Warning: Spoilers for Lobo Cancellation Special #1!More than just an anti-hero, Lobo is one of DC's grisliest characters. Often featured in R-rated comics, with a vernacular plagued with alien slang, Lobo is one of the most violent characters ever created for traditional superhero comics. While his background could certainly paint him as a villain, rather than just as a bloodthirsty bounty hunter, Lobo's new take on his ghastly origin will make any comic fan think twice about him.
In his most recent adventure, Lobo is at his most unhinged in Lobo Cancellation Special #1 by Kyle Starks, Kyle Hotz, Dan Brown, and Tom Napolitano. Tasked by a meek alien species to track down their captured princess from a sort of warworld, he obliges - for the right price, that is. And yet, given his bloody history that precedes him, Lobo is allowed to rescue the hostage without any bloodshed.
But when the hostage reveals that there are other children, trapped and alone on the cruel world, Lobo's dark past shines in a new light that completely redefines his blood-soaked quest to turn around and kill the kidnappers.
Lobo's Past Is More Traumatic Than Previously Thought
Lobo's Planetary Isolation Affected Him Deeply
Lobo has the darkest past of any DC character. Known for many things, including his reputation as an intergalactic bounty hunter and how his rapid healing factor makes him practically unkillable, Lobo still has one piece to his lore that sets him apart as the last Czarnian. Lobo slaughtered his entire home planet, Czarnia, which was previously a paradise that knew nothing of war; Lobo, being so intimately evil, was the exception to the rule, who is now the legend and the sole story that anybody knows of his race.
DC Promises the "Scummiest Comic" of the Year, With the One Character Guaranteed to Deliver It
Hide your kids, hide your wife, and hide your husband, too, because DC's self-proclaimed "scummiest comic" of the year is nearing its release.
As the Cancellation Special shows, there's a different side to Lobo: a loneliness that cannot be cured except by constant adventures and bounty hunting that takes him to distant planets still thriving with life. As this new alien species reveals, "He fears total isolation." Seen in this light, Lobo is just a child, home alone with a planet's worth of blood on his hands. Perhaps the true darkness in him died that day with the rest of his people.
Lobo Fights to Save Kidnapped Children
The Main Man Finally Becomes a Hero
Two things of note happen in the last act of this special: one, Lobo is able to save the hostage he has been tasked to save without any bloodshed, showing that he doesn't unnecessarily kill anymore; two, when Lobo does kill, it's to save the dispossessed children with whom he empathizes. In those captured children, Lobo sees himself and the infinite loneliness he felt on his planet after his great and evil error. Learning a secret and perfect lesson, he would do anything to save children from that same feeling.
It's a story of a childhood trauma, not unlike Batman's, of an orphan who wants to never feel that hurt again.
Lobo's origin is now not just a horror story told in the outer reaches of space, as the Main Man himself rides on his space bike to settle many scores. It's a story of a childhood trauma, not unlike Batman's, of an orphan who wants to never feel that hurt again. This recontextualization is how Lobo moves from the territory of the most brutal anti-hero to a full-fledged hero. That said, he's still the most violent hero DC has, and Lobo will always love destroying planets as much as he wants to save lonely children.
Lobo Cancellation Special #1 is available now from DC Comics!
