Lobo may be the deadliest intergalactic hitman in the DC Universe, but he finally met his match when he was tasked with taking down one of cartoon's most famous birds as he faces off against the Road Runner in Lobo/Road Runner Special #1. Naturally at the behest of Looney Tunes mainstay and Road Runner rival Wile E. Coyote. Though Lobo is quick to find out that this bird may be more for even him to handle.
For any readers unfamiliar with Lobo, he's murdered an entire planet of his own people just for fun, he flies around space on a cosmic motorcycle, he's described in DC Comics as the Universe's greatest mercenary, and he has a special relationship with psychic dolphins. But none of that is the point. After a freak accident at ACME Labs leaves a previously normal coyote anthropomorphized and capable of speech, readers find Wile E. Coyote immediately launching his quest to take down his bird nemesis. But after several decades' worth of mishaps - beginning in 1949 and lasting to current day - the canine finds himself injured and humiliated time and time again. The bumbling coyote is eventually captured and imprisoned at Area 52.
But not for long. A genetically altered sheep dog named Sam who insists on calling the coyote Ralph (a deep cut reference for Looney Tunes fans) helps him to escape via rocket ship and track down the Main Man to take out Road Runner once and for all. After a tense first meeting, Lobo agrees to take on the bounty, but only on the condition that Wile does some work for him. Work which leads him to Oa, where he is meant to kill Kilowog. That doesn't go well, but Kilowag is impressed by the coyote's resillience and invites him to join the Green Lantern Corps.
Meanwhile, back on Earth, things are going equally poorly for Lobo. First he finds himself exploded in a gas station accident inadvertently started by the Road Runner. Later the bird shoves a grenade into the mouth of the regenerating antihero, resulting in a skull shattering explosion. He falls off cliffs and eventually accidentally detonates an atomic bomb mere feet from where he's standing before the Coyote mercifully returns from space.
Wile E. Coyote calls off the hit, declaring he's retiring and has no interest in the bird anymore and Lobo takes off back to the stars. But just as the coyote is walking away in peace, Road Runner runs by and flips him over backward with a signature "beep beep." And after what may be the shortest retirement ever, Coyote gets back to his feet, licking his chops to go after the bird again. However, now, the readers find out, he may finally have the upper hand. The final panel sees him adorning a Green Lantern ring he'd procured from Oa. Hopefully now, whether it be in brightest day or darkest night, Lobo/Road Runner Special #1 will make sure no Road Runner will escape his sight. That's all, bastiches!