Transformers US #1

The Facts

Dated: September 1984

Cover: Artist Unknown

Story: "The Transformers" (25 pages)

Credits: Bill Mantlo (plotter); Ralph Macchio (scripter); Frank Springer (penciller); Kim Demulder (inker); Higgins (co-letterer); Parker (co-letterer); Nelson Yomtov (colourer); Bob Budiansky (editor); Jim Shooter (editor in chief)

Reprints: Reprinted partly in black and white in UK #1 and #2, and in full colour in Collected Comics 1, in hardcover format in The Complete Works Volume 1, and currently available in the Titan graphic novel Beginnings.

In Brief

Which one is this?

The Decepticons declare war, the Ark blasts rocks out of space before crashing, a probe fails to recognise organic life, Optimus Prime's trailer brings everybody back to life, and Buster and Jessie suck face at a drive-in movie.

Firsts and Lasts

Pretty much everything in this issue is a first. In no particular order:

• The first issue of the US Transformers comic
• The first Transformers fiction, unless you count the tech-spec write-ups on the toy boxes.
• The first Transformers comic work by Bob Budiansky (who had previously written the tech-specs for all of the first batch of characters)
• The first Transformers work by Bill Mantlo, Ralph Macchio, Frank Springer, Kim DeMulder, Higgins, Parker, Nel Yomtov, Jerry Paris, and maybe Jim Shooter (though editor in chief usually means no actual involvement in an issue)
• The first mention, and appearance, of Cybertron, the Ark, and the Decepticons' spaceship
• The first appearances of the Autobots, the Decepticons, Optimus Prime, Bluestreak, Brawn, Bumblebee, Cliffjumper, Gears, Hound, Huffer, Ironhide, Jazz, Mirage, Prowl, Ratchet,Sideswipe, Sunstreaker, Trailbreaker, Wheeljack, Windcharger, Megatron, Soundwave, Buzzsaw, Frenzy, Laserbeak, Ravage, Rumble, Skywarp, Starscream, Thundercracker
• The first appearance of Buster Witwicky, Sparkplug Witwicky, Jessie, and Buster's friend "O"

Memorable Moments / Dialogue Triumphs

The Autobots assume that a drive-in movie is some kind of religious ritual.

Miserable Moments / Dialogue Disasters

The scene where the Decepticons quote their tech-specs at each other. And the scene when the Autobots do the same. As Rumble says, 'Can the speeches.' If I want to read tech-specs, I can buy the toys.

The Characters

Autobots

Autobots (behind the scenes)

Decepticons

Decepticons (behind the scenes)

Humans

The Story

Synopsis

Cybertron was a Saturn-sized metallic planet orbiting Alpha Centurai with mechanical life forms. The dominant race, sentient robots called the Transformers, were peaceful until Megatron led a group of Transformers called the Decepticons in a war against the Autobots. The war shook Cybertron out of its orbit. As the war progressed, the Autobots found their Champion - Optimus Prime. Under his leadership, the Autobots held their own for over a thousand years. However, Cybertron eventually drifted into another Solar System, and Autobot scientists realised that Cybertron would pass through an asteroid belt. Optimus Prime volunteered to personally lead a mission to clear a path through the asteroid belt on a newly constructed craft called the Ark. The Decepticons discovered this and attacked the Autobots just after they had finished their task. The Autobots were too weak to resist the Decepticons and, as a last resort, Prime crashed the Ark into the third planet of the Solar System - Earth. Forty million years later, the volcano Mount Saint Hilary in the US state of Oregon erupts, awakening the Ark's computer systems. The Ark sends out a probe to explore the planet. The probe does not register organic lifeforms, but does register human vehicles as life forms. It scans a variety of human technologies, returns to the Ark, and gives its data to the Ark, which prepares to commence reviving the Transformers.

The Ark rebuilds the fallen Transformers, but its memory banks have been damaged by the crash, and it no longer knows the difference between Autobot and Decepticons. The Decepticons recover their wits first and Megatron decides to leave the Ark as the current odds make it too risky to destroy the Autobots now. The Autobots, meanwhile, examine the probe's footage of Earth, believing themselves to be seeing machine-based lifeforms. Eventually, they send out a squad of Autobots to scout out the area and make contact with the local lifeforms. Meanwhile, in a nearby town, teenager Buster Witwicky gets a lecture from his father Sparkplug about spending too much time studying and not enough doing something that will get him a job later in life. Buster then borrows his Dad's car to go to the cinema. He is at the drive-in cinema with his girlfriend Jessie and friend "O" when the Autobots arrive to investigate it, believing it to be some kind of religious ritual. Bumblebee drives into the back of Buster's car, and he and his friends get out just as the Decepticons attack, their first strike blowing their car to pieces. Bumblebee cries out, having been wounded, and Buster decides that he has to stay and find out why as Jessie and "O" join the crowd fleeing the scene. Meanwhile, the other Autobots join the fray, but break off when Prowl realises that the humans fleeing the scene are the planet's real lifeform. He decides that Prime must be informed personally, and the Autobots flee. Buster realises that Bumblebee is leaking something that isn't oil, and steers Bumblebee back to Sparkplug's garage. He begins attempting to fix Bumblebee, but gets nowhere until he wakes up Sparkplug and tells him that the VW Beetle is alive, at which point Bumblebee saks for help as he believes he is dying.

Goofs

• The cover bears no relation whatsoever to what happens in the issue. Not to mention that it makes Buster look like he's six.
• How can a war (even a global one) possibly shake a planet out of its orbit? [Perhaps it's Primus' doing rather than something caused by the war.]
• When Prime and Prowl are discussing the situation on the Ark, Prowl's ready with advice, but Prime doesn't want to hear it beacuse he's already made up his mind. Furthermore, the option Prime takes is one that Prowl hasn't been told about. So much for the line about Prowl being the "most trusted of my advisors!"
• If the Ark's memory banks now contain no knowledge of the war, then why does the probe think that an aeroplane resembled a Decepticon attack form?
• One of Megatron's speech bubbles is clearly placed to look like it's one of Optimus Prime's
• When Megatron asks if all the Decepticons are accounted for, why do his troops start telling him about their abilities? Not only is does it have nothing to do with his question, but surely he already knows what his troops can do.
• And then the Autobots do exactly the same thing when Prime asks for a roll-call. As Rumble says, 'Can the speeches'

Analysis

'They shall learn the way of conflict. The way of war. The way of Megatron.' You might expect the first issue to be something special. Unfortunately, you'd be disappointed. Introducing the premise, something that is done in a few lines numerous times later in the comic's history, takes up the first half of the story, and two pages are devoted to characters quoting their tech-specs at us. Granted, we need to be introduced to these characters, but there are more subtle, and effective, ways of doing it. At this early stage in the comic's history, characterisation amounts to little more than characters quoting their tech-specs at each other.

The story doesn't really pick up until the Autobots leave the Ark. The drive-in movie, and the Autobots' reactions to it, are good ideas, although only really briefly touched on, as is the idea that Transformers assume that machines are the planet's native lifeform. There are very few times when I'd recommend the cartoon over the comic, but their opening stories are one such time. More than Meets the Eye is a far superior start to a series. Still, things can only get better from this point. Can't they?

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