The Cosmic Carnival: Difference between revisions
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|caption=Explain to me again how we got into this situation? | |caption=Explain to me again how we got into this situation? | ||
|publisher=[[Marvel Comics]] | |publisher=[[Marvel Comics]] | ||
|date=May 1988 | |date=May [[1988]] | ||
|coverdate=September 1988 | |coverdate=September 1988 | ||
|writer=[[Bob Budiansky]] | |writer=[[Bob Budiansky]] | ||
| Line 23: | Line 23: | ||
==Synopsis== | ==Synopsis== | ||
On their way back to [[Earth]] and the | On their way back to [[Earth]] and the [[Ark (G1)|Ark]] aboard the ''[[Steelhaven]]'', [[Optimus Prime (G1)/Marvel Comics continuity|Optimus Prime]] and his comrades are confronted by a laser-beamed advertisement for "The [[Cosmic Carnival]]". Prime is ready to forgo visiting the show, until it projects an image of the [[Autobot]] [[Sky Lynx (G1)|Sky Lynx]] among the show's attractions. Curious and suspicious, Optimus changes course to investigate. | ||
Optimus Prime and [[Bumblebee (G1)/Marvel Comics continuity|Goldbug]] enter the carnival and begin searching the traveling show/starship, when they come across a quartet of Earth children on display in the sideshow: the [[Spacehikers]]! When Goldbug tries to retrieve the captive humans, the energy field around their cage knock him back with considerable force. After Prime demands to see the proprietor, the kids' handler, [[Berko]], takes them to see [[Big Top]]. Big Top refuses to release the children, as they have signed a binary coded contract along with Sky Lynx, making them virtually his indentured slaves until they pay off their debt. | Optimus Prime and [[Bumblebee (G1)/Marvel Comics continuity|Goldbug]] enter the carnival and begin searching the traveling show/starship, when they come across a quartet of Earth children on display in the sideshow: the [[Spacehikers]]! When Goldbug tries to retrieve the captive humans, the energy field around their cage knock him back with considerable force. After Prime demands to see the proprietor, the kids' handler, [[Berko]], takes them to see [[Big Top]]. Big Top refuses to release the children, as they have signed a binary coded contract along with Sky Lynx, making them virtually his indentured slaves until they pay off their debt. | ||
| Line 38: | Line 38: | ||
{{featuredcharacters | {{featuredcharacters | ||
|c1= | |c1= | ||
* [[Bumblebee (G1)/Marvel Comics continuity|Goldbug]] (1) | *[[Bumblebee (G1)/Marvel Comics continuity|Goldbug]] (1) | ||
* [[Getaway]] (2) | *[[Getaway]] (2) | ||
* [[Optimus Prime (G1)/Marvel Comics continuity|Optimus Prime]] (3) | *[[Optimus Prime (G1)/Marvel Comics continuity|Optimus Prime]] (3) | ||
* [[Joyride (G1)|Joyride]] (4) | *[[Joyride (G1)|Joyride]] (4) | ||
* [[Slapdash (G1)|Slapdash]] (5) | *[[Slapdash (G1)|Slapdash]] (5) | ||
* [[Sky Lynx (G1)|Sky Lynx]] (10) | *[[Sky Lynx (G1)|Sky Lynx]] (10) | ||
|c3= | |c3= | ||
* [[Berko]] (11) | *[[Berko]] (11) | ||
* [[Sammy Wainwright]] (12) | *[[Sammy Wainwright]] (12) | ||
* [[Robin Lindley (G1)|Robin Lindley]] (13) | *[[Robin Lindley (G1)|Robin Lindley]] (13) | ||
* [[Jed Lindley]] (15) | *[[Jed Lindley]] (15) | ||
* [[Allan Silver]] (16) | *[[Allan Silver]] (16) | ||
|h4=[[Nebulan]]s|c4= | |h4=[[Nebulan]]s|c4= | ||
* [[Hi-Q]] (6) | *[[Hi-Q]] (6) | ||
* [[Lube]] (7) | *[[Lube]] (7) | ||
* [[Hotwire]] (8) | *[[Hotwire]] (8) | ||
* [[Rev]] (9) | *[[Rev]] (9) | ||
|h5=Others|c5= | |h5=Others|c5= | ||
* [[Daisy]] (14) | *[[Daisy]] (14) | ||
* [[Ollie]] (17) | *[[Ollie]] (17) | ||
* [[Big Top]] (18) | *[[Big Top]] (18) | ||
* [[Gilashark]] (19) | *[[Gilashark]] (19) | ||
* [[Rorza, the Rocket-cycle Racer from Rigel III]] (20) | *[[Rorza, the Rocket-cycle Racer from Rigel III]] (20) | ||
}} | }} | ||
==Notes== | ==Notes== | ||
* Optimus Prime says "There is ''more than meets the eye'' here." In-continuity catch phrases are funny. | *Optimus Prime says "There is ''more than meets the eye'' here." In-continuity catch phrases are funny. | ||
* Consistent with his [[Spacehikers!|other appearance]], Sky Lynx is seen to be a sort of [[Triple Changer]], changing from lynx to dino-bird to space shuttle without separating into two components at all. In this issue, his bird mode is bipedal, the undercarriage vanishing altogether. This was not the case previously. | *Consistent with his [[Spacehikers!|other appearance]], Sky Lynx is seen to be a sort of [[Triple Changer]], changing from lynx to dino-bird to space shuttle without separating into two components at all. In this issue, his bird mode is bipedal, the undercarriage vanishing altogether. This was not the case previously. | ||
* Barring art errors, this issue is one of the few of the series to feature no [[Decepticon]]s. | *Barring art errors, this issue is one of the few of the series to feature no [[Decepticon]]s. | ||
* Although Powermaster Optimus Prime is drawn like his old self, it can be said that this is the second of the four times he appears in his smaller robot form. | *Although Powermaster Optimus Prime is drawn like his old self, it can be said that this is the second of the four times he appears in his smaller robot form. | ||
===Errors=== | ===Errors=== | ||
* When the Nebulan Powermasters are shown standing in front of their armors, each is standing in front of the wrong one. [[Rev]] is even standing by the evil Nebulan [[Hi-Test]]'s armor. | *When the Nebulan Powermasters are shown standing in front of their armors, each is standing in front of the wrong one. [[Rev]] is even standing by the evil Nebulan [[Hi-Test]]'s armor. | ||
* Issue [[People Power!|#42]] had given Powermaster Optimus Prime's small robot some design changes to make it look like the toy (i.e. hip wheels, smokestacks inside his shoulders instead of attached to the outside, and no gas cans on legs), but in this issue Optimus Prime is drawn like his pre-Powermaster form. | *Issue [[People Power!|#42]] had given Powermaster Optimus Prime's small robot some design changes to make it look like the toy (i.e. hip wheels, smokestacks inside his shoulders instead of attached to the outside, and no gas cans on legs), but in this issue Optimus Prime is drawn like his pre-Powermaster form. | ||
* Prime didn't take his [[trailer]] with him to the Cosmic Carnival and drove around without it, but it is drawn on page 20 when he transforms. | *Prime didn't take his [[trailer]] with him to the Cosmic Carnival and drove around without it, but it is drawn on page 20 when he transforms. | ||
===References=== | ===References=== | ||
* Optimus Prime and his soldiers became Powermasters in [[People Power!|U.S. #42]]. | *Optimus Prime and his soldiers became Powermasters in [[People Power!|U.S. #42]]. | ||
* The Spacehikers left Earth with Sky Lynx back in [[Spacehikers!|U.S. #36]]. | *The Spacehikers left Earth with Sky Lynx back in [[Spacehikers!|U.S. #36]]. | ||
===UK printing=== | ===UK printing=== | ||
* In [[Letters page (Marvel UK)|Grim Grams]] for issue #178, [[Grimlock (G1)/Marvel Comics continuity|Grimlock]] speaks for the debut appearance of [[Blaster (G1)|Blaster]]'s cassettes, discusses back-up strips and threatens the use of the [[variable voltage harness]] on someone who thinks the ''The Real Ghostbusters'' comic superior to the Transformers (ironically directly across from a full-page ad for that comic). | *In [[Letters page (Marvel UK)|Grim Grams]] for issue #178, [[Grimlock (G1)/Marvel Comics continuity|Grimlock]] speaks for the debut appearance of [[Blaster (G1)|Blaster]]'s cassettes, discusses back-up strips and threatens the use of the [[variable voltage harness]] on someone who thinks the ''The Real Ghostbusters'' comic superior to the Transformers (ironically directly across from a full-page ad for that comic). | ||
* In Grim Grams for issue #179, Grimlock discusses clocking up over a hundred Grim Grams even as he hints that it's perhaps time for [[Dreadwind (G1)|someone else]] to take up the mantle and that [[Robin Smith|Stubbie Smith]] should also be introduced to variable voltage harness for [[Flame (Marvel)|Flame]]'s re-appearing/disappearing Autobot insignia in "[[Legion of the Lost!]]"/"[[Meltdown!]]" | *In Grim Grams for issue #179, Grimlock discusses clocking up over a hundred Grim Grams even as he hints that it's perhaps time for [[Dreadwind (G1)|someone else]] to take up the mantle and that [[Robin Smith|Stubbie Smith]] should also be introduced to variable voltage harness for [[Flame (Marvel)|Flame]]'s re-appearing/disappearing Autobot insignia in "[[Legion of the Lost!]]"/"[[Meltdown!]]" | ||
* This story was printed after "[[The Big Broadcast of 2006 (issue)|The Big Broadcast of 2006]]" in the US, but moved to before it for the UK. This is because the UK version of "Broadcast" leads directly into "[[Space Pirates!]]", necessitating a switch to keep the future continuity in one piece. | *This story was printed after "[[The Big Broadcast of 2006 (issue)|The Big Broadcast of 2006]]" in the US, but moved to before it for the UK. This is because the UK version of "Broadcast" leads directly into "[[Space Pirates!]]", necessitating a switch to keep the future continuity in one piece. | ||
===Covers ( | ===Covers (6)=== | ||
<gallery> | <gallery> | ||
File:MarvelUS-44.jpg|'''US issue #44''' - This week on Strictly Come Dancing... | |||
File:MarvelUK-178.jpg|'''UK issue #178''' - Watch out Sky Lynx, it's Lex Luthor! | |||
File:MarvelUK-179.jpg|'''UK issue #179''' - Animal cruelty Prime! ''Animal cruelty!'' | |||
File:Titan-MaximumForceSC.jpg|'''''Transformers: Maximum Force'' TPB''' | |||
File:Idw-tfmag2.GIF|'''''Transformers: Magazine'' #2''' | |||
File:Classic Transformers Vol3.jpg|'''''Classic Transformers Volume 3'' TPB''' | |||
</gallery> | </gallery> | ||
* ''' | *'''US issue #44 cover:''' Sky Lynx vs Gilashark by [[Frank Springer]] | ||
* '''UK issue 178 cover:''' Sky Lynx and Berko by [[Stephen Baskerville]] | *'''UK issue #178 cover:''' Sky Lynx and Berko by [[Stephen Baskerville]] | ||
* '''UK issue 179 cover:''' Optimus in full Powermaster mode wrestling the Gilashark by [[Jerry Paris]] | *'''UK issue #179 cover:''' Optimus in full Powermaster mode wrestling the Gilashark by [[Jerry Paris]] | ||
*'''''Transformers: Maximum Force'' TPB cover:''' [[Scorponok (G1)|Scorponok]], a [[Targetmaster]] gun, the ''Steelhaven'' and half of [[Skullgrin]]'s head by [[Andrew Wildman]] | |||
*'''''Transformers: Magazine'' #2 cover:''' [[Mirage (G1)|Mirage]] surprises [[Soundwave (G1)|Soundwave]] as he materialises aboard the ''[[Nemesis (G1)|Nemesis]]'' by ??? | |||
*'''''Classic Transformers Volume 3'' TPB cover:''' Panels from "[[Spacehikers!]]", "[[Child's Play (issue)|Child's Play]]" and "[[People Power!]]". | |||
===Advertisements=== | ===Advertisements=== | ||
* None yet identified. | *None yet identified. | ||
===Reprints=== | ===Reprints=== | ||
*2004 — ''[[Transformers: Maximum Force]]'' | *[[2004]] — ''[[Transformers: Maximum Force]]'' | ||
*2007 — ''[[Transformers: Magazine]]'' #2 | *[[2007]] — ''[[Transformers: Magazine]]'' #2 | ||
*2009 — ''[[Classic Transformers Volume 3]]'' | *[[2009]] — ''[[Classic Transformers Volume 3]]'' | ||
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cosmic Carnival}} | {{DEFAULTSORT:Cosmic Carnival}} | ||
[[Category:Marvel US issues]] | [[Category:Marvel US issues]] | ||
[[Category:Marvel UK issues]] | [[Category:Marvel UK issues]] | ||
Revision as of 11:14, 14 March 2013
| |||||||||||||
 Explain to me again how we got into this situation? | |||||||||||||
| "The Cosmic Carnival" | |||||||||||||
| Publisher | Marvel Comics | ||||||||||||
| First published | May 1988 | ||||||||||||
| Cover date | September 1988 | ||||||||||||
| Writer | Bob Budiansky | ||||||||||||
| Guest penciler | Frank Springer | ||||||||||||
| Guest inker | Danny Bulanadi | ||||||||||||
| Colorist | Nel Yomtov | ||||||||||||
| Letterer | Bill Oakley | ||||||||||||
| Editor | Don Daley | ||||||||||||
| Continuity | Marvel Comics continuity | ||||||||||||
Things get weirder...
Synopsis
On their way back to Earth and the Ark aboard the Steelhaven, Optimus Prime and his comrades are confronted by a laser-beamed advertisement for "The Cosmic Carnival". Prime is ready to forgo visiting the show, until it projects an image of the Autobot Sky Lynx among the show's attractions. Curious and suspicious, Optimus changes course to investigate.
Optimus Prime and Goldbug enter the carnival and begin searching the traveling show/starship, when they come across a quartet of Earth children on display in the sideshow: the Spacehikers! When Goldbug tries to retrieve the captive humans, the energy field around their cage knock him back with considerable force. After Prime demands to see the proprietor, the kids' handler, Berko, takes them to see Big Top. Big Top refuses to release the children, as they have signed a binary coded contract along with Sky Lynx, making them virtually his indentured slaves until they pay off their debt.
To show he's not a total slug, Big Top gives them two free passes to the main event. In the arena, the Autobots observe Sky Lynx's act, and meet up with him backstage after the show. Sky Lynx relates his story, about how he and the kids stopped off at the cosmic carnival after escaping from the Dinobots a few months back. When they couldn't pay for their admission, however, Sky Lynx signed on as a "temporary" performer to pay off his debt. He and the kids have been stuck there ever since.
Unable to think of a way around the contract or the bomb planted in the kids' cell, Optimus Prime and Goldbug helplessly head over to say good-bye to the children. They are confronted by Berko again, who explains his story: an alien abductee brought aboard the carnival, he eventually became a trustee and worked his way out of the sideshow. So long as the kids inhabit the cell, he stays free. A loner all his life, Berko is shocked when Optimus offers to free him and take him back to Earth as well.
Berko suddenly has a remarkable change of heart, and begins arranging to free the kids. He sends Optimus Prime to collect Sky Lynx from the arena, where his next act is beginning. Prime tries to batter a way to the exit for him and Sky Lynx, but Big Top throws the other performers in their path. After dealing with a gilashark, crazed jugglers, and Rorza, the Rocket-cycle Racer from Rigel III, they make their exit.
Goldbug and Berko have freed the kids, but Big Top gets in their way and knocks Goldbug around. "Buggo" manages to right himself, though, and rams Big Top into the open cage. Leaving Big Top to a suitably ironic fate as a sideshow freak, the humans and Autobots take off and leave the carnival to the rubes.
Featured characters
(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)
| Autobots | Humans | Nebulans | Others |
|---|---|---|---|
|
|
Notes
- Optimus Prime says "There is more than meets the eye here." In-continuity catch phrases are funny.
- Consistent with his other appearance, Sky Lynx is seen to be a sort of Triple Changer, changing from lynx to dino-bird to space shuttle without separating into two components at all. In this issue, his bird mode is bipedal, the undercarriage vanishing altogether. This was not the case previously.
- Barring art errors, this issue is one of the few of the series to feature no Decepticons.
- Although Powermaster Optimus Prime is drawn like his old self, it can be said that this is the second of the four times he appears in his smaller robot form.
Errors
- When the Nebulan Powermasters are shown standing in front of their armors, each is standing in front of the wrong one. Rev is even standing by the evil Nebulan Hi-Test's armor.
- Issue #42 had given Powermaster Optimus Prime's small robot some design changes to make it look like the toy (i.e. hip wheels, smokestacks inside his shoulders instead of attached to the outside, and no gas cans on legs), but in this issue Optimus Prime is drawn like his pre-Powermaster form.
- Prime didn't take his trailer with him to the Cosmic Carnival and drove around without it, but it is drawn on page 20 when he transforms.
References
- Optimus Prime and his soldiers became Powermasters in U.S. #42.
- The Spacehikers left Earth with Sky Lynx back in U.S. #36.
UK printing
- In Grim Grams for issue #178, Grimlock speaks for the debut appearance of Blaster's cassettes, discusses back-up strips and threatens the use of the variable voltage harness on someone who thinks the The Real Ghostbusters comic superior to the Transformers (ironically directly across from a full-page ad for that comic).
- In Grim Grams for issue #179, Grimlock discusses clocking up over a hundred Grim Grams even as he hints that it's perhaps time for someone else to take up the mantle and that Stubbie Smith should also be introduced to variable voltage harness for Flame's re-appearing/disappearing Autobot insignia in "Legion of the Lost!"/"Meltdown!"
- This story was printed after "The Big Broadcast of 2006" in the US, but moved to before it for the UK. This is because the UK version of "Broadcast" leads directly into "Space Pirates!", necessitating a switch to keep the future continuity in one piece.
Covers (6)
-
US issue #44 - This week on Strictly Come Dancing... -
UK issue #178 - Watch out Sky Lynx, it's Lex Luthor! -
UK issue #179 - Animal cruelty Prime! Animal cruelty! -
Transformers: Maximum Force TPB -
Transformers: Magazine #2
-
Classic Transformers Volume 3 TPB
- US issue #44 cover: Sky Lynx vs Gilashark by Frank Springer
- UK issue #178 cover: Sky Lynx and Berko by Stephen Baskerville
- UK issue #179 cover: Optimus in full Powermaster mode wrestling the Gilashark by Jerry Paris
- Transformers: Maximum Force TPB cover: Scorponok, a Targetmaster gun, the Steelhaven and half of Skullgrin's head by Andrew Wildman
- Transformers: Magazine #2 cover: Mirage surprises Soundwave as he materialises aboard the Nemesis by ???
- Classic Transformers Volume 3 TPB cover: Panels from "Spacehikers!", "Child's Play" and "People Power!".
Advertisements
- None yet identified.
