Lobo Unleashed: The 9 Most Brutal and Entertaining Stories of the Main Man

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While fans eagerly await Milly Alcock’s new Supergirl film on June 26, they are also awaiting Jason Momoa’s portrayal of Lobo. Momoa retired his Aquaman role and is now playing Lobo, the Main Man, in the DCU. Most non-comic book readers know Lobo from cartoons and comic books, but Supergirl will now expose Lobo to a wider audience.

Lobo: The Main Man

Lobo is an alien from the planet Czarnia. He is an extremely vulgar and morally bankrupt hitman and intergalactic bounty hunter. Lobo was breaking the 4th wall in comic books a year or two before Deadpool did in the 1990s. Lobo has super strength, reflexes, stamina, and invulnerability. Superman has fought Lobo in comics and animated series, usually to a standstill.

Lobo also has a healing factor and the power of complete cellular regeneration. It makes him practically immortal and impossible to kill. If you incinerated Lobo and left behind only a particle fragment of his blood, then he could fully regenerate himself.

Lobo made his debut in Omega Men #3 in 1983. The character was little used until the 1990s, when he was reimagined as a satirical parody of the edgy, dark, and gritty characters of the era. However, fans took to the character, and the personality stuck. Lobo is a beer-swilling, nihilistic, potty-mouthed, 4th-wall-breaking, intergalactic bounty hunter who lets no one get in the way of his bounty.

He is known as Master Frag, the Ultimate Bastich, and the Main Man. Lobo comics are very violent and morally dark, so don’t say you weren’t warned. Here are nine of the most brutal and entertaining stories featuring the Main Man, Lobo.

1. Lobo: The Last Czarnian (1991)

Lobo once committed genocide on his own planet. He practically murdered over 5 billion people on his home planet, Czarnia, because he wanted to be unique. However, years later, he is given a job to protect an old woman being sought by enemies. It turns out that the Main Man has to protect his 4th-grade teacher.

Lobo is incensed that he is not the sole member of his race. Also, his former teacher wrote an unflattering biography of him. Lobo has to protect his former teacher, bound to his code, while resisting the urge to end her so that he can truly be the Last Czarnian.

This comic perfectly expresses Lobo’s nihilism, ultra-violent tendencies, and satiric nature.

Lobo Big Fraggin Compendium Book One is a 1,256-page paperback that collects most of the Lobo miniseries and one-shots of the 1990s and 2000s. Buy it now for $48.64 on Amazon.

2. Lobo: Bounty Hunting for Fun and Profit (1995)

This one-shot comic was a black comedy in comic book form. It is mainly a guide on bounty hunting with narration from the Main Man. Lobo talks to the reader and explains how dangerous bounty hunting truly is. Lobo tells the reader that becoming a bounty hunter means making enemies across the galaxy.

Lobo is aware that he is a comic character in a comic book and actively breaks the 4th wall in this comic. Sensing that he is not being taken seriously by the readers, Lobo reaches through the 4th wall and pulls a human comic book reader into his world to go on a bounty run.

3. The Lobo Paramilitary Christmas Special (2002)

This infamous Lobo comic is part nihilistic Christmas tale, action film romp, and horror story. A financially strapped alien couple is anxious because they have no presents for their children. They find a book on their doorstep that they read. It is about the Easter Bunny hiring Lobo to take out Santa Claus; The Easter Bunny is angry that Santa takes so much attention from the other holiday mascots and icons of the world.

So, Lobo takes the contract and heads to the North Pole. Lobo engages in a Die-Hard-style action movie gun battle and fight with Santa and his elves. The story is a satirical fable on how seriously people take holidays. However, reading the book commits the reader to commit violent actions themselves, which the parents do after reading the book.

4. Lobo Unbound (2003)

The Main Man fears he is losing his reputation as the premier “bastich,” bounty hunter, and mass murderer in the universe. So, Lobo wants to get his mojo back by getting new contracts and starting beef with all of the deadliest enemies he can find. This story does not have a lot of plot and is mostly a “bad taste and body bags” type of story.

5. Lobo: Infanticide (1992)

Lobo finds out that he might have a daughter. He then finds out that he has hundreds of children. Over 200 of his children unite to make a plan to take out the Main Man. Meanwhile, Lobo decides the easiest solution to this problem is to proactively take out all of his children and truly become the Last Czarnian.

6. Lobo: Portrait of a Bastich (1995)

This is a miniseries that collected the first two series that made Lobo a fan-favorite, Lobo: The Last Czarnian and Lobo’s Back. In Lobo’s Back, Lobo actually dies. Unfortunately, he has a serious afterlife problem: neither Heaven nor Hell wants Lobo. So, Lobo is resurrected – as a woman!

7. Lobo: Blazing Chain of Love (1992)

The Main Man is contracted to take out a beautiful female murderer. Lobo has no problem taking the job, but complications arise almost instantly. Lobo’s bounty disappears into Sultan Algor, a harem state the size of New Jersey. Can the Main Man stave off temptation and stay professional enough to focus on his task without distraction?

8. Lobo: Contract on Gawd (1994)

It must be said first that this comic is a black comedy with barely veiled satirical commentary on religious philosophy. It is not meant to be taken seriously if you trigger easily. Although Lobo has decided to take a break from taking murder contracts, he makes an exception for a new client. A collective of monks from the utopian planet Paradize wants Lobo to murder their planet’s living deity, a being known as Gawd.

9. Lobo: Portrait of a Victim (1993)

Lobo is a fun character, the kind of character you hate to love or love to hate. Still, Lobo is inherently not a nice guy. The story is told from the P.O.V. of Lobo and John Doe, a hapless loser, who is a full body cast in a hospital bed. Doe tells the story of how he crossed paths with the Main Man and how he ended up in a body cast.

Lobo is Ultra-Violent Satire and Parody

If you decide to read these Lobo comics to prepare for Jason Momoa’s live-action film debut of the character, prepare yourself. Lobo comics are unapologetically violent and absurd. However, they are also satire and parody on themes like violence, justice, the weapons industry, bounty hunting, revenge, and human nature.

A lot of the comics on this list were written in a non-PC world that probably would not happen today. Read them with an incentive to be entertained.

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