COMPUTO

Classification: Terrestrial technology

Creator: Quasimodo (Quasi-Motivational Destruct Organism)

Users/Possessors: Quasimodo

Enemies: Cyclops, Marvel Girl (Jean Grey)

Aliases: "Commander of the Robot Hive" (in story title)

Base of Operations: A subterranean cavern beneath Apex Sand and Gravel Co., Inc., somewhere in New York state

First Appearance: X-Men I#48/1 (September, 1968)

Powers/Abilities/Functions: A sentient, disembodied electrical intelligence, Computo originally appeared inhabiting the form of a twenty-five foot tall robot. Computo was later rebuilt in a new, smaller form.

  Computo only acted as the intelligence behind the scenes, while its creations -- the Cybertrons -- did its bidding.

History: (X-Men I#48/1 (fb) - BTS) - At some point in time, Computo was built by Quasimodo.

(X-Men I#48/1) - Computo sounded a "Z-Alert" and activated three of its cybernetic agents ("Therma-tron", "Vacu-tron", and "Vibra-tron") in the "Hibernation Hive", then sent them to a local radio station to steal a new transmitter that was about to be installed.

  At the radio station, the three Cybertrons were fought off by the X-Men Cyclops (who had just gotten a job there as Scott Summers) and Marvel Girl. As "Vibra-tron" used its ultrasonic energy to shake apart the truck carrying the transmitter, "Therma-tron" attacked Cyclops, but was quickly destroyed by Cyclops' optic blast.

  "Vacu-tron" lunged at Cyclops, but Marvel Girl caught and held it in mid-air while Cyclops blasted it to pieces. With the plan a failure, "Vibra-tron" flew off to return to the home base while Marvel Girl tracked its flight with her mental powers.

  Cyclops and Marvel Girl followed the Cybertron to a suspiciously inactive work site. Cyclops blasted a hole in a sand pile and found a network of underground tunnels, and the two heroes followed a tunnel to find "Vibra-tron" and some other Cybertrons standing before the gigantic Computo. They watched as Computo sentenced "Vibra-tron" to be "executed" by the "Automatic Canceller," which scrapped the Cybertron for parts.

  When Computo's bio-sensors alerted it to the presence of Cyclops and Marvel Girl, Computo sounded another "Z-Alert" and ordered an army of Cybertrons to overwhelmingly attack the two young mutants. Cyclops, realizing that Computo was the guiding force behind the hostile robots, concentrated his optic power beam at the form of Computo, hitting it continuously until Computo exploded -- with their commander gone, so fell the rest of the Cybertrons.

  Quasimodo stepped out of the sidelines and revealed himself to the heroes as the creator of Computo, then pulled a lever to flood the chamber with an underground river as he made his escape. Cyclops and Marvel Girl were also able to flee back to safety on the surface using their powers.

(Captain Marvel I#7 (fb) - BTS) - Computo was apparently rebuilt in a new, smaller form by Quasimodo (see comments).

(Captain Marvel I#7) - Quasimodo inspected his "electronic slave" before embarking on another of his schemes for power.

Comments: Created by Arnold Drake, Don Heck, and Werner Roth.

Don't really understand why Computo had to steal that radio transmitter -- you'd think that an advanced super-computer with all that technology at its disposal could just build its own radio transmitter...maybe Computo wanted to send the Cybertrons out on field-test.

Note that none of the Cybertrons was actually named in the story, I just gave them those names to identify them; the three original Cybertrons were only identified numerically as cybernetic agents 114, 78, and 19-8 -- only 19-8 ("Vibra-tron") was clearly identified (...and its name got inexplicably changed to 19-B halfway through the story (sloppy lettering)).

Note that the "electronic slave" inspected by Quasimodo in Captain Marvel I#7 was never actually identified by him as Computo, nor was there an editor's note confirming that it was the same Computo from X-Men I#48, however the Official Index to the X-Men specifically stated that it was Computo.

Computo hasn't been heard from since, but maybe it still exists behind the scenes. I'd speculate that when he rebuilt it, Quasimodo probably altered Computo's programming and took away its capacity for independent thought (not wanting to create any potential rivals for himself, of course) so that it was nonautonomous and completely subservient to him.

And a big THANK YOU to Chadman, Snood, and Elf with a Gun for their help with the info/scans from Captain Marvel I#7!

Profile by John Kaminski

CLARIFICATIONS:
Computo has no known connections to:

• Computer Prime, unit which controls Nova Prime starship @ Nova I#8
• Computo, DC Comics' super-computer built by Brainiac 5 @ Adventure Comics#340
• Computrex, created by Fixer @ Micronauts I#24

The "Hibernation Hive" has no known connection to:

• Beehive, the Enclave's Citadel of Science @ Fantastic Four I#66

"Therma-tron" has no known connection to:

• Thermatron, of the Retrievers of Atlantis @ Fantastic Four I#195

"Hibernation Hive"

A large structure housed in an underground cavern, it was where the various Cybertrons stayed in a state of electronic hibernation until they were activated by Computo with a reviva-ray. The Hive held the forms of at least thirty-one Cybertrons, each one in its own sphere.

--X-Men I#48/1

"Therma-tron"

It had proportionally large hands and possessed a searing thermal touch. On its first mission, it was blasted by Cyclops and destroyed.

--X-Men I#48/1

"Vacu-tron"

It had a mighty internal bellows that allowed it to inhale great quantities of air to inflate itself, and it could exhale the air with hurricane force. As it leapt to attack Cyclops, it was levitated by Marvel Girl and held in mid-air, then Cyclops destroyed it with his optic beam.

--X-Men I#48/1

"Vibra-tron"

It could project ultrasonic energy that caused destructive vibrations, and could also use its energy to fly.

One of the first three Cybertrons to be activated by Computo, it was tracked back to its home base by Cyclops and Marvel Girl when it fled after the other two Cybertrons were destroyed.

When it reported its first mission a failure, Computo sentenced it to the "Automatic Canceller," a device that destroyed it so that its dismembered scrap could be used to build another and better Cybertron.

--X-Men I#48/1

Other Cybertrons

A horde of Computo's automatons, each one had a distinctive appearance and powers. All were deactivated after Cyclops blasted and destroyed Computo.

--X-Men I#48/1

images:
X-Men I#48, p12, pan1 (main image, robotic form)
Captain Marvel I#7, p9, pan4 (rebuilt, smaller form)
X-Men I#48, p5, pan1 ("Hibernation Hive")