Transformers UK #6
The Facts
Dated: 17th November - 30th November 1984
Cover: Unknown Artist
Story: "Prisoner of War" (11 or 12 pages; part 2)
This reprints the final 11 or 12 pages of US #3 with most of the pages in black and white rather than full colour.
Credits: Jim Salicrup (plotter, scripter); Frank Springer (penciller); Kim Demulder (co-inker); Esporito (co-inker); Janice Chiang (co-letterer); Others (co-letterer); Nelson Yomtov (colourer); Bob Budiansky (editor); Jim Shooter (editor in chief)
Reprints: Reprinted in full colour in Collected Comics 2, in hardcover format in The Complete Works Volume 2, and currently available in the Titan graphic novel Beginnings.
Features: The cover boasts a competition to win a bomtempi game-playing musical keyboard.
Back-Up Strips: Machine Man
Funnies: Matt and the Cat
In Brief
Which one is this?
Spider-Man, Spider-Man
Dressed in black, Spider-Man
Teamed with Gears, big surprise.
Catches 'Cons, just like flies.
Look out!
Here comes the Spider-Man
Firsts and Lasts
- Last appearance of Spider-Man.
Memorable Moments / Dialogue Triumphs
Gears on Spider-Man: 'This human reminds me of Bluestreak. They both love the sound of their own voice.'
Gears: 'Do all humans have powers like yours?' Spider-Man: 'Not since I checked last! I'd feel real foolish if they did!'
Miserable Moments / Dialogue Disasters
Well, there's the usual (for this era) clunky dialogue, but nothing that stands out.
The Characters
Autobots
Decepticons
Humans
The Story
Synopsis
The Decepticons attack the human military forces. Meanwhile, Spider-Man and Gears run into each other whilst scouting around. Gears convinces Spider-Man that they are on the same side when he prevents a tank thrown around by the conflict from landing on some reporters. Spider-Man then comes up with a plan to get the Autobots past the human forces to attack the Decepticons and rescue Sparkplug. The Autobots engage the Decepticon forces whilst Gears and Spider-Man sneak into the fortress and rescue Sparkplug. However, during their escape, Gears falls - apparently to his death. They return to the Ark. Ratchet revives Gears, and he claims that the Decepticons got what they wanted from Sparkplug.
Goofs
- There's a panel where Megatron appears to be thinking Soundwave's thoughts about detecting an intruder.
- How does Gears know that Sparkplug has completed the fuel conversion formula? Did the Decepticons leave a big sign up to tell him?
Analysis
'Don't you know it's be-nice-to-Spider-Man week?' What could have been a very simplistic issue is lifted above the mundane by the sparkling character of Spider-Man. His wisecracks and interaction with Gears make the issue incredibly entertaining, and the scene where Gears falls to his doom is quite moving. The artwork is still quite poor, though the artists do seem to have got their act together. The final twist is also quite good, although it makes absolutely no sense for the revelation to come from Gears.
Copyright
Transformers and most of the characters that appeared in Transformers stories are both copyrighted and trademarked by Hasbro. A few are copyrighted and trademarked by Marvel Comics. No infringement of copyright or trademarks is intended. All material on this site is my own work unless stated otherwise. The drop-down menus were created from templates on CSS Play.