The Void! (US)

The name or term "Void" refers to more than one character or idea. For a list of other meanings, see Void (disambiguation).

« The Transformers (US) #74 » « The Transformers (UK) #317–318 »
Bet I can kill more of them than you can! You're on!
"The Void!"
Publisher	Marvel Comics
First published	November 1990
Cover date	January 1991
Writer	Simon Furman
Penciler	Andrew Wildman
Inker	Stephen Baskerville
Colorist	Nel Yomtov
Letterer	Rick Parker
Editor	Rob Tokar
Continuity	Marvel Comics continuity

And lo, it is the time of the Gathering...

Synopsis

Once again, the origin of the Transformers is related, this time by Primus through his possessed body of Emirate Xaaron. He has gathered the combined Autobots and Decepticons of Earth and Cybertron to their home planet in order to battle Unicron in his name. As Primus names Optimus Prime leader of the combined Cybertronian forces, a lone Autobot slinks away from the rear of the gathering.

Aboard the Ark, Grimlock and the Dinobots are surprised to return to the ship and not only find it completely empty of life, but the planet Earth totally devoid of Transformers as well. As they set course for Cybertron, Grimlock commands Sludge to begin pumping Nucleon into the stasis pods to revive the fallen warriors, unknowing of Megatron's presence among those in inactivity.

Back on Cybertron, Circuit Breaker's fragile little mind is about to pop, as she is surrounded by her worst nightmare. G.B. Blackrock asks Optimus Prime to get Primus to return him and the Neo-Knights to Earth, but the god teleports away instead of listening to Optimus's plea.

Nearby, the mind-controlled hordes of Unicron have gathered, and are preparing to carry out his will and bring death to Optimus Prime.

As Scorponok makes an excuse to speak to Optimus Prime alone, he confesses to his opposite number a growing fear of dying. Optimus expresses a similar sentiment, and also confides in Scorponok his growing distaste for being manipulated by their "god", against their will. Still, he is bound and determined to face his death with nobility and resolve, if his time has truly come. As the two leaders grow closer, they are suddenly besieged by Unicron's cultists.

Look! DEATH!

Scorponok quickly realizes that the cultists are completely uninterested in him, and seek only Optimus Prime's death. After briefly toying with the idea of leaving Prime to his doom, Scorponok vigorously returns to the battle and saves Prime from oncoming death. One cultist prepares to drop a grenade down on the fighters, but is caught by Galvatron, who forces the Cybertronian to eat his own grenade before sending up a signal flare to summon reinforcements for Prime and Scorponok.

Meanwhile... the Creation Matrix has finished repairing its vessel, the deranged Thunderwing. It hungers for a new sensation... revenge!

As the various Autobots and Decepticons rush to their leaders' aid, the battle quickly turns in their favor. Scorponok is slowly torturing the last of the cultists, when Optimus Prime steps in and stops him. He suspects the Cybertronians aren't acting of their own accord, and therefore are innocent victims of Unicron.

Primus confirms Optimus Prime's suspicions, explaining that Unicron managed to place a "sleeper program" in several of Primus's creations eons ago, creating hidden wolves in the fold. Primus deliberately named Optimus Prime leader in order to draw out these cultists, and test the strength of the Cybertronian Alliance.

Just as Optimus Prime is about to give Primus a piece of his mind for all these manipulations, Kup points out that Unicron has arrived.

Featured characters

(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

Autobots	Decepticons	Humans	Others
Xaaron (2) Fixit (9) Optimus Prime (10) Nightbeat (17) Kup (18) Hot Rod (19) Siren (24) Hosehead (25) Sureshot (28) Highbrow (31) Waverider (33) Cloudburst (34) Landfill (39) Quickmix (40) Backstreet (41) Snarl (45) Grimlock (46) Swoop (47) Slag (48) Sludge (49) Prowl (50) Wheeljack (51) Ratchet (52) Getaway (20)	Shockwave (11) Scorponok (12) Ravage (13) Weirdwolf (14) Starscream (15) Mindwipe (16) Fangry (20) Stranglehold (21) Bludgeon (22) Octopunch (23) Dreadwind (26) Darkwing (27) Runabout (28) Runamuck (29) Bomb-Burst (30) Triggerhappy (32) Soundwave (35) Apeface (36) Horri-Bull (37) Skullcruncher (38) Crankcase (42) Battletrap (43) Quake (44) Megatron (53) Galvatron (54) Thunderwing (56) Squeezeplay (57)	G.B. Blackrock (4) Thunderpunch (5) Circuit Breaker (6) Dynamo (7) Rapture (8)	Unicron (1) Primus (3) Creation Matrix/Dark Matrix (55)

Quotes

"Prime, may I speak... candidly?"
"With extinction perhaps just around the corner, if ever there was a time for candor, it is now."
"Prime, I see enemies gathering at all sides, forces plotting my downfall, my death. I want -- I want -- nnn. I want your help, Prime. Matrix help me, but I'm scared. I don't want to die!"
"Is that all? If it helps, my friend, neither do I."

— Scorponok and Optimus Prime get personal

I could simply go, save myself. I... owe Prime nothing. He is, after all, my enemy. But could I live with myself, knowing I fled, gave in to my fear? "What am I thinking? I am Scorponok, mightiest of Decepticons! Mechanoids -- PREPARE TO DIE!"

—Scorponok

"Though it appears we serve the same master, and, like you, I have little love for Optimus Prime -- I didn't go to all the trouble of getting him here just to have you blow him up!"

—Galvatron stuffs an acolyte's grenade down his throat

Notes

Artwork and technical errors

• Slag "head" the boss, when he should have "heard" the boss.
• Ratchet is misspelled "Rachet" on his stasis pod door.

Continuity errors

• The Creation Matrix re-animated Thunderwing's barely alive remains and flew off the planet in a vehicle that matches Thunderwing's Mega Pretender shell's vehicle mode (see image). The Thunderwing toy's robot does not fit inside his shell's vehicle mode. Instead, Thunderwing himself combines with his Pretender shell to form a super jet, which is not present in the artwork. So either comic Thunderwing works differently than toy Thunderwing, or Thunderwing himself was left on the planet and the Creation Matrix took off with his Pretender shell.
• Blackrock wore a white shirt and black suit jacket last issue, but on Cybertron he's suddenly sporting a nice pink shirt and no jacket. He'll be back in the suit and white shirt between the end of this issue and the start of the next.
• Why were the Dinobots excluded from Primus's summons to Cybertron?

Continuity notes

• The history of Unicron and Primus, previously related by Unicron in UK issue #150 and the Keeper in US issue #61, is once again different. Primus claims that he and Unicron are the only two deities, that Unicron wiped out the last universe but fragments of it started the Big Bang, and that he was created by the "sentient core" of the new universe to stop Unicron from re-creating a lifeless void. (Why yes! Primus' take does make him sound more impressive than the previous versions!)
• This issue is the first US appearance for Battletrap and Quake.
• Landfill's shoulder is still damaged from where Hook sliced him last issue. Classic Wildman battle damage continuity!
• In a nice bit of continuity, after being transported to Cybertron, the Autobot Pretenders still don't have their Pretender shells. The Decepticons confiscated them when the Autobots surrendered in issue 71. They will somehow get them back in time for next issue, however.
• Little character moments and jokes can be seen in the page 4–5 splash. Bludgeon is grimly cleaning his sword; Nightbeat has noticed the Neo-Knights helicopter that he brought with him; Dreadwind is ignoring the speech to tell Darkwing a funny joke, which confuses Sureshot and annoys Highbrow; Cloudburst (who is being held back by Waverider) is bristling at Runamuck pointing at him; an Autobot in the back is pretending to shoot Soundwave; Starscream is looking at his woozy "ally" Shockwave with contempt; Apeface is peeling himself a yummy banana, much to Horri-Bull's amusement; Runabout is patching up Runamuck; and Triggerhappy is looking the other way entirely for no reason.
• Snarl finds only one Transformer life-sign on Earth, seemingly split into two parts. This seems to be a reference to Spike Witwicky and Fortress Maximus, but Fortress Maximus is stored aboard the Ark. Another option might be Spike and his control helmet.

Real-life references

• The narration on page 7 compares the abandoned Ark to the Marie Celeste, a ship from the Arthur Conan Doyle story J. Habakuk Jephson's Statement. The Marie Celeste is a reference to the Mary Celeste, an American merchant ship that was discovered fully intact and completely deserted in 1872.

UK printing

A desolate, inhospitable domain, and this was the version of the opening pages that were printed there.

• The UK version of this story is one page longer. The opening page was expanded into a double-page spread in UK issue #317, incorporating the inside-front-cover of the comic, where a description of the issue's contents usually resided.

Issue #317:

• Reprint Transformers story: "The Enemy Within!"
• Other strips: Combat Colin
• AtoZ: Dreadwind

Issue #318:

• Other strips: Machine Man - "If This Be Sanctuary?!" and Combat Colin
• AtoZ: Darkwing
• The Machine Man story was previously printed, starting way back in issue #31.

Other trivia

• In the credits, over the complete absence of space, editor Rob Tokar and editor-in-chief Tom DeFalco are credited as "Nobody" and "Nothing".
• Transformers Universe profiles for Darkwing and Dreadwind are found after the main story.

Covers (3)

• US cover: Scorponok and Prime vs the hordes of Unicron, by Andrew Wildman.
• UK issue #317 cover: Xaaron as servant of Primus, by Andrew Wildman and Robin Bouttell.
• UK issue #318 cover: recolored version of US cover, by Robin Bouttell.

• 
  US issue #74 - We hate cosplayers!
• 
  UK issue #317 - Xaaron - now with added chrome
• 
  UK issue #318 - Head-poppingly fun!

Advertisements

US

• Revlon and Nintendo Super Mario Brothers bubble baths and shampoos - inside front cover
• Taito Wrath of the Black Manta for Nintendo - between pages 5 & 6
• CAPCOM Gargoyle's Quest for Nintendo Game Boy - between pages 5 & 6
• TSR Dungeon board game - between pages 7 & 8
• CAPCOM Street Fighter 2010, the Final Fight for Nintendo - between pages 8 & 9
• Glossy 4-page ad section for Acclaim's Arch Rivals for Nintendo, Tiger Electronics hand-held games and free Days of Thunder poster (and more Nintendo games)
• Marvel Universe trading cards - between pages 13 & 14 (2 pages)
• NFL Pro Set Collect-A-Books - between pages 14 & 15
• Bullpen Bulletins - between story and Darkwing profile
• Transmissions
• Marvel subscription service
• LJN The Punisher for Nintendo - inside back cover
• Konami LaserScope for Nintendo (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)