The Machine Main Page

The Machine is the creation of David Van Donelen, a regular on the Superguy mailing list and rec.arts.comics.creative. His was the first real exploitation of the Patrollers universe, and certainly set the stage (and the tone) for teams and individual Patrollers to follow. In the pages of his stories you will find the basic building blocks of what we have now come to know as the Patrollers Universe.

The first of the Machine was Captain Justice, whose real identity was Simon Karlson, also known as the head of Karlmax Industries, a high-technology concern that would soon begin to make use of Patrol power...without the goodwill of the Rechargers of Earth...

He initially was offered a Recharger and the duties and obligations of being a Patroller. After finding out what the limits were on a Patroller's abilities and possible actions, Sam turned down the Recharger's offer. But it did give him the idea to use Terran Technology (aided by that alien tech which could be gleaned from a study of the alien Rechargers) to accomplish the same mission as the Rechargers—just with Terran sensibilities instead of alien.

The second of the Machine was the self-named Cosmic Defender, real name Sam Lyons. He was actually a Patroller, and his membership in the Machine caused no end of friction between himself and his Recharger, who did not approve of Patrol technology—even pirated—being used to get around the limitations on the Rechargers.

The third member of the Machine was Greymask. He was a former Patroller who had lost his Gauntlet and Recharger when, seeing his partner Cosmic Defender gunned down by a gang member, killed the gang member in a moment of passion. He has been outfitted with Karlmax Broadcast Power equipment and a 'super-suit.'

The fourth member of the Machine is Astra. She was a girl who had been a Patroller but whose Recharger had malfunctioned horribly, consuming her body in an instant and leaving her nothing more than her memories trapped in a woman-shaped force-field.

Constellation was a strange, reality-warping gestalt superbeing from the Looniverse, a parallel universe in the comics continuum. During an adventure with one of his own supervillains, he found himself thrust into the universe of the Gauntlet, and took the time to briefly explore this new Earth. After leaving it behind, he returned once more to explore both it and himself, and he interacted with the Machine in so doing...