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Sunday, 8 April 2012

The death of Robin Malone?

Fans of Bob Lubbers "Robin Malone" might be interested to know that the strip ended not in one but in two ways. One where Robin dies and one where Mike dies.
Don't know if the newspapers had an option of running the strip of their choice or if the death of Mike were something that just one paper made up. (That version was found HERE.)

Update: Check the comments for more info on this from Ger Apeldoorn!

Update: Well, what do you know... There's a third version of the final Robin Malone daily!

There's no doubt about the death of Robin here. Notice that this one is dated 3.14 while the Mike versions are dated 3.11. This one is signed "BL" while the other versions aren't signed at all.
Makes me even more curious about the first two versions.

This one was found in Glamour International #26. A great publication on Bob Lubbers, edited by Alberto Becattini.
kl.

5 comments:

  1. Ger Apeldoorn9 April 2012 at 23:20

    Could't it be a new version trying to eliminate the ambiguity? Both have the word Mike! in the image and I am not sure if the first one is meant as Robin dying.

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  2. Ger Apeldoorn9 April 2012 at 23:33

    Well, I had a look in my clips and indeed I have one explaining this. After the 'obscure' ending, at least one paper did a piece on the strip with the ending clarified. So it is not an alternate ending, but a clarification of the original intention. The piece goe on to mention: "PS. We have been told on good authority that Robin Malone lived happily ever after. The remaried (to Hickory, the baseball manager, or course) and retired from her business enterprises to the life of a normal, beautiful, rich housewive." By the way, the Sundays end in a similar gruesome way, when a promonition Robin has about her sister (?) Kathy dying in a car accident. "And then silence... bountless... eternal... endless silence."

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  3. Joakim Gunnarsson9 April 2012 at 23:44

    Thanks for the additional info, Ger!

    BTW: Have you noticed that the cars on the street spells "RIP RM" in the first version?

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  4. Anonymous18 April 2012 at 10:16

    I remember reading this strip when I was a kid, but somehow I missed the ending; when my sister told me Robin had died I was sure she was just messing with me, and furiously insisted she tell me the real ending. I didn't exactly dwell on it over the years, but I was firmly convinced she had lied, and I couldn't find anyone else who read it to check. Thank God for the Internet!

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  5. Roger13 January 2024 at 03:39

    I compared the different last strips in my blog post (in Swedish) - with 8/3-11/3+14/3 images: https://rogersmagasin.com/2021/01/19/en-seriehjaltinnas-dod/

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