Prisoner of War!

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Is he strong? Listen, bud, he made Megatron go thud.
"Prisoner of War!"
Publisher Marvel Comics
First published October 2, 1984
Cover date January 1985
Writer Jim Salicrup
Penciler Frank Springer
Inker Kim DeMulder, Mike Esposito
Colorist Nelson Yomtov
Letterers Janice Chiang & Others
Editor Bob Budiansky
Continuity Marvel Comics continuity

When Sparkplug is kidnapped, it's up to Gears and Spider-Man to save him.

Synopsis

The Decepticons bring Sparkplug Witwicky to their fortress and Megatron deliberates internally on Starscream's loyalty. The Decepticons demand that Sparkplug create a method to convert gas into fuel compatible with their forms. A Korean War vet, Sparkplug equates his capture to his time spent as a POW in Korea and refuses, until he's forcefully persuaded.

Back at the Witwicky garage, Buster and his friends are wondering what to do next. Optimus Prime orders everyone back to the Ark for fuel and repairs, inviting Buster along the ride. When they arrive, he marvels at the size of the Autobots' headquarters.

Soundwave, Rumble and Starscream are out stealing components for Sparkplug's fuel conversion process, and their crime spree attracts attention from the press and world governments. As camera crews and the military surround the Decepticon fortress in Oregon, photojournalist Peter Parker decides to switch to his alter ego Spider-Man in order to get some better shots of the action. That action breaks out when the Decepticons drive the United States Army away from their base. It quickly becomes clear that the humans are outmatched and General McBregg orders a retreat.

Mid-carnage, Spider-Man runs into Gears, and after a short tussle Gears proves that he's a good guy when he saves a crowd of humans from getting squashed flat by a tank. The Autobots team up with Spider-Man to break through the line of reporters and soldiers, and an all-out battle breaks out between the Decepticons and the Autobots.

Meanwhile, Gears and Spider-Man are making their way into the fortress. After a short scrap with Ravage, Gears and Spider-Man break in and steal Sparkplug from under Megatron's nose. The Decepticon leader shoots out the floor beneath them, and while Spider-Man saves Sparkplug, Gears' weight breaks the web Spider-Man tried to save him with and he plummets to the earth below.

On their return to the Ark, Buster and Sparkplug are reunited and the Autobots say goodbye to Spider-Man. Ratchet brings Gears back to a functional level and he informs the Autobots that the Decepticons got what they wanted out of Sparkplug. Dad, say it ain't so!

(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

Autobots Decepticons Humans

Quotes

"Let me outta here, you stupid machine!"
"A foolish request! Our analysis of your species finds that if I were to release you at this height your frail form couldn't possibly survive! We need you, for our purposes, whole!"

— Sparkplug fails to persuade Starscream


"Machines have been slaves on this backward world long enough! Today the roles are rightly reversed!"
"You'll never get away with this! I'm an American citizen!"

— Starscream and Sparkplug


"Sarge always said if you put in enough miles, you'll believe a car could talk!"

— a highway patrolman encounters the speeding Autobots


This human reminds me of Bluestreak -- they both seem to love the sound of their own voice!

— Gears, on Spider-Man


"Do all humans have powers like yours?"
"Not since I checked last! I'd feel real foolish if they did!"

— Gears and Spider-Man


"...We've reached a dead end! The only way out is the way we came in!"
"Not necessarily!" [rips a wall open]
"Bet you're lots of fun at parties, too!"

— Spider-Man and Gears


Gears: "No! It is too late!"
Megatron: "WHO DARES ATTEMPT TO ENSNARE MEGATRON?!"
Spider-Man: "Uh-oh."


"Mission accomplished --- friend!"

- Gears tumbles to his doom

Notes

Continuity notes

"Can all humans stick to walls?" asked the flying Autobot.
  • Following on from a reference to Dazzler in the previous issue, this chapter of the original four-issue miniseries leans heavily on the fact that the comic was, at the time, being written as explicitly set in the mainstream Marvel universe, as was the standard for most of Marvel's licensed properties at the time (Micronauts, Rom, Godzilla, Shogun Warriors, etc). This conceit would be quietly dropped as the series expanded its length and scope, due to the impossibility of maintaining a coherent continuity with the vast and complicated Marvel universe; the letters page for issue #64 explicitly stated the world of the Transformers and the Marvel Universe to be separate, and politely asked readers to forget about this issue, which is loaded with Marvel references, including:
    • A cover-grabbing guest appearance by Spider-Man in his black symbiote costume, complete with a footnote that dates the story as occurring before Spider-Man #258 (in which he disposed of the suit). Spidey supporting character Joe Robertson also shows up for a panel.
    • Nick Fury and Dum Dum Dugan of S.H.I.E.L.D. put in a one-panel appearance, making a reference to Godzilla, in whose own licensed Marvel title Dum Dum was a recurring character.
    • The titular truck from U.S. 1, another licensed comic promoting die cast toy trucks from Tyco, can be seen in the background as the Autobots drive down the highway on page 6.
    • Spider-Man mentions the Fantastic Four and its leader Reed Richards on the final page.
  • Beginning with this issue, finalized character models for the cast were at last made available to artist Frank Springer, so characters who were drawn based on their toys for the first two issues of the series now suddenly look very different—a phenomenon most noticeable in the case of Bumblebee, Ratchet, and Ironhide. Color schemes, on the other hand, do not appear to have been fully perfected yet; Ratchet in particular appears in a very random color scheme. Though his colors will be corrected in future issues, the early color models used in this mini-series for other characters like Megatron (black helmet) and Soundwave (all-over purple) will continue to be employed even after their designs have been corrected, and will remain in use for the duration of the Marvel series, becoming hallmarks of their appearance in it.

Real world references

  • Amongst the military vehicles seen in this issue, the MOBAT and the Wolverine from the G.I. Joe series appear repeatedly.
  • Locations raided by the Decepticons include the real-life University of Oregon campus, while government reactions are shown at the White House and in Moscow, and Sparkplug flashes back to his time in the Korean War, during which he served in the Marines.
  • "O" calls the Autobots "rejects from a George Lucas film".
  • "O" compares the Autobot's Ark to Noah's ark.
  • A police officer mentions the Indy 500.
  • Moscow speculates the Americans are testing their Star Wars arsenal.
  • Spider-Man references Joan Rivers' talk show (which was semi-popular at the time) by saying "Can we talk?".
  • Spider-Man mentions the Super Bowl, takes a dig at Rumble and Frenzy as "Tweedledee and Tweedledum", and calls Megatron "Bazooka Joe".

Artwork and technical errors

  • In the "Story so far" section of the UK issue #6 printing, Sparkplug's name is mistakenly given as "Sparks".
  • Page 2: Rumble's name is not called out by the narrator when listing who is transforming in the panel.
  • Page 5:
    • Panel 1: Ironhide is colored like... uh... uh... well, he's got blue arms, blue and gray legs, and a white windshield frame.
    • Panel 3: The silhouettes behind Optimus don't match anyone from the Autobot ranks.
    • Panel 4: Windcharger is colored white and blue instead of red and gray.
  • Page 8: Ratchet is colored with a red crest, shoulders, and legs. They should all be white. For the rest of Ratchet's appearances in this issue, he's colored with a blue windshield frame and red shoulders; it happens consistently enough to suggest that it was an earlier color scheme rather than a flat-out error.
  • Page 9: Shockwave is shown hanging out with the Decepticons. Next issue will reveal that he's still buried in rock at this point.
  • Page 13: Skywarp's jet mode is colored as if his cockpit canopy extended all the way back to his tail fins. When he lands on the Air Force jet, his wings are missing.
  • Page 16:
    • Panel 2: Sunstreaker is colored red instead of yellow.
    • Panel 3: Cliffjumper's head is colored yellow instead of red.
  • Page 17: A blue-colored Gears is drawn behind Brawn, even though Gears is off somewhere else with Spider-Man. It should probably be Frenzy, who shows up in the next panel.
  • Page 18: Gears' legs can't seem to decide what color they are.
  • Page 19: In panel 1: Megatron is drawn instead of Soundwave. Amusingly, the thought bubbles almost work for Megatron.
  • Page 20: Soundwave is drawn with a strange, enormous cannon attached to his arm, rather than his usual weapon.
  • Page 22: In panel 4, Brawn and Cliffjumper are both white and blue instead of their normal color schemes. Sunstreaker is blue, white and red, and has the wrong head, AND is missing most of his left arm.
  • Page 23:
    • Panel 3: Optimus is drawn with strange huge conjoined goggles instead of his usual separate eyes.
    • Panel 4: Cliffjumper is still white and blue (but with red legs), while Hound is colored red and white instead of green. Ratchet's repair bay is colored red instead of white.
    • Panel 5: Optimus's head is tiny!
    • Panel 6: Ratchet's repair bay appears to speak, as a speech bubble saying "I've managed to revive him to minimum operating level." Ratchet himself speaks immediately afterwards, indicating that this was merely a misattributed speech balloon.

UK printing

Issue #5:

  • Back-up strips: Machine Man - "Where Walks the Gods" Part 2 and Matt and the Cat
  • Fact File: Megatron
  • The first appearance of Matt and the Cat, which would run until #73

Issue #6:

  • Back-up strips: Machine Man - "Xanadu" Part 1 and Matt and the Cat
  • Fact File: Optimus Prime

Other trivia

Well what do you expect me to do about it?
  • Advertised as part 3 in a four-issue limited series.
  • Although he doesn't appear in the cover art proper despite his prominent role in the story, Gears does get the cover corner box, the only time in the US series that a character not designated as Autobot or Decepticon leader at the time of the comic gets in the cover box.
  • Rumble calls Sparkplug a scraplet, a generic insult which years later would be repurposed as the name of a robotic disease.
  • The Decepticons are dropping cluster bombs on human soldiers, which are going off right next to soldiers. We can safely assume a whole bunch of them are now dead.
  • Spider-Man completely ignores the Decepticon rampage and starts a fight with Gears instead, who is not near any humans at the time. Jameson's right, he's a menace!
  • In 2007's New Avengers/Tranformers #4, Spider-Man web-swings around Megatron in a visual homage to the cover of this issue.
  • When IDW Publishing released their Classic Transformers series of reprints in 2008, they were unable to secure the license to reprint Spider-Man's appearance, so this issue had to be omitted from volume 1. In 2011, when they reprinted the series again as The Transformers Classics, they sorted the rights and were able to include the issue (see below)—but only in the physical version of the book, not in the digital version that was released in 2012.

Covers

  • US issue #3: Spider-Man webbing Megatron, by Michael Golden.
  • UK issue #5: Thundercracker and Sparkplug, by John Ridgway.
  • UK issue #6: reuse of US issue #3's cover.
  • US issue #3 - A moralistic tale for the ages.
    US issue #3 - A moralistic tale for the ages.
  • UK issue #5 - I'm glad my pants are already brown!
    UK issue #5 - I'm glad my pants are already brown!
  • UK issue #6 - The UK needs more RED.
    UK issue #6 - The UK needs more RED.

Reprints

  • Collected Comics (UK) #2 (Marvel UK, 1985)
    Collected Comics (UK) #2 (Marvel UK, 1985)
  • Collected Comics (US) #1 (Marvel US, 1985)
    Collected Comics (US) #1 (Marvel US, 1985)
  • Die Transformer #2 (Condor Verlag, 1986)
    Die Transformer #2 (Condor Verlag, 1986)
  • Die Transformer #3 (Condor Verlag, 1986)
    Die Transformer #3 (Condor Verlag, 1986)
  • The Transformers Comics Magazine #2 (Marvel US, 1987)
    The Transformers Comics Magazine #2 (Marvel US, 1987)
  • The Complete Works Part 2 (Marvel US, 1987)
    The Complete Works Part 2 (Marvel US, 1987)
  • Beginnings paperback (Titan Books, 2003)
    Beginnings paperback (Titan Books, 2003)
  • Beginnings hardback (Titan Books, 2003)
    Beginnings hardback (Titan Books, 2003)
  • The Transformers Classics, Vol 1 (IDW Publishing, 2011)
    The Transformers Classics, Vol 1 (IDW Publishing, 2011)

Advertisements

  • Monogram plastic model kits (inside front cover)
  • Fig Newtons and Apple Newtons (pg 5)
  • Bonkers fruit candy (pg 7)
  • Marvel Super Heroes Secret Wars action figures and accessories (pg 10)
  • Block of various Sketchy Things (pg 12)
  • Block of various Sketchy Things (pg 21)
  • NFL SuperPro Club (pg 23)
  • Win a job at Marvel Comics (pg 26)
  • Bullpen Bulletins (pg 28)
  • Marvel Comic subscriptions (pg 32)
  • Decathlon by Activision video game (rear inside cover)
  • Montezuma's Revenge by Parker Brothers video game (rear cover)

Advertisements (Second Printing)

  • Monogram GoBots motorized model kits (inside front cover)
  • Fig Newtons and Apple Newtons (pg 5)
  • Star Comics (pg 7)
  • Mile High Comics (pg 10)
  • Mile High Comics (pg 12)
  • Power Pack and The Amazing Spider-Man with tips on ways to prevent sexual abuse (pg 21)
  • Calender of upcoming events & Marvel Mart (pg 23)
  • Block of various Sketchy Things (pg 26)
  • Bullpen Bulletins (pg 28)
  • Comic subscriptions (pg 32)
  • Indiana Jones RPG by TSR (rear inside cover)
  • Risk (rear cover)
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