Rog-2000 (pronounced "Rahj-two-thousand", and sometimes spelled "ROG 2000") is a fictional robot that was the first professional creation of
comic book
A comic book, also called comicbook, comic magazine or (in the United Kingdom and Ireland) simply comic, is a publication that consists of comics art in the form of sequential juxtaposed panels that represent individual scenes. Panels are of ...
artist-writer
John Byrne. Rog-2000 serves as the
mascot
A mascot is any human, animal, or object thought to bring luck, or anything used to represent a group with a common public identity, such as a school, professional sports team, society, military unit, or brand name. Mascots are also used as fi ...
of Byrne Robotics.
Publication history
The character began life during Byrne's fan-artist days in the 1970s, as a spot illustration for
Roger Stern
Roger Stern (born September 17, 1950) is an American comic book author and novelist.
Biography
Early career
In the early 1970s, Stern and Bob Layton published the fanzine ''CPL'' (''Contemporary Pictorial Literature''), one of the first platfor ...
and
Bob Layton
Bob Layton (born 1953) is an American comic book artist, writer, and editor. He is best known for his work on Marvel Comics titles such as '' Iron Man'' and ''Hercules'', and for co-founding Valiant Comics with Jim Shooter.
Early life
Bob Layt ...
's fanzine ''CPL (
Contemporary Pictorial Literature The CPL Gang was a group of comic book enthusiasts who published a number of fanzines in the mid-1970s, including ''Contemporary Pictorial Literature'' (''CPL'') and '' Charlton Bullseye''. Founded by Roger Stern and Bob Layton, the CPL Gang eventua ...
)''.
Layton gave the character a name (riffing on the amount of "Rogers" – specifically Roger Stern and
Roger Slifer
Roger Allen Slifer (; November 11, 1954 – March 30, 2015) was an American comic book writer, screenwriter, and television producer who co-created the character Lobo for DC Comics. Among the many comic-book series for which he wrote was DC's '' O ...
– who contributed to ''CPL''), and he and Stern began using him as a magazine mascot, with Byrne supplying additional art.
A Rog-2000 story, "The Coming of the Gang", appeared in ''CPL'' #11 (1974), written by Stern with art by Byrne and Layton, and featuring caricatures of "the
CPL Gang The CPL Gang was a group of comic book enthusiasts who published a number of fanzines in the mid-1970s, including ''Contemporary Pictorial Literature'' (''CPL'') and '' Charlton Bullseye''. Founded by Roger Stern and Bob Layton, the CPL Gang eventua ...
", including Byrne and fellow ''CPL'' contributor Duffy Vohland.
On the strength of that fan piece,
Charlton Comics
Charlton Comics was an American comic book publishing company that existed from 1945 to 1986, having begun under a different name: T.W.O. Charles Company, in 1940. It was based in Derby, Connecticut. The comic-book line was a division of Charlton ...
writer
Nicola Cuti
Nicola Cuti (October 29, 1944 – February 21, 2020), known as Nick Cuti, was an American artist and comic book writer-editor, science-fiction novelist; he was the co-creator of ''E-Man'' (with artist Joe Staton) and Moonchild, Captain Cosmos, a ...
contacted Byrne about drawing the character for professional comic books.
During this same period, the
CPL Gang The CPL Gang was a group of comic book enthusiasts who published a number of fanzines in the mid-1970s, including ''Contemporary Pictorial Literature'' (''CPL'') and '' Charlton Bullseye''. Founded by Roger Stern and Bob Layton, the CPL Gang eventua ...
was producing the officially sanctioned fanzine ''
Charlton Bullseye''. Written by Cuti, "Rog-2000" became one of several alternating backup features in the Charlton Comics
superhero
A superhero or superheroine is a stock character that typically possesses ''superpowers'', abilities beyond those of ordinary people, and fits the role of the hero, typically using his or her powers to help the world become a better place, ...
series ''
E-Man
E-Man is a comic-book character, a superhero created by writer Nicola Cuti and artist Joe Staton for the American company Charlton Comics in 1973. Although the character's original series was short-lived, the lightly humorous hero has become a cu ...
'', starting with the eight-page "That Was No Lady" in issue #6 (Jan. 1975).
[Rog 2000]
an
Rog-2000
at the Grand Comics Database This marked the color-comics debut of future industry star Byrne,
who'd previously drawn a two-page story for
Skywald Publications
Skywald Publications was an American publisher of black-and-white comics magazines, primarily the horror anthologies ''Nightmare'', ''Psycho'', and ''Scream''. It also published a small line of comic books and other genre magazines. Skywald's or ...
' black-and-white
horror-comics magazine ''Nightmare'' #20 (Aug. 1974). The character also appeared the same month in the small-press hobbyist magazine ''
The Comic Reader
''The Comic Reader'' (''TCR'') was a comics news- fanzine published from 1961 to 1984. Debuting in the pre- direct market era (before the proliferation of comics retailers), ''TCR'' was the first regularly published comics industry news fanzine, a ...
'' #44 (Jan. 1975).
As Byrne recalled the character's origin in a 2000 interview:
Three additional, seven-page "Rog-2000" stories – "Withering Heights", "The Wish", and "Rog. vs. The Sog", all by Cuti & Byrne – appeared in ''E-Man'' #7, 9–10 (March, July–Sept. 1975), respectively. All the Charlton stories were reprinted in
Pacific Comics
Pacific Comics (PC) was an American comic book publisher that was active from 1981 to 1984. It was also a chain of comics shops and a distributor. It began at a San Diego, California, comic book shop owned by brothers Bill and Steve Schanes. Alo ...
' ''ROG 2000'' #1 (June 1982), as well as in
A-Plus Comics
Charlton Media Group (CMG) is a Montreal-based publisher owned and operated by Canadian entrepreneur Roger Broughton. CMG has published Charlton Comics and American Comics Group reprint comics, under several names, including Sword in Stone, A+, a ...
' ''Hot 'N Cold Heroes'' #1 (1990) and ''Herbie'' #4-4 (1991).
In a 2000 interview, Byrne recalled that:
Stern was reunited with Rog-2000 when Charlton accepted two of his scripts for the feature, but the company then canceled ''E-Man'' the following workday.
References
{{reflist, 30em
External links
Rog 2000at An International Catalogue of Superheroes
*Archive o
Some graphics missing; scroll down and links still work
Byrne Robotics(John Byrne official site)
WebCitation archive
Pacific Comics titles
Charlton Comics superheroes
Comics characters introduced in 1974
Fictional robots
Magazine mascots
Comics by John Byrne (comics)
Characters created by John Byrne (comics)
Male characters in comics
Male characters in advertising
1974 comics debuts
Mascots introduced in 1974