Lobo (comics)

Lobo is an alien mercenary comic book anti-hero (arguably a superhero) created by Keith Giffen (artist) and Roger Slifer (writer). He first appeared in the 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. When the Omega Men series 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 (both set in space like Omega Men), until 1990 when he appeared in his own self-titled series Lobo: The Last Czarnian, under the hands of Simon Bisley and Alan Grant.

Alan Grant's humor and Simon Bisley's characteristic designs made this first four-issue mini-series a hit, which was followed by many more mini-series and specials. He kept his own title for 64 issues, from 1993 to 1999. Mini-series and specials 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), 'Convention Special' (self-explanatory send-up of comic conventions) and 'UnAmerican Gladiators' (in which Lobo takes part in a deadly televised gameshow).

During this period, and even since the cancellation of his regular series, Lobo guest-starred regularly in other series. He has interacted with non-DC characters, such as The Mask, Judge Dredd, and the Authority. During the DC vs. Marvel series he fought Wolverine - and lost.

In Lobo, everything is excessive, from the main character's perversions, his mindless violence, and his vocabulary to the muted colors and the grotesque graphics. Everything in the series is laughable (in the sense of being ridiculous, if not always amusing), even his profanities ("Frag" and "Bastich"), which are used to replace vocabulary unwanted by a family-friendly DC and to satirize similar expressions in other comics.

The character

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straggly, grey-black mane (similarly, the orange-and-purple leotard he wore in his first few appearances has long since been replaced by black leather biker gear).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 superhuman (or superCzarnian) abilities include enormous strength (which, however, seems to vary greatly; fanon speculates that his strength automatically scales up or down to match those of his opponent), the ability to survive unaided in space, the ability to heal rapidly from ludicrous amounts of damage, a (quite literally) unbelievably-powerful sense of smell which allows him to track objects between different solar systems, and the ability to regrow an entire new Lobo from each drop of his own blood that is spilled in combat. This last ability was removed from him 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 they 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 about to die. Before he could, 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.