I Married A Robot

Metal Men No. 17
December 1965 / January 1966
Cover: Metal Men trapped in web as Doc Magnus gives wedding ring to Black Widow Spider robot
Story: "I Married a Robot" (25 pages)
Editor, writer: Robert Kanigher
Penciller: Ross Andru
Inker: Mike Esposito
Feature Characters: Metal Men (Gold, Lead, Iron, Mercury, Tin, Platinum (Tina), Nameless)
Supporting Character: Doc Magnus

Intro: Vilma (only appearance)
Villain: A Black Widow Spider robot, male spider robots (first and only appearance for all)
Synopsis: While Tina is trying valiantly to conquer Doc's heart again, a horde of robot spiders invades Earth, and their queen hypnotizes Doc into agreeing to be her mate.

Steve, you've done it again! Omni Brain has a link to an article on Marriage and Sex With Robots (An Ethical Perspective, at that), by David Levy. And no, I will not send you directly there, because the site is most definitely NOT WORK SAFE! So go to Omni Brain instead.

But if you manage to read the article (and believe me, I actually copied it into a Word document so I wouldn't have to view the ads), you'll find that there's actually nothing conceptually new there, just improvements in technology for more life-like sex toys... er uh, sexbots. Or, um, spousebots. And a discussion of the ethical implications for humans and robots alike. [John Searle! John Searle!] A prediction from David Levy:

Social change nowadays happens at a very much faster rate than it did in the nineteenth and most of the twentieth century, as a result of which I expect marriage with robots to be legalized in some countries by mid-century, with the state of Massachussets most likely being the first jurisdiction where a legally accepted human-robot marriage takes place. The prediction regarding Massachusetts is not only because of its comparatively liberal views to same-sex marriage but also because it is the home of countless high-tech companies and academic institutions working in the field of Artificial Intelligence.

And how do you Massachsetts liberals feel about human-robot marriage? [NOTE: the search term "robot marriage" did not appear on the aforementioned blog.]



Metal Men back story:

Showcase No. 37
March-April 1964
Cover: Metal Men vs. radioactive "manta-ray"
Story: "The Flaming Doom" (25 pages)
Editor, writer: Robert Kanigher
Penciller: Ross Andru
Inker: Mike Esposito
Feature Characters: Metal Men (Gold, Lead, Iron, Mercury, Tin, Platinum (Tina); a band of robots; first appearance for all; origin)
Supporting Characters: Dr. William (Will) Magnus (first appearance; last chronological appearance in flashback in BRAVE AND THE BOLD #55; full first name revealed in METAL MEN #47), Col. Henry Caspar (first appearance; last name spelled "Casper" in this story)
Intro: Amos J. Talbot, Al, Skipper (only appearance for all)
Villain: A manta ray-like radioactive creature (first appearance; dies in this story)
Synopsis: Dr. Will Magnus, a noted scientist, creates a platinum robot named Tina who displays human emotions and a body she can elongate and shape at will. Then, when a giant, flying, radioactive manta-ray creature endangers the Earth, he creates male robots from Iron, Tin, Gold, Mercury, and Lead, and sends them all against the monster as the Metal Men.

BREEDERS | Metal Man Lyrics

I don't know how old I was
But it was a '65 pickup
I was lying on the ground
With flat iron bars over my head

One silver drop is all you need
To put a hole in your head at 2000 degrees
That's right man, you be the Metal Man
At 2000 degrees

That's hot
that's hot

Etc.