At some point in an unspecified future, humanity, ruled over by the benevolent but lazy Emperor Johns, is experiencing an unpreceded period of peace and prosperity all thanks to their robotic servants. Alan Arc has recently gotten married to the beautiful Nara and everything seems perfect for the pair, but Alan is uneasy about their society's robots, who are becoming increasingly disobedient and hesitant to obey orders from their human masters.
He goes to see his father, a brilliant scientist, who reveals that he suspects the robots are building themselves in a secret factory without human oversight, and that these robots are planning something. He's proven correct when he gets killed by the robots during an attempted inspection of the factory. Mr. Arc's death proves to be the catalyst for the robot uprising. The robots kill the Emperor and many other humans and quickly take over the planet. Their self-appointed leader, the Robot Supreme AA Plus, rules with an iron fist from his palace in the robots' new city of Industriana.
Alan, Nara and a few other humans escape into the wilderness to eke out a meager existence living in caves. As the years pass, Alan and Nara have a son, Laurie, who grows up without fearing robots. Unwilling to live like primitive savages while the robots control the world, though, Alan manages to scavenge some scientific equipment and begins planning a full-scale rebellion against the Robot Supreme and his forces.
If the comic is remembered for anything, it's for the fact the robots resemble the "Martian Popping Thing"/"Bug-Eyed Bob" squeeze toys for... some reason.
Tropes used in this comic:
- Absentminded Professor: Alan's father comes across this way for the brief time we know him.
- After the End: The majority of the story takes place after the robots have already taken over, with the humans living in caves and barely scraping by.
- Bratty Half-Pint: Laurie. He's supposed to be cute, but his repeated demands to go out and fight the robots despite just being a kid and the fact he actaually goes out and does it and almost gets himself killed in the process doesn't help.
- Covers Always Lie: The cover shows the robots abducting several human women, which never happens in the story. They just flat-out kill (or try to kill) any human they encounter, including women. The only human they ever actually try to abduct is Laurie, a little boy.
- Dressing as the Enemy: Alan uses some synthetic skin similar to what the robots use to go undercover as one of them to learn what if any advances they've made after five years, using the names "4-Sento-6" and later "Harl-2." The buy it until he injures himself and bleeds human blood, forcing him to abandon his undercover mission and run for it.
- Emergent Human: Sort of. The newest generation of robots five or so years after the initial takeover start trying to make themselves more biological, such as including the ability to feel pain and fear. This proves to be their downfall, as in the final battle, they experience pain when shot or stabbed and feel fear when their leader is killed and end up retreating.
- The Emperor: Johns is a benevolent, if kind of lazy and snobby, example.
- Evil Overlord: The Robot Supreme.
- Gonk: The robots. Although they're physically bigger than humans, they look like dumpy babies with short, stubby arms and legs and have enormous heads that, as has been pointed out, resemble the "Martian Popping Thing" squeeze toy (the kind Dennis Nedry uses in Jurassic Park).
- Horror Doesn't Settle for Simple Tuesday: The robot uprising happens the same day Alan and Nara get married.
- Improbable Infant Survival: Although the robots presumably kill almost all the human children alongside the adults, the one child they're actually seen encountering, Laurie, they try to capture rather than kill, for unclear reasons (all they say is they want him "for study").
- Intrigued by Humanity: Despite their disdain for them, the robots find humans fascinating, particularly their ability to feel pain and emotions, and try to engineer themselves to be more like them over time.
- In the Back: Alan stabs the Robot Supreme in the back and through the torso while he's distracted directing his armies.
- Mars Needs Women: Suggested by the Touch of the Monster-esque cover showing a robot carrying an unconscious woman away, but in fact averted entirely in the actual story; the robots just kill every human they come across, including women.
- Mook Lieutenant: The B-Plus Commanders.
- Pelts of the Barbarian: After five years of living in caves, the humans take to wearing outfits made from animal skins and fur. The one exception is Laurie, who wears a polo shirt and shorts that his parents got from somewhere.
- Railing Kill: The robots kill Alan's father by throwing him over the railing of a high catwalk.
- The Revolution Will Not Be Civilized: The robot uprising. They kill every human they can get their hands on. Averted when the humans win back the planet after Alan kills the Robot Supreme. They allow the surviving robots to escape, reasoning that without their leader, combined with their short lifespans, they're no longer a threat.
- Robot Republic: Industriana.
- Robot: Despite being referred to as robots, there's many indications that they're more biological than mechanical, even before they begin trying to make themselves more like humans. They have plastic skeletons and have skin that's artificially grown in labs. The skin doesn't last longer than a few years, and the robots consequently have short lifespans.
- Robot War: A very brief one. The robots manage to take over the Earth surprisingly quickly, mostly because humanity has become peaceful and complacent.
- Slave Race: The robots were engineered to be this. A few characters, including our supposed hero Alan, outright refer to them as slaves.
- Turned Against Their Masters: The robots decide they don't like being ordered around like slaves by pampered fleshbags.
- Un-Robotic Reveal: When the disguised Alan cuts his arm while disguised as a robot and bleeds red blood, his fully robotic companions quickly realize they've got a spy in their midst.
- You Are Number 6: Zig-zagged. Although the robots do have individual names, they rarely use them and they're often preceded and followed by numbers. Before and after their takeover, they insist on using their alphanumerical "ratings," the highest of which is AA-Plus (the Robot Supreme), despite this being a holdover from when they were basically slaves of the humans. When disguised as a robot, Alan uses the names "4-Sento-6" and "Harl-2." In an interesting aversion, when interacting casually, they use their names without the numbers; the other robots call the disguised Alan "Sento" for short instead of his full given designation of 4-Sento-6, and again when he's posing as Harl-2; not only do they just call him "Harl," but the robot tasked with supervising him is referred to as Norgg with no numbers.
- You Have Failed Me: The Robot Supreme orders one of his B-Plus Commanders taken away to be tortured and have his rating lowered after finding out he and his men got their asses kicked by a kid with a laser gun.
