[[quoteright:263:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/mantech_3786.jpg]]

''[=ManTech=]'' is a short-lived ScienceFiction ComicBook based on a line of action figures, published by Creator/ArchieComics in TheEighties.

The technologically advanced alien planet [[MeaningfulName Mekka]] is finally pulling itself together from a [[AfterTheEnd dark age]] following a RobotWar, long ago. Two scientists, [[StevenUlyssesPerHero Jaxon Goode]] and [[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast Tyranik,]] discover a hidden cache of [[NeglectfulPrecursors advanced equipment]] dating from before the war. They are promptly both struck by a "knowledge ray" which floods their minds with lost technological knowledge. This has the psychological effect of turning Jaxon into a [[{{Transhumanism}} transhumanist]] who believes "machines are the next step in human evolution,'' and Tyranik into a pro-robot fanatic who believes [[KillAllHumans humans should be surpassed entirely]] and [[RobotWar robots should rule the world.]] The two argue, and Tyranik leaves, intent on building an army of MechaMooks, while Jaxon ponders how he can stop him.

Continuing to explore the chamber, Jaxon discovers three [[HumanPopsicle cryogenically preserved men]]--alien astronauts from a planet called "Earth." Apparently the ancients had found their SleeperStarship adrift in space, but hadn't seen fit to wake them. Realizing that they've been injured in the years since discovery, he can only revive them by [[EmergencyTransformation turning them into cyborgs.]] So he does, and the men awaken to find that they now look like boxy, semihumanoid robots from the neck down.

The ship's laser expert, dubbed [=LaserTech=], loves the idea of being a super-powered cyborg. The oceanographer, christened [=AquaTech=], sees it as pure BodyHorror and [[IJustWantToBeNormal wants his humanity restored.]] TheCaptain, a solar engineer dubbed [=SolarTech=], isn't thrilled, but accepts that it was the only way to save their lives. Jaxon then proceeds to tell them about Tyranik and his plans to restart the RobotWar which almost destroyed Mekka generations ago. The three [=ManTechs=] agree to help Jaxon stop him.

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!!Tropes:

* AIIsACrapshoot: The robot revolution that destroyed the previous civilization.
* AfterTheEnd: The previous civilization was destroyed in a RobotWar.
* BaldHeadOfToughness: [=LaserTech=] is a big bald BoisterousBruiser.
* BodyHorror: Certainly nothing graphic (this was Creator/ArchieComics, after all), but this is how [=AquaTech=] sees his current fate as a cyborg.
%%* BoisterousBruiser: [=LaserTech=]
* ChromaticArrangement: [=LaserTech=] is blue, [=SolarTech=] is red and [=AquaTech=] is yellow.
* DeadpanSnarker: [=AquaTech=] has a sarcastic streak.
* EasilyDetachableRobotParts: A feature of the original toys on which the comic was based, it was carried over to the comic.
* EmergencyTransformation: Jaxon turned the astronauts into cyborgs to save their lives.
* EnergyWeapon: [=LaserTech's=] specialty.
* TheFuture: The astronauts' spaceship had apparently been adrift for a very long time even before ''the ancients'' discovered it.
* HollywoodCyborg: Visually, they're human heads mounted on robotic bodies.
* HumanAliens: As is typical of [[SpaceOpera Space Operas]] centered on the concept of cyborgs, the aliens look completely human.
* HumanPopsicle: The astronauts were revived from suspended animation.
* IJustWantToBeNormal: [=AquaTech=] hates being a cyborg.
* LotusEaterMachine: In the second issue, the heroes encounter plants whose spores have this effect. [=SolarTech=] dreams he's back home with his wife and child. [=LaserTech=] dreams he's romancing some ladies in a nightclub, back before the space launch. [=AquaTech=] simply dreams he's back at the space center and that he's human again. Of the three, Aqua's is certainly the simplest wish, but he has the hardest time pulling out of it because he wants it so badly.
* MadScientist: Tyranik is a madman who wants to wipe out or enslave the Mekkans with a new race of robots.
%%* ManInTheMachine
* MechaMooks: [=NegaTech,=] [=TerrorTech,=] and [=DoomTech.=]
* MerchandiseDriven: Based on a toyline.
* NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast: "Tyranik" himself, of course, and his three goons are named [=NegaTech,=] [=TerrorTech,=] and [=DoomTech.=] The knowledge ray taught him about robotics, not subtlety.
* NeglectfulPrecursors: Any equipment dating from before the original RobotWar.
* PlanetaryRomance: Human astronauts stranded on an alien world.
* PowerTrio: [=LaserTech=] is too cheerful to be a classic [[TheSpock Spock,]] but he's certainly the technophile of the group. Endearingly grumpy, humanistic [=AquaTech=] is TheMcCoy. And [=SolarTech=] is TheKirk.
* PrimaryColorChampion:
** [=LaserTech=]: Blue.
** [=SolarTech=]: Red.
** [=AquaTech=]: Yellow.
* RobotMaster: Tyranik wants to build a new race of robots.
* RobotWar: Destroyed the previous civilization.
* SecondaryColorNemesis:
** [=NegaTech=]: Purple.
** [=TerrorrTech=]: Black.
** [=DoomTech=]: Green.
* ScienceHero: Jaxon certainly, and [=LaserTech=] to a slightly lesser extent.
* ShortRunners: Four issues!
* SleeperStarship: How the astronauts traveled from Earth.
* TrappedInAnotherWorld: Human astronauts stranded on an alien world.
* {{Transhumanism}}: Commendable for showing all sides of the issue, with Jaxon and [=LaserTech=] being all for it, [=AquaTech=] being dead set against it, and Tyranik taking it way too far.
* WeCanRebuildHim: None of the six robotic characters are in real danger of being gone for good. They can always be rebuilt.
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