Generation 1

Generation 1 ran from 1973 to 1975. It serves as the first story arc to Animatronic Tales. It was the only generation to have a finished comic.

## Story

### Chapter 1

The comic starts with Pouncer and his mother, Kathey, running from a pack of dogs. She tells him to hide and tries to confront one of them. The dog rips its paw through her neck. Once she falls, the dogs don't bother in looking for Pouncer and walk away. Distraught, Pouncer runs up to her body. Before she dies, she tells Pouncer to run away without looking back. He proceeds, and runs away. As he runs, a trail of fires appears behind him. He turns around to see the fire take the shape of a phoenix and runs once again in fear. The phoenix eventually catches up to him, but disappears before it could touch him. He receives a prophecy and after taking a moment to process what just happened, he runs again.

After walking for awhile, he passes by two animatronics talking to each other. One of them calls the other "wacky", since this is a word that this animatronic doesn't take lightly, he pulls out a knife and murders him. He then turns around to see Pouncer traumatized by the event. Possibly out of spite or pure adrenaline, the animatronic then slashes out Pouncer's left eye. He smiles at Pouncer's body and leaves with no intention in killing him.

Pouncer then wakes up from a nightmare about the animatronic and continues to walk. He then meets Roader, who is taped onto a wall. Roader asks Pouncer what happened to his eye but then tells him to forget about it. He asks Pouncer to free him and he proceeds to do so. Once he is freed, Pouncer asks him how he got to such position. Roader then tells him that he made fun of an animatronics shoes. This animatronic didn't like his comment and taped him to the wall. He then reveals to Pouncer that his name was Johnny and that he is "one of the many evils of this world". The two then walk off together as traveling buddies.

Later, Johnny is seen with an accidental cut on his arm and yelling profanities. His dead pet, NailBunny, tells him to watch his language. He proceeds to tell Johnny to "stop killing people for a living" or he'll "end up like the other one". He tells him that there is nothing to worry about it and says that he least let one victim go. NailBunny then corrects them that it was the "other Johnny" before changing the subject. He asks Johnny if he remembered Pouncer when he saw him the other day. Johnny says that he only remembers seeing him but doesn't know who he is. NailBunny then tells him that he was his son, Johnny then declines with "He is a cat, not a coyote". NailBunny then reminds him that his mate was a cat but he again declined. He walks out with NailBunny asking himself when will Johnny ever learn.

Pouncer is once again awaken by a nightmare, but this time Johnny is seen dead. Pouncer is awakened with a scream and Roader makes fun of him. He then tells Pouncer that he was looking for his parents while he was sleeping. Pouncer tells him that his mother was dead, and once Roader asks him about his father, Pouncer then tells him that he has never met his own father before, and assumes that he too is dead.

### Chapter 2

During his walk, Johnny stumbles upon Pouncer who was about to be attacked by a snake. Johnny then throws a knife at the snake, killing it. This leaves Pouncer confused. As Johnny watched Pouncer, he then sees Kathey's spirit. He looks at her but then says "no" before walking away.

Back in the afterlife, Kathey is seen sitting by a ledge. Her friend Razar and aunt Katie see her in such state and try to comfort her. Razar tries to convince her to get over Johnny while Katie tells her that she's "special". They then sing *"A tear to shed"* until the chapter ends.

### Chapter 3

Pouncer is reading a newspaper about Johnny's killings and tells Roader that they should do something about it. Roader tries to convince him out of it, but Pouncer implies that there is no other way and asks him where he lives. Roader then takes him to Johnny's place only to find the door open. The DoughBoys see Pouncer and Roader and run to Johnny about the intruders. They ask what they should do with them and Johnny demands that they kill them. Johnny then steps in and asks why they were there. Pouncer then tells him that he's going to stop him, Johnny then proceeds in trying to kill him, only to get himself killed. Pouncer then looks at him one last time and leaves along with Roader.

## Characters

Pouncer

Roader

Johnny

NailBunny

Razar

Kathey

Katie

The DoughBoys

## Trivia

* Johnny, NailBunny, and the DoughBoys were originally from the comic series "*Johnny the Homicidal Maniac*" by Jhonen Vasquez
* This generation was the only comic to have its first part fully written until transitioning into a comic
* The first few pages were colored until going completely black and white in later pages. The first few pages of chapter 3 were colored, but then it went back to being colorless
* Because of a theory, the "other Johnny" may be referring to the Johnny in Reaper Dayz, but this may not be true since Animatronic Tales was made years before Reaper Dayz came to mind
* Johnnys outfit changes throughout the comic along with the art style considering that the comic took 10 months to complete
* Julien has tried remaking this comic twice. The first time being a paper copy in 2018 and the second being done digitally in 2020. They both were never finished
* The comic was done in a composition notebook