Lobo (DC Comics)
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- For the first African-American comic-book title character, see Lobo (Dell Comics)
Lobo is an alien mercenary antihero (arguably a superhero) created by artist Keith Giffen and writer Roger Slifer. He debuted in DC's Omega Men series in 1983. Although intended to be an over-the-top parody of Marvel Comics' Wolverine, the character became hugely popular — more so than his creators had intended for a one-note gag character. Giffen stated on the character, "I have no idea why Lobo took off. I came up with him as an indictment of the Punisher, Wolverine, bad ass hero prototype and somehow he caught on as the high violence poster boy. Go figure." [1]
When the series Omega Men was disrupted in 1988, Lobo became a regular character in L.E.G.I.O.N. and its successor series R.E.B.E.L.S. until 1990, when he appeared in his own miniseries, Lobo: The Last Czarnian, by writer Alan Grant and artist Simon Bisley.
Grant's humor and Bisley's art helped to make this four-issue series a hit, leading to many subsequent miniseries and specials. These include Lobocop (a RoboCop parody), Blazing Chain of Love (in which he is sent on a job to a harem), Paramilitary Christmas Special (in which he is contracted to assassinate Santa Claus by the Easter Bunny), Infanticide (where he kills his daughter and children), Convention Special (a send-up of comic book conventions) and UnAmerican Gladiators (in which Lobo takes part in a deadly televised game show). Lobo also starred in his own title for 64 issues, from 1993 to 1999.
Throughout, Lobo has guest-starred regularly in other series, even in cross-company interactions with such non-DC characters as The Mask, Judge Dredd, and the Authority. During the DC vs. Marvel crossover series, he fought Wolverine — and lost due to popular vote by real-life fans, though a later issue of Lobo's series implied that a bald-headed individual, possibly Professor Xavier, had paid Lobo to take a fall.
In the Lobo series and miniseries, everything is excessive, from the main character's perversions, mindless violence, and vocabulary to the colors and the grotesque graphics. He commonly refers to "do-gooder" superheroes as "The Big Cheese". Everything in the series is laughable (in the sense of being ridiculous, if not always amusing), even his profanities ("Frag", "Feetal's Giz" and "Bastich"), which are used to replace vocabulary unwanted by a family-friendly DC and to satirize similar expressions in other comics.
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Background
Lobo is a Czarnian, possessing exceptional strength and fortitude. He enjoys nothing better than mindless violence and intoxication. Killing is an end in itself: his name is Khundian for "he who devours your entrails and thoroughly enjoys it". He is also arrogant and self-centered, focusing almost solely on his own pleasures, although he proudly lives up to his word. Lobo is the last of his kind, having killed all the other Czarnians (according to Superman: The Animated Series, this was for a high school science project, for which he gave himself an "A"). Possibly, Lobo cannot stay dead, as both Heaven and Hell threw him out; however, whether the comics in which these events occurred can be considered part of DC's mainstream continuity is questionable.Template:Fact
Lobo's friends include a bulldog named Dawg, that he often claims isn't his when it gets into trouble, and a hair-parlor proprietress. His enemies include the do-gooder superhero parody Goldstar; Loo as well as Vril Dox; Bludhound; Etrigan the Demon; and General Glory. Lobo generally tries to kill anyone he's hired to capture, including a fourth-grade teacher named Miss Tribb, his children, Santa Claus, and God. Simon Bisley's dark humor fits well within the pages of his artwork by having countless mutilations of background characters occurring in each panel.
Physically, Lobo resembles a chalk-white human male with blood-red pupilless eyes surrounded by black mascara-like patches. Although he was originally portrayed as having neatly trimmed purple-grey hair, this was soon redesigned to be a long, straggly, grey-black mane. Similarly, the orange-and-purple leotard he wore in his first few appearances has long since been replaced by black leather biker gear. His arsenal include numerous guns, and a chain with a hook on its right arm. Extra arsenal may include "frag grenades", and giant carving blades.
His superhuman (or super-Czarnian) abilities include enormous strength (which, however, seems to vary greatly; fanon speculates that his strength automatically scales up or down to match that of his opponent), the ability to survive unaided in space, a healing factor that heals ludicrous amounts of damage, an equally ludicrous sense of smell which allows him to track objects between solar systems, and the ability to regrow an entire new Lobo from each drop of his own spilled blood. This last ability was removed by Vril Dox.
In addition to his ever-present lust for violence, Lobo also has a strict personal code of honor — he will never violate the letter of an agreement, although he may gleefully disregard its spirit. Also, he is extremely protective of space dolphins.
Li'l Lobo
In 1998, Lobo was transformed into a teenager by a magical accident. In this state, he joined Young Justice and eventually accompanied them to Apokolips. There, he was killed in combat. However, the aforementioned magical accident had restored his ability to regrow from a single drop of blood, and millions of Lobos rushed into battle with Apokoliptian soldiers, whom the Lobos quickly defeated. The Lobos then turned on each other, until only one was left; in the process, the surviving Lobo regrew to adulthood.
An additional teenage Lobo remained, having hidden from the fight; he rejoined Young Justice and chose to rename himself Slo-bo. Eventually, this clone degraded, becoming blind and on the brink of death. Before he could die, however, Darkseid teleported him to the headquarters of Young Justice One Million in the 853rd Century, turning him into a (still aware) statue in the process.
Ultimate Bastich
In the two-part Lobo vs The Mask crossover, Lobo is hired by a surviving council of numerous devastated planets to hunt down a terrible killer, the same one who destroyed those worlds. His reward, a billion credits. His trail led to Earth, Lobo encounters the current wearer of the ancient mask, the resulting battle destroying Manhattan and leaving Lobo nothing but a severed head, waiting for his body to re-grow.
Big Head, convincing Lobo he wants the previous mask wearer, agrees to a team-up to hunt the "Ultimate Bastich" down. Big Head leads Lobo on a chase to nowhere, killing even more and blowing up a solar system in the process. Fed up with Big Head, Lobo uses a special "guilt grenade" to force the wearer to remove the mask so that he can use it himself.
Lobo promptly kills an entire intergalactic bar of aliens, and is sucked into a wormhole on his ride through space. Landing in parts unknown, Lobo/Mask heads to a single planet where, crashing the 400th annual Feel Good Games, he insults a king, and proceeds to kill numerous people. A crayon drawing left on his bike with the words "YOU SMELL" incurs his wrath, and he proceeds to destroy numerous planets hunting down the one who drew the insulting picture.
Waking up one day, Lobo finds himself back on Earth, and realizes the mask used him. Tossing it away, he proceeds to leave only to pass himself arriving on Earth- as it turns out, the wormhole sent him back in time roughly one month. He had been hired to hunt himself, and the alley where he dumped the mask was the same alley where the pickpocket would find it in part 1. However, Lobo breaks the time loop, literally turning himself in as he shaved the other Lobo's head and painted him green for the reward money. Meanwhile, Big Head, realizing that Lobo has broken the loop, decides to have fun of its own on Earth.
Lobo the Duck
Lobo the Duck is an incarnation of Lobo and Marvel Comics' Howard the Duck in the Amalgam Comics company crossovers. The big arm is derived from Lobo's alternative self, Lady Lobo, of Lobo's Back #2. He fights characters of DC and Marvel combinations such as the Kidnoids, and Ambush the Lunatik. His friends include Impossible Dawg and Doctor Strangefate.
Animated Lobo
Lobo first appeared on the small screen in Superman: The Animated Series. In the episode "Main Man", Lobo (voiced by Brad Garrett) was hired by an alien named the "Preserver" to capture Superman and add him to the Preserver's collection of rare and endangered species. Lobo headed straight for Earth and started firing in the middle of a police station until Superman eventually showed up to confront him. The two battled all over downtown Metropolis, a battle which ended with Lobo leaving Earth supposedly to "take five".
Superman followed after Lobo into space, where Lobo lured Superman into a trap set by the Preserver. Superman was eventually captured and placed in a specialized cage, so that the Preserver might preserve Superman as the last remnant of the Kryptonian race. However, the Preserver then decided to add Lobo to his collection as well, since Lobo was also technically the last of his own race. Superman and Lobo eventually joined forces to escape the Preserver, and in return, Lobo promised to leave Earth alone.
Lobo also briefly appeared in another Superman: The Animated Series episode in which Maxima falls in love with Superman.
Lobo eventually returned to Earth, however, in the Justice League episode "Hereafter." Believing that Superman had died, Lobo wanted to join the Justice League, insisting that only he could take Superman's place. Lobo seemed to be motivated more out of ego and a chance "to bust heads" than any actual desire to do good or help others. In spite of his obvious violent tendencies and his lack of any redeeming moral virtues, the League allowed Lobo to help them for a short time while they dealt with a large number of supervillains running amok in Metropolis in response to Superman's apparent death. Lobo battled and defeated the supervillain Kalibak, though the League had to stop Lobo from using excessive force on Kalibak after the fight had ended. In the end, Superman returned to the ranks of the League, and Lobo, his membership rejected, was forced to leave. Lobo has not reappeared since the League removed him. Brad Garrett reprised his voice role.
As in the comics, Lobo possessed exceptional strength and durability as well as an arsenal of weapons. However, he never displayed any of the healing powers or advanced senses that he possesses in the comics.
In 1999, Batman: The Animated Series writer Boyd Kirkland developed a new Lobo series for Kids' WB with artist Steven Gordon. The series never went into production, as the network passed on it in a last-minute schedule announcement that year, to the surprise of the production team.
Lobo on film
Image:LoboLive.jpg In 2002, Scott Leberecht directed a film adaption of The Lobo Paramilitary Christmas Special as part of the American Film Institute's director's studies program. Andrew Bryniarski stars as Lobo, with Tom Gibis as the Easter Bunny and Michael V. Allen as Santa Claus. The film was made with a budget of $2,400, although many professionals donated time and effort. It premiered at the AFI in May 2002.
Video games
Lobo was announced as a 2D fighting game for the Super Nintendo and Sega Genesis. It is believed the game was canceled, though some insist that copies were sold in limited numbers. However, no ROM dump has been released nor have copies been proven to be in the hands of collectors. Part of the confusion may be due to the fact that Nintendo Power magazine ran an article on the game, complete with full move lists for the characters.
Kemco had announced a PlayStation 2 and Xbox game, initially set to be released in 2004. However, the game received numerous delays, then a final cancellation in 2005. Kemco admitted that they had done no work on the game. Despite this however, some game store chains still insist it has a release date.
References
es:Lobo (cómics) fr:Lobo (comics) it:Lobo (fumetto) pt:Lobo (banda desenhada) fi:Lobo sv:Lobo (seriefigur)