The Mission
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 Hoist is stuck in a hole? That's the emergency? What is this, Go-Bots? | |||||||||||||
| "The Mission" | |||||||||||||
| Publisher | Marvel Comics | ||||||||||||
| First published | September 1986 | ||||||||||||
| Cover date | 1987 | ||||||||||||
| Writer | Jamie Delano | ||||||||||||
| Art | ? | ||||||||||||
| Colours | ? | ||||||||||||
| Continuity | Marvel Comics continuity | ||||||||||||
Jazz rushes to save Hoist in barren Alaska—but who is going to save Jazz?
Synopsis
Hoist accidentally falls into an abandoned human mineshaft while tracking the Constructicons in the Alaskan-Yukon Wilderness. Totally exposed, he sends out a signal on the Urgent Distress Frequency.
Jazz races through a harsh and desolate landscape to try and rescue Hoist before the Constructicons emerge from their subterranean base and see him. But having psyched himself out with the oppressively barren landscape and his own low estimation of Hoist's skills as a scout, Jazz mistakes Hoist's head above the snow as his severed head, and believes he's walking into a Constructicon trap. When Hoist spots him and turns his head, the wired Jazz shoots, alerting the Constructicons to their presence.
While freeing Hoist from the mines, Jazz is shot in the head, destroying his logic circuits and reducing him to the level of a toddler with no understanding of the world. Hoist spends several hours pushing, pulling and shoving Jazz through an Alaskan forest ahead of him while the Constructicons pursue.
Hoist has been heading downhill, as he plans to find the river running through this area and build a raft to carry them away from the pursuing Constructicons. However, when they reach the river, a dam has reduced it to a trickle, probably insufficient to the task.
Jazz, whose childlike mind had previously marveled at a deer, is profoundly disquieted by the dam's intrusion on the untouched landscape. He is staring angrily at the dam when the Constructicons (who have formed Devastator) shoot at him. Hoist tackles him, and the shot instead blows a hole in the dam, which crumbles. Hoist drags Jazz onto his makeshift raft as the Constructicons are separated and swept away by the torrent.
Two days later, Hoist crosses the border back into the United States from Canada, Jazz in tow.
Featured characters
(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)
| Autobots | Decepticons |
|---|---|
|
Quotes
Notes
Artwork and technical errors
- Hoist's face is drawn without its mouthplate.
- On page 60: "calmly scanning it from to to botom and from side to side." That should be "calmly scanning it from top to bottom and from side to side." Later on the same page, "forever" is erroneously parsed as "for ever."
Continuity errors
Continuity notes
- The nature of the Constructicons' excavation under the mountain is never revealed.
- Dude, dragging your brain-damaged fellow soldier across hostile terrain? Hardcore.
- What with this and "Target: 2006", Jazz is starting to make a bit of a habit of being lobotomized.
Real-life references
Other trivia
Covers (2)
-
Transformers Annual 1987 -
The Transformers Classics UK Volume 2
- Transformers Annual 1987 cover: Prime and other early Transformers, by Barry Kitson.
- The Transformers Classics UK Volume 2 cover: Centurion, Professor Morris and his neural relay link, Soundwave, Shockwave, Megatron, Buster's battlesuit, the Overlord and Nightstalker, by Andrew Wildman.
