Out of the ashes, a different kind of cyborg–Vandroid

In the 1984 Simon & Simon episode “Almost Completely Out of Circulation,” probably the best comic book tie-in episode ever on television, a comic book creator is murdered, and A.J. and Rick must find the killer. The brothers have this classic story of having all their comic books thrown away, this time with A.J. tossing out a box of Rick’s that he had no idea contained the collection. Worse yet, the warehouse for the comics burnt down so the books became quite rare.

In what could be in the same universe of Simon & Simon’s San Diego of 1984, a company called Palm Springs Entertainment is making a generation-defining movie about the end of the classic van era (remember van art, with great murals on the sides of the Ford Econoline van?). But days into filming the studio burns down. Lawsuits follow. The film is no more, with only movie posters, grindhouse lobby cards, and charred film stills left.

Years later, film creators (and now comic book writers and artists?) Tommy Lee Edwards, Noah Smith, and Dan McDaid unite to resurrect the lost epic of a washed up van designer-turned cyberneticist, his technological masterpiece, and the corporate thugs who want to tear it all down, this time in comic book form, via Dark Horse Comics.