Warning: Spoilers for Action Comics #1065
Summary
The DC Universe is full of powerful and larger-than-life characters, but few are as ridiculous asLobo. Lobo has been portrayed in several different ways throughout his history. Sometimes he’s the big unstoppable killer bounty hunter, and sometimes he’s far more goofy, and even DC is calling this disparity out in a confrontation with an even darker version of the Main Man.
Lobo’s conflicting characterizations are called out inAction Comics#1065 by Joshua Williamson and Rafa Sandoval. One of the surviving Czarnians known as General Chacal — a man so violentLobo specifically looks up to himfor his cruelty — calls out Lobo for his strange reputation, stating thatsometimes Lobo is known as “the baddest man in the universe” and sometimes he’s just a “joke.“But the actual explanation for these differing characterizations is more complicated than anyone thought.
While it just seems like a cute way for DC to recognize their characterizations of Lobo can be conflicting over the years, there are actually several reasons for it. While it may seem like writers can’t decide what to do with Lobo, his seemingly conflicting versions are actually both true, and heartbreakingly so.
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Lobo Wants to Be Goofy, But Feels He Has to Be Dark
Panels fromTales from the Dark Multiverse: Blackest Night#1 by Tim Seeley, Kyle Hotz, Dexter Vines, Walden Wong, Danny Miki, David Baron, Allen Passalaqua, and Tom Napolitano
Despite having beenon the Justice League, Lobois a pretty dark character at times. He has absolutely no issue killing others, and in fact, he loves doing it. His current backstory is how he’s the last Czarnian because he killed all the others — a truth recently upended by Brainiac revealing the last preserved city of Czarnia. Despite Brainiac’s reveal,Lobo believing he killed all his fellow Czarnians makes it sound like Lobo is just a monsterwith no real redeeming qualities, but he has a fairly compelling reason. While Lobo seems like a dark character, he only feels that he must present himself that way because of how dark the DC Universe can be.
Lobo states that every time someone hires him for a job, his belief that the universe was rotten and corrupt is only deepened.
Lobo is a bounty hunter, and he’s done some pretty terrible stuff in that line of work. Lobo admits that he’s only a bounty hunter to see the darkness of the universe. Lobo states that every time someone hires him for a job, his belief that the universe was rotten and corrupt is only deepened. It’s the same reason he destroyed his entire race, ashe felt the planet of Czarnia was deeply corrupt as well and had to be destroyed.This is a surprisingly sad revelation for a character who is known for flying around in space on his motorcycle with his pet space dolphins.
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Lobo Paramilitary Christmas Specialby Keith Giffen, Alan Grant, Simon Bisley, Lovern Kindzierski, and Gaspar Saladino
Part of the reasonfor the Main Man’sstrange characterization is thatLobo was originally created as satire. Lobo was meant to lampoon the hypermasculinity of certain characters from the ’80s and ’90s, most notably Marvel’s Wolverine. Lobo is often depicted going on ridiculous adventures, such as the time he found himself contracted to fight against an evil version of Santa. It’s an absurd situation that is inherently comedic, along with the ideas of Lobo constantly having a fat cigar in his mouth and riding through space on a skull-adorned motorcycle.
While still being a bit goofy, the writers leaned more into the idea of Lobo being a legitimate danger to people.
Other creators wanted to take Lobo in a more serious direction, such as when he began appearing more in the DC Universe. While still being a bit goofy,DC leaned more into the idea of Lobo being a legitimate danger to people, like inJustice League vs. Suicide Squadby Williamson and Jason Fabok, where defeating Lobo was a very big problem for Batman. A darker take on Lobo was also explored inBatman/Loboby Alan Grant, Simon Bisley, and Nathan Eyring, whereBatman beats Lobo with hypnosis, but only after Lobo murders Robin and Nightwing.
These two examples may seem jarring; Lobo going from fist-fighting Santa to menacing Batman as a serious threat may seem absurd. But the disparity was perfectly fixed with the line above about how Lobo views the universe. As confirmed inTales from the Dark Multiverse: Blackest Night#1 by Tim Seeley and Kyle Hotz,Lobo truly wants to be goofy and simply fly through space and have fun adventures.But it’s difficult to go on wacky adventures when all Lobo can see is the corruption and evil in the world.
No one ever hires Lobo to do good; they only want to use his power to harm others, and Lobo takes those jobs because that’s just how the universe is. He destroyed his entire planet and nothing really changed, so unless Lobo wants to try to kill everyone, he simply has to put on this personality of being the unstoppable bounty hunter. Lobo is unlikely to feel that being a hero would make any real difference, either.
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The New 52LoboWas a Disaster Because It Lost All of Lobo’s Charm
DC Tried to “Fix” Lobo, and Fans Hated It
Many characters were reworked for theNew 52reboot, and Lobowas one of them. Instead of the hypermasculine satiric character that everyone knew and loved, they tried to make Lobo purely serious. He was given an entirely new design and new motivations.This version of Lobo was a palace guard and was forced to kill the King of Czarnia.He then fled the planet and became a bounty hunter. The Main Man version of Lobo was simply an impostor that stole his identity. Fans did not like this, and it was quickly reversed by DC.
Lobo is a deeply goofy and comedic character while also being deadly serious and threatening when he needs to be.
The reason this reboot failed was because DC completely removed what made Lobo work. He’s a fun character because he’s both charmingly silly and viciously dark.Lobo is a deeply goofyand comedic character while also being deadly serious and threatening when he needs to be.DC removed the comedic aspect entirely and tried to make him a “real” characterby completely removing the satire element from this character. It didn’t work from a narrative perspective, and it certainly didn’t work from a fanbase perspective, considering everyone hated this version of Lobo, and he hasn’t been seen since.
Lobo Only Works When He’s More Ridiculous Than the Characters He Parodies
Lobo Needs the Goofyandthe Serious
Lobo is a fan favorite character for a reason. He needs both the goofy and the serious to work. While DC may have characters call him out for being inconsistent as a playful way to admit they’ve been a little inconsistent with him, it’s really not necessary. Even though Lobo started out as just a satirical character, this doesn’t prevent him from being three-dimensional and complex. As DC found out when the publisher tried to replace him in the New 52, Lobo needs both sides of his personality. So, while characters like Chacal may claimLoboneeds direction, the fact is, the Main Man knows exactly who he is.
ACTION COMICS #1065 (2024)
