Origin

Junkyard Joe started out as Unit Beta, a military robot that was sent to The Vietnam War to analyze the activity for President Nixon. He was outfitted with fake skin and placed on a platoon nicknamed The Junkyard Dogs. When they are first attacked, Joe tackles a Vietcong member with a grenade. The explosion burned off his skin, revealing his robotic nature, which was accepted by the other dogs pretty quickly.

Unfortunately, when they are attacked a second time, he is unable to save his new friends, except Muddy Davis, who would go on to create a comic strip about the robotic soldier he presumed died on the battlefield. It was this failure that influenced Nixon's decision to pull out of Vietnam.

Creation

Junkyard Joe technically debuted as a fictional comic strip character within Geiger (2021) #1 by Geoff Johns and Gary Frank. He turns out to be real in Geiger (2021) #5 on the last page.

He is one of The Unnamed, a group of unrelated strange heroes of American history. An advertisement for this new project included a timeline. On the timeline was: 1972 - Junkyard Joe comes online.

Major Story Arc

Return of Joe

After many years, Joe found a flyer explaining that his old friend Muddy Davis was retiring from his comic strip following the death of his beloved wife. Because the comic strip was about Joe, it credited Muddy as Joe's creator. So, Joe sought him out in his home in the town of Melody Hills, Indiana and started making himself at home, specifically taking responsibility for the chores around the house. An appreciative Muddy wanted to show the he cared with a coffee and a game of cards, but when Muddy accidentally broke a mug, Joe freaked out at the crash. Joe seemed to be suffering from PTSD, ironic given that Muddy's comic strip was a satirical look at the unfair expectations of soldiers that Joe was usually able to meet.

Muddy wouldn't be able to keep Joe secret for too long. His new neighbors, the Munn kids (Grace, Emily, and Will), happened to see Joe through his windows and made quick friends with the cartoonist and robot. He also introduced Joe to a local veterans' organization, hoping to help Joe's PTSD. They also ended up on the radar of The Custodian, Joe's original creator, and his goons. After returning from veterans office, the duo and the Munn kids were briefly taken hostage by Custodian. Joe fought he and the kids' way out, but unfortunately, Muddy got left behind with a bad head wound.

Joe and the kids cut through town and sought shelter at the veterans' center, but Custodian and his goons caught up with them. Joe fought them again to protect the kids, but when one of the goons pulls out a grenade, their fight spills out into the main street, in front of all witnesses. It also forces the ambulance that picked up Muddy to stop before the hospital. With Muddy's influence the townsfolk take to Joe very quickly defending him from The Custodian, whom Joe knocked unconscious with a headbutt, and the Homeland Security agents that showed up to retrieve.

Seven months later, Joe was still living with Muddy, who had returned to his comic strip after finding new inspiration.

NORAD's Secret Weapon

After a nuclear strike on America during The Unknown War in 2030, the surviving administrators of the US Government held up at NORAD command center in Colorado. They kept Joe as their secret weapon, however, they had no reason to activate him.

After 20 years, the NORAD facility was approached by two children, Hailee and Henry, and their superhuman guardian, Geiger. They had stolen the nuclear football from crime lords in Las Vegas to trade for NORAD protection. However, when Henry is revealed to have leukemia and will need to be mercy killed to save resources, Geiger fights their way out to keep the kids safe. The forces of NORAD are forced to activate Joe to take on Geiger. They seemed evenly matched, but Geiger was ultimately able to defeat him with his boron sticks.

Lewiston, MT

After his fight with Geiger, Junkyard Joe's operating system rebooted, and he would recall various memory files. These files included various other champions of history recruiting Joe and talking about him as a hero. With his NORAD programming seemingly corrupted, he decided to seek out Geiger and make peace with him. He found Geiger being fatally overwhelmed by his powers. He managed to shock Geiger back to life and carried Geiger the rest of the way to his destination, Lewiston, MT, home to Ash Arden, another being with similar "Glowing Man" powers.

While Ash cared to Geiger's needs, Joe stood guard outside the building, gaining the attention of the people of the town. The crowd overwhelmed Joe's sensors, causing him to overreact as if they were a threat. He destroyed a nearby parked truck but was calmed by Barney and Zigzag, two mutant animals that were part of Geiger's travelling group. Joe continued to care for the animals while Geiger worked with Ash, but they were interrupted by the U.S. Army. Joe joined the fight but hesitated when confronted with The Custodian. The Custodian used a remote to freeze Joe in place so that he could rewire him for obedience again.

Unfortunately, Geiger and his friends were tricked into seeking out Lewiston. Ash had set up a nuclear missile silo to detonate underground, endangering the survivors of Lewiston with fallout. She had been secretly training Geiger so he could absorb the fallout and hopefully her own internal radiation with it. It was too much for Geiger, and he would have died had Ash not had a change of heart and shared the burden of the radiation with him. In the ensuing chaos, Geiger's friend, Nate the Nuclear Knight, stabbed the Custodian, stopping Joe from ending up back in the hands of the army. They believed Joe was affected by the EMP from the weapon, and they left Joe in the hands of Dr. Molotov to try and fix.

Character Profile

• Height: 6'2"
• Weight: 345 lbs
• Eyes: Red
• Hair: None
• Occupation: U.S. Army drone

Powers & Abilities

Robot: As a robot, Joe is stronger, faster, and more enduring than the average human.

Military Training: Joe is programmed with at least Vietnam War era army combat training.

Other Media

Merchandise

• One:12 Collective produced a Junkyard Joe action figure in 2024. It was approximately 17cm tall with 10 interchangeable hands and 19 accessories.