| Lobo | |
|---|---|
 Lobo and Dawg (DC, 1991) Art by Simon Bisley | |
| Publication information | |
| Publisher | DC Comics |
| First appearance | Omega Men #3 (June 1983) |
| Created by | Roger Slifer Keith Giffen |
| In-story information | |
| Species | Czarnian |
| Place of origin | Czarnia |
| Team affiliations | Justice League L.E.G.I.O.N. Young Justice Church of the Triple-Fish God R.E.B.E.L.S. Suicide Squad Red Lantern Corps |
| Notable aliases | The Main Man The 'Bo Master Frag The Last Czarnian Mister Machete Scourge o' the Cosmos The Ultimate Bastich Machete Man El Cazadores The Lord of Death |
| Abilities |
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Lobo is a fictional character appearing incomic books published byDC Comics. He was created byRoger Slifer andKeith Giffen, and first appeared inOmega Men #3 (June 1983). He is an alien from the utopian planet of Czarnia, and works as an interstellar mercenary and bounty hunter.[1] Lobo was first introduced as a hardened villain in the 1980s, but he soon fell out of use with writers. He remained in limbo until his revival as a bounty hunter with his own comic in the early 1990s.
One of the key factors in this revival was the distinct and influential artwork ofSimon Bisley,[2] whose exaggerated and dynamic style helped redefine the character and significantly contributed to his popularity.[3][4] Bisley's work on the Lobo series, starting with the miniseriesLobo: The Last Czarnian in 1990, was instrumental in cementing Lobo's place in the 1990s American comic book scene.
Writers attempted to use Lobo as aparody of the 1990s trend towards "grim and gritty" superhero stories, but he was instead enthusiastically accepted by fans of the trend.[5] This popularity led to the character having a much higher profile in DC Comics stories from then on, as well as starring roles in various series in the decades since.
Lobo has been substantially adapted into media outside comics.Brad Garrett,David Sobolov,John DiMaggio, andFred Tatasciore, among others, have voiced the character in animation and video games. Lobo made his live-action debut inKrypton (2018–2019), portrayed byEmmett J. Scanlan, and will make his cinematic debut in theDC Universe filmSupergirl: Woman of Tomorrow (2026), portrayed byJason Momoa.[6]
The character had a short run as one of DC's most popular characters throughout the 1990s. This version of Lobo was intended to be a satire of theMarvel ComicssuperheroWolverine. In issue #41 ofDeadpool, a separate Marvel series, Lobo was parodied as "Dirty Wolff", a large blue-skinned man who drove a demonic motorcycle. He was also parodied in theImage Comics seriesBloodwulf and as "Bolo" in theTopps Comics seriesSatan's Six.
Simon Bisley's biker lifestyle played a significant role in shaping Lobo's redesign, infusing the character with a rugged, rebellious aesthetic that resonated with fans.[4]
In a 2006 interview, Keith Giffen said: "I have no idea why Lobo took off... I came up with him as an indictment of thePunisher, Wolverine hero prototype, and somehow he caught on as the high violence poster boy. Go figure".[7] He later stated that both Lobo andAmbush Bug were derived fromLunatik, a character he created in high school.[8]
Lobo was the favorite DC Comics character ofStan Lee.[9]
Lobo was introduced as a regular character inKeith Giffen andRoger Slifer'sGreen Lantern andTeen Titansspin-offTheOmega Men.[10] At that time, he was a Velorpian whose entire race had been exterminated byPsions and was partnered with Bedlam, whom he later killed; his origin was laterretconned.
After a well-received appearance inJustice League International, Lobo became a regular character inL.E.G.I.O.N. and its successor seriesR.E.B.E.L.S..
In 1990, he appeared in his own four-issueminiseries,Lobo: The Last Czarnian, plotted by Giffen, written byAlan Grant and with art bySimon Bisley, which changed his origin story: he became the last Czarnian after violently killing every other member of the species. That mini-series led to many subsequent miniseries and specials, includingLobocop, aRoboCop parody;Blazing Chain of Love, in which he is sent on a job to aharem;Paramilitary Christmas Special, in which he is contracted by theEaster Bunny to assassinateSanta Claus;Infanticide, where he kills his daughter and all of his other offspring that she has gathered to try to kill him;Convention Special, a send-up ofcomic book conventions; andUnamerican Gladiators, in which Lobo takes part in a deadly televisedgame show.Simon Bisley's dark humor fits well within the pages of his artwork by having countless mutilations of background characters occurring in each panel. Lobo also starred in his own DC title for 64 issues, from 1993 to 1999.
Lobo has regularly madeguest appearances in other series, even incross-company interactions with such non-DC characters asthe Mask,Judge Dredd, andthe Authority. During theDC vs. Marvel crossover series, he foughtWolverine and lost due to popular vote by the fans. He also appeared very briefly in theJLA/Avengers inter-company crossover and is shown fighting members of theShi'arImperial Guard; although the outcome is not shown, it is mentioned that the Guard had trouble containing him.
Lobo is a Czarnian with exceptional strength and fortitude. He enjoys nothing better than mindless violence and intoxication, and killing as an end in itself; his name roughly translates as "he who devours your entrails and thoroughly enjoys it". He is arrogant and self-centered, focusing almost solely on his own pleasures, although he proudly lives up to the letter of his promises – but always no more or no less than what he promised. Lobo is the last of his kind, having killed most of his species with a scorpion-like creature. It is later revealed that some Czarnians survived: Lobo's teacher and former military officer Miss Tribb, and the population of a city thatBrainiac stole centuries prior.
Physically, Lobo resembles a chalk-white human male with, generally, blood-red pupilless eyes with blackened eyelids. Like many comic book characters, Lobo's body is highly muscular, though his initial appearances were thinner compared to later iterations. Originally portrayed with neatly trimmed purple-grey hair, this was soon redesigned as a gray mane, later a long, straggly, gray-black rocker hair, dreadlocks, and more recently a pompadour. Similarly, the orange-and-purple leotard he wore in his first few appearances was replaced by black leather biker gear and was later replaced with both the robes of his office as a putative Archbishop and pirate-themed gear, then later a sleeveless flight suit/jumpsuit. His arsenal includes numerous guns and a titanium chain with a hook on his right arm. Extra weapons may include "frag grenades" and giant carving blades.
Lobo has a strict personal code of honor in that he will never violate the letter of an agreement, though he may gleefully disregard its spirit. He is surprisingly protective of spacedolphins, some of which he feeds from his home. A few have been killed in separate incidents, which he avenges with his usual violence.
Lobo's friends include Dawg, a bulldog that he often claims is not his when it gets into trouble;Jonas Glim, a fellow bounty hunter; Ramona, a bail bondswoman/hairdresser; and Green LanternGuy Gardner.
Dawg is stomped to death by Lobo inLobo (vol. 2) #58, in which he again claims toSuperman that the dog is not his; this is for the final time. Somehow, Dawg later appears alongside Lobo when Lobo goes to Earth to fight Green Lantern and Atrocitus.[11] His enemies include the do-gooder superhero parodyGoldstar, Loo,Vril Dox, Bludhound,Etrigan the Demon, andGeneral Glory. Lobo generally tries to kill anyone he is hired to capture, including his fourth-grade teacher Miss Tribb, his children,Santa Claus, and Dawg, although his main targets are Superman andDeathstroke. Lobo frequents a restaurant, Al's Diner, where he often flirts with Al's only waitress, Darlene Spritzer. Though Lobo protects these two from frequent danger, he does not seem to understand the distress caused by his tendency to destroy the diner. Al and Darlene later prosper due to Lobo's appetite for destruction; he destroys the city, except for the diner, leaving hordes of construction workers with only one place to eat lunch. He also ends up destroying a diner Al gives to him as part of a birthday celebration.
The last revelation of Lobo and the diner appears to be in the pages ofLobo (vol. 2) #1,000,000 (November 1998), where his last adventure is depicted. By the time of the action, he is already obese and working as a carnival attraction, scaring tourists into leaving their money behind. Then, a sexy client appears to offer him one last job: finding legendary evildoer Malo Perverso. At the prospect of a last well-paid job and a chance to score with the client, Lobo quickly agrees, and he again invades the diner to use their Tesseract teleporter to reach his gear. It is revealed then the "client" is none other than Darlene, who wanted to see him in his prime rather than see him sink into sloth.
After reaching his gear, Lobo invades the HQ of the International Justice Legion Wanna-Bes and crushes all opposition to hack their files on Malo Perverso. There, he is attacked by Perverso, who then reveals himself to be Clayman. Clayman also squeals that the real Perverso went into a black hole. Lobo, still eager to find his bounty, goes into the black hole. Ironically, due to Lobo's interference in a planetary conflict in the same issue, Al later gets a package through the Tesseract for Lobo – which promptly blows the diner up yet again.
At one point, Lobo has trouble with a clone of himself that had survived previous misadventures. A battle between the two makes it unclear which of them survived.
Lobo has participated in several money-making schemes, such as being a priest and a pop-rock idol. Most of these schemes tend to end with the violent deaths of nearly everyone involved. He has many friends among the bounty hunter world, though many tend to die when they are around Lobo, either by his hand or at the hands of the enemies he faces.
Lobo has both clashed and cooperated withSuperman. He has also encounteredBatman a couple of times, although one of these encounters was in anElseworlds continuity. He has both fought and teamed up with Guy Gardner more than once, helping him to destroy various alien threats to Earth. Lobo often visits Warriors, Guy's bar, where he enjoys free drinks.
He fightsAquaman when a traveling space dolphin visiting Earth is killed by Japanese fishermen. He ceases fighting when he learns Aquaman is not only a friend to dolphins, but was raised by them. Although Lobo feels he cannot hurt a fellow dolphin lover, he has no such mercy for the fishermen.
Lobo also has appeared withthe Authority. In one such appearance,Jenny Quantum finds a comic book detailing Lobo's murder ofSanta Claus; she experiences a fit of rage and confusion. She breaks the barrier between her dimension and the dimension Lobo inhabits in the comic book, and Lobo finds himself in a fight with the Authority.
Lobo has also had run-ins withHitman,Valor,Starman, theRay,Deadman,Green Lantern, theJLA,StormWatch,Mister Miracle, theLegion of Super-Heroes,Captain Marvel,Wonder Woman,Doctor Fate, theSovereign Seven,Supergirl, andSuperboy, among others.
Lobo acts as an independent bounty hunter until tricked byVril Dox into nominally joining his interstellar police force,L.E.G.I.O.N. However, he continues solo activity, which seems to often bring him to Earth and in conflict with its heroes. Or, as in one case, base indifference.[12] He remains loyal to Vril Dox after L.E.G.I.O.N. leadership is usurped by Dox's son, until an altercation between Lobo and Dox prompts Dox to release Lobo from his service. After this, Lobo becomes a full-time bounty hunter again.
In the year 2000, a magical accident transforms Lobo into a teenager. In this condition, he joins Young Justice and eventually accompanies them toApokolips, where he is killed in combat. However, the aforementioned magical accident has restored his ability to grow clones from a single drop of blood, and millions of Lobos rush into battle against Apokoliptian soldiers, whom the Lobos quickly defeat. The Lobos then turn on each other, until only one is left; in the process, the surviving Lobo regrows to adulthood. His time as a member of Young Justice becomes a distant memory. An additional weaker teenage Lobo remained, however, having hidden from the fight; he rejoins Young Justice and chooses to rename himself Slobo. Slobo's body later degenerates, butDarkseid transports him to the 853rd century and transforms him into a statue before he can die.
In the 2006–07 miniseries52, Lobo reappears and encounters a group of heroes (consisting ofAdam Strange,Animal Man, andStarfire), who find themselves stranded in space after the events of the 2005–2006 "Infinite Crisis" storyline. To everyone's surprise, he does not kill them. Lobo professes to have found religion, becoming the spiritual leader of Sector 3500, which was left in shambles by an unknown assailant. He is the current caretaker of theEmerald Eye of Ekron. After helping the lost heroes defeatLady Styx, he brings the Emerald Eye to the triple-headed fish god, who agrees to release Lobo from his vow of non-violence in exchange. When told that the Emerald Eye is the only thing that can kill the fish god, Lobo blasts him with it.[volume & issue needed]
Lobo appeared in "Deadly Serious", a two-part crossover miniseries with Batman in August 2007, written and drawn by Sam Kieth. In addition, Lobo has fought theTeen Titans andBlue Beetle in their respective titles to stop a rocket for the Reach, in which he failed.
In theReign in Hell miniseries, it is revealed that Lobo's soul was still inHell following a deal he made withNeron during the 1995Underworld Unleashed storyline. Lobo's suffering was enough to power Neron's whole castle. Lobo was freed from his prison in a battle betweenEtrigan the Demon andBlue Devil, and he traveled through Hell to seek revenge on Neron. To buy time to fully recover before battling Lobo, Etrigan stole Blue Devil's soul and informed him that he would have to fight Lobo to get it back. During Lobo's rampage he cut offZatara's head, forcing his daughterZatanna to send him to the Abyss, the soul death.
Later, Lobo is shown aiding the JLA during their mission into Hell, where he helps Fire defeat the godPlutus.[13]
In the 2010 "Brightest Day" storyline, Lobo appears on Earth to capture a bounty onAtrocitus's head.[14] After fightingHal Jordan,Carol Ferris andSinestro, he then flees. It is revealed that the fight was staged by Atrocitus himself. As a payment, Lobo is given aRed Lantern ring.[11]
Still wearing his red ring on a chain around his neck, Lobo is recruited from a bar byVril Dox, who requires his help battling his "father"Brainiac and Pulsar Stargrave, a captured weapon. Even losing his spacehog, Lobo saves the planet Colu, but with Brainac and Pulsar Stargrave escaping. Lobo became a senior member of Vril Dox's Legion based on the planetRann. Lobo was the key to defeatingStarro the Conqueror and his lieutenants, ensuring security for Rann, the Vega system and the galaxy. Unknown to Lobo, the Psions had created clones of Lobo attempting to bring back the Czarnian race, which could make them unstoppable, but the series ended before this was played out.[15]
In 2011, DC Comics rebooted theDC Universe continuity in an initiative calledThe New 52. A reimagined version of Lobo debuted inDeathstroke (vol. 2) #9, written byRob Liefeld. This Lobo is a Czarnian slaver who killed the rest of his race except for his beloved Princess Sheba.[16] A second version, claiming to be the real Lobo and resembling the original version of the character, was introduced inJustice League (vol. 2) #23.2. He was originally the bodyguard to the Czarnian royal family, who utilized a Eucharist-like ritual involving the planet's "life blood", pools similar to Lazarus Pits. Drinking or bathing in these pools granted participants regenerative abilities, connecting them and the Emperor to the entire planet. However, an unknown party contaminated the "life blood", causing the Czarnian Emperor and any citizenry that had participated in the ritual to go insane, which in turn forced Lobo to commit planetaryeuthanasia. A new series featuring this version of Lobo debuted in October 2014[17][18] and concluded with its December 2015 issue.[19]
In 2016, DC Comics implemented another relaunch of its books calledDC Rebirth, which restored its continuity to a form much as it was prior toThe New 52. Lobo debuts inJustice League vs. Suicide Squad as one of the villains freed by Maxwell Lord, evidently restored to his Pre-New 52 persona. He is a member of Amanda Waller's first Suicide Squad. Batman eventually implants a bomb into Lobo's brain and detonates it, blowing up Lobo's head. After Lobo regenerates it, he discovers Batman did so to free him from Lord's control, and he later accepts Batman's offer to join a new incarnation of the Justice League to repay the favor.[20] InHal Jordan and the Green Lantern Corps, theNew 52 incarnation of Lobo is imprisoned in one of Brainiac's bottles. Guy Gardner almost frees him, before Hal Jordan grabs the bottle and tells him it is better to "leave him on the shelf".[21]
In all comic books, Lobo is portrayed as a ruthless bounty hunter. He only has one rule: once he takes a contract, he finishes it no matter what, even if it means risking injury. If he has a counter-contract for even more money, then he will fulfill the new one.
Lobo possesses extraordinary strength of undefined limits. His strength, much like his other powers, varies greatly depending upon different artistic interpretations by various comic book writers. In some instances, he is depicted as being barely stronger than a human while, in others, he demonstrates physical strength on a similar level toSuperman. He has shown to be a match in strength forEtrigan the Demon each time that they have met.
Lobo also possesses superhuman durability, which varies greatly too. Lobo is depicted, in some situations, as being injured by conventional bullets while, in other situations, he has the physical resiliency to stand toe to toe with Superman, survive unprotected in deep space, and withstand high level destructive weaponry and powerful explosive blasts without sustaining injury. He has displayed particular susceptibility to gaseous chemicals. In one instance, Lobo was declared immortal; after he died and went to Hell, he proved too much for the demons and, when he was then sent to Heaven, he wreaked so much havoc that he was permanently banished from the afterlife.
If Lobo sustains injury, his accelerated healing factor enables him to regenerate damaged or destroyed tissue with superhuman speed and efficiency and little apparent pain. Lobo also is functionally immortal. He is immune to the effects of aging and disease. As such, even though he can sustain sufficient injury to be out of commission for quite some time, he will apparently heal from any injury, given sufficient time. For instance, Lobo can regenerate out of a pool of his own blood, apparently recycling the cells.[22]
He is a formidable combatant with expertise in multiple forms of armed and unarmed combat. His favorite weapon is a large titanium alloy chain with a large gutting hook connected at the end, often referred to as "the garrote", that he keeps wrapped around his right wrist. At times, he also uses high-grade explosives and advanced firearms.
Despite his violent and loutish nature, Lobo seems to have a genius-level intellect in matters of destruction and violence. He can create complex virulent agents and the corresponding antidotes. In one version of his backstory, he released such a plague on Czarnia as a school science project. This resulted in the deaths of the entire population in the span of one week, he then proceeded to give himself an "A". His vehicle, some sort of space-faring motorcycle (the "Space Hog"), often accompanies him. It is of his own design and, despite its size, it is capable of extended and speedy travel throughout space. Further, it protects those in its immediate vicinity from the hazards of space and somehow permits the ability to breathe and speak. He was also able to scavenge parts from a destroyed time hopper and attach them to his own bike, producing a working time machine. Lobo is fluent in many alien languages (according to Lobo, 17,897)[23] and extremely knowledgeable in the locations and cultures of worlds without external references. Lobo is known for his awkward behavior and love for cigars. He was once known to destroy an entire planet for not finding the cigar of his liking.
It is not fully known the extent to which his powers are common for his race or unique to him. In the miniseriesThe Last Czarnian and elsewhere, it is stated that the cloning and healing abilities are traits possessed by all Czarnians, as is the apparent ability to survive in the vacuum of space. Before the reboot, Lobo was granted a Red Lantern Power Ring by Atrocitus during the "Brightest Day" storyline.
When space-bike-riding renegade Lobo made his debut during the "Citadel War" storyline inThe Omega Men by Roger Slifer and artist Keith Giffen, he was hardly recognizable as the rebellious anti-hero who would become one of the best-selling DC characters of the 1990s.
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