Real
Name: Bob
BOB (and Neil)
Real
Name: Bob
Identity/Class: Extradimensional human (probably)
Occupation: Presenter
Group Membership: Unidentified broadcasting company
Affiliations: Neil, his audience (Batman, Captain Canuck, Danger Mouse, E.T., Marvelman, the Mekon, Mister Miracle, Penfold, a Red/Green Lantern, a Sea Devil, Walter the Wobot, others)
Enemies: Careless trial security robots
Known Relatives: None
Aliases: None
Base of Operations: The Hub
First Appearance: The Daredevils#7 (July 1983)
Powers/Abilities: Master of inane banter.
Height: 6'(see comments)
Weight: 205 lbs.
Eyes: Blue
Hair: Black
History:
(The Daredevils#6 - BTS) - Commentators Bob and Neil were assigned to keep
the viewing audiences at home apprised of the happenings during the trial
of former Dimensional Development Corps Majestrix, Her Whyness Saturnyne.
Before the broadcast started, they watched the presiding judge, Lord Mandragon,
destroy Reality-238, and Captain Britain-616's outrage upon witnessing
this.
(The Daredevils#7) - Once the unseen continuity announcer finished telling the viewing audience that their scheduled program had been interrupted to provide live coverage of the trial at Eden Place, Bob began the commentary from the flying platform he and Neil shared, explaining who the defendant was. Working in harmony, so each could take turns making observations, Bob smoothly handed off to Neil, who added that Saturnyne was facing incompetence charges for her handling of the Earth-238 disaster. He speculated that she could be in trouble, noting that he had seen her earlier in the gallery under the watchful guard of Captain England and Captain Albion.
Bob agreed that Saturnyne had looked unhappy, as well as smaller than he had expected. Neil reminded him that it was a big court, which would tend to make her look smaller; agreeing with this, Bob added that she had also been sitting down. Neil noted that in contrast Presiding Judge Lord Mandragon looked supremely confident, and suggested that since he stood to succeed her if she was deposed, his being appointed the arbiter of her fate seemed fairly controversial.
Bob concurred, reminding everyone about the elimination of Earth-238's entire continuum, which he thought was a drastic measure. Neil recalled the uproar from the defence witness over that, but was unsure who he was, asking Bob if it might be Captain Commonwealth from Earth-920; Bob admitted he wasn't sure, suggesting he looked more like Captain Airstrip-One from Earth-744, but agreed that he did look upset. As Saturnyne was called forward to give her testimony, Bob and Neil flew their small personal platform down to the edge of the main trial platform.
(The
Daredevils#7 - BTS) - They continued to watch as Mandragon summarily and
with blatant bias ruled against Saturnyne, angering Captain Britain to the
point where a fight broke out between him and Captains England and Albion.
Gigantic security robots materialized, and Saturnyne's mercenary employees
the Special Executive waded into the fight.
(The Daredevils#7) - Standing at the edge of the combat, Bob asked Neil for his opinion of the trial so far. Standing slightly behind Bob and closer to the battle, Neil responded that he felt it had been a trial of two halves, and that while they had seen a lot of disappointments so far... He never got to finish the sentence because one of the robots, badly damaged by Fascination of the Special Executive, stumbled over and squashed him flat, just as Bob apologized, saying he would have to cut him off there. Hearing the squeal emitted from Neil's microphone, Bob turned round just in time to see the robot's other giant foot descended upon him.
Comments: Created by Alan Moore and Alan Davis.
Bob is based in appearance and mannerisms on Sir Terry Wogan,
an Irish veteran presenter on British television and radio. The long
thin microphone used by Bob (and his partner Neil) was the same type Wogan
regularly used while presenting the game show Blankety Blank. Wogan commentated
for British television on the Eurovision Song Contest, an annual talent show,
for 35 years, and hosted the charity telethon Children in Need from its inception
in 1980 until 2014, only missing the 2015 show because of a recent operation;
he died before the 2016 show. It helps to read Bob's lines with Wogan's voice
and delivery in mind; when you do, you realise that points such as Bob mentioning
that Saturnyne looking smaller than he'd expected, then noting that of course
she's sitting down, isn't him being stupid but making deliberately inane
banter to make an otherwise dull court case more interesting for the viewers;
while commentating on the oft-overly pompous Eurovision, Wogan was notorious
for his acerbic put downs and sarcastic comments:
"Who knows what hellish future lies ahead? Actually I do, I've
seen the rehearsals."
"They’ve got four languages in Belgium…and they’re
singing in an imaginary one. The very essence of the Euro."
"It's not easy this. You have to move your lips and it's not
easy. Are you related to the Director General of Swedish television?" (after
witnessing an inept Swedish presenter stumble through his lines)
"Spain is next, with a song called 'Bloody Mary.' That reminds
me, I haven’t touched a drop yet."
"Hold on. Be strong. Just cling to the wreckage. It will be
over soon." (to the viewers at the end of the 24th song out of
25)
"It’s been a wonderful, wonderful evening. I mean, not
musically of course, but in terms of spectacle…"
Since he's based on Wogan, I've used Wogan's height and eye color for his stats.
Profile by Loki.
CLARIFICATIONS:
Bob has no known connections to:
Neil has no known connections to:
The security robots have no known connections to:
Batman has no known connections to:
Captain Canuck has no known connections to:
Danger Mouse has no known connections to:
E.T. has no known connections to:
Marvelman has no known connections to:
Mister Miracle has no known connections to:
Penfold has no known connections to:
The Lantern has no known connections to:
Sea Devil has no known connections to:
Walter the Wobot has no known connections to:
A cephalopod who rode around on a dozen or more tentacles,
the four-eyed Neil was Bob's co-host. They seemed to be used to working with
one another and close friends, standing with arms/tentacles around one another
at the start of their broadcast.
Like Bob, Neil wielded a long thin microphone.
Neil explained to the audience what charges Saturnyne was facing, that he
felt she might be in trouble, while her prosecutor Mandragon in contrast
looked confident, adding it had been controversial to appoint him the judge
since he was also in line to take over as her job and become Majestor if
she was found guilty.
Neil also recalled the disruption earlier in the trial by defence witness Captain Britain when Mandragon had destroyed an entire reality.
Unfortunately for Neil, he was standing too close when a fight broke out between security robots and Saturnyne's allies. Damaged by the Special Executive's Fascination, one of the robots stomped off in a random direction and trod on Neil, almost certainly slaying him.
--The Daredevils#7
(The Daredevils#7) - Additional security at Saturnyne's trial
was supplied by giant green security robots that materialized when Captain
Britain overcame the bailiffs Captain England and Captain Albion.
Already
feeling responsible for how England and Albion had treated Britain since
they had abducted him to bring him to the trial, the Special Executive waded
in.
While Captain Britain continued to pound his counterparts, Cobweb
telepathically overwhelmed one robot, Thug multiplied to overrun another,
Zeitgeist ripped one up from the inside, and Fascination blew chunks out
of some others.
One of the robots Fascination damaged stumbled off, squelching the commentators Neil and Bob underfoot.
(The Daredevils#8) - The Executive finished off the giant robots just as their leader Wardog spirited Saturnyne away to safety via teleport. Other guards also attacked the remaining heroes, and enjoyed a similar lack of success.
--The Daredevils#7 (8
Batman (or an alternate reality version thereof) attended the trial of disgraced Omniversal Majestrix Opal Luna Saturnyne on the Hub, Earth-522.
Comments: Created by Bob Kane and Bill Finger.
He debuted in National Allied Publications' Detective Comics#27 (May 1939).
--The Daredevils#6
Captain Canuck (or an alternate reality version thereof) attended the trial of disgraced Omniversal Majestrix Opal Luna Saturnyne on the Hub, Earth-522.
Comments: Created by Ron Leishman and Richard Comely,
Captain Canuck debuted in Comely Comix's Captain Canuck I#1 (July 1975).
There have been three Captain Canucks, but since two of them were introduced years after this appearance, this has to be a version of the original, Tom Evans, a man from a near-future timeline where Canada was one of the world's great superpowers, who was mutated by an alien ray to gain enhanced strength, speed and senses, which he used as the patriotic hero Captain Canuck. It might be an alternate reality version of Evans, but since his original series ended with him time-travelling and he subsequently reappeared in a 1990s revival to reveal that the time-travel had shunted him to an alternate Earth, it'd actually be really easy to fit this appearance into the "real" version's established timeline.
--The Daredevils#7
Danger Mouse (or an alternate reality version thereof) and his sidekick Penfold attended the trial of disgraced Omniversal Majestrix Opal Luna Saturnyne on the Hub, Earth-522.
Comments: Created by Brian Cosgrove and Mark Hall,
Danger Mouse debuted in a cartoon of the same name on 28th September 1981.
A parody of the more over-the-top elements of the espionage genre, Danger Mouse is a top British secret agent and is usually accompanied by his sidekick Penfold; this appearance is no exception. He was a popular character in the U.K. at the time, and was recently revived for a new series, but American readers are probably more likely to know one of his arch foes who got his own spin-off, including a Stars Comics imprint Marvel title: Count Duckula, the vegetarian vampire duck.
--The Daredevils#6
E.T. (or an alternate reality version thereof) attended the trial of disgraced Omniversal Majestrix Opal Luna Saturnyne on the Hub, Earth-522, and was busy on the phone, presumably calling home.
Comments: Created by Melissa Mathison and Steven Spielberg, the stranded alien E.T. first appeared in the film E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial on March 26th 1982.
--The Daredevils#6
A member of one of the Lantern Corps (see comments) attended the trial of disgraced Omniversal Majestrix Opal Luna Saturnyne on the Hub, Earth-522.
Comments: The Green Lantern Corps were created by John
Broome and Gil Kane in Showcase#22 (October 1959).
The chest emblem identifies this individual as one of the Green Lantern Corps, which at the time of publication was the only color known to exist; however, the X-Men Archives' colorized reprints of the story colored him red, presumably because green would have been pushing the cameo a little too close to copyright infringement. So this could be a member of the more recently introduced Red Lantern Corps, despite the chest emblem not being a perfect match.
--The Daredevils#7
Marvelman (or an alternate reality version thereof) attended the trial of disgraced Omniversal Majestrix Opal Luna Saturnyne on the Hub, Earth-522.
Comments: Created by Mick Anglo.
Marvelman debuted in Marvelman#25 (the previous issues being Captain Marvel, and staring the Fawcett character of that name, now better known as Shazam). As with all the individuals seen during the trial, it's well night impossible to say for sure what reality they originate from, given that the Hub gets a lot of interdimensional traffic. It's probably not the Miracleman of Earth-238, given that incarnation should have been long dead as established by a flashback in the very next issue of The Daredevils, but with superhero resurrections, time travel, etc., it can't be ruled out. It could be the original Marvelman from Anglo's 1950s comics, but given that Alan Moore had already relaunched the character in Quality Communications' magazine Warrior, and Alan Davis had taken over from original artist David Leach by the time of this cameo, I'd lay money on it being the Warrior Marvelman, later republished by Eclipse and more recently Marvel Comics under the name Miracleman. He's been shown to travel to other realities in Eclipse's crossover miniseries Total Eclipse and Image's normalman/Megaton Man Special, so one more extradimensional jaunt's not a stretch.
--The Daredevils#6
Mister Miracle (or an alternate reality version thereof) attended the trial of disgraced Omniversal Majestrix Opal Luna Saturnyne on the Hub, Earth-522.
Comments: Created by Jack Kirby, Mister Miracle debuted
in #1 of his eponymous title in April 1972.
This could easily be the Earth-1 (Silver Age DC universe) version, given his access to dimension warping Boom Tube technology.
--The Daredevils#7
Penfold (or an alternate reality version thereof) attended the trial of disgraced Omniversal Majestrix Opal Luna Saturnyne on the Hub, Earth-522.
Comments: Created by Brian Cosgrove and Mark Hall, the timid hamster Penfold is the sidekick to secret agent Danger Mouse, and debuted in the first episode of Danger Mouse's eponymous cartoon on 28th September 1981.
--The Daredevils#6
A Sea Devil attended the trial of disgraced Omniversal Majestrix Opal Luna Saturnyne on the Hub, Earth-522.
Comments: Created by Malcolm Hulke.
Sea Devils debuted in Doctor Who's ninth season in a story of the same name, which began airing on 26th April 1972. They are an amphibious offshoot of the earlier introduced Silurian race, highly intelligent species evolved from dinosaurs that ruled Earth long before mankind evolved, and who survived a projected planetary catastrophe by going into suspended animation deep underground, only to wake millions of years later to find some upstart apes had taken over.
--The Daredevils#6
Walter the Wobot (or an alternate reality version thereof) attended the trial of disgraced Omniversal Majestrix Opal Luna Saturnyne on the Hub, Earth-522.
Comments: Created by John Wagner and Carlos Ezquerra,
Walter debuted in 2000A.D.#10 (30th April 1977). A robot servant with a pronounced lisp (hence the "wobot" self-description), he worked for Judge Dredd.
--The Daredevils#7
images: (without ads)
X-Men Archives Featuring Captain Britain#4, p17, pan1 (Bob main image)
X-Men Archives Featuring Captain Britain#4, p21, pan4 (Bob's imminent
demise)
Terry Wogan picture from presenting the game show Blankety Blank
X-Men Archives Featuring Captain Britain#4, p17, pan1 (Neil main image)
X-Men Archives Featuring Captain Britain#4, p21, pan3 (Neil's death)
X-Men Archives Featuring Captain Britain#4, p20, pan3 (robots)
X-Men Archives Featuring Captain Britain#4, p8, pan2 (Batman)
The Daredevils#7, p5, pan1 (Captain Canuck)
The Daredevils#6, p9, pan2 (Danger Mouse)
X-Men Archives Featuring Captain Britain#4, p8, pan2 (E.T.)
The Daredevils#7, p5, pan1 (Lantern)
The Daredevils#6, p9, pan2 (Marvelman)
The Daredevils#7, p5, pan1 (Mister Miracle)
The Daredevils#6, p9, pan2 (Penfold)
The Daredevils#6, p9, pan2 (Sea Devil)
The Daredevils#7, p5, pan1 (Walter)
Appearances:
The Daredevils#6-8 (June-August 1983) - Alan Moore (writer), Alan Moore (art),
Moore & Davis (co-creators), Bernie Jaye (editor)
First Posted: 02/07/2019
Last updated: 02/07/2019
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
Non-Marvel
Copyright info
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should check out the real thing!
Please visit The Marvel Official Site at:
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Special Thanks to www.g-mart.com for hosting the Appendix, Master List, etc.!
Captain
Canuck
Mister Miracle
Walter the Wobot