I love the Valiant Universe. And one of my favorite titles in it was Magnus: Robot Fighter, the tale of a man in the robot polluted 41st Century who was raised and trained by robot 1-A to combat robots who have gone "freewill" and rebel against mankind... and most times, he identified more with the robot's views, but did what he had to do to please the populace and his politically driven future father-in-law, Senator Clane.
One of Magnus's greatest enemies were the Malevs, a race of robots dedicated to ruling the universe. And we're gonna trace a bit of their history, mainly because there seems to be no Malev fans ANYWHERE online, except me!
SOLAR: MAN OF THE ATOM #20:
Needing a break from his mounting pressures with his girl, Solar takes off into space and encounters what he believes is an alien ship.
Before he knows what's happening, the ship starts to drain his energy.
Solar manages to distract the ship with an energy being he makes real and escapes. Realizing the ship is too powerful to destroy, he decides to help it on it's journey!
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Magnus: Robot Fighter (vol. 1) #7:
Magnus first encountered the Malev Empire in Gold Key's Magnus: Robot Fighter # 7 when he was taken to their planet, Malev 6.
Malev 6 goes on to explain it's origins.
As Magnus fights for his life against Malev 6's endless supply of robots, Leeja Clane, Magnus's main squeeze, is learning from an elderly telepath named M'ree that when 1000 minds are brought together, they can harness and incredible mental energy (more on this in the next post!). Using Leeja's love for Magnus, 1000 people gather together and use their minds and allow Magnus to destroy the planet...
As is often the case in comic book land, the enemy did not stay dead for long. In fact, when the Malevs returned, it would mark an incredible change in the direction of mankind.
NEXT TIME: The Malev Return (for the 1st time)
