only to find himself falling into a fusion furnace - which were being used to kill the ABC Warriors now victory was over. With his dying breaths, Steelhorn cursed humans for their treachery.
He survived the furnace but his body was reduced to a bubbling mess. Consumed with hatred, the Mess slaughtered the human responsible before escaping. Hammerstein, realising it was actually Steelhorn, saved the Mess and head him poured into a vacuum flask that would be carried by Mongrol. The metal ape was the only one who could understand what the the Mess was trying to say. The Mess would be taken on the Mars mission.
On Mars, the Warriors encountered a giant robot called George, one of the original Garganteks - giant robots who had originally helped terraform Mars for human colonization. Because of his size, each of George's limb was controlled by a separate brain, with a master brain supposedly in charge. The Mess ended up inside George, using its liquid state to connect George's brains and turn him into a fearsome fighting machine. When the Mars mission was complete, George and the Mess remained behind.
Centuries later, continued terraforming awoke Medusa, the planetary consciousness, and caused her to try to wipe out humaninity. She destroyed George for the crime of terraforming her and discovered the Mess as a result; finding it shared her hatred of humans, she rebuilt it into a new incarnation of Steelhorn. He now possessed certain psychic powers allowing him to control Martian wildlife. He became Medusa's voice, organising the attacks on the human settlements and personally leading the slaughter at Viking City, which saw almost the entire population massacred by a Martian born virus. The ABC Warriors fought the new Steelhorn and eventually struck a deal with him and Medusa, agreeing to peaceful coexistence if human President Cobb was transformed into Martian.
Steelhorn re-joined the ranks of The ABC Warriors in place of the deceased Morrigun, in a bid to increase the peace on Mars after civil war broke out. Travelling with them to New Sidona to find off Confederacy soldiers, Steelhorn was taken out by the rival Shadow Warriors, melted to a sludge once more. Due to occult activities by Deadlock, he was reborn again in a diamond form and brought about ABC Warrior victory.
He has two horns, one which when played incites wildlife to rebel. He has not said what the other will do, but it is to be played in the event of a Confederate victory and is presumed the consequences will be devastating.
[edit] Mek-Quake
Mek-Quake is a dim-witted and sadistic former demolition droid. Serving mainly as comic relief, he was originally a member of Ro-Busters, used for internal discipline within the rescue squad (mainly by destroying troublemakers), and did not join the Warriors until their later phase. His original body was that of a very large bulldozer, seen throughout the run of Ro-Busters. When he reappeared in Book III of Nemesis The Warlock, fighting for the evil Termight empire, his (tiny) brain was now housed in a colossal siege robot with a head vaguely resembling a cat's. Despite his enormous destructive power, his stupidity ultimately ended up making the situation even worse for the Terminators. In Book IV of Nemesis, he returned to his original body; he later switched between this and a vaguely humanoid body stolen from a defeated opponent, depending on the requirements of each mission.
Despite initially fighting against them, Mek-Quake was recruited to the Warriors by Nemesis, who realised that his insatiable appetite for mayhem and near-indestructibility made him a useful asset - as well as the fact that his limited intelligence and considerable survival instinct meant he had no loyalties except to whichever side would give him the most opportunity to destroy things.
For 'Black Hole', Mek-Quake's bulldozer body was redesigned as a heavily armed 'killdozer', with a prehensile neck and a 'face' with a permanent angry scowl. The killdozer body was blown up in 'The Clone Cowboys', leaving him in humanoid form. Depending on the artist, this - the current - version of Mek-Quake has ranged from five to fifteen feet tall, though generally he is drawn as the largest of the Warriors.
What Mek-Quake lacks in intelligence (which is a lot) he makes up for in cruelty and destructive force. However, he is also something of a coward, preferring softer targets that he can inflict more pain upon while chanting his catchphrase: "Big jobs!" He has no compunctions about massacring humans, evidenced in 'The Third Element' when he is annoyed about having missed most of a battle because of the time it took to remove all the "human gristle" clogging his caterpillar tracks. In his early stories he openly loathed Hammerstein and Ro-Jaws (as a result of their time in Ro-Busters), but later this hatred was toned down to a general dislike of everything and everybody except videos of chainsaw torture.
In the first episode of 'The Volgan War' (2006-7), Mek-Quake is checked into a robot asylum by Hammerstein, as the rest of the Warriors now consider him a liability due to his growing insanity. While Hammerstein actually seems sad to see his former enemy depart, the others appear more than eager to meet his replacement.
[edit] Other members
Other members over the years have included Ro-Jaws (Hammerstein's original partner in Ro-Busters, the series that preceded The ABC Warriors), Morrigun, Mad Ronn, Hitaki, Happy Shrapnel and Terri, the only human member of the Warriors. Of these, only Ro-Jaws is still functional.
Hammerstein, Deadlock, Joe Pineapples, Mongrol, and Blackblood have always been members of the ABC Warriors, with the others occupying the sixth and seventh positions as they became vacant. Steelhorn is the only ex-member to return.
[edit] Stories
The first series of ABC Warriors appeared in 2000 AD from Prog 119 — 139. The second series began 2000 AD Prog 555 and is still running, albeit intermittently, to this day.
[edit] The Volgan War
The ABC Warriors (story untitled, 1 episode, art by Kevin O'Neill)
Introduces Joe Pineapples and Happy Shrapnel. The Warriors are sent by a human officer (safely miles behind the lines, and observing the battlefield via telepresence) to attack a Volgan position. The battle is won, but at a huge cost of robot lives. Hammerstein, furious at the pointless waste, secretly sabotages the 'pain barrier' of a dying robot, which causes the officer to feel the robot's 'death', the shock killing him. Although Hammerstein thinks he's got away with this, his actions have been noted by the mysterious Colonel Lash.
Retreat From Volgow (1 episode, Brendan McCarthy)
The Volgans send a unit of war robots to attack the Warriors - a unit so brutal they were deactivated by their own side for fear of the damage they could cause. Led by 'Old Horney', the first Volgan war robot and their counterpart to Hammerstein, they attack just as Lash withdraws the tanks supporting the ABC Warriors in order to test them in a one-sided battle. Outnumbered, the Warriors nevertheless defeat their attackers, Hammerstein himself killing Old Horney even with one arm removed for repairs. Lash then reveals part of his mission: he wants Hammerstein and his unit to recruit a number of other robots for a classified mission, beginning with the fearsome Mongrol.
[edit] Recruiting the Warriors
Mongrol (2 episodes, Mike McMahon)
Hammerstein, Joe and Happy track the renegade robot Mongrol to a weapons dump, which he has been raiding in order to kit himself out with extra guns. After Mongrol defeats the military police trying to bring him in, Hammerstein realises the only thing Mongrol respects is strength - he has to defeat him in combat. This proves easier said than done, but when Volgan forces attack, Mongrol's thirst for revenge against those who killed Lara, his creator, overpowers his urge to fight Hammerstein. The two join forces to defeat the attackers, then, when Hammerstein saves Mongrol from almost certain destruction, the simple-minded behemoth pledges to follow his new master.
The Order Of The Knights Martial (2 episodes, Kevin O'Neill and Brett Ewins)
Hammerstein's next recruit is Deadlock - but the Watchtower, the space station from which the sinister Knights Martial observe the war, is shot out of orbit and crash-lands in the battlezone. The Knights defend themselves from the Volgan forces as the Warriors provide backup, defeating their foe. Deadlock reveals that he knows why Hammerstein has come - he has foreseen it in his Tarot cards. If Hammerstein can defeat him in combat, he will join him - but if he fails, Deadlock will claim his life! The Knights secretly sabotage the other Warriors, but Mongrol is able to resist. Deadlock uses his psychic powers and black magic to trick Hammerstein in their duel, almost destroying him, but the Warrior is able to turn the tables on the overconfident Deadlock at the last moment, his comrades showing up just in time to enforce the result. Defeated, Deadlock reluctantly agrees to join the ABC Warriors.
The Bougainville Massacre (2 episodes, Mike McMahon)
The Warriors travel to the remote island of Bougainville to locate and capture ruthless Volgan war robot General Blackblood, but instead find that the island has been devastated and its human inhabitants murdered by Blackblood and his jungle robots, the Straw Dogs. The Warriors take on the Straw Dogs, crippling their leader's war machine before he can escape. However, Blackblood has taken a child hostage, forcing Joe Pineapples to take the most difficult shot of his career to date: he has to hit Blackblood's 'heart' precisely while not harming the boy. Joe is successful, and Blackblood is captured, a disgusted Hammerstein left wondering what mission could be so important that a butcher like Blackblood has to become part of his team.
Steelhorn (2 episodes, Brendan McCarthy)
The Volgan War is over, the robot Steelhorn - made from almost indestructible materials - having broken through the 'flame barrier' protecting Marshal Volgow's position and killing the enemy leader. Hammerstein tries to recruit Steelhorn, but the robot has now become a pacifist, wanting to help humans rather than fight them. However, when Steelhorn reports for decommissioning, he is betrayed - by his own side! With the war over, the robot soldiers are no longer needed, and Steelhorn is dropped into a fusion furnace that even he cannot withstand. But instead of vaporising, he becomes 'The Mess' - an intelligence made from molten metal that is consumed with the desire for revenge against his betrayers. As the Mess kills the humans running the demob camp, Hammerstein discovers their duplicity and helps it escape. The Mess is stored in a flask (kept by Mongrol) that lets it stay molten, and the seventh ABC Warrior has been recruited, albeit in an unusual form.
[edit] Mars
Mars, The Devil Planet (1 episode, Mike McMahon)
Colonel Lash reveals the Warriors' secret mission - to travel to the colonised and terraformed planet Mars, where rival corporations are at war over resources, the civilians caught in the middle. They are to bring peace to the planet, by any means necessary. Approaching landing, their ship is caught in a sandstorm and crash-lands miles from the nearest settlement. In the thin atmosphere the passengers seem doomed, and things get worse when the 'Humpies' - early settlers genetically engineered to store air in sacs on their faces and backs - attack the new arrivals. Hammerstein forces both sides to declare a truce, and the Humpies lead the passengers to safety.
Cyboons (2 episodes, Dave Gibbons)
Soya ranchers are driving the Cyboons - intelligent genetically-altered apes used in the early days of terraforming - off their reservation to take over the land. The Warriors try to offer the apes assistance, but their leader Bedlam refuses their help. But when Bedlam's son is murdered by the ranchers, he leads his tribe into an attack. Since the ranchers are armed, it seems like a slaughter - but Deadlock and Blackblood had secretly infiltrated the ranchers' camp, disarming their guns. Without their weapons, the ranchers are helpless against the ferocity of the Cyboon attack, and after suffering heavy losses are quick to surrender and leave the Cyboons in peace.
The Red Death (2 episodes, Mike McMahon)
Called to deal with a ruthless biker gang terrorising Viking City, the Warriors seem to have an easy victory - until the frightened, fleeing bikers die almost instantly from a hideous flesh-rotting disease. The disease is native to Mars, and triggered by fear. Tracking the disease to its source, the Warriors find a young boy near a car containing the rotting corpses of his parents. Hammerstein is afraid that the boy will see their bodies, become frightened and die himself - and the disease begins to affect even his metal body. Deadlock reveals that the 'boy' actually is a manifestation of the Red Death, Mars itself trying to drive away the human settlers. Hammerstein kills the fake child, and the menace is over - for now.
Golgotha (3 episodes, Carlos Ezquerra)
A popular pastime among the ultra-rich youth of Mars is hunting - but instead of animals, they hunt people, while riding on the backs of genetically-recreated Tyrannosaurs! The most feared of the dinosaurs is Golgotha, son of Satanus (the monstrous T-Rex that appeared during the 'Cursed Earth' storyline of Judge Dredd, who himself was the son of 'Old One Eye' from another 2000AD series, Flesh), and his sheer bloodlust allows him to overcome the control device meant to keep him in check and escape from the compound, leaving carnage in his wake. The Warriors arrive to hunt down the rogue dinosaur - and also to administer justice on Golgotha's owner. For his part in multiple murders, the sentence is death, which is duly carried out. However, the youth's father swears revenge on Hammerstein, and pays Blackblood to betray him. Tracking Golgotha to the city, Hammerstein prepares to kill the dinosaur, but his guns fail to fire and he is attacked. The robot is not defenceless, however, and uses his combat hammer to smash the dinosaur's skull. Mortally wounded, Golgotha plummets from a flyover and is impaled on a spire below. Hammerstein has no proof that Blackblood sabotaged his guns - but delivers a beating as a warning that if he ever suspects treachery again, he will kill him.
Mad George (3 episodes, Mike McMahon)
Features George, a giant, clumsy robot with five brains which disagree with each other. The end of the story features The Mess combining with George to create a 'nervous system' that creates a more cohesive robot.
Red Planet Blues (special, Steve Dillon and John Higgins (colours))
Written by Alan Moore, his only ABC Warriors story.
The ABC Warriors then vanished from 2000 AD for several years, returning as supporting characters in Nemesis the Warlock until they returned to starring status in 1988.
[edit] The Black Hole
Black Hole (compilation title: original printing titled The End of Time!, 21 episodes, Simon Bisley and SMS)
At the start of the story, the lineup of ABC Warriors is Hammerstein, Joe Pineapples, Blackblood, Mongrol, Mek-Quake and Ro-Jaws.
Sent by Nemesis to stabilise the artificial black and white holes that allow interstellar travel (and also enabled the Terran Empire to conquer the galaxy) before they collide and destroy Earth, the Warriors pick up a new member - Terri. Although human, she has been raised by the robots and androids guarding the black hole complex - the Mekaniks - and considers herself to be a robot, and Hammerstein to be her true love. Deadlock also returns to join the Warriors again, though Hammerstein is suspicious of his motives - the follower of Khaos has more to gain from Earth's destruction than its salvation.
As well as the Mekaniks, the Warriors must also face the soldiers of the Empire of this time period, led by the robot-hating Major Savard, as well as the ultimate evil - the Monad (which originally appeared in Nemesis the Warlock), a psychic monster formed from the distillation of all human evil that is able to take on any form.
The Warriors eventually fight their way to the control room, deep inside the tomb of Emperor Zallin, where Deadlock, Blackblood and Mek-Quake come under attack from automated defence systems. Hammerstein realises the truth - the defence systems scan robots to ensure that they are there to protect the tomb, and the three robots have been working to sabotage the mission and ensure Earth is destroyed. Hammerstein, Joe, Mongrol and Terri take on the renegades, but an unwilling truce is forced when Savard's troops - and the Monad, disguised in the form of an alien bounty hunter - attack. Deadlock uses his dark powers to reach the control room and stabilise the black and white holes, but not before the destruction wrought by the impending collision causes the death of Terri.
Deadlock then draws upon the centuries of horror and bloodshed the Warriors have experienced to create a psychic warrior powerful enough to defeat - but not destroy - the Monad. The Warriors then escape by stealing Zallin's tombship, taking the blame for the devastation and now the most wanted robots in the galaxy.
[edit] Assorted
Warlocks And Wizards (1 episode, Carl Critchlow)
The Enigmass Variations (7 episodes, Carl Critchlow)
Khronicles Of Khaos (17 episodes, Kevin Walker)
Introduces Morrigun.
Hellbringer (17 episodes, Kevin Walker)
[edit] Return to Mars
The Warriors next returned in the 'Return To Mars' saga, an ongoing story arc made up of five three-part stories. There was bitter in-fighting between Mills and the then-editor of 2000 AD, Andy Diggle, over the direction and tone of the story (in an interview in the Judge Dredd Megazine, Mills expressed his fury at Diggle's rewriting of his scripts without consulting him), and the end result is considered by some the weakest ABC Warriors series.
Roadkill (1 episode, Kevin Walker)
A short one-off 'bridge' story in the special 'Prog 2000' issue, designed to re-introduce the Warriors for the new century. Zombie bikers are terrorising the Martian highways; the Warriors fight them off easily, until Hammerstein is possessed by the spirit of their leader! Realising that the spirit fears the pain of death, Hammerstein stands in the path of an oncoming juggernaut. The spirit flees to the next plane of existence rather than suffer again, and Hammerstein destroys the juggernaut and the last remaining zombies aboard it.
The Third Element (3 episodes, Henry Flint)
Morrigun is destroyed in combat.
The Clone Cowboys (3 episodes, Liam McCormack-Sharpe)
The Warriors arrive at the Martian town of Redemption to investigate the apparent disappearance of its inhabitants. They are ambushed by cloned copies of the humans, which turn into hideous mutants as they strike. Deadlock realises the clones have been created by Medusa, the Martian planetary consciousness, as a means to fight back against the planet's terraforming. An army of clones emerges from the town's church, using its bell to create massive sonic vibrations that threaten to destroy the Warriors' brains and literally shake their bodies apart. However, Mek-Quake is immune (thanks to the small size of his brain) and loads up his killdozer body with explosives, ploughing into the church and blowing it - and the clones - to pieces just after he bails out in his secondary body. Victorious, the Warriors depart - but are watched by a mysterious horned figure from a hilltop...
McCormack-Sharpe received heavy criticism from some fans for his art in this story, abandoning his usual style for an almost impressionistic 'splatter' approach that focused all the detail on the clones while often rendering the hero characters as little more than scribbles, particularly in the final episode. McCormack-Sharpe has not illustrated for 2000AD since this story.
The Tripods (3 episodes, Mike McMahon)
Re-introduces Steelhorn, over 20 years after his last appearance.
The Zero Option (3 episodes, Boo Cook)
Assault On The Red House (3 episodes, Henry Flint)
The series then rested for a couple of years before returning with the first part of an ongoing storyline, The Shadow Warriors.
[edit] The Shadow Warriors
The Shadow Warriors, Book I (6 episodes, Carlos Ezquerra)
Following the conclusion of the 'Return To Mars' arc, civil war has broken out on the Red Planet. The human population has divided into the Union and the Confederacy. Recognising the threat the ABC Warriors pose to their plans for global domination, the leaders of the Confederacy hire Conflict Management - a company of 'privatised peacekeepers' - to recruit the Shadow Warriors, a team of robots chosen specifically for their abilities to overcome each member of the Warriors.
The first members of the Shadow Warriors to be revealed are Bootleg, a robotic bounty hunter; Dog-Tag, a charming yet ruthless 'pirate' of the trans-Martian highways; The Rev, a minister in the sinister robot religion of the Church of Judas, which Blackblood now follows; and Deus Ex Machina, an artificial intelligence - long thought mythical - capable of taking control of other machines and turning them to its will.
The story opens with Joe severely damaging Dog-Tag and wiping out his gang destroys his followers (although their leader escapes). The ABC Warriors discover the plot against them and engage Confederacy Behemeks alongside Union forces at Getty City. While Deus Ex Machina sabotages Union gun positions, the Rev attempts to assassinate Deadlock. The ABC Warriors head for New Sidona.
The Shadow Warriors, Book II (6 episodes, Henry Flint)
The Warriors reach New Sidona, where anarchy is breaking out as people wonder whether the Union or Confederacy will get there first. The robots drive off looting Cyboons before encountering a Talk Cone - a low-level robot agent of the Total Information Awareness agency that enforces the 'no talking' rule the government requires in order to monitor the populace for thoughts of terrorism. However, the cone has been booby-trapped with a bomb by Deux Ex, so the Warriors have to act quickly to save a loud group of teenagers from the explosion.
Taking the teenagers and fending off more Cyboons, the Warriors encounter the next Shadow Warrior - Doctor Maniacus, a rogue paramedic droid who feeds off the pain of his human 'patients' as he tortures and kills them. The psychotic medic unleashes the pain he has absorbed to overload the emotional circuits of the Warriors - however, Deadlock, having witnessed horrors beyond imagination in the service of Khaos, is immune. Doc Maniacus is able to fight off the Grand Wizard in single combat, but Deadlock plants a 'nanobat' - a microscopic bug - on him before he escapes. Meanwhile, sixth Shadow Warrior is revealed to be the sadistic and manipulative Mr Lovebomb, attacks New Sidona with his army of mind-shattered military clones (which undergo psychological torments to produce the adrenaline for military drug Neuropeptide-A).
The Warriors reach Terrasand Square, causing Mayor/Sheriff/TIA Chief Terrasand to hurriedly switch his allegiance from the Confederacy to the Union. It turns out the Square is a trap as the Warriors are attacked from all sides by Lovebomb's clones and Deus Ex' cone-bombs. The Warriors try to protect the humans and fight off the clones, while their Shadow counterparts - joined by their final member, the state-of-the-art killing machine Warmonger - prepare their attack...
The Shadow Warriors, Book III (10 episodes, Henry Flint)
The Shadows attack with state-of-the-art weaponry that is far superior to anything the ABC Warriors have in their arsenal. Steelhorn is the first to fall, reduced to molten slag by Doc Maniacus's 'sledgehammer' shells and trickling into a drain. Mek-Quake's already limited mind is affected by Mr Lovebomb's 'heartbreakers', making him increasingly deranged. Realising they are outmatched, the Warriors and the humans they are protecting take shelter in the police precinct. Joe Pineapples attempts to snipe the Shadows but is caught unawares, shot in the head and buried by Dog-Tag.
The Shadows then play on Hammerstein's programming by capturing a Trimorph and torturing him to death. Forced to protect the innocent Martian, Hammerstein goes into the open to rescue him and is taken down by a burst of gunfire in the back. While Maniacus implants the ABC leader with metallic snakes that eat robot brains, the ABC Warriors discover Deux X is using an invisibility cloak to spy on them from the inside. Mek-Quake detects him and shoots him dead. Meanwhile, Hammerstein is released back to his friends, so he'll be forced to let the snakes kill him or have them eat his friend's brains.
Disturbed by the loss of Deus X, the other Shadows decide to press the attack by sending in Mr Lovebomb's remaining clones. Lovebomb tries to send them into battle as suicide troops - but Deadlock has used his psychic powers to overcome the clones' mental conditioning, turning them against their master. Enraged at what he has done to them, the clones rip Lovebomb to pieces before departing the battlefield. Deadlock then performs a mysterious and sinister ritual on a captured Confederate, refusing to be disturbed. Hammerstein is thus unable to get his help containing the snakes.
Confederate tanks shell the precinct, forcing the Warriors into the open to face their Shadow adversaries. Hammerstein is able to decapitate Maniacus and the snakes, hating the scientist as much as he does, leave his body to eat the doctor's brains instead. Blackblood, meanwhile, is ambushed by the Rev and turned inside out by a teleportational booth, but still manages to kill him. Mongrol takes on Warmonger and tears him apart in a rage when Warmonger makes the mistake of disparaging Lara. Dog Tag is hit and fatally wounded by his own bullets as it's revealed Joe Pineapples only faked his electronic death, allowing him to loot the Shadows' arsenal.
Just as it seems the ABC Warriors have prevailed, Bootleg leads the Confederate behemeks in demolishing buildings and crushing the ABCs into the ground. However, Steelhorn - reformed by Medusa due to Deadlock's ritual - appears and in his new diamond-bodied form destroys Bootleg. The other ABCs emerge from the soil into which they had been squashed and join in the attack with the aid of newly-arrived Union forces. The Confederate troops are destroyed and the battered ABC Warriors are victorious.
[edit] Chronology
Although no dates were specified at the time, the 2006-7 series The Volgan War explicitly places that conflict in 2082-4, with the invasion of Western Europe in 1999 (from Invasion! as backstory and considered to be World War 3 in the ABC timeline. This retcons out the Judge Dredd strip Hammerstein, which placed the ABC Warriors in Dredd's universe and showed Hammerstein involved in 2071's Battle of Armaggedon 'after the Volgan War and the Mars mission.
The adventures of the ABC Warriors in Nemesis Books 3 and 4 take place "thousands" of years in the future, with Earth renamed Termight. Nemesis and the Warriors travel forward in time to the literal end of the world shortly before the sun goes nova (in approximately five billion years) where they first encounter the Monad, and then back to a period prior to Termight - the Terran Empire - for Black Hole and their adventures up to Roadkill.
The Mars stories from Roadkill onwards seem to be set a couple of generations, at most, from the original Mars stories - the Biol corporation is still a major player and Mars' civilisation is largely the same. No explanation is given for the change in timezone - it cannot be a series of 'untold stories', because Mek-Quake and Morrigun did not join the Warriors until the era of the Terran Empire. It has to be assumed they travelled back in time again.
This does raise the question of a time paradox: technically, there are two versions of Hammerstein, Deadlock, Joe, Blackblood and Mongrol in existence from 'Roadkill' onwards - the original versions and their later counterparts who travelled back in time from the Termight era! It seems extremely unlikely that this paradox will ever be addressed.
[edit] Footnotes
[edit] Bibliography
They have made a large number of appearances in comics and novels.
[edit] Novels
Black Flame has published a number of novels based on the characters:
- The Medusa War (Pat Mills, April 2004 ISBN 1-84416-109-9)
- Rage Against the Machines (Mike Wild, June 2005 ISBN 1-84416-178-1)
[edit] Awards
These characters were nominated for the Rec.arts. Com "Squiddy" Award for Favorite Team of Characters in 1990.
