Klanky

Real Name: QZ-199

Identity/Class: Extra-terrestrial robot

Occupation: Unknown

Affiliations: Ernie Huggins, Sue Huggins, Faithful Hound

Enemies: Unknown

Known Relatives: None.

Aliases: Big Klanky, "the Huggins' Pal from Outer Space"

Base of Operations: U.K.

First Appearance: Sparky  #75 (D.C.Thomson, 25th June 1966)

Powers/Abilities: Super strong, immune to bullets and lightning.

History: QZ-99 was a robot constructed on "Planet J", and was sent to Earth by his alien masters to "help mankind." Landing in the U.K., he befriended the Huggins family, most notably the children Ernie and Sis, who dubbed him "Klanky." He returned home after only a few months, but his masters, feeling he could do further good, sent him back to Earth a year later. His friendship with the Huggins grew so strong that when his masters finally decided to order him home for good, Klanky elected to disobey them. His masters promptly sent a pair of new robots, a detective (based on Sherlock Holmes) and his "Faithful Hound" (a robot bloodhound), to retrieve their errant mechanical man, but things didn't go to plan, as Klanky instead tricked the clueless detective into being fired back home in his rocket, and convinced Faithful Hound to switch sides and defect alongside him.

Comments: Created by Bob Webster. Initially the strip was titled Big Klanky, and began in February 1969. He remained an intermittent feature of the Sparky from 1966 through until 1974.

Appearance checklist (not including reprints):

Canonical: The first 13 issue run of his strip was from Sparky #75, 25th June 1966, until #87, 17th September 1966.

A second run twenty issue run commenced from Sparky #141, 30th September 1967 until #160, 10th February 1968.

The third series, now titled "Klanky and Faithful Hound" and drawn by Terry Patrick, began in Sparky #211, 1st February 1969, and ran until Sparky #239, 16th August, a total of 29 installments.

A fourth series, "Around the World With Klanky", began in Sparky #280, 30th May 1970, and ran until #299, 10th October 1970, a total of 20 episodes. Faithful Hound was nowhere to be seen, and Klanky, who had won a world cruise for four, took Dad, Sis and Ernie Huggins with him for a bit of globetrotting.

His fifth and final series, titled simply "Klanky", began with Sparky #377 on 8th April 1972, and ran until Sparky #499, 10th August 1974, skipping only the week of Sparky #466 on 22nd December 1973, a wopping 122 episodes.

Klanky also appeared in the Sparky Book (annual) 1969 through 1976

Non-canonical: Klanky is visible amongst the defunct robots seen in Penny Dolmann's workshop in Albion.

CLARIFICATIONS: None.

Any Additions/Corrections? Please let me know.

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