War Without End!
| The name or term "War Without End" refers to more than one character or idea. For a list of other meanings, see War Without End (disambiguation). |
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 Foil covers suck for scanning. | |||||||||||||
| War Without End! | |||||||||||||
| Publisher | Marvel Comics | ||||||||||||
| First published | September 1993 | ||||||||||||
| Cover date | November 1993 | ||||||||||||
| Script | Simon Furman | ||||||||||||
| Art | Derek Yaniger | ||||||||||||
| Colors | Sarra Mossoff | ||||||||||||
| Lettering | Richard Starkings with Gaushell | ||||||||||||
| Editor | Rob Tokar | ||||||||||||
| Continuity | Marvel Comics continuity | ||||||||||||
They're baaaaaack...
Synopsis
A group of Autobots led by Grimlock destroys a group of Decepticons in the deepest reaches of space. They have unearthed a different kind of Cybertronians intent on colonizing all the worlds within their grasp. Jhiaxus, the leader of this group of Decepticons, has decided to take matters into his own hands, and captures Grimlock's group in order to demonstrate to them the futility of fighting against his forces. Discouraged by the apparent limitlessness of the threat they now face, the Autobots nonetheless decide to fight back. But, as terrible as this new threat is, Optimus Prime is having visions of something even worse on the horizon...
Featured characters
(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)
| Autobots | Decepticons | Humans | Joes | Cybertronians |
|---|---|---|---|---|
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Quotes
"It begins with screams. Thick. The air is thick with them. A symphony of pain and death. I am drowning in an ocean of corpses. Running. Fleeing from something unspeakably ancient and evil. Only to find... ...that it is right in front of me! One touch, one moment of terrible emptiness and I crumble to dust!"
- —Optimus Prime, has some very morbid dreams.
"Look at 'em, you wouldn't think we'd just risked life and limb to save their scrawny necks!"
"You're surprised?! If I were them, I think I'd be a little wary of you, Blades. I noticed a certain... zeal in the way you went about your work!"
"Is that so? Well, for your information, Mister Holier-Than-Thou, the creep you thought was surrendering was about to nail your worthless hide to the wall! And you know what, Hound? I should have let him do it... because you're a liability to yourself and to us! You're soft, weak! And I won't"
"Enough! There are too many of the enemy to waste time fighting among ourselves! Just remember that we the good guys! Remember we the Autobots!"
- —Blades and Hound, having some mild disagreements over each other's ethics before being interrupted by Grimlock.
Errors
- Optimus Prime is depicted on the cover as having bullet casings lodged in his head, despite the fact that bullets are not fired in their entirety from the barrel of a weapon.
- Optimus Prime mentions Galvatron among the threats the Autobots have overcome. In the U.S. continuity, most of the people who actually encountered one Galvatron ended up dead, and the few that survived didn't learn his name. So how does Prime know it? (In the UK continuity, Optimus encountered Galvatron (or Galvatrons) on several occasions, but whether this issue has a place in UK continuity is debatable.)
- Thunderwing is strangely absent from the list of old ghosts laid to rest despite also being one of the Autobots' most significant threats.
- And does Scorponok deserve a place in that list? He died an ally of Optimus Prime's in the battle against Unicron, unless Optimus Prime was lying to Scorponok about him being an 'old friend'.
Items of note
- Real-world references: The cover tagline "This is not your father's Autobot!" is a play on the then-current advertising slogan for Oldsmobile cars.
- In the first draft of the fold-out cover's battle scene, G1 Megatron was used rather than the G2 tank model.
- Seen in flashbacks: Bludgeon, Megatron [in his original body], Shockwave, Scorponok, Galvatron, Straxus, Ratbat, Unicron, Buster Witwicky.
- Grimlock and others revived with Nucleon can transform again, with no explanation. Since "Another Time and Place" doesn't fit into this continuity, we are to assume they found some other way of canceling Nucleon's effects. A later letters page briefly explained that upon retaking Cybertron the Autobots had found a proper energy source, restoring their transformation.
- The Last Autobot was activated at the end of the G1 comic to watch over the children of Primus. He appears to be no longer around.
References
- On page 16, Optimus Prime reflects on threats faced in the original Marvel comic series. Optimus later refers to Bludgeon's claim to be taking the Decepticons into voluntary exile from the final G1 issue.
- Pages 25–26 tie in to the G.I. Joe comics tie-in from issues #138–142.
- Page 28 shows Straxus in a flashback, describing him as a "small-minded tyrant."
- Page 31 depicts a flashback of Ratbat attacking Buster Witwicky, presumably from issue #37 of the U.S. series.
Covers (2)
- Cover A: Optimus Prime with bullets in his head by Derek Yaniger
- RI cover: foil version of cover A
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- None yet identified.
