...All This and Civil War 2

« The Transformers (US) #72 » « The Transformers (UK) #313–314 »
You think you're smarter than me, don't 'cha? Think you're so smart NOW?
"...All This and Civil War 2"
Publisher	Marvel Comics
Shipping date	September 25, 1990
On-sale date	October 16, 1990
Cover date	November 1990
Writer	Simon Furman
Penciler	Andrew Wildman
Inker	Stephen Baskerville
Colorist	Nel Yomtov
Letterer	Rick Parker
Editor	Rob Tokar
Continuity	Marvel Comics continuity

Can't we all just get along...?

Synopsis

Surveying the burnt out wreckage of the former Decepticon base, Starscream and company are very pleased with themselves. Well, most of them—Mighty Mindwipe and the Terrible Triggerhappy still look like they're about to lubricate themselves, even in victory. As Starscream tries to provoke his troops into action, he leaps into the debris and begins digging through for survivors. Unfortunately, he finds one: Scorponok is not happy.

Underground, Optimus Prime is just beginning to come to after the blast destroyed the bunker. As he watches the Decepticons gird themselves for battle with a new enemy, Prime quickly realizes that his alliance with Scorponok may prove useless if the Decepticons get caught up with another war. He readies Kup and Hot Rod to search out the other Autobots in the mess, and prepare them to salvage the situation as best they can.

Back on the surface, Scorponok quickly casts aside Starscream and all the flunkies under Shockwave's command. Their battle quickly carries them into the river, and all the way across to Manhattan. Shockwave, as always, beats his chest in the name of logic, claiming his leadership is for the greater good of all Decepticons. Scorponok, meanwhile, is more interested in tearing his opponent to shreds than debating politics.

Deep in the bowels of Cybertron, Emirate Xaaron is on the run from Galvatron and the heralds of Unicron who ransacked Autobase on the surface. Galvatron literally crashes through a wall to capture Xaaron. What follows, however, is a surprise (to Xaaron, at least); Galvatron claims to owe Unicron no loyalty, and is just as interested in stopping him as Xaaron and the Autobots are, if only for his own selfish reasons. After Galvatron informs him that the Matrix is lost as a tool, Xaaron mentions a second legend, the notion that all of Primus's children united in opposition could do the trick as well.

On Hydrus Four, the Dinobots have all been successfully revived by the Nucleon, and so Grimlock has ordered them to stockpile the substance with specially-designed energy siphons, to bring enough of the Nucleon back to the Ark to fully revitalize their ranks (and rub Optimus Prime's nose in the brown stuff). As the loading continues, though, Grimlock suddenly finds his leg frozen up, paralyzed. He flashes back to the little robot's words: "Time will tell..."

As Optimus Prime and the few Autobots he could gather emerge from the Decepticon bunker, they are confronted with the worst of possibilities. The war is over, and the war has begun—it is now Decepticon against Decepticon, and Prime's surrender has done nothing to end the in-fighting among the children of Primus. He takes Nightbeat with him to Manhattan in hopes of stopping the loss of innocent lives, and possibly talking down Scorponok so that the alliance can continue.

In the meantime, Scorponok has gained the upper hand against Shockwave, his passion and fire for combat apparently enough to bring down the "computer on legs", at least momentarily. Their battle is interrupted when Optimus Prime drives in between the two combatants, and begs for a cease fire. Instead, Scorponok states his terms: Shockwave must die at his hand, or else the alliance is finished. While Optimus consults his moral compass, the decision is taken out of his hands when G.B. Blackrock arrives with his new team of superhumans: The Neo-Knights!

Featured characters

(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

Autobots	Decepticons	Humans	Nebulans
Hot Rod (9) Optimus Prime (10) Kup (18) Xaaron (19) Grimlock (21) Slag (21) Swoop (22) Snarl (23) Sludge (24) Nightbeat (27) Highbrow (28)	Shockwave (1) Starscream (2) Runamuck (3) Runabout (4) Mindwipe (5) Triggerhappy (6) Ravage (7) Scorponok (8) Fangry (13) Misfire (14) Weirdwolf (15) Soundwave (16) Horri-Bull (17) Galvatron (20) Bludgeon (29) Octopunch (30) Skullgrin (31)	President of the United States (26) Thunderpunch (32) Rapture (33) Circuit Breaker (34) Dynamo (35)	Zarak (25)

Quotes

"Hypothesis: A Decepticon of Scorponok's might and endurance may well have survived being buried by approximately four hundred and sixty-two point seven tons of assorted wreckage. Conclusion: your celebration is premature!"

—Shockwave rains on Starscream's parade

"C'mon, you wimps -- start digging! Any Decepticons found alive are to be given a straight choice -- join us or die. If there are any Autobots down there... they don't get the first option!"

—Starscream is quite brave when he thinks his enemies are all dead.

"Yes, ma'am. No, ma'am, we don't think it's the Russians. Yes, ma'am, it is disgusting no one's done anything, but -- Yes, ma'am. But I assure you my parentage can be proved!"

— the Decepticon civil war causes problems for a desk cop

"You know what your trouble is, Shockwave? You have no soul, no passion! You're just a computer on legs! You observe, you analyze, you assess. You see everything.... and you see nothing! You couldn't lead the Decepticons! The job needs fire, spirit! Do you see? Am I getting through to you?"

— in both words and fisticuffs, Scorponok gains the upper hand over Shockwave

Notes

Artwork and technical errors

• Page 2: Mindwipe's second sentence has no punctuation (should be a question mark.)
• Runamuck is orange on page 3.
• On page 5, Weirdwolf is colored like Misfire and Misfire is colored like the background except with an orange head.
• One of Ravage's fangs is colored blue on page 8.
• Galvatron's Decepticon insignia is colored red throughout page 11.
• Part of Nightbeat's hood is colored yellow on page 19.

Continuity errors

• TBD

Continuity notes

• Grimlock absorbed some Nucleon as a test back in "The Pri¢e of Life!". Here we see it beginning to affect Grimlock, as the last guardian of the well warned him about.
• Meanwhile, the other four Dinobots are revived with no apparent ill effects whatsoever. Though Furman had intended to explore the possible side-effects, the series ended before he could.
• The destruction of the Decepticons' base has knocked off the guns on Optimus's right shoulder. In a nice touch of continuity, this remains consistent through 'till issue #75, when it suddenly reappears thanks to a change in artist.

Real-life references

• The title of the issue refers to the 1976 film All This and World War II.
• New York citizens variously wonder if the fighting is related to the Iraqis or the Russians.
• The President of the United States is obviously drawn to resemble and use phrases of George H. W. Bush.
• Settings include the New Jersey swamps and lower Manhattan, including a fairly accurate depiction of the skyline behind Battery Park.
• Landmine's Universe profile references Indiana Jones.

UK printing

Issue #313:

• Reprint Transformers story: "The Enemy Within!"
• Other strips: Combat Colin
• AtoZ: Slapdash
• After a few issues gap, "The Enemy Within" continues on from issue #309.

Issue #314:

• Reprint Transformers story: "The Enemy Within!"
• Other strips: Combat Colin
• AtoZ: Punch and Counterpunch
• << Blaster answers a letter from Rose Mapes (misspelled as "Maps"), mother to David and Steven Mapes, who would go on to become Transformers rarity collectors, convention organisers, and webmasters of fansite Transformers At The Moon. >>

Other trivia

• In the credits, editor Rob Tokar and editor-in-chief Tom DeFalco are credited as "Conscientious Objectors".
• Transformers Universe profiles for Landmine and Skullgrin are found after the main story.
• Kup mentions having thrown at least two parties at some point. Given he says the bombed out Decepticon headquarters reminds him of the last one, we can only imagine what that looked like (never mind when and where Kup had the time for a party, with all that's been happening in the series).

Bot Roster

• Autobots: 34 active as the Dinobots are restored; 8 rogue Micromasters; 1 in storage, 28 offline, 24 presumed offline. (95 total)
• Decepticons: 21 active, 7 gone rogue; 25 offline, 25 presumed offline. (78 total)

Covers (3)

• US issue #72 cover: Scorponok vs Shockwave, by Andrew Wildman.
• UK issue #313 cover: Shockwave's troops, by Stewart Johnson and Robin Bouttell.
• UK issue #314 cover: US cover recolored, by Robin Bouttell.

• 
  US issue #72 - Not the fac - oh.
• 
  UK issue #313 - Now how CUTE does Mindwipe look?
• 
  UK issue #314 - How many times have they used that tagline?

Advertisements

US

• Taito Wrath of the Black Manta for Nintendo Entertainment System - inside front cover
• CAPCOM Gargoyle's Quest for Nintendo Game Boy - between pages 4 & 5
• Fleer Basketball cards - between pages 5 & 6
• American Comics & Entertainment - between pages 9 & 10
• NAMCO Splatterhouse for TurboGrafx-16 - between pages 12 & 13 (2 pages)
• Mastering video game books - between pages 15 & 16
• Graphitti comic dealer - between pages 19 & 20
• Bullpen Bulletins w/ Double Column of Diversified Consumables - between story and Landmine profile
• Transmissions
• Marvel subscription service
• LJN Back to the Future for Nintendo Entertainment System - inside back cover
• TSR Dungeon board game (back cover)

UK

????

Reprints

• Transformers: All Fall Down TPB: Powermaster Optimus Prime, Megatron/Ratchet, Starscream, Shockwave and half of Unicron, by Andrew Wildman.
• Transformers: All Fall Down BotCon exclusive cover: Powermaster Optimus Prime and Unicron, by Geoff Senior & Oliver Harud.
• Transformers: All Fall Down standard HC: Bludgeon, by Howard Chaykin & Chris Blythe.
• Best of Transformers: Eye of the Storm: Optimus Prime, Ravage and Skywarp, by Andrew Wildman.

• 
  Transformers: All Fall Down TPB
  (Titan Books, 2001)
• 
  Transformers: All Fall Down hardback Botcon exclusive cover
  (BotCon Exclusive, 2001)
• 
  Transformers: All Fall Down hardback standard cover
  (Titan Books, 2003)
• 
  Best of Transformers: Eye of the Storm
  (Titan Books, 2008)

• Classic Transformers Volume 5: panels from this issue, "Deadly Obsession", "All Fall Down" and "...All This and Civil War 2".
• The Transformers Classics, Vol. 6: Blitzwing, by Guido Guidi.
• Transformers: The Definitive G1 Collection:Volume 18: Edge of Extinction: Grimlock, above an interior scene (issue #74) of Powermaster Optimus Prime battling the Acolytes of Unicron. Grimlock art by Guido Guidi, Retro art by Andrew Wildman (pencils) and Stephen Baskerville (inks).

• 
  Classic Transformers Volume 5
  (IDW Publishing, 2009)
• 
  The Transformers Classics, Vol. 6
  (IDW Publishing, 2013)
• 
  The Definitive G1 Collection: Volume 18: Edge of Extinction
  (Hachette Partworks, 2017)