Transformers '84 issue 0

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Transformers '84 #0
Publisher IDW Publishing
First published August 21, 2019
Cover date June 2019
Written by Simon Furman
Art by Guido Guidi
Colors by John-Paul Bove
Letters by Tom B. Long
Editor David Mariotte and Tom Waltz
Continuity Marvel Comics continuity

Privy to the terrible secret behind the doomed voyage of the Ark, an Autobot spy learns that war can tarnish even the most heroic figure....

Synopsis

This story is told in non-linear form. This synopsis presents it in chronological order for ease of reading.

Punch remembers...

Millions of years ago, war rages on Cybertron between the Autobots and Decepticons: torn loose from its orbit, the planet hurtles through interstellar space, on a course that will take it directly towards the dangerous region of the galaxy known as the Stellae Cimeterium. Regardless of the danger, Optimus Prime and his Autobots continue their work on the Ark. The Autobot leader maintains that the real threat to their war-torn world is Megatron, whose Decepticon armies continue to gain ground—but Councillor Traachon disagrees, arguing that their planet must be saved. Optimus points out that a sufficiently powerful detonation on Cybertron's surface will nudge the planet towards Ursa Major as it passes that star, but his words fail to have the desired effect—Traachon demands to know why Optimus's forces are still pouring their resources into the construction of the Ark instead of saving their planet, but Prime says nothing...

As launch day draws near, Prime's handpicked crew of Autobots—his most elite and trusted warriors—prepare for departure on the Ark's first flight, to shoot down the oncoming field of meteors that threatens their world. Bumblebee is awestruck by the size of the ship, Sunstreaker and Jazz are excited at the prospect of a journey into the unknown, the impulsive Windcharger signed up at the first opportunity, Bluestreak wants a chance to get away from his homeworld, and Prowl is motivated by his sense of duty. Ultra Magnus will be staying behind, however, and Optimus informs the stalwart Autobot that, if something happens to him or his shipmates, then he trusts Magnus to assume control of the Autobots. Taken aback by Prime's apparent fatalism, Magnus wonders if the Autobot leader even intends to return... and, once again, Prime falls silent.

The Autobots are unaware that their plans have been intercepted by the Decepticon spy Ravage, who immediately reports his findings to the Decepticon headquarters. A jubilant Megatron congratulates his deep cover agent Counterpunch, whose report has just been corroborated by Ravage's spying. Megatron lays out his plan: once the Autobots have exhausted themselves clearing a safe path through the asteroid field, the Decepticons will strike!

His deception complete, Punch retreats to the wartorn Badlands , where he's met by Optimus Prime, and reports that Megatron has taken the bait. As the other Autobots board the Ark for its inaugural flight, and wonder what's taking their leader so long, Prime tells his double-agent that he's done well... but he has one last deep-cover job for his faithful spy. Prime lays out the full, terrible scope of his plan for the confused Punch: the Ark is a distraction: a juicy target of opportunity designed to lure Megatron and his most powerful underlings offworld. When they're inevitably boarded, Prime will deliberately crash the ship on a distant world, stranding them all—but leaving their homeworld free from Megatron's evil. But this plan hinges on no-one finding them, wherever they are in the universe; Punch's job is to make sure that no-one ever does.

When the Ark launches not long afterwards, Megatron and his Decepticon cadre attack, just as predicted. Optimus Prime pulls off his master plan without a hitch... and Punch's long game begins.

In the year 1017, a smaller but no less ferocious war plays out on Earth: The Viking Canute, king of England, is under siege in Stansham Castle by Godwin and his Vikings from northern France, who are intent on seizing the throne. Early one morning, their attention is drawn to a mysterious shooting star... a shooting star that's really the Autobot scout ship Mantlo, which makes an undignified crash-landing in the woods beyond. Occupants Cloudraker and Fastlane are unhurt, and, more importantly, undeterred from their mission: to find the Ark. The pair transform and race off... unaware that they're being watched by Punch; in his Decepticon persona, he's worked his way into a Decepticon cell that's been covertly following the two Autobots on their mission.

As the sun rises, Canute's men, led by Hakon, ride out to investigate the mysterious celestial omen. They're not the only ones interested, however: the two Autobots have been trailed by a Decepticon unit led by Wingspan, just as intent on locating the lost starship. While the lunkheaded Duocons race off to scout out the terrain around their reconnaissance post, Counterpunch takes the opportunity to fade into the background. As he does so, Wingspan crunches data and discovers the truth: the Ark exists here, buried on another continent... but before he can share the truth with his teammates, he finds Counterpunch pointing his rifle against the back of his head, and the Clone is swiftly executed.

Cloudraker and Fastlane watch as the two human armies clash outside of their ship, and despite their initial decision not to interfere, the sight of Hakon's grievously outnumbered forces up against the savage Vikings compels the two Autobots into action, and their intervention quickly turns the tide of the fight.

Back at their makeshift base, the Decepticons gather around Wingspan's dead body, and the two Duocons immediately suspect the two Autobots. The Autobot Clones are, of course, completely unaware of all this... which is why they're shocked when, after helping to trounce the primitive Vikings, they're taken by complete surprise by the Decepticon attack! Though Cloudraker is able to crush Battletrap with his gravity-rod rifle, he's badly wounded by a fusillade from Flywheels' jet half. Fastlane's sonic boom rifle temporarily takes out both Flywheels and Counterpunch, and Fastlane drags his wounded brother back to their vessel and loads him into the shipboard CR chamber. Neither of them realize that Counterpunch has found his feet... and, hating himself, he blasts their ship, sending the crippled vessel and its occupants hurtling into Stansham Castle.

From Cybertron to Earth, Punch remembers it all: his own betrayals and Prime's own guilt at having abused the trust of his men in the service of the greater good. The business of war is a dirty one, he admits... a business that ensures that even the most heroic 'bots of all have dark secrets to hide.

Characters in italic text appear only in flashbacks.
(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

Autobots Decepticons Humans

Quotes

"Wow! It's really something. There's never been a ship this big since... well, the era of the Titans!"
"Everything's big to you, Bumblebee."

—Bumblebee and Prowl


"Counterpunch, Flywheels... let's get medieval on their afts!"

—Battletrap goes Pulp Fiction


"Abominations?"
"Ehh, been called far worse."

—Cloudraker and Fastlane

Notes

Continuity notes

Released to commemorate the 35th anniversary of the original Transformers comic that started it all, Transformers '84 returns to the Marvel Comics continuity, the first comic to do so since 2014's Regeneration One. While that series served as a straight sequel to the original 80-issue US comic, this issue is a prequel, tying into both the first issue of the series and the first original story produced for the expanded UK version of the comic, "Man of Iron," which was reprinted in the US series in 1987. Transformers '84 was written by Simon Furman, who also wrote Regeneration One, the latter half of the Marvel US comics, and a vast majority of the Marvel UK comics (though neither of the issues that this one ties into).

In some ways, the story hews quite closely to specific details of the original comics, and in other ways it clearly deviates. We hesitate to call all the discrepancies "errors" because the care taken in the parallel bits suggests that there had to be some conscious awareness when other bits went off-track.

Notable tie-ins

  • Several panels are recreations of ones from the first Marvel issue:
    • Page 10, panel 2 recreates the scene of Ravage spying on Optimus's meeting with the elders seen on page 5, panel 5 of the original issue (including dialogue from the preceding panel 4)
    • Page 20, panel 2 recreates the Autobots blasting asteroids from page 6, panel 5 of the original (complete with an out-of-place Onebox component appearing as a piece of artillery mounted on the Ark's hull)
    • Page 20, panel 3 recreates the Decepticons storming the Ark from page 8, panel 2 of the original. Optimus Prime's dialogue as he sets the Ark on its crash course is cribbed from page 8, panel 6 of the original.
  • Optimus calls Ultra Magnus "Cybertron's greatest warrior," an appellation frequently used in the UK series. Prime goes on to say that he trusts Magnus to continue the fight in his potential absence, alluding to Magnus's leadership of the Autobot resistance on Cybertron alongside Emirate Xaaron in the UK series.
  • The Council of Autobot Elders appears, led by the Marvel-original character Traachon. The block-colored generic councillors don't really match up to any of their prior appearances, however, so it's not clear if Xaaron or Tomaandi are among them.
  • The medieval portion marks itself as being the same time and place as the flashback sequence in "Man of Iron" via the year (1017), a landmark (Stansham Castle), characters (Godwin and his army), and an event in progress (said army besieging said castle).
  • "Man of Iron" centered around an Autobot ship buried under Stansham Castle, containing at least two occupants: the titular Man of Iron (so called by humans who encountered him) and Navigator (identified by narration in proper-name form). Transformers '84 strongly implies the Mantlo to be that ship and Fastlane and Cloudraker to be the Man of Iron and Navigator respectively:
    • When the Mantlo crashes a second time, it hits Stansham Castle, destroying a portion of it that was seen to be crumbled in the modern day in "Man of Iron".
    • As the ship plummets, Cloudraker is shown lain out on a medical table in a shot very reminiscent of the establishing shot of Navigator in "Man of Iron". Also, portions of his armor are broken off, revealing white plate surfaces underneath that match Navigator's character model (as well as, for that matter, the Man of Iron's).
    • During the same scene, Fastlane starts sending out a distress call. In "Man of Iron", the Earthbound Transformers are tipped off to the buried ship's existence by receiving a signal from it that's being continuously broadcast.
    • The clones came to Earth in search of the Ark, which is also said to be the mission of the Man of Iron and Navigator.

Discrepancies

  • Micromasters Erector and Crumble appear as workers building the Ark, despite the Micromaster-intro issue of the UK comic having presented Transformers of that type as brand-new creations in the modern day. The parallel intro in the US comic was less explicit and could be interpreted to mean the downsizing process was the new thing, not the characters themselves. But from the look of them, either Erector and Crumble are already downsized here, or Quickmix standing next to them is enormous.
  • In the Marvel UK comics, Ultra Magnus was built by the Autobot elders on Cybertron in the mid-'80s,[1] and thus couldn't be present for the Ark launch four million years prior. Also, at the end of his first visit to Earth, he expressed regret at not getting to see Optimus in a way that suggested the two had never met.
  • In "Man of Iron", Godwin's army is shown wearing armor typical of western Europe at the time, but in Transformers '84 their armor is Scandinavian. [See "Real-world references" below.]
  • Comparing the "Man of Iron"-specific portions is complicated by the fact that that story had a very different look and tone from the rest of the Marvel series. The Transformers were drawn to look like their toys, not their animation models, and they behaved more "robotically". Where otherwise they're usually portrayed as bantering and emotional, in that story they tended to be eerily silent and singlemindedly goal-driven. So, for example, it may seem like a discrepancy that we're meant to believe the talkative and impulsive Fastlane became the methodical, wordless, and very different-looking Man of Iron whose first act in his modern-day appearance was to shoot a truck and nearly kill its occupants. But the same might be said for, e.g., Jazz, who in "Man of Iron" looked like his original toy come to life and made first contact with Sammy Harker by silently emerging from the woods and scaring him off, then later having a seemingly friendly conversation with the boy with the actual purpose of luring him into his car mode, wheedling information out of him, and then kidnapping him as he cried out for help to his terrified mother.
  • The medieval portion of Transformers '84 differs in many ways from the flashback in "Man of Iron", but the flashback was shown as Roy Harker read an account from a chronicle, so unreliable narration may be at play:
    • The Man of Iron first appeared in the midst of Godwin's army successfully assaulting the castle, having just breached its main gate. The action in Transformers '84 happens during a lull in the siege, when Godwin had been forced to retreat.
    • Immediately before the Man of Iron appeared, "the ground was seized by a great shaking", sending portions of the castle ramparts tumbling down toward the attackers.
      • If this is meant to be the result of the Mantlo's first crash in the woods nearby, then it doesn't match because there is no indication of damage to the castle and no battle going on at the time. And if it's supposed to be the second crash, than the "ground shaking" was something of an understatement for a ship falling from the sky and destroying a portion of the castle.
      • Moreover, in the modern day, another tremor occurred before the Man of Iron appeared again, and that time he was shown standing in an elevator mechanism that had emerged from a hillside. In fact, each of his appearances throughout history were said to have followed tremors. The obvious intent was that the same thing had happened in 1017, and thus the ship had already been buried before then.
      • If the earthquake happened at some point after the second crash, then that means Godwin's forces battered down the main gate of the castle despite a whole wall having been demolished already. Also it means Canute's forces were bothering to continue defending the castle at all, when one would expect a catastrophe of that magnitude to have been far more disruptive. On top of which, why on earth would the crash have been omitted from the chronicle?!
    • When the Man of Iron encountered humans, he did so alone and in the open battlefield in front of the castle. When Fastlane encounters humans, he's with Cloudraker in the woods. In both cases, a human battle is interrupted and the combatants flee in terror. But in the flashback, the Man of Iron was making a beeline toward an abbey and a priest put himself in his path, successfully changing his course. Whereas in Transformers '84, after the soldiers run away, the clones are attacked on the spot by Decepticons, and then they retreat to the Mantlo. Of course, these encounters may not be intended to be the same at all; if the Transformers '84 events are meant to take place before the flashback, then that would jibe with the Man of Iron's stripped-down visual appearance, as it's implied that the clones shed their red armor in/after the second crash.
  • The signal that the Earthbound Transformers picked up in "Man of Iron" had, according to Optimus Prime, been "beaming out its message for millions of years." Also, the narration described the signal being beamed from the slumbering Navigator, for whom "a million years were as fleeting seconds". In Transformers '84, however, when Fastlane dictates his distress call, Cloudraker is already out cold, and Fastlane seems to be speaking into the ship's console. And of course this is only about 970 years prior.
  • The idea that the Mantlo crashed into Stansham Castle with such force that it buried itself and remained undetected until the mid-'80s, yet left much of the castle above it intact, is... highly physically improbable. The more natural, plausible takeaway from the original story was that its presence predated the castle – especially given the line mentioned above about Navigator having been broadcasting his signal for millions of years.

Additions

  • In the first issue of the Marvel series, the Ark's mission was only to clear a path through an asteroid field. Optimus's secret plan to lure Megatron away and defeat him in a potentially suicidal action is entirely new with this story. His directive that any search parties be thwarted even at the cost of killing them seems aimed at explaining why "Man of Iron" had him ordering the destruction of the buried ship without checking it for occupants, thereby killing Navigator. As the narration in that story explained, Navigator knew the location of Cybertron – and as Transformers '84 establishes, Optimus is intent on keeping Megatron isolated from Cybertron even if that means sacrificing a whole shipful of Autobots.
  • Who exactly occupied Stansham Castle at the time of Godwin's siege was not stated in "Man of Iron"; this issue reveals that it's Canute, king of England. [See "Real-world references" below.] Likewise, Godwin's army being Vikings from northern France is new information.
  • The Transformers in the Earth-based portion of the story are all from the 1987 lineup and had been missing from the Marvel US comics at the time: Punch/Counterpunch, the Duocons, the Autobot clones Fastlane and Cloudraker, and Decepticon clone Wingspan. (Well, technically the aerial halves of the Duocons showed up in one panel that year, and the complete Battletrap was seen a few years later, but still.) Interestingly, the US reprint of "Man of Iron" came out in mid-1987, shortly after the rest of the lineup had appeared. So if this issue were inserted at that point, it would fit right in as a rounding-out of the obligatory introductions. This also means the death of Wingspan and the retconning of the Autobot clones as other characters (who also died) have no narrative repercussions for the original continuity. However, all three did appear in Regeneration One, set after the original series.
  • Bumblebee says there hasn't been a ship as big as the Ark since "the era of the Titans". In the original Marvel continuity, the term "Titan" had never been used, much less had there been an era of them. While there's no reason the concept couldn't be retconned in, it's presumably a little different from the IDW version clearly being referenced, since in the Marvel continuity, Metroplex and Trypticon seem to be more or less regular dudes who happen to be really big.
  • CR chambers are another non-Marvel invention, first appearing in the Beast Wars cartoon and going on to appear in a wide variety of other Transformers media.

Other notes

  • The coloring hews to many idiosyncrasies of the original Marvel comics, including Megatron's helmet being black, the Ark being silver rather than gold, Optimus Prime missing the distinctive silver stripe around his torso, and Soundwave being purple rather than blue.
  • The countdown to the Ark's launch is measured in "breems," a semi-regular unit of timekeeping in the Marvel comics.
  • It might sound like a decent idea on paper, but Prime's plan—luring Megatron off Cybertron in the hope that they'll take the war with them—is doomed to fail. Anyone who's followed the Marvel continuity knows that Megatron's absence led to a power vacuum that numerous other Decepticon warlords scrambled to fill, culminating in the horrifically brutal reign of Straxus, who managed to turn Cybertron into an even worse place to live. And on top of all that, while Navigator's Prime-ordered death did close off one avenue toward reuniting with Cybertron, the Earthbound Decepticons established contact on their own not long afterward. So... uh... good going, Prime?

Transformers references

  • Punch/Counterpunch's vehicle mode looks like a Watchdog from the Sunbow cartoon.
  • Counterpunch meets with Prime in the ruined wasteland known as the Badlands; this geographical feature didn't appear in the original Marvel run, though Furman did use it as a setting in his Regeneration One comics.
  • As the Autobots wait for Prime to board the Ark, Hound tells the impatient Bumblebee that Optimus has "a lot of golden disks spinning". This is the real-world idiom "a lot of plates spinning", modified in reference to the MacGuffins from the Beast Wars cartoon that have also appeared in many other cartoons and comics, including Regeneration One.

Real-world references

  • Canute was indeed king of England at the time, and moreover he was overthrown at one point by forces including other Vikings. Immediately after Canute was crowned in 1014, a deposed English king who had been in exile in northern France invaded with the help of another Viking king, driving Canute back to his homeland of Denmark. This is the best match for the events of the comic, though the year is off. By 1017, Canute had returned with a vengeance, retaken the throne definitively, and ushered in a peaceful period of stable rule.[2]
  • Canute's soldiers seem to be Christians, calling their enemies "heathens" and referring to the Autobots as "devilry". In contrast, Godwin's men are depicted as Norse pagans, invoking "the beard of Woden" and calling the Autobots "Niflheim-spawned". In the real-world contemporary battle for the English throne, the distinction wasn't as stark as this might imply; all the major players were in fact Christian. However, Viking culture was still in the process of Christianization, and smaller groups did indeed hold varieties of beliefs as seen here.
  • Fastlane's assessment that "the natives definitely fall into the restless category" paraphrases the famous line from the movie Island of Lost Souls, "The natives are restless."
  • An irate Battletrap threatens to "get medieval on their afts", a slight modification of a line from the movie Pulp Fiction.
  • The starship Mantlo is named after Bill Mantlo, who wrote the first and second issues of the original Marvel series.
  • Punch's grim assessment of Prime's plan, "The needs of the many...", is of course a reference to Spock's famous line from The Wrath of Khan, though it was also spoken by Sentinel Prime, voiced by Leonard Nimoy, in Dark of the Moon. Likewise, Prime's declaring that his plan will give Cybertron "a fighting chance" is taken from another quote spoken by Doctor McCoy in The Search for Spock, drawing further parallels between Optimus's plan to sacrifice the Ark with Megatron aboard it and James Kirk's similar decision to destroy the Klingon-boarded USS Enterprise.

Errors

  • Optimus Prime speaks of Ursa Major as a star; in real life, however, this is the name given to an entire constellation, a grouping of multiple stars. Perhaps Prime just means that they'll be able to send Cybertron to a star within the constellation?
  • The insane "Safety Megatron" cover image was neither referenced nor explained.

Other trivia

  • The line-art takes heavy inspiration from the styles of the Marvel artists who worked on the original series. This is backed up by the colors, which evoke the look of contemporary printing via a somewhat limited palette, block coloring, and liberal use of Ben Day dots.
  • It's not a Marvel comic without a good old-fashioned introdump, and we get an abridged one on page 8, where all of the members of the Ark crew stand around and talk about why they decided to join the mission.
  • Not an error, per se, but for a comic that namechecks pretty much all of the other original members of the Ark from issue #1 of the Marvel comic and then some, Trailbreaker is conspicuous by his absence.
  • Originally solicited for early August, this issue arrived two weeks late, on August 21st.

Covers (1)

  • Cover A: Optimus and Megatron have it out, by Guido Guidi

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References

  1. ↑ Ultra Magnus's profile in Marvel UK #81
  2. ↑ Canute at Wikipedia

Preview

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