most powerful mechanical man. Originally, he was dubbed "The Jungle Robot" (due to his early adventures taking place in the jungles of Africa and South America), and was controlled remotely by Professor Ritchie, along with nephew Ted Ritchie and Ken Dale, his best friend. Robot Archie's adventures started off as conventional action-thrillers, with Archie and his friends battling criminals and jungle creatures, but over time, he began to fight more fantastic and dangerous villains and aliens, including The Sludge, a monster that had previously had its own strip in Lion. Initially, Archie could not speak, but around 1966, he gained a voice box, revealing a boastful, yet charming, personality. When Robot Archie re-appeared in the pages of Grant Morrison's Zenith as "Acid Archie", part of a team of heroes called Black Flag; there, he helped Zenith fight the evil, supernatural race known as the Lloigor. Archie was apparently destroyed by Ruby Fox, a.k.a. "Voltage", in Phase IV, when she short-circuited him whilst he was trying to rip off her head. But later, that was revealed to have been a copy of Archie within the Chimera pocket universe, as he is seen partying with Zenith and Peter St. John, a.k.a. "Mandala" during the epilogue. Archie also surfaced in zzzenith.com, in the special Prog 2001 edition of 2000AD, where Zenith explained that rust in the brain-pan had caused Archie's personality to switch from anarchist Acid-House aficionado to vigilante, hunting down sex offenders with a lethal vigour. He was last seen in the story wearing a false beard, as he escaped on a bus after sexually assaulting pop star Britney Spears. Robot Archie's swan song was in Albion'', where he was found in the basement of a Manchester pub by Penny Dolmann (the daughter of Eric Dolmann), who repaired and modified him in order to rescue her father. He was being held in an isolated Scottish asylum/prison where IPC's heroes had been sent simply for the "crime" of being different. Archie killed many guards and was destroyed whilst acting as a decoy for Penny. References External links Robot Archie at International Superhero History of Lion at comicsuk British comic strips Drama comics Science fiction comics 1952 comics debuts Comics characters introduced in 1952 2006 comics endings British comics characters WildStorm superheroes Fleetway and IPC Comics Fictional humanoid robots Male characters in comics