Hammerstein leads a group of ABC Warrior veterans to the site of the last great battle fought with The Volgans, where a huge statue has been erected, dedicated to the two thousand human officers who gave their lives fighting. The robot memorial, a small plaque dedicated to the hundred million robots who died during the war, was nearby, next to an autoway.

Hammerstein lays the wire wreath he and his comrades have brought, and asks for a moments silence for their fallen comrades. At that moment, Ro-Jaws appears, pushing his friend out of the way, and throws an unexploded grenade out of the way.

Ro-Jaws explains that he and Mek-Quake are there to clear the robot cemetery to make way for the Quartz Home In The Clouds Stratoscrapers for the old and infirm. As the sewer robot warns the veterans that there are still a few unexploded bombs, one of the veterans, PB1/7, steps on a landmine that Mek-Quake's missed.

The vets bury their comrade where he fell. It was a place Hammerstein knew well. He had stood there with Happy Shrapnel and Joe Pineapples many years before - in the days of glory, when he was Hammerstein, leader of the ABC Warriors...

NOTES: If anyone can supply information on where this originally came from, please e-mail me.

COMMENTS:

A cracking little story that bridges the gap between Ro-Busters and ABC Warriors nicely.

On the front lines of The Volgan War, Hammerstein, the taciturn Joe Pineapples, and the veteran Happy Shrapnel lead a squad of rookies, straight from the factory, into battle. The human officers are safely behind the lines in underground bunkers, directing the battle. They can communicate directly with their robots by radio, and watch their progress on a holographic image - they can even plug into the robots thoughts. But they can't feel their pain. Thanks to a special 'pain barrier,' all the humans feel is a little tingle when a Warrior is killed.

Hammerstein's lieutenant, Rodney, orders him to reach the enemy H.Q. before the other squad of ABC Warriors, so he can win a bet made by one of his comrades. On the way, Happy smells something, but one of the rookies points out it's probably his boots. Hammerstein smells it, too, and it's something even worse than Happy's boots - Korda Gas!

The gas is a highly corrosive agent that kills any robots it comes into contact with. Hammerstein tells his C.O. what's happening, explaining that the rookies won't stand a chance against the gas, but is ordered to press on. After all they're only robots, it doesn't matter if they live or die. Hammerstein orders his men to activate their Torc Tubes, so they can attack the H.Q. from the air.

The ABC Warriors take the Volgan H.Q. with ease, but not without casualties. Fifteen rookies were killed by the gas, another five were shot down in the air, and one who looked as if he was on his way to the smelter. Hammerstein opens the rookies chest and contemplates his next move; he can't stop the kid dying, but he can make it quicker for him. Hammerstein stabs the robot through the 'pain barrier.'

Meanwhile, back at the command bunker, Rodney is popping open the bottle of champagne he won in his bet when he feels the robots pain. The shock kills the officer, but his superiors, knowing the risks Rodney took when he connected to robots on the battlefield, still decide to award him with a medal - posthumously, of course.

Unknown to Hammerstein, the whole incident was watched by a man who could change the lives of The ABC Warriors forever...

NOTES: Joe and Happy Shrapnel make their debut.

COMMENTS:

A Suprisingly poor start to the series, which just reads like an extra episode of Hammerstein's War Memories. Mills doesn't seem to have completely thrown off the Ro-Busters-writing style, which hampers the story. Interesting to note is that under the ABC Warriors logo, the story is billed as 'A New Ro-Busters Adventure.'

Given that it was written in 1979, the stereotypical human officers can be forgiven, and Mills does make good use of the old war story cliches.

O'Neill's art, however, is supurb, but more restrained than his later work.

As the Volgan robot armies retreat, Hammerstein and his team take over the Chateau Volgski, two miles north of Volgow, and are taking the time recharge and get their wounds welded. While Happy finds something in the wardrobe to wear until he gets a suit of armour, and Joe takes a bath, Hammerstein wonders what their new human officer is like...

In a desperate bid, The Volgans have re-activated The Old Guard (robots so brutal their own generals switched them off), and have sent them to the Chateau Volgski to re-take it. The mysterious human officer sees this as a chance to put Hammerstein and his men through their paces; he orders the allied tanks to leave the area, and let the Old Guard storm the Chateau.

The Volgan robots, led by Old Horney, storm the building, catching The ABC Warriors by surprise. Hammerstein is in the middle of having his hammer arm serviced, and so has to fight with only one hand, which gives their human officer a bigger kick. More Volgan robots break into the Chateau through the bathroom, but are gunned down by Joe, still in the bath.

Hammerstein catches up with the Volgan leader, Old Horney, and the two of them battle to the death with swords. Hammerstein gets the better of his enemy and slays him, passing the test his new human officer has laid out for him.

Hammerstein is to be the leader of a team that will include Happy and Joe on a deadly mission. Next, he has to tame the fourth member of this new team: Mongrol!

NOTES:

COMMENTS:

The same criticisms levelled at the previous story can be applied to this one. Again, it feels far too much like another episode from Hammerstein's War Memories, but it promises more with the next episode, and thankfully, it delivers.

McCarthy's art seems ill-suited to this episode, but he does produce some great layouts.

A military police 'Bogey Buggy' makes it's way back to base behind allied lines, bringing with it the beast like robot known as Mongrol. However, the monster breaks free, scaring off the Bogies.* Meanwhile, as Hammerstein, Joe and Happy head off to find Mongrol and recruit him into their squad, the sergeant takes the opportunity to go over Mongrol's file again...

Mongrol had started out as a robo-paratrooper in the airborne assualt on Zarnhem, but his squad came under attack from Volgan planes. He managed to shoot one down, but the explosion blew Mongrol earthwards. Both his main and reserve parachutes failed to open, and he landed on a battlefield. The heads of robo-paratroopers were equipped with special armour plating, and that was all of Mongrol that survived; the rest of his body was a write-off.

Mongrol lay there in agony for a week before his remains were discovered by some battle-combers, people who scoured the battlefields for robot remains. One of the battle-combers, a young girl named Lara, felt sorry for the robot, and that night she elected to help him. Following his simple instructions, the girl worked through the night to build Mongrol a body from the robot remains and help him escape. However, Mongrol's motor refused to start.

At that moment, the dreaded Volgan Secret Police burst in and took Mongrol in for interrogation. Unable to move, the Volgans tortured the robot until his mind was shattered, before ordering him onto the Elektro Rak. As the power ripped through him, Mongrol escaped and headed back to Lara's cottage, only to find she and her aunt had been killed by the Volgans. After burying his beloved Lara, there was only one thought in Mongrol's scarred brain: kill Volgs and avenge Lara.

However, the Allies were terrified of Mongrol, too, and tried to destroy him. The beast headed off on a one robot war against the Volgans...

Hammerstein realises the only way to make Mongrol join his team is to make him respect him, and that means taking him down without weapons. He catches up with Mongrol breaking out of an allied supply dump where he'd been stealing weapons. As Hammerstein tries to reason with the beast, Mongrol uses the stolen weapons to try and kill Hammerstein.

It's then that Hammerstein realises Mongrol can be hurt - with the mention of Lara. But as the two fight, a squad of Volg Kommandos drops into the area. Happy and Joe join the fight, while Mongrol breaks into the weapons store to supply them with some heavy artillery.

The Warriors seek higher ground, and manage to force the Volgs back, but Hammerstein sees Mongrol standing between two death dozers heading straight for them; the beast urges them on, apparently enjoying it. Hammerstein grabs Mongrol's chain, and hauls him out of the way at the last second. However, the robot is far from grateful. Hammerstein points out that he's just saved his life, and Mongrol owes him. Mongrol agrees to join the squad to repay his debt.

Their mysterious human officer, watching everything unfold on a battle scan, makes contact and informs Hammerstein he now has to recruit the fifth ABC Warrior: Deadlock.

* Thargnote: Bogie - robot nickname for the military police

NOTES: Mongrol first appears.

COMMENTS:

Mike McMahon makes his ABC Warriors debut, and with it comes a cracking two-part tale from Pat Mills' pen. However, it's not without it's flaws.

The gung-ho elements from the previous two installments are still evident, but it feels far less like a Ro-Busters tale, and more like a series that's finally discovering its own identity. Also, the flashback sequence seems a little rushed; you're never really sure what happens to Mongrol on the torture table.

There's nothing more that can really be said about McMahon's art - you either love it or you hate it - but it's interesting to note the 'graffiti' on Joe's chest during the second part, something which both O'Neill and Bisley later adopted.

High above the Earth, the Watch Tower of The Knights Martial scans the planet ceaselessly, sending images of the Volgan movements to the Allies. Suddenly, a meteorite appears on the scanners, and crashes into the Watch Tower, forcing it to descend to Earth, where a Volgan Panzer strike-force wait eagerly to destroy it...

Meanwhile, Hammerstein, Happy Shrapnel, Joe Pineapples and the newly recruited Mongrol speed toward the scene, under orders to persuade The Grand Wizard of The Knights Martial, Deadlock, to join their mysterious mission. Hammerstein explains to the others that The Knights Martial are the ultimate ABC Warriors; the Allies had wanted robots to be strong, not just from the power of their pistons, but the power of their minds. The Knights became masters of the Martial Arts, and were given special authority to try and execute Volgan war criminals. However, there were also rumours surrounding The Knights about strange experiments and terrifying powers gained at secret ceremonies.

Hammerstein and his squad arrive to discover the Watch Tower is already under attack from the Volgans, but the knights are retaliating with death bolts and giant flame throwers. As the battle progresses, the sky-bridge suddenly lowers and the Grand Wizard himself emerges to lead the attack. The ABC Warriors dive into the thick of the battle. Joe captures the Volgan leader and war criminal General Karnage, but Hammerstein orders him turned over to The Knights for trial. Deadlock presides over the trial, while his brothers bring mek-food for Hammerstein's comrades.

The Grand Wizard gives the order for Karnage to be executed, then talks to Hammerstein, revealing that he knows why The Warriors have come. He agrees to go with Hammerstein on one condition: They will fight a duel, their skills in the Martial Arts matched, and if Hammerstein wins, Deadlock will go with him. But if he loses, Deadlock takes his life.

Unknown to Hammerstein, his comrades have been given drugged mek-food and lie unconscious while he enters the arena to fight Deadlock. With his mystical powers, the wizard soon tips the battle in his favour. As Deadlock raises the Ace of Swords, Hammerstein feels as if the very life is being sucked out of him. Deadlock explains to the helpless robot that the Knights derive their nourishment from death.

While Hammerstein is led away to the Great Hall for a mysterious ceremony, Mongrol is woken by a vision of his beloved Lara. She rouses the beast, who escapes his shackles, and wakes Happy. Together, they set off to find and help their comrade.

Hammerstein is laid out on a table while Deadlock places ten swords through his body. With power still flowing to his reserve motor, Hammerstein manages to pluck Deadlock's Ace of Swords from his body and threatens the Grand Wizard, just as Mongrol and Happy bust into the room. Because The Warriors now hold the Ace of Swords, Deadlock has no choice but to obey them.

The five robots leave the Watch Tower, the Knights howling a strange litany for their lost leader. Once The Warriors return, Hammerstein reports to his mysterious human officer, and is informed of who his next recruit will be: General Blackblood.

NOTES:This marks the first appearance of Deadlock.

COMMENTS:

At first, you think that Mills noted interest in the occult may prove to be at odds with a series about war robots, but he brings the two together nicely, and introduces a much needed sense of conflict to the series with the addition of Deadlock, not to mention a different kind of foil for Hammerstein's character.

O'Neill offers up some quite violent imagery during the first part, but Brett Ewins turns in a lacklustre effort, and a distinctly un-beast-like Mongrol - a sharp contrast to McMahon's depiction in the previous story. That said, Ewins' take on Deadlock's armour is an interesting one, which is never picked up on by any subsequent artist.

On the remote Pacific island of Bougainville, the terrors of the Volgan war seem very far away. In a missionary school on the coast, teacher Miss Sweet speaks earnestly to her class about their place in the future of planet Earth. But as she preaches of a new era of peace and freedom, Volgan "Daddy Long-Legs" march up the beach. Little does anyone know, but the missionary school is the first target in what would become known as The Bougainville Massacre.

As the Volgan war machines continue their attack, "Men O' War" ships fly in over the trees, dropping the Volgan jungle robots, The Straw Dogs, into the action. The local garrison of ABC Warriors proves to be no match and soon the entire island is under the control of The Straw Dogs. From one of the Daddy Longlegs descends General Blackblood himself. Programmed to be extra-cruel, he got his name from the rumours that he drank the oil of dead ABC Warriors.

Meanwhile, Hammerstein and his new recruits are making their way to Bougainville in an attempt to recruit General Blackblood for their mysterious mission. Both Happy and Mongrol voice their opposition until Hammerstein reveals that they actually get to shoot Blackblood first. They plan to take him away and let scientists cut out the parts of his brain that make him a butcher, and bring him back to life a brand new robot. Joe is assigned the pleasure of taking Blackblood down, by shooting a neat hole through his armour, into his metal heart.

As The Warriors march up the beach toward the jungle, Hammerstein begins to have doubts about his mission, but the team is attacked before he can give it too much thought. After repelling the attack, The Warriors continue their march inland, passing the remains of the mission school, where Happy discovers Miss Sweet is still alive. After a tirade on the horrors of war, the teacher is hoisted up on Hammerstein's shoulder and taken with the team, right into an ambush.

Disgusted by what she sees, Miss Sweet hits on another startling discovery: The Warriors are actually enjoying themselves. Hammerstein moves the protesting Miss Sweet to safety, then proceeds to capture a Daddy Longlegs and uses it to attack the other Volgan machines. Joe rescues Miss Sweet and the two of them board Hammerstein's vehicle. They notice Blackblood's own machine has been crippled and been left behind by the rest of The Straw Dogs, just as he himself had taught them. He emerges from the cockpit, holding a child hostage, and it falls to Joe to make a near impossible shot. Hammerstein orders to Joe to give him sixty seconds to get under Blackblood before taking it.

Joe, ever the professional, makes the shot with no trouble, leaving Hammerstein to catch the falling child. However, Joe is a little disgruntled after aiming for the centre of Blackblood's heart and being a millimetere out. Miss Sweet is horrified to hear of Hammerstein's plans to take Blackblood back to base for the operation; after she had witnessed him saving the boy, she had begun to think of Hammerstein as something more than a mere war robot, but now she realises that he's like all the others. A walking death machine. Hammerstein explains it away as being who he is, but as he drags Blackblood's body along the beach, he wonders why, if he's just a weapon of death, why does he feels sick just touching Blackblood.

Once back at base, Colonel Lash issues Hammerstein with his latest orders: to recruit the seventh and final ABC Warrior.

NOTES: This marks the first appearance of Blackblood. Also of note is his hiss, which disappeared in later stories.

COMMENTS:

Obvious comparisons can be drawn to the Viet Cong troops during the Vietnam war, if one was so inclined. It's an interesting move to have The Warriors recruit one of their bitterest enemies into the team, but one which pays off in the long run, especially since Blackblood seems to be the most popular of The Warriors.

The anti-war message that had been bubbling under the surface of the previous stories is more evident here, as is Hammerstein's obvious discomfort with his place in the scheme of things, something which only carried on into the next story and, apart from a brief showing in Red Planet Blues, wasn't seen again until his return in Nemesis Book 4.

Realising defeat is imminent, the Volgon leader, Marshal Volgod, plans his escape, only to be confronted by the indestructible Steelhorn. With one blow, the ABC Warrior finally ends the Volgon War.

Days later, Hammerstein is ordered by Colonel Lash to find and recruit the now pacifist Steelhorn into the team. After failing to provoke a violent reaction, Hammerstein learns his colleague is going to be a fireman after he hands in his weapons at the demob camp. Unknown to any of the ABC Warriors, however, is that the demob camps are actually a cover for extermination camps - a fact Steelhorn learns when he is plunged into a fusion furnace.

Sensing something has happened, Hammerstein returns to the camp, while a strange bubbling, boiling mess wends its way through the building, killing any humans it encounters. It slithers to the office of the manager and extracts revenge on him for his crimes, before making its escape. Hammerstein finds a collection of corpses and a file that reveals the truth about the demob camps.

Outside, he discovers the mess and realises that it's actually Steelhorn, or what's left of him. Taking The Mess with him, Hammerstein returns to the ABC Warrior HQ to finally discover the mysterious mission from the equally mysterious Colonel Lash.

NOTES: The first appearance of Steelhorn (and the last for well over twenty years), and the first appearance of The Mess.

COMMENTS:

Again, this carries the anti-war message, with Steelhorn, a robot built specially for war, turning pacifist. The idea of The Mess taking revenge on the humans who tried to destroy it (or Steelhorn) goes nicely against the Asimov school of robotic rules, and adds a great sense of dramatic tension to the proceedings. The anti-authority messages that Mills carried into Nemesis The Warlock (albeit a little more extreme) comes into play again, with the robot's distrust of their human masters shown to be completely justified.

Notice, too, the creepy human-looking eye as Steelhorn is cast into the fusion furnace...

The Warriors finally discover their deadly mission from Colonel Lash: to tame the devil planet - Mars!

The planet is being torn apart by greedy food corporations and crooked ranchers to name but two, and as a representative of Free Mars, Colonel Lash came to Earth to recruit seven fearsome robots, hardened by years of war and ready to meet this challenge head on.

Approaching the planet, the space liner The Warriors are traveling on gets caught in a 500kph sandstorm, and is forced to make an emergency landing. With five miles to the nearest "O-Asis" oxygen assistance centre, the Warriors, the crew and the passengers of the liner would have to walk it. With the thin atmosphere proving too much for the humans, the convoy stumble on a band of Humpies - the earliest human settlers, mutated to adapt to the Martian atmosphere, and capable of carrying compressed air in their humps and their heads. Hammerstein 'negotiates' a temporary treaty between the Humpies and the humans, so the humans will receive the kiss of life from the early settlers, and help them get to the "O-Asis."

NOTES:

COMMENTS:

This can probbest described as phase two of the series. From this point on, the emphasis turns very much to action and thrills, rather than messages and statements. All of Hammerstein's self doubts seem to disappear from here on in as he throws himself into the challenge. Also, the character development seems to stop cold.

This first story sets things up nicely, however, and bridges the gap nicely between The Warriors' Earth and Mars based adventures.

Ranchers working for the Super Soya Corporation plan to extend their operation into Cyboon reservations. While attempting to scare off a group led by a Cyboon named Old Bedlam, the ranchers have their first run in with the ABC Warriors, and are soon scared off themselves. Having been assigned by Colonel Lash to teach the Cyboons (intelligent apes brought from Earth to help colonise Mars) to fight back against the land greedy corporations, the Warriors are met with resistance from Old Bedlam, who disapproves of talking machines. Failing to convince the creatures of their need for modern weaponry, the Warriors have no choice but to leave them to their fate.

Rumpus, Bedlam's son, fed up with his fathers ways leaves the reservation to revel in the benefits of modern civilization, but is met with a lynching from the ranchers. Later, Hammerstein assigns Deadlock and Blackblood to infiltrate the ranchers camp and replace all their ammunition with blanks.

The following day, the ranchers attack the reservation, but are amazed when the 'dead' Cyboons get back on their feet and mercilessly beat them. Some of the soya cowboys attempt to escape but are prevented by the Warriors, determined to make sure they stay and finish what they started.

NOTES: This is Dave Gibbons' first and only ABC Warriors tale; he also did the lettering.

COMMENTS:

The inspiration for this particular story is pretty obvious. The ending also sets the dark tone of the rest of the series, with The Warriors forcing the ranchers to fight the Cyboons with their nothing more than their fists.

Viking City, capital of Free Mars. Built on the site of the first Earth landing, it's pyramids tower into the sky, specially designed to protect it's citizens from the savage Martian weather, but also giving rise to a new cult of riding pyramids - 'Pyramania.'

Hell Kickstart and The Boom Town Brats are one such biker gang into pyramania, as well as terrorising the people of Viking City. As they ride in, Deadlock appears and rides the tallest building, The Eiger, in the city as a challenge to Hell. But as the Boom Town Brats' leader rides the Eiger himself, something very strange happens: as the fear of doing this stunt grows, his body suddenly decays and falls onto the spike at the top of the block. As the Warriors scare off the rest of the gang, the same strange and sudden decay moves in.

At the Viking hospital, an answer is found; a newly discovered plague virus, native to the planet and activated by the onset of fear - The Red Death. The disease, brought into the city by the bike gang, kills the doctor analyzing it when he discovers there is no antidote. Before long it spreads through the city like wildfire; as one person falls victim to it, so the next persons frightened reaction activates the virus in them.

Soon only robots walk the streets of Viking City, collecting the dead, while the Warriors travel into Death Valley, where the virus originated. Splitting into two teams, Hammerstein, Deadlock and Mongrol discover the wreckage of a car with two decayed corpses inside. A little further away, they discover a small boy, Little Johnny, oblivious to the danger around him. When Hammerstein's hand begins to rot, Deadlock realises he has contracted the Red Death - through fear for the boy - and proceeds to reveal that the boy is actually the Red Death in human form.

And so it falls to the reluctant Hammerstein to execute the boy with Deadlock's Ace of Swords, and save not only themselves, but the entire planet. Unable to commit the act at first, the boy lets his mask slip for a moment and Hammerstein sees the evil lurking there. He kills the boy where he stands.

NOTES:

COMMENTS:

What begins as an entertaining SF story ends in a very dark way, with Hammerstein more or less having to execute a child to save the planet. One for the moral majority there.

Definitely worth reading if only to see Deadlock refer to himself as 'Uncle Deadlock.'

Golgotha, son of Satanus (and currently owned by Mike Molasses, heir to a Martian shipping line), is being used in man hunts on Damnation Island, Mars' playground of the rich, until he insites a rebellion amongst the other tyrannosaurs, and together they head off to the mainland. Soon the secret of Damnation Island is out and the Warriors are called in to see the Molasses family. After ordering Mike's execution, Hammerstein becomes a target for the head of the household, who plans to use one of the Warriors to betray their leader.

The tyrannosaur pack terrorise the locals, and, attacking the local motorway, indirectly cause the destruction of a main power pylon, leaving Viking City without electricity. Meanwhile, under Hammerstein's direction, the Warriors use Golgotha's harem to lure the male tyrannosaurs into a trap, and manage to kill all but one of the pack - Golgotha himself. Delilah, Golg's favourite, had used their private signal to warn the grandson of Old One Eye, leaving the monster free to stalk the blacked out Viking City.

In a bid to appease the creature, the people of the city offer Golg a sacrifice, but are interrupted by the timely appearance of Hammerstein. Realising his weapon is jammed, he attacks Golgotha with only a knife and his combat hammer. After a savage battle, Hammerstein succeeds in slaying the monster.

Hammerstein confronts Blackblood, suspecting he has been betrayed by the Straw Dog, but with no hard proof, he can takes the accusations no further.

NOTES:

COMMENTS:

Arguably the most interesting story of the series. The twist with Blackblood adds greatly to the characterization, especially the all too brief confrontation between himself and Hammerstein at the end of the story. It's a little darker in tone to the previous Mars tales, with Hammerstein ordering Mike's execution being a stand-out moment. And it ties nicely into the Flesh saga, too.

The artwork by L.J. Silver (a.k.a. Carlos Ezquerra) is a mixed blessing. His distinctive style does leave you, at times, thinking this is a Judge Dredd story, but it also gives a unique chance to see a new take on The Warriors, quite different from McMahon's more distinctive offerings.

Mike McMahon

George is a giant yet useless robot destined to wander the surface of Mars yelling his name to let people know he is near. He had been one of the original Garganteks - giant robots who had helped terra-form Mars. Because George was so huge, he'd been given five brains to control his body; each limb was controlled by a seperate brain with a master brain in charge. However this design was soon scrapped because his master brain was too small to control his other brains. George had to go, but why waste more money destroying him? So instead he was packed off into the wilderness and left...

The ABC Warriors have been ordered to stop the Biol Corporation from destroying other, smaller food production plants and local farms. It's on one such raid they first encounter George, and Hammerstein hits on the idea of using him to attack the Biol HQ. With each Warrior taking control of a brain, they maneuver the colossus into position and proceed to take down Biol's military wing.

Afterwards, on his request, The Warriors leave George to be destroyed by the Biol troops. After an apparently heavy bombardment of the giant, they discover he's still alive - iIt seems Mongrol left The Mess' vacuum flask inside the giant, which had split open during the attack, allowing The Mess to run free and connect George's five brains.

Now, the Gargantek could walk tall, taller than ever before.

NOTES: This sees the final appearance of The Mess. The late Happy Shrapnel has a brief appearance in Red Planet Blues, before he passes on.

COMMENTS:

This is the last solo ABC Warriors story in 2000AD until their return in 1988, and a curious one to go out on it is too. It never really packs the impact of a final appearance story, and just trundles along to its conclusion.

Kevin O'Neill

Looking back over his achievements with the ABC Warriors on Mars, Hammerstein is approached by Miss Marilyn to bring the ABC veterans to the 'Exlpo 21' Arms Fair. Ro-Busters boss Howard Quartz is showing some visiting generals around his new venture: The Santa Claus robot, a robotic factory that swallows raw materials and produces new generations of planes, tanks and robots. For a stockin filler, Quartz brings out the Mk 10 ABC Warrior, complete with 'Big Boy' missles, armed with multiple, random warheads. The Mk 10 also comes with sucker pads which tear enemy software apart, so he can still operate as a fighting machine when his more sophisticated weapons are being electronically jammed.

Quartz orders Hammerstein to line up the ABC veterans. The visiting generals, however, have reservations about the efficiency of robot built robots. To quash their fears, Quartz has the Mk 10 demonstrate his skills on the Mk 1 robots.

As the Mk 10 tears apart a veteran, Hammerstein tries to run forward to help his comrade, but is held back by Ro-Jaws. The Mk 10 goes on to demonstrate its vacuum powered 'Slurp Gun,' by sucking the head from the Mk 1.

Hammerstein, however, has had enough and steps forward to take on the new Warrior. Quartz tells the generals that this will be the ultimate test for the Mk10: destroying Hammerstein, the toughest of the original Warriors.

The Mk 10 throws Hammerstein to the ground, then into a nearby wall so it can use it's sucker pads. He begins to power up his 'Slurp Gun' to finish Hammerstein off once and for all. Although the new robot may be better designed, Hammerstein has more experience, which he demonstrates by grabbing the 'Slurp Gun' and fixing it onto the Mk10's chest. The robot literally sucks itself into oblivion, leaving Quartz to chase after the unimpressed generals as they leave.

Miss Marilyn and Ro-Jaws help Hammerstein back to his feet as he points out a simple truth:

"The legend of the Warriors lives on... Spread The Word."

NOTES: If anyone can supply information on where this originally came from, please e-mail me.

COMMENTS:

A cracking little three page tale that rounds the series off nicely.

Illustrations by Brendan McCarthy

Presented below is the original text story, as published in the 1981 annual...

Pain bites through my circuits. I stare straight ahead. I try to force the sluggish oil more quickly through my tubes. My city is in flames behind me. The air crackles with heat. But deep in my circuits I feel cold.

'Faster you dogs!' Viktor, my platoon commandant, shouts at me - all of us. But our electronic hearts are heavy, our positronic brains are aching. We are fleeing. We must escape our city before the accursed ABC Warriors launch their final attack.

Our army is beaten, our country has almost lost the war. But we will not surrender. We will run away, we will hide… Perhaps one day we will return to our city, Volgow the Beautiful.

Volgow… Volgow… If robots could cry, my tears would flow. I feel a flash of red anger rip through my wires. I did want to be in this war! I was happy as a baker's droid. Humans always came back for my cakes.

'Bak-94, your cakes are delicious," a foreign colonel's wife once told me. 'Nowhere in the world have I tasted cakes like here in Volgow.'

I was happy as a baker's droid. Even though there was a war on. We didn't even notice it. We were far from the front. War was something citizens watched on their vid-screens.

But then things started to go badly for us. They came to Volgow, like a press gang of olden times. We call them The Grabbers. We hate them.

At first they just talked to us. 'Our country is losing the war,' they said. 'Our loyal droid forces have been decimated. We need more fighting-droids. We need you! Volgow needs you.' I argued. 'I am happy as a baker-droid,' I told them. 'I am not programmed for war. I do not wish to fight.'

The Grabbers sneered. 'From now on,' they said with contempt, 'Volgow needs even cowards.'

I did not want to go. I did not know how to make war. I was afraid. But The Grabbers did not care. They laughed at my spindly frame. They told me and the other servo-droids that the ABC Warriors would over-run the whole country if we did not fight. 'Even window cleaner droids will be programmed to kill,' they said.

I did not scream when they took me to their H.Q. Some of the other droids did. A little dentist-droid screamed loudest. He was afraid.

I was afraid, too, but I did not call out as they clamped the wires to my head. They sent the volts surging through me. In my head things changed… They took me from the machine. They sneered at my spindly frame. 'It will have to do,' they laughed. 'We have no spare metal for a new frame. Your skinny body will not last. But now you know how to fight.'

I had been reprogrammed. It was if I had always known how to load and fire the lazooka. It was if I had been launching deadly 'Monkey' bombs all my life. I knew all the generals' names as if the data had always been a part of my positronic brain.

They gave me a gun. A BlaaZ-19 Magnum. It was big in my skinny hand. I had never fired a shot before, but now I could kill a human at a range of a mile without even aiming. I was a soldier.

But the others called be Baaka. In Volgan, that is a joke. It means spidercake. They called me Baaka because I did not have a new soldier's body.

Their taunts did not worry me. I think my new programming was working. I started to be like the other soldiers. I hated the ABC Warriors and the forces of the Free West. I had never even seen an ABC Warrior. Once, when there was a truce in the war, a western colonel came to Volgow. His wife came to my baker's shop. I gave her a Ural Horn, a pastry mountain filled with cream. Now I will kill her if I see her.

Some of the others do not like the war. They were new soldiers, like me. Some were even spindlier.

We did not fight. We waited. We were the last resort. We would defend Volgow in its final hours.

I used to listen to the old war-droids swapping tales. They spoke of names of legend. They worshipped General Blackblood. He led the guerrilla attacks in the Pacific Islands. He conquered half the southern seas for our great country.

They spoke of Old Horney, the very first Volgan war robot. He was a splendid sight, they said. His eight horns gleamed in the glare of battle. He waved his zabre high and urged his troops to sing. 'Volganayyyyyya,' they chanted. The old droids said it, and my heart felt proud.

But Old Horney fought at the front. I was just a baker-droid who knew how to kill. I sat every day in a high tower and watched the flames on the horizon. I watched the explosions. I watched the rainbow death the ABC Warriors sowed.

Then one day a message-droid brought the news. I watched him race towards me on a Kossak Hell-bike. I trained my gun on him. It could have been a trick. But I knew him. The Hell-bike skidded to a halt.

'News for Marshall Volgod,' he yelled. 'The ABC Warriors are breaking through!' I could not believe it. The bike raced on, and I waited for my logic circuits to make sense of the news. It was not logical. The enemy could never break through our lines. Old Horney never lost a battle!

I was ordered to join my platoon. We were a strange crew. Only one of us was a properly-programmed war-droid. He was Viktor, the commandant.

'Horney is dead,' he told us. We could not believe him. 'He made an attack on the Chateau Volgski, which had been taken by the enemy. He met Hammer-Stein.'

Hammer-Stein! The worst and toughest of all the enemy's war-droids. Red-eyes, they used to call him. Hammer-Stein, so co close to Volgow! Surely our city was lost!

Our men were disheartened. Old Horney dead…the dreaded Hammer-Stein and his forces so close. I was afraid. I knew how to kill but I was afraid. 'We will remain here,' Viktor told us. 'Marshall Volgod will have the Flame Barrier erected. We will be safe.'

The Barrier went up. The heat was like a furnace. Some of my plastic melted, even though we were miles away. Viktor would not let us fall back a little. 'Our orders are to stay here,' he shouted. I do not think he knew why. I do not think he cared. He was well programmed.

We hid from the heat as best we could. It was like the sun. Some droids' circuits overloaded. They tiny dentist droid started running around in circles, muttering dirty words. His drill-fingers whirred, and he stuck them in his audio receptors. 'The heat,' Viktor explained, and he deactivated the little robot. He shot him. I watched Viktor do it. Perhaps soon I would have to fire my gun. I knew how to kill.

The order came soon after. Retreat. Retreat? Surely we must stay and fight. Even if we must die, we must stay and fight. But Viktor hit me, and explained. 'We retreat so that we can fight again another day,' he told me. 'Now move, stupid Baaka. Move, you scrap-jobs!'

We moved. We joined a stream of robots that soon became a flood. The blazing barrier was lowered to let us through. I wondered what was happening to the north of the city. Were the flames holding back the enemy? Could Hammer-Stein be held back by that solar heat?

Then rumours ran along the line. There was another ABC robot. He was called Steelhorn. They said he could not be destroyed. They said he was programmed to kill Marshall Volgod.

We tried not to think about it. Surely no-one could kill our supreme commander? Why did we run away if that was to happen?

But Viktor hit us and forced us on. He explained. 'The Marshall has an escape route planned. He will flee in his imperial jet. Do not bother your circuits. Just march. We will fight again another day.'

I have not fought at all yet. I am marching along an endless road. Around me is a tattered robot army. We are fleeing so that we can fight again another day. I have not fought at all yet.

I march along this road and the heat hurts me inside. My legs are weak. Pain bites through my circuits. I stare straight ahead. I try to force the sluggish oil more quickly through my tubes. My city is in flames behind me.

The air crackles with heat. But deep in my circuits I feel cold.

FOOTNOTE: After the Volgan robots' inglorious retreat, the ABC Warriors broke through into the city of Volgow. There was indeed a robot called Steelhorn. And he could not be destroyed. He killed Marshall Volgod and the Volgan war was over. It is not known what became of Bak-94.

Text copyright 2003 Rebellion.

NOTES:

COMMENTS:

This one can speak for itself.

Steve Dillon / John Higgins

A melancholic Hammerstein sits over an unmarked grave, contemplating life on Mars. Human settlers, it seems, need to be treated for depression during the first two years of coming to this dead and desolate world. They call it 'The Red Planet Blues,' but it's something Hammerstein doesn't feel, being a robot.

Earlier, The ABC Warriors had been assigned to assist with some gardening chores. Humans had decided to plant trees in certain parts of the planet, to produce more oxygen and balance out the atmosphere. The Warriors had been called in to tackle the fields of 'strangle-weed,' a Martian plant that gives off high levels of carbon dioxide.

The human in charge of the task, Mrs Teale, informed Hammerstein that a number of her crew had also gone missing during the operation. She took him to see a strange Martian building, obviously left there by a past generation. Mrs Teale told Hammerstein that the structure will have to come down - not destroy it or anything, they're not barbarians. They plan to ship it back to Earth for study. When Hammerstein questioned whether Mrs Teale had any respect for the planet, she informed that she hadn't. Mars was a dead pile of rocks. However, she she still carried a Mauger pistol everywhere; it only packed three charges, but they're big enough to stop anything.

Mrs Teale told Hammerstein she needed The Warriors there to reassure the crew. She showed him a strange skull which had scared the work teams, which, she told him, must be from some extinct Martian animal. Hammerstein took the skull back to The Warriors temporary base and asked Deadlock to investigate. The Grand Wizard eventually informed him that the skull was from a creature only three weeks dead.

Hammerstein rushed back to warn Teale that there was still something alive out there, something Martian, living in the strange-weed. As he reached the perimeter, he heard the Mauger fire three times, but when he got to the spot where Teale had been attacked, all he found was her gun. He hoped she'd saved that last bullet for herself.

Teale's death is reported and less than a week later, the human orders came back from Earth: Burn all the strangle-weed. Hammerstein let Blackblood handle that side of it, it's the kind of thing he's good at. After the job's done, they only find one dead animal. Hammerstein wonders if there are patches of strangle-weed south of there, where these creatures can live. They have the right after all, Mars is there planet. They have the right to live there. At least until man pushes his frontiers further southward and there's no strangle-weed left anywhere.

Hammerstein buries the creature. Finally leaving the grave side, he gives the Martian animal a warning: "The humans are coming, little one. The humans are coming and soon all your tribe will lie as still as you. There's nothing you can do about it. It's their planet now."

"Spread The Word."

NOTES:

COMMENTS:

The only ABC Warriors story not to be helmed by Pat Mills (and the first to be in full colour) is left in the safe hands of Mister Alan Moore, capably backed by Steve Dillon - to whom special note has to go. Topped with a superb colouring job by John Higgins, Dillon turns in some of his best work to date, far out shining his later Hellblazer and Preacher work.

Whereas Mills looked at different aspects of warfare with the series, Moore offers up some commentary on the environment, and man's arrogance to believe he can bend and shape the world to his will. Again we see Hammerstein acting more human than the humans themselves in his anger at Teale's lack of respect for her adopted planet. Like previous ABC Warriors stories, humans get a rough time of it, coming out as the villains, either through their sheer cruelty to their creations (as in Steelhorn) or showing a complete lack of respect for anything but their own interests, as shown here.

It seems that elements of this story are coming true. We humans really are losing respect for our past and our planet. Then again, maybe that's always been the case...

Moore's brief flirtation with The Warriors demonstrates what both he and the series is capable of. Dillon's artwork has the appropriate discipline for a story focusing on the stoic soldier-philosopher Hammerstein (Kev O'Neill or Mike McMahon would have been too anarchic). Higgins' exquisite colouring tinges alienness throughout the work - beautifully evoking the Martian environment - and is without hesitation a masterpiece in itself.

Moore collapses much of his own personal philosophy into this tiny insight into Hammerstein's hermit-like conscience. Throughout, Hammerstein is portrayed as a weary figure, on the point of emotional exhuastion - his inner monologue is stunning in its empathy and quiet power - while all around him his human and robot colleagues tear into Mars without a second thought as to the consequences of their actions... until, of course, Teale is mobbed and dragged away to a conspicuously unknown end.

Hammerstein's respect for Mars - and his concern for Teale - underscores his humanity, and yet it is on Mars and through a robot that such humanity is expertly demonstrated. Given this, Red Planet Blues is one of the great 'what ifs' of Warriors history. To see what Moore could have done with the Mek-nificent Seven would have been truly something.