Manix

For The Welsh band sometimes abbreviated to Manix or Manics, see Manic Street Preachers.

Manix was both the title and main character of a comic strip serial published in the British comics anthology Eagle. The serial first appeared in issue 24 (dated September 4 1982).

The serial was created by Alan Grant and John Wagner, who scripted the early story arcs. The strip was subsequently written by Grant using the pseudonym "Keith Law", and later by Scott Goodall.

The early adventures, like most of the serials published in Eagle at the time, were fumettis: illustrated by black-and-white photographs using actors, with text boxes and speech balloons superimposed. The photography for Manix was by Sven Arnstein. When Eagle ceased to publish fumettis and moved to a traditionally illustrated format in 1983, the art for the Manix strip was provided by Manuel Carmona.

Plot

Manix was a robot secret agent (and originally assassin) constructed for British Intelligence, designed as the ultimate agent - programmed to obey any issued order without dissent, and with a precise, logical machine intelligence, he possessed superhuman strength, speed, and durability. He also possessed x-ray vision, internal cavities to hold weapons and equipment, extensive data banks (ranging from designs of security systems to hand-held combat techniques), and was covered in synthetic skin which gave him the appearance of a normal man. In fact, his outer appearance could be modified from one mission to the next.

His first mission after being activated was to assassinate his creator, Professor Manix. This was because his controller, Colonel Cameron, wished for only one robot agent to exist, which he could then monopolise for his own self-serving ends. Manix undertook various missions, all designed to subtly entrench Cameron's position; he realised that his long-term survival was jeopardised by Cameron's orders, but was unable to disobey them. When ordered to assassinate Sir Orville Walther (or "O"), the head of British Intelligence, Manix was able to make his own survival impulse logically override his orders and become a "rogue robot", removing the self-destruct device Cameron had implanted and delaying the assassination long enough for Cameron to be defeated.

Thereafter, Manix undertook further missions directly underneath "O" himself, including eliminating a clone of Adolf Hitler living in South America, and impersonating the footballer Smithson Johns during a tour behind the Iron Curtain. A persistent opponent proved to be the terrorist organisation S.M.O.G. (or Society for the Militant Overthrow of all Governments).

During the course of the strip, the Manix robot was destroyed and then replaced several times: the original 'perished' whilst pursuing a Mafia don by falling from the don's exploding helicopter into Mount Etna, and his replacement being captured and re-programmed by S.M.O.G., prompting a third, improved Manix to capture and destroy the 'brainwashed' second robot. There was also a Mini-Manix, a foot-high miniaturised version of Manix complete with dragon tattoos and extensive Kung Fu skills, but which ultimately proved unreliable in the field.

The strip ended with Manix completing a mission involving Russian death squads, with him returning to Britain to await another assignment.

External link

• Profile on International Hero