“Slab” (Special Labour Auxiliary Bio-engineered) clone soldier (left panel, left) from The Ballad of Halo Jones Book 3 (progs 452–466 (1986)), Chapter 9: The Gravity of the Situation (prog 460), written by Alan Moore and drawn by Ian Gibson v John J. Rambo[1] portrayed by Sylvester Stallone
Rambo[2] first appeared on the silver screen in First Blood (Orion Pictures, 1982), based on the novel of the same name (M. Evans, 1972) by David Morrell, and subsequently in Rambo: First Blood Part II (1985), Rambo III (TriStar Pictures, 1988), Rambo (Lionsgate Films, 2008) and Rambo: Last Blood (Lionsgate Films, 2019).
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- First Blood (1982) theatrical poster
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- Rambo III (1988) theatrical poster
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- Rambo (2008) theatrical poster
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- Rambo: Last Blood (2019) theatrical poster
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- Geoffrey Household’s Rogue Male (first edition cover)
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- Audie Murphy (1925–1971) in 1948
Author Morrell was heavily influenced while writing First Blood by Geoffrey [Edward West] Household’s (1900–1988) thriller novel Rogue Male (Chatto & Windus, 1939), and the character of Rambo was based partly on US war hero First Lieutenant Audie [Leon] Murphy, one of the most decorated US soldiers of the Second World War (1939–1945).
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- “Nobody loses all the time.”
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- Gravity falls in the Moab Mess Complex canteen
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- Super-Warrior from prog 517’s (1987) Tharg’s Future Shocks: The Star Warriors, written by Alan McKenzie and drawn by Nik Williams
First Blood is arguably the most thoughtful film of the series – it projects the most pathos and contains the least amount of violence – and it seems that Moore is here expressing his disdain for what he considers the sequel’s inevitable degeneration into a crass action film franchise.
Interestingly, the main concourse of Moab’s Mess Complex in prog 460’s Halo Jones is dominated by a statue of Lot’s wife [unnamed but called “Ado” or “Edith” in some Jewish traditions], who in the Bible (Genesis 19) disobeyed God by looking back at the city of Sodom,[3] having fled it with her husband, and was turned into a pillar of salt for her sin. Moab’s mineral wealth is a key strategic factor in Earth’s ongoing war with or in the Tarantula Nebula,[4] and presumably a principle founding tenet of the Moabite religion is “Never look back [to sinful Earth].” The historic Moabite culture (east of the Dead Sea in modern Jordan) was frequently in conflict with its Israelite neighbours; all this subtly hinting in Halo Jones at an eons-old struggle – possibly religious in origin – of dubious legality and morality, with a whiff of entitlement. Moore never actually spells it out, and neither shall we.
Notes:
- Rambo is named after the Rambo apple cultivar (a plant with desirable attributes produced by selective breeding and cultivation), a supply of which Morrell’s wife provided while he was brainstorming names for the character, who is given no first name in the novel
- It is never stated what rank Rambo holds, but judging from the crossed arrows (officer) insignia on the lapel of his army alpha dress green uniform – and given that he is based partly on 1st Lt. Murphy – he is probably a former First Lieutenant (or possibly Captain) with the United States Army Special Forces
- Probably once located near Mount Sodom (technically a hill) at the southwest end of the Dead Sea, Israel
- Located in the Dorado constellation, 159,800 light years from Earth
