Dr. Gearbox

History

Anton Teodor Girbachs was a brilliant student of robotics in Wunrttemberg, Germany, who fled his home nation when Nazi government tried to force him to work on their Himmelhawk Program. He attempted to reach the Adriatic Sea, but was captured by Russian troops, and spent the next ten years working as a lab assistant to the Atomic Commissar and after that to the Inkubatorniks.
 When he grew reluctant to continue working on weapons systems, Girbach’s wife was threatened in an effort to make him more cooperative. Instead, he built Fafnir, a flying robot in dragon form, and with his wife, broke free and attempted to defect the United States. However, upon his landing in Alaska, his overtures were misinterpreted as threats, and in the ensuing battle, Commando K destroyed Fafnir, and Girbach and his wife were arrested. They where set to be tried as spies when he juryed-rigged a robot out of recording equipment and his cell’s plumbing, and broke free.
 Finding a welcome in the American underworld, Girbachs became known as “Dr. Gearbox,” and for many years acted both as a suppier of robotics technology to the superhuman criminal community, and on his own, using his robots in numerous attempts to seize or extort wealth from banks, governments and other sources.
 Girbachs was obsessed with the idea that he had not been treated as he deserved – that he had been forced by government greed, indifference or hostility to become what he had become, rather than enjoying a life of wealth and respect due to his considerable mental gifts. After the death of his wife, he became even more set in his ways, resisting all attempts to rehabilitate himself, or chances to work toward amnesty for his crimes.