While the initial stint only lasted six months, Archie returned 1957 and would become one of the most enduring characters in Lion, running until the comic merged with Valiant in 1974, with the majority of his adventures drawn by Ted Kearon.

Edward George 'Ted' Cowan already had extensive experience writing for boys' story papers and comics, notably penning the adventures of schoolboy Ginger Nutt for The Champion.

The story featured remote control mechanical man Archie aiding 'chums' Ted Ritchie and Ken Dale in hunting treasure in an exotic location, a format previously used by William Ward for the "Iron Warrior" in the pages of Gerald G. Swan's Thrill between 1940 and 1945.

[1][4] The strip itself returned to the weekly comic (having made a one-off appearance in the 1954 Lion Annual) on 19 January 1957 under the name "Archie the Robot", initially for another six months.

[10][11] The Dutch strips would be used as the source for the character's appearances in the experimental all-reprint weekly Vulcan between 1975 and 1976 (published simultaneously in Germany as Kobra), translated back into English.

[12] This version of the character, redesigned by Steve Yeowell, was a member of the anarchist Black Flag team of an alternative Earth, and was obsessed with acid house and techno.

[23] Later, he was also highly useful in thwarting Karanga natives Krang and Ngo's attempts to kill Ted and Ken when they returned to the continent to search Leopard Valley for uranium.

[24] Ted and Ken then volunteered themselves and Archie to retrieve a jewelled sphinx for explorer friend Frank Warren, despite the attentions of the enigmatic Veiled Arab.

[26] A trip to East Kilibu to film a ceremony saw Robot Archie save the life of the Rajah of Zorba, who promptly hired the trio to protect him against further threats.

[27] The pals then returned to Africa to end the ivory poaching of the cruel Drago[28] and fended off the attempts of evil witch doctor Warogi to halt construction on a railroad.

[33] In North Africa they helped overthrow a cruel Sultan[34] before travelling back again to South America, discovering a lost Inca city in Peru and preventing thieves Zamito and Trask from making off with treasure from a wrecked Spanish galleon.

[37] Their next expedition took them back to Africa when friend Bill Drayton asked them for help with the Scorpion, a local warlord who was forcing the inventor to build rocket belts.

[39] A return to South America to search for an abandoned gold mine in El Dorado saw Ted, Ken and Archie stumble across and thwart a group of gun-runners.

[42] The trio visited Paris, which was promptly targeted by thieves Salanda and Zicco and their Mole drilling tank, eventually tracing the pair to their houseboat; while the two criminals escaped, Archie saw they weren't able to keep their loot.

[45] Ted, Ken and Archie returned to the East when photographer pal Don Trent asked for their help in Burma in dealing with the Screaming Beetle, a flying jet hovercraft under the control of a criminal called Kelso.

They stumbled across a scheme pair called Venner and Tragg, who were using a salvaged World War II German tank into a mechanical scorpion to terrorise the locals.

[49] They were subsequently called to Eastern Asia by Professor Pavey who lent them his earth-boring Gimlet to help them get to the bottom of mysterious sightings of a 'White Diamond Fiend', which turned out to be controlled by deposed dictator Megala to drive people away from a lost valley he was making his own kingdom.

[54] Archie's success was such that he took to referring to himself as 'Super-Archie'; to take him down a peg or two Ted and Ken attempted to create a second robot, but an accident led to the new creation being the diminutive Junior, who turned out to be even more mischievous.

[66] Archie, Ted and Ken helped investigate the disappearance of the research vessel Intrepid, defeating culprit Ulrich Von Schtorm and his army of robots.

As early of 1992, Lew Stringer noted "Why this African treasure should belong to two white Englishmen was a moral point never raised", and called the frequent hostility to the trio shown by natives as "understandable".

[70] A write-up on the character on rights' holder Rebellion's Treasury of British Comics website written by David McDonald was prefaced with the advisory warning " some of the images on this post contain offensive and outdated stereotypes, and are included for the purposes of historical interest".