Sam Slade Robo-Hunter #20

Sam Slade Robo-Hunter first appeared in the British science fiction anthology 2000 AD in 1978, created by writer John Wagner and artist Ian Gibson. The series was designed as a satirical take on hardboiled detective fiction, reimagined in a future where robots were ubiquitous. The character of Sam Slade, a cigar-chomping, cynical investigator, served as a comedic foil to the high-tech environments of his cases, with Gibson’s clean, detailed line work helping to define the visual aesthetic of the comic for years.

Issue 20 belongs to the early run of the series, a period marked by the title's shift toward more episodic, character-driven storytelling within the 2000 AD format. During this era, the creative team focused on blending slapstick humor with the gritty tropes of the private eye genre, a combination that earned the strip a dedicated following among British readers. The work was widely praised for its stylistic consistency and the expressive, often exaggerated, character designs that became a hallmark of the Robo-Hunter legacy.