Afterdeath!

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Afterdeath!
Publisher	Marvel Comics
First published	September 1986
Cover date	January 1987
Writer	Bob Budiansky
Penciler	Don Perlin
Inkers	Ian Akin & Brian Garvey
Colorist	Nel Yomtov
Letterer	Janice Chiang
Editor	Don Daley
Continuity	Marvel Comics continuity

Optimus Prime kills himself over a video game. Seriously.

Synopsis

Ethan Zachary is a programmer at Energy Futures Industries who works on a device called a hydrothermocline. The hydrothermocline is intended to draw energy from the different thermal layers of the ocean, and is seen as a potentially inexhaustible power supply for the world.

Megatron wants to steal the hydrothermocline, and takes Combaticons to the laboratory where the hydrothermocline is being stored. Optimus Prime and the Protectobots show up to stop them. After a bit of grandstanding, during which Ethan is captured, it becomes clear that if the Autobots and Decepticons continue to fight, they will end up destroying the very thing the Decepticons have come to steal. Ethan offers a compromise: the Transformers fight their battle in a computer-generated virtual world—a computer game called Multi-World.

Groove is already not paying attention.

Megatron agrees, but only if the stakes are increased to include not only the hydrothermocline, but also the life of the losing leader. Optimus Prime agrees to these terms, and the game is played. The Protectobots must fight the Combaticons while remaining true to their principles, assisting and/or sparing the lives of the inhabitants of the computer world while the Combaticons attempt to destroy them. This gains the trust of assistance of these computer characters, who help the Protectobots defeat the Combaticons.

At last, Megatron and Optimus Prime face off, but while Megatron has lost the assistance of his Combaticons, Optimus Prime still has the Protectobots, now in the form of Defensor. Defensor kills Megatron, and himself, in the game by destroying the platform they're standing on. But, Megatron cheats by using a "back door" password, enabling himself to be recreated in the game at any point. He chooses, in this case, right behind Optimus Prime, from which point he shoots Prime in the back. Prime manages to avoid falling by holding on to a ledge, but defeats Megatron only at the cost of the lives of the computer generated characters.

Although this earns him victory in the game, Optimus Prime feels that he has "cheated" by sacrificing his principles (unaware of how Megatron has already cheated previously). Prime tells Ethan to destroy him instead. Ethan presses the button, and Prime is destroyed.

The Decepticons leave with the hydrothermocline, and the Protectobots gather up the shattered body of the Autobot leader. As they leave, we see that Ethan Zachary has saved a copy of Optimus Prime's character on a five-and-a-quarter-inch floppy disk.

Featured characters

(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

Autobots	Decepticons	Humans
Optimus Prime (4) Wheeljack (5) Hot Spot (10) Streetwise (11) First Aid (12) Groove (13) Blades (14) Defensor (16)	Vortex (3) Onslaught (6) Brawl (7) Swindle (8) Megatron (9) Blast Off (15) Bruticus (17)	Guests Ethan Zachary (1) Margaret (2)

Errors

• On page 10, Optimus Prime tells Brawl that Autobots don't cheat. The speech bubble appears to be a response, but it is depicted as being spoken by Blades.

Items of note

• Prime's entire mind fits on a five-and-a-quarter-inch floppy disk. No, seriously. IT DOES.
• Even by today's standards, the Multi-World is an incredible computer game. The graphics and AI put even modern games to shame. No wonder Ethan needed cheat codes.
• Scenes that take place in Multi-World are displayed in comic panels with 'cut' corners.
• The Protectobots and the Combaticons make their first appearance with no introduction or origin offered. A Matrix-induced dream sequence in the UK story "Second Generation!" shows the Protectobots being created on Earth, while a flashback in "Club Con!" shows Defensor several centuries ago on Cybertron. (The latter is an error, though, as he was normal height and standing next to Sunstreaker, and in the same issue a Battlecharger is drawn among the Autobots.) The Combaticon Onslaught shares an unknown history with the Cybertronian Mindset, which is difficult to resolve with an Earthly construction. Though it seems the Protectobots and Combaticons were created just prior to this story (in the same fashion as the Aerialbots and Stunticons in "Heavy Traffic!"), there is conflicting evidence.
• References to past issues: Wheeljack extracts the Cerebro-shell injected by Bombshell in "Heavy Traffic!" and uses it to learn of Megatron's plans.
• This issue was reprinted as issue #7 of IDW Publishing's Generations series.
• In UK issue #105, the start of Hot Spot's objections to Prime leading the mission in Multi-World was blacked out to make a better cliffhanger for issue #106.

Covers (3)

• 
  US issue #24 - Look, just turn off the screen, we can pretend this never happened.
• UK issue #105 - Ah, if only...
  UK issue #105 - Ah, if only...
• UK issue #106 - And one shall CHEAT!
  UK issue #106 - And one shall CHEAT!

• US cover: Megatron shooting Optimus in the game by Herb Trimpe.
• UK issue #105 cover: Defensor vs. Bruticus by Lee Sullivan.
• UK issue #106 cover: reuse of art from US cover, recolored and cropped, with a new caption to boot by Robin Bouttell.

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