Ro-Busters

On the face of it, this is Thunderbirds with robots, but with Pat Mills at the helm it also becomes a blend of music hall pastiche and union negotiations, where the robot proletariat must fight or buckle under the pressures of a capitalist system that sees them simply as fodder. Y'know, like if you work for Amazon.

The key protagonists are Hammerstein (an ex war droid) & Ro-Jaws (a sewage droid), both under the heel of boss Mr. Ten Percent (a human brain in a robot body) and his enforcer Mek-Quake (a kill-dozer).

Threads from Ro-Busters feed into almost the entire Millsverse before coming full circle years later. Hammerstein changed heads and became the lead in The A.B.C. Warriors, then was hired by Nemesis the Warlock (where Termight itself was inspired by the tubes present in The Fall & Rise storyline of Ro-Busters). Ro-Jaws became mainly an editorial fixture who was perhaps not warlike enough for the initial line-up of Warriors, but did eventually join them after working as a butler for Nemesis. Mek-Quake has had various forms and, in a timeless capacity, also works for Tharg in the present. Even Mr. Ten Percent ended up crossing over, with an extensive back story in Savage.

Art by Clint Langley

• The 2000 AD ABC: Ro-Busters
• Shop: Ro-Busters

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