In the National Interest

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Specifics: IDW covers
« The Transformers (UK) #74–77 »
File:MarvelUK-74.jpg
"In the National Interest"
Publisher Marvel Comics
Cover date 16th August – 6th September 1986
Writer Simon Furman
Art Will Simpson
Inks Dave Hine (75), Tim Perkins (76)
Colours John Burns (74-76), Tony Jozwiak (77)
Lettering Annie Halfacree
Editor Ian Rimmer
Continuity Marvel Comics continuity

Joy Meadows and the Dinobots are going to blow the whole Robot Master story wide open, but the Decepticons and Triple I don't want this to happen.

Synopsis

Joy Meadows is on a TV talk show announcing that she will expose the claims of Robot Master that he leads the Transformers for the sham that is. Meanwhile Triple-I are watching and decide that she must be silenced. At the same time, Professor Morris is standing trial for murder, when the courtroom is invaded by four armed men who kidnap Morris. He then finds out he has been captured by Triple-I to control their new mechanism, Centurion, in order to stop Joy wrecking their Robot Master scenario.

Meanwhile, back at the Ark, the Dinobots are bored, as they are confined to the Autobot base because their forms make them too conspicuous. Grimlock decides they need to go find some action, when Sludge rushes in and states that he's seen Joy on TV. The Dinobots go out to find Joy and are just in time to save her from an ambush laid by Triple-I. Grimlock tells Joy about the fights between the Autobots and Decepticons and works out that Robot Master is a puppet of the government. Joy sets up an interview with one of the Dinobots, and Swoop sets off to pick up her film crew.

The Decepticons (who are searching for Robot Master) pick up the signal, and Swoop gets involved in a fight with Megatron while picking up the film crew. Swoop is saved by the arrival of Centurion (controlled by Morris, who is disobeying Triple-I's orders and has sealed himself in the control room), but as Swoop flies off, he is hit by a homing beacon fired by a Triple-I employee. The signal from this leads the Decepticons to the Dinobots' location.

Centurion arrives as the Dinobots are getting defeated and attacks the Decepticons, bringing the battle back into the balance. Soundwave takes the recordings from the film crew and destroys them, threatening the humans with an unpleasant fate if they ever try to compile further evidence. The Decepticons leave, and the Dinobots lick their wounds.

Meanwhile, Morris decides that he is going to bury Triple-I once and for all.


(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

Autobots Decepticons Humans Others

Errors

  • The Dinobots complain that they're confined to the Ark by the other Autobots because their dino modes make them look conspicuous. This appears to reference the US version of the dialogue in "Command Performances!", where the Dinobots' absence in recent stories is explained the same way. However, the UK version of "Command Performances" actually has altered dialogue that purposefully ignores that explanation, since the Dinobots had previously been focused on in several UK stories, and thus, no explanation of an absence was needed. So basically, this issue of the UK comic adopts a plot point from the US comic that the UK comic previously chose to ignore.
  • Morris confessed to the murder and gave himself up in his first appearance, so why is his lawyer arguing he's innocent? Why is he on the verge of being acquitted?

Items of note

  • "OOH, 'ECK! DECEPTICONS!" Slag has the campest warning ever.
  • Walter Barnett, usually the nice guy in Triple-I, doesn't appear to be bothered about murdering Joy to maintain the Robot Master story.
  • The Centurion project was not known about by the President of the United States, and Forsythe is scared that they'd all be facing prison sentences if the President knew Centurion was theirs. He notably doesn't seem worried that the President would know they tried to murder a journalist...
  • Centurion would then hang around with the Dinobots for a while before being destroyed by Galvatron. The Dinobots must have liked him, because Grimlock ordered Wheeljack to rebuild him ahead of other Autobots when Grimlock became leader.
  • Reprinted as part of IDW's Best of UK: Dinobots.
  • Issue subtitles:
    • Issue #74—
    • Issue #75—Gauntlet!
    • Issue #76—Holocaust
    • Issue #77—The Dinobots' Last Stand?

Back-up Stories

Issue #74:

  • Hercules — "For the Love of Gods" Part 1
  • Robo-Capers - A special edition, revealing the new host of the letters page — Grimlock, guest written by Simon Furman.

Issue #75:

  • Hercules — "For the Love of Gods" Part 2
  • Robo-Capers

Issue #76:

  • Hercules — "For the Love of Gods" Part 3
  • Robo-Capers

Issue #77:

  • Hercules — "For the Love of Gods" Part 4
  • Robo-Capers

Reprints

  • Reprinted as a back-up story in UK issues #302-307 from late 1990 until February 1991.
  • Reprinted in the Titan Books trade paperback "Dinobot Hunt" in May 2004.
  • Reprinted as part of IDW's Best of UK: Dinobots series in late 2007 and early 2008.
  • The IDW reprints were inevitably collected in a trade paperback, released in May 2008.

Covers (23)

  • UK issue #74: Grimlock, Sludge and Slag burst through the cover, by Alister Pearson.
  • UK issue #75: while Megatron is about to destroy Swoop, Guardian looms up behind him, by John Stokes.
  • UK issue #76: Swoop carries off the LCTV van, by David Hine.
  • UK issue #77: composite of the story's major players, by Phil Gascoine.
  • UK issue #302: Blaster & Dreadwind, by Stewart Johnson & John Burns.
  • UK issue #303: Starscream, by Stewart Johnson & Robin Bouttell.
  • UK issue #304: Circuit Breaker & Starscream, by John Marshall, Bambos Georgiou & Robin Bouttell.
  • UK issue #305: Shockwave, by Richard Fisher.
  • UK issue #306: a contemplative Optimus Prime, by Stewart Johnson & Robin Bouttell.
  • UK issue #307: Galvatron being punished by Unicron, by Andrew Wildman & Robin Bouttell.
  • Transformers: Dinobot Hunt cover: the Dinobots crush some log cabins, by ???
  • Best of UK: D.inobots #4 cover A: Sludge holding Joy, art by Nick Roche, colors by Rob Ruffolo
  • Best of UK: Dinobots #4 cover B: scene from "Victory!", by Geoff Senior.
  • Best of UK: Dinobots #4 Retailer Incentive cover A: panels from "Victory!", by Geoff Senior.
  • Best of UK: Dinobots #4 Retailer Incentive cover B: sketch of cover A, by Nick Roche.
  • Best of UK: Dinobots #5 cover A: Grimlock brandishing sword over defeated Decepticons, art by Nick Roche, colors by Liam Shalloo.
  • Best of UK: Dinobots #5 cover B: scene from UK issue #75, by Will Simpson.
  • Best of UK: Dinobots #5 Retailer Incentive cover A: panels from UK issue #76, by Will Simpson.
  • Best of UK: Dinobots #5 Retailer Incentive cover B: sketch of cover A, by Nick Roche.
  • Best of UK: Dinobots #6 cover A: Guardian leading the Dinobots, by Josh Burcham.
  • Best of UK: Dinobots #6 cover B: Guardian beating up the Constructicons, by Josh Burcham.
  • Best of UK: Dinobots #6 Retailer Incentive cover: panels from UK issue #77, by Will Simpson.
  • Best of UK Dinobots TPB: Grimlock, by Nick Roche.
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