Prisoner of War!

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Is he strong? Listen, bud, he made Megatron go thud!
"Prisoner of War!"
Publisher	Marvel Comics
Shipping date	September 11, 1984
On-sale date	October 2, 1984
Cover date	January 1985
Writer	Jim Salicrup
Penciler	Frank Springer
Inker	Kim DeMulder, Mike Esposito
Colorist	Nelson Yomtov
Letterers	Janice Chiang & Others
Editor	Bob Budiansky
Continuity	Marvel Comics continuity

When Sparkplug is kidnapped, it's up to Gears and Spider-Man to save him.

Synopsis

The Decepticons bring Sparkplug Witwicky to their base of operations, with Starscream proclaiming that his help will be the key to their very survival on Earth. Megatron compliments Starscream on a job well done, but muses internally about the treacherous Decepticon jet's true intentions - taking over as leader! Megatron informs Sparkplug of Ravage's espionage, including learning of his plans to convert Earth fuel into energy for the Autobots, and demands that he use this knowledge to help them instead. Equating his current situation with his wartime days in Korea, Sparkplug adamantly refuses to help, even after being threatened by an enraged Megatron.

Back at the Witwicky garage, the Autobots are in bad shape following their fight with the Decepticons. Bumblebee attempts to take the blame for Sparkplug's kidnapping, but Optimus Prime declares that, as leader of the Autobots, the blame rests at his feet. Buster doesn't care who's to blame and simply wants them to help take his father back. The Autobots transform and head back to base as the entire neighborhood watches them depart, with Jesse giving Buster a kiss for good luck. Along the way, a motorcycle cop attempts to pull over the speeding Autobots...but is quickly frightened away by an aggressive Gears. Ratchet greets the Autobots as they return to the Ark, eager to inform Optimus about an anomaly the ship's computer detected, but the Autobot leader shrugs it off, insisting on him and his troops being refueled immediately.

Sparkplug's defiance is quickly worn down by a close-call from Laserbeak's eyebeams and he agrees to help the Decepticons, requesting a fuel sample (provided by Rumble at Megatron's request) and a workspace to begin creating the conversion formula. Starscream, Rumble, and Soundwave stomp to the University of Oregon and steal components from the chemistry department and a tanker truck as raw materials for Sparkplug's creation. Their earlier attack on the power plant catches the attention of Moscow, S.H.I.E.L.D. officers Dum Dum and Nicholas Fury, and Daily Bugle editor Joe Robertson, who has sent mild-mannered photographer Peter Parker to the Decepticon base to grab some snapshots. At the site of the Decepticon fortress, numerous news crews and the United States military are stationed outside. Peter, unable to get a clear view, changes into his alter-ego Spider-Man in order to get closer to the action.

Inside the Decepticon fortress, Soundwave intercepts a transmission from the U.S. military, who urge the Decepticons to engage in peaceful talks...a request that Megatron balks at, sending Starscream, Skywarp, and Thundercracker to deal with the intruders. The battle ensues, with the Decepticon jets, along with Buzzsaw, making short work of the military forces. In the heat of the battle, Spider-Man spots Gears heading in on a scouting mission and mistakenly assumes him to be a Decepticon. Spider-Man attempts to wrangle Gears, but the two stop to save a group of journalists from being squashed by a tank thrown at them by Skywarp. Convinced that they're on the same side, Gears brings Spider-Man up to speed and contacts Optimus Prime to inform him of what's transpired so far.

With the military out-gunned and retreating, the Autobots and Spider-Man spring into action, sneaking through the military squadron in disguise. As they reach the front-line, the Autobots are attacked by unaware military troops...as well as the Decepticons swooping in for an all-out battle!

As their allies and comrades fight below, Sparkplug has finished the conversion formula for Megatron, just as Gears and Spider-Man successfully sneak into the Decepticon base. After tripping up an unaware Rumble and Frenzy, the two encounter and subsequently evade Ravage and Soundwave, breaking through the closing doors of the Decepticon base. Gears and Spider-Man manage to find Sparkplug and Megatron, quickly nabbing him from out of the Decepticon leader's clutches...until Megatron shoots out the floor from underneath Gears and Sparkplug! As the two fall from the Decepticon base, Spider-Man leaps after them and manages to save Sparkplug thanks to his webs. Gears, however, isn't as lucky and plummets to the ground, exploding to pieces.

With their battle with the Decepticons ceased, the other Autobots return to the site of Gears' demise and manage to secure all of his pieces. Spider-Man and Sparkplug comment on their seemingly cold-natured reaction to Gears' death, with Optimus Prime internally noting that humans don't understand the nuances of Cybertronian life. Back at the Ark, Buster and Sparkplug are happily reunited. Spider-Man grieves for Gears, but Optimus is confused at the hero's belief that Gears is permanently gone. Running short on time, Spider-Man bids the Autobots farewell as Optimus commends him for a job well done.

Later, Ratchet has successfully managed to revive Gears, albeit at a lower-than-normal operating level. The newly revived Autobot tries to speak, managing to utter up their worst fears: Sparkplug has given Megatron exactly what he wanted! Dad, say it ain't so!

Featured characters

(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

Quotes

"Let me outta here, you stupid machine!"
"A foolish request! Our analysis of your species finds that if I were to release you at this height your frail form couldn't possibly survive! We need you, for our purposes, whole!"

— Sparkplug fails to persuade Starscream

"Machines have been slaves on this backward world long enough! Today the roles are rightly reversed!"
"You'll never get away with this! I'm an American citizen!"

— Starscream and Sparkplug

"Sarge always said if you put in enough miles, you'll believe a car could talk!"

— a highway patrolman encounters the speeding Autobots

This human reminds me of Bluestreak -- they both seem to love the sound of their own voice!

— Gears, on Spider-Man

"Do all humans have powers like yours?"
"Not since I checked last! I'd feel real foolish if they did!"

— Gears and Spider-Man

"...We've reached a dead end! The only way out is the way we came in!"
"Not necessarily!" [rips a wall open]
"Bet you're lots of fun at parties, too!"

— Spider-Man and Gears

Gears: "No! It is too late!"
Megatron: "WHO DARES ATTEMPT TO ENSNARE MEGATRON?!"
Spider-Man: "Uh-oh."

"Mission accomplished --- friend!"

— Gears tumbles to his doom

Notes

Production notes

• After scripting the previous issue based on a plot by Bill Mantlo, Jim Salicrup takes over full writing duties with this issue. As the editor of the Spider-Man titles at Marvel at the time, it is perhaps no surprise that he chose to add Spider-Man to the story, but clearing the guest-appearance with Hasbro wasn't without complications. Hasbro initially objected to the inclusion of Spider-Man in the comic, because rival toy company Mattel had recently released a figure of the web-slinger in their Secret Wars toyline, and they felt that the character's inclusion in another licensed toy-based comic gave the figure free advertising. As a compromise, because the Secret Wars toy depicted Spider-Man in his classic red-and-blue outfit, it was decided to feature the hero in his black symbiote costume, which he was no longer wearing in current comic continuity, having disposed of the suit two months prior.^[1]

Continuity notes

"Can all humans stick to walls?" asked the flying Autobot.

• Following on from a reference to Dazzler in the previous issue, this chapter of the original four-issue miniseries leans heavily on the fact that the comic was, at the time, being written as explicitly set in the mainstream Marvel universe, as was the standard for most of Marvel's licensed properties at the time (Micronauts, Rom, Godzilla, Shogun Warriors, etc.). This conceit would be quietly dropped as the series expanded its length and scope, due to the impossibility of maintaining a coherent continuity with the vast and complicated Marvel universe; the letters page for issue #64 explicitly stated the world of the Transformers and the Marvel Universe to be separate, and politely asked readers to forget about this issue, which is loaded with Marvel references, including:
  • A cover-grabbing guest appearance by Spider-Man in his symbiote costume, complete with a footnote that dates the story as occurring before Amazing Spider-Man #258 (in which he disposed of the suit). Spidey supporting character Joe Robertson also shows up for a panel.
  • Nick Fury and Dum Dum Dugan of S.H.I.E.L.D. put in a one-panel appearance, making a reference to Godzilla, in whose own licensed Marvel title Dum Dum was a recurring character.
  • The titular truck from U.S. 1, another licensed comic promoting die cast toy trucks from Tyco, can be seen in the background as the Autobots drive down the highway on page 6.
  • Spider-Man mentions the Fantastic Four and its leader Reed Richards on the final page.
• Beginning with this issue, character models for the whole cast were made available to artist Frank Springer, having been created at Marvel Productions, then going through a period of revisions and approval by Sunbow Productions across March 1984. So characters who were drawn based on their toys for the first two issues of the series now suddenly look very different—a phenomenon most noticeable in the case of Bumblebee, Ratchet, and Ironhide. Color schemes, on the other hand, do not appear to have been fully perfected yet; Ratchet in particular appears in a very random color scheme. Though his colors will be corrected in future issues, the early color models used in this mini-series for other characters like Megatron (black helmet) and Soundwave (all-over purple) will continue to be employed even after their designs have been corrected, and will remain in use for the duration of the Marvel series, becoming hallmarks of their appearance in it.
• The events of the early UK stories "Man of Iron" (which would later be reprinted as issues #33-34 of the US series) and "Decepticon Dam-Busters!" take place during this issue, essentially occurring somewhere in the midst of the montage/time-lapse that spans pages 9–11. It's not the smoothest of fits, but it's better than that offered for the other two early stories, "The Enemy Within!" and "Raiders of the Last Ark," which are clumsily suggested (by "Robot War" text features in UK issues #22, #36 and #63) to have taken place somewhere between panels at the end of this issue, after Spider-Man rescues Sparkplug but before Sparkplug is taken back to the Ark, which really doesn't work.

Real world references

• Amongst the military vehicles seen in this issue, the MOBAT and the Wolverine from the G.I. Joe series appear repeatedly.
• Locations raided by the Decepticons include the real-life University of Oregon campus, while government reactions are shown at the White House and in Moscow, and Sparkplug flashes back to his time in the Korean War, during which he served in the Marines.
• "O" calls the Autobots "rejects from a George Lucas film".
• "O" compares the Autobot's Ark to Noah's ark.
• A police officer mentions the Indy 500.
• Moscow speculates the Americans are testing their Star Wars arsenal.
• Spider-Man references Joan Rivers' talk show (which was semi-popular at the time) by saying "Can we talk?".
• Spider-Man mentions the Super Bowl, takes a dig at Rumble and Frenzy as "Tweedledee and Tweedledum", and calls Megatron "Bazooka Joe".

Artwork and technical errors

• Throughout this issue, Megatron's Decepticon insignia is off-center—a result of slightly dodgy proportions and angles of his character model. This is not the last time this error will crop up in the series.
• In the "Story so far" section of the UK issue #6 printing, Sparkplug's name is mistakenly given as "Sparks".
• Page 2: Rumble's name is not called out by the narrator when listing who is transforming in the panel.
• Page 3: An odd printing/coloring error on this page makes Megatron's face and pelvis in panel 1, and Rumble's face and Skywarp's cockpit in panel 5 all a pale pink-purple color.
• Page 5:
  • Panel 1: Ironhide is colored like... uh... uh... well, he's got blue arms, blue and gray legs, and a white windshield frame.
  • Panel 3: The silhouettes behind Optimus don't match anyone from the Autobot ranks.
  • Panel 4: Windcharger is colored white and blue instead of red and gray.
• Page 8: Ratchet is colored with a red crest, shoulders, and legs. They should all be white. For the rest of Ratchet's appearances in this issue, he's colored with a blue windshield frame and red shoulders; it happens consistently enough to suggest that it was an earlier color scheme rather than a flat-out error.
• Page 9: Shockwave is shown hanging out with the Decepticons. Next issue will reveal that he's still buried in rock at this point.

• Page 13: Skywarp's jet mode is colored as if his cockpit canopy extended all the way back to his tail fins. When he lands on the Air Force jet, his wings are missing.
• Page 16:
  • Panel 2: Sunstreaker is colored red instead of yellow.
  • Panel 3: Cliffjumper's head is colored yellow instead of red.
• Page 17: A blue-colored Gears is drawn behind Brawn, even though Gears is off somewhere else with Spider-Man. It should probably be Frenzy, who shows up in the next panel.
• Page 18: Gears's legs can't seem to decide what color they are.
• Page 19: In panel 1: Megatron is drawn instead of Soundwave. Amusingly, the thought bubbles almost work for Megatron.
• Page 20:
  • Panel 3: Gears's face is the same orangey-yellow as the decal on his chest.
  • Panel 8: Soundwave is drawn with a strange, enormous cannon attached to his arm, rather than his usual weapon.
• Page 22: In panel 4, Brawn and Cliffjumper are both white and blue instead of their normal color schemes. Sunstreaker is blue, white and red, and has the wrong head, AND is missing most of his left arm.
• Page 23:
  • Panel 3: Optimus is drawn with strange huge conjoined goggles instead of his usual separate eyes.
  • Panel 4: Cliffjumper is still white and blue (but with red legs), while Hound is colored red and white instead of green. Ratchet's repair bay is colored red instead of white.
  • Panel 5: Optimus's head is tiny!
  • Panel 6: Ratchet's repair bay appears to speak, as a speech bubble saying "I've managed to revive him to minimum operating level." Ratchet himself speaks immediately afterwards, indicating that this was merely a misattributed speech balloon.

UK printing

Issue #5:

• Published: 17th November, 1984
• Back-up strips: Machine Man ("Where Walk the Gods!"  part 2) and Matt and the Cat ; the latter debuts this issue, and will run until issue #73
• Fact File: Megatron
• Other features: An article on "Sieve-Head," robot mascot of the British children's programme Saturday Superstore; "Robot Round-Up"; poster made from an animation still from the first Transformers commercial; mail-in contest to win the game "Four-In-Line"
• Though advertised last issue for release on 15th November (a Thursday, as had been normal up to this point), this issue marks the point at which the series changed to be released on a Saturday, which would remain its regular release day for the remainder of the comic's eight-year run.

Issue #6:

• Published: 1st December, 1984
• Back-up strips: Machine Man ("Xanadu!"  part 1) and Matt and the Cat 
• Fact File: Optimus Prime
• Other features: "Robot Round-Up"; poster made from an animation still from the first Transformers commercial; "Robot Right Words" crossword; mail-in contest to win a Bontempi HT 313 keyboard

Other trivia

Well what do you expect me to do about it?

• Advertised as part 3 in a four-issue limited series.
• Although he doesn't appear in the cover art proper despite his prominent role in the story, Gears does get the cover corner box, the only time in the US series that a character not designated as Autobot or Decepticon leader at the time of the comic gets in the cover box.
• Rumble calls Sparkplug a scraplet, a generic insult which years later would be repurposed as the name of a robotic disease.
• The Decepticons are dropping cluster bombs on human soldiers, which are going off right next to soldiers. We can safely assume a whole bunch of them are now dead.
• Spider-Man completely ignores the Decepticon rampage and starts a fight with Gears instead, who is not near any humans at the time. Jameson's right, he's a menace!
• In 2007's New Avengers/Transformers #4, Spider-Man web-swings around Megatron in a visual homage to the cover of this issue.
• When IDW Publishing released their Classic Transformers series of reprints in 2008, they were unable to secure the license to reprint Spider-Man's appearance, so this issue had to be omitted from volume 1. In 2011, when they reprinted the series again as The Transformers Classics, they sorted the rights and were able to include the issue (see below)—but only in the physical version of the book, not in the digital version that was released in 2012.
• The issue's cover art was misattributed to artist Mike Zeck for many years, until Bob Budiansky corrected the mistake in 2021, clarifying that the actual artist was Mark Texeira.^[2]

Bot Roster

• Autobots: 18 active.
• Decepticons: 6 active; 4 inactive as the Autobots take out Skywarp, Soundwave, Rumble and Frenzy; Shockwave missing in action.

Courtesy of my...

• Megatron's fusion cannon gets its first namecheck as he ponders Starscream's potential for treachery.
• Laserbeak is seen demonstrating the eyebeams he mentioned in issue #1.
• Once again Starscream deploys cluster bombs, this time against the US military.
• Sunstreaker takes out Skywarp with one of his shoulder-mounted, laser-guided, ground-to-air missiles.

Covers (3)

• US issue #3: Spider-Man webbing Megatron, by Mark Texeira.
• UK issue #5: Thundercracker and Sparkplug, by John Ridgway.
• UK issue #6: reuse of US issue #3's cover by Mark Texeira.

• 

  US issue #3 - A moralistic tale for the ages.

• 

  UK issue #5 - I'm glad my pants are already brown!

• 

  UK issue #6 - The UK needs more RED.

Reprints

• 

  Collected Comics (UK) #2 (Marvel UK, 1985)

• 

  Collected Comics (US) #1: The Story Begins... (Marvel US, 1985)

• 

  The Transformers: A Federal Super Special (Federal Publishing Company, 1985)

• 

  Die Transformer #2 (Condor Verlag, 1986; reprints first half)

• 

  Die Transformer #3 (Condor Verlag, 1986; reprints second half)

• 

  The Transformers Comics Magazine #2 (Marvel US, 1986)

• 

  The Complete Works Part 2 (Marvel UK, 1987)

• 

  Transformers: Beginnings paperback (Titan Books, 2003)

• 

  Transformers: Beginnings hardback (Titan Books, 2003)

• 

  The Transformers Classics, Vol. 1 (IDW Publishing, 2011)

• 

  Transformers: Classic Comic Collection, Vol. 1 (Chrirpy Bird, 2015)

• 

  Transformers: The Definitive G1 Collection, Vol. 1: Power Play (Hachette Partworks Ltd, 2017)

• 

  The Transformers: Classics, Vol. 1 (Hero-X, 2018)

IDW Transformers Classics edits

For The Transformers Classics series of trade paperbacks, IDW Publishing "remastered" the coloring of the series with varying degrees of success. These changes were sometimes to fix errors, but often to alter characters' color schemes to make them resemble their toy and/or cartoon selves, and were rarely applied with consistency. IDW's recolored version was also used for Hachette's Definitive G1 Collection.

• Soundwave is colored blue throughout this issue, erasing his standard purple Marvel color scheme.
• Page 2, panel 6: For this panel alone, Skywarp is partially recolored to add various purple details to his body in line with his finalized color scheme.
• Page 3: The miscolored portions of Megatron and Skywarp are corrected, but Rumble's face is not.
  • Panel 1: For this panel alone, Starscream's colors are changed to match his finalized color scheme, with red chest vents and blue on his feet.
• Page 5: Ironhide and Windcharger's colors are corrected.
• Page 6, panel 2: For this panel alone, Hound's legs are changed from their standard Marvel solid-blue to green with white thighs.
• Page 8, panel 6: Ratchet's colors are changed to give him a white crest and thighs, but the incorrect red shoulders and boots remain.
• Page 15, panel 2: Ratchet's colors are changed again, this time making his legs, arms, and chest the correct all-over white, but failing to change his incorrect red crest.
• Page 16, panel 3: The color of Cliffjumper's head is corrected.
• Page 18: Gears's inconsistently colored legs are changed to their consistent, correct colors.
• Page 20, panel 3: The color of Gears's face is corrected, but the orange detail on his chest is incorrectly change to white along with it.
• Page 22, panel 4: Sunstreaker, Brawn and Cliffjumper's colors are corrected, but parts of Sunstreaker are colored a greyish-black, as opposed to the straight blue the comic's palette normally substitutes for this color.
• Page 23:
  • Ratchet's colors are changed again, this time to his finalized Marvel color scheme.
  • Panel 4: Hound and Cliffjumper's colors are corrected; again, Hound uses the "incorrect" cartoon/toy colors with green boots and white thighs, instead of the comic's standard blue.

Advertisements

• Monogram plastic model kits (inside front cover)
• Fig Newtons and Apple Newtons - between pages 4 & 5
• Bonkers fruit candy - between pages 5 & 6
• Marvel Super Heroes Secret Wars action figures and accessories - between pages 7 & 8
• Block of various Sketchy Things - between pages 8 & 9
• Block of various Sketchy Things - between pages 16 & 17
• NFL SuperPro Club - between pages 17 & 18
• Win a job at Marvel Comics - between pages 19 & 20
• Bullpen Bulletins - between pages 20 & 21
• Marvel Comic subscriptions
• Decathlon by Activision video game (rear inside cover)
• Montezuma's Revenge by Parker Brothers video game (rear cover)

Advertisements (Second Printing)

• Monogram GoBots motorized model kits (inside front cover)
• Fig Newtons and Apple Newtons (pg 5)
• Star Comics (pg 7)
• Mile High Comics (pg 10)
• Mile High Comics (pg 12)
• Power Pack and The Amazing Spider-Man with tips on ways to prevent sexual abuse (pg 21)
• Calendar of upcoming events & Marvel Mart (pg 23)
• Block of various Sketchy Things (pg 26)
• Bullpen Bulletins (pg 28)
• Comic subscriptions (pg 32)
• Indiana Jones RPG by TSR (rear inside cover)
• Risk (rear cover)

References