Lobster Random


Lobster Random is a character in the comic book 2000 AD. He was created by Simon Spurrier and artist Carl Critchlow.

Overview

Ugly of temper and with a pair of claws surgically grafted onto his sides, Lobster Random was a genetically modified soldier, adapted to never need sleep or to feel pain. After being discharged from the military he found his talents lay in the art of torture, and hired out his services for any client who required information and wasn't squeamish about the methods employed to get it. "Lob" is a cranky old bald man with two huge lobster claws emerging from his back, and is part of a long tradition in 2000 AD giving their protagonists a distinctive visual appearance at odds with the comic book stereotype of square-jawed, good-looking action heroes. Lob's character is portrayed as extremely grumpy, cynical and sometimes psychotic. Lob has also had his left arm amputated on three separate occasions.
The art, by Carl Critchlow, represented a departure from his older painted style and instead used a computer-based line drawing technique that he developed in his self-published Thrud the Barbarian.
Lobster Random debuted in an eight-part adventure in 2003, entitled "No Gain, No Pain.". A hardback collection of this 45-page story was released by Rebellion Developments for the European market in April 2005.
The second series, "Tooth and Claw," ran for nine episodes, from progs 1411-1419.
The third series was called "The Agony and the Ecstasy".

"The Vort" and subsequently series

Writing under the pseudonym G. Powell, Spurrier introduced a world called The Vort in its own standalone series. At the conclusion, it was revealed that one of the main characters was a hideously scarred Lobster Random.
It was followed by the fourth series of Lobster Random entitled "The Forget-Me-Knot" starting in prog 1601 in 2008.