Publication history[edit]
Robotman first appeared in My Greatest Adventure #80 (June 1963) and was created by Arnold Drake and Bruno Premiani. According to Drake, the issue's co-writer Bob Haney was not brought on to the project until after Robotman was created.[1] He commented on the character's original name, Automaton: "That name was pretty stupid. I've been responsible for a lot of stupid things, but that was one of the stupidest, so, within two issues, I figured that out and changed his name to Robotman."[1]
Robotman was the only original member of the Doom Patrol to appear with the team's second incarnation, which debuted in Showcase #94-96 (Aug. 1977 - Jan. 1978). The reboot was accompanied by Robotman getting a new body, which was designed by artist Joe Staton at writer Paul Kupperberg's request. Kupperberg explained, "I was looking to update the strip, I suppose, [and] wanted to put my mark on it. There was nothing wrong with the original body designed by Bruno Premiani. In fact, ain't no one come up with a better design. Like the team's roster, I should have left that alone, too."[2]
Fictional character biography[edit]
Robotman is one of the founding members of the Doom Patrol along with Negative Man and Elasti-Girl. He is unique in that he is the only character to appear in every version of the Doom Patrol.[3]
Cliff Steele became Robotman, initially dubbed Automaton,[4] after a race car accident destroyed his body (a retcon had the accident intentionally caused by Niles Caulder). Caulder subsequently placed Cliff's intact brain into a robotic body. After the operation, Cliff suffered from frequent depression because he viewed himself as less than human. A background serial in Doom Patrol #s 100, 101, 103 & 105 (December 1965 – August 1966) indicated that Caulder made a mistake in the operation that caused Steele to go on a rampage, which was corrected when he was recruited for the Patrol. (These are incompatible with Cliff's flashback in My Greatest Adventur
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