Wanted: Galvatron — Dead or Alive!

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The name or term "113" refers to more than one character or idea. For a list of other meanings, see 113 (disambiguation).
« The Transformers (UK) #113–114 »

Rodimus realises that Galvatron has eaten the last muffin!
"Wanted: Galvatron — Dead or Alive!"
Publisher Marvel Comics
Cover date 16th–23rd May 1987
Script Simon Furman
Art Geoff Senior (113)
Pencils Will Simpson (114)
Inks Tim Perkins (114)
Colours Steve White
Letters Annie Halfacree (113), Richard Starkings (114)
Editor Ian Rimmer?
Continuity Marvel Comics continuity (Marvel UK)
Chronology 1987/Original future (2007)

Rodimus Prime offers a bounty on the missing Galvatron which attracts the attention of Death’s Head.

Synopsis

In the year 2007, unable to find any trace of Galvatron after he threw him out of Unicron, Rodimus Prime in desperation places a bounty of 10,000 Shanix on him, dead or alive. On the planet Elpasos this attracts the attention of Death's Head, a bounty hunter (he prefers to be called a freelance peacekeeping agent).

Determined to claim the reward, after attacking a barkeep over the price of three quarts of oil, Death's Head tracks down Cyclonus and Scourge and beats out of them the details of how they and Galvatron travelled back in time. Realising that Galvatron has probably fled back to the past, Death's Head decides to follow him.

First Blood!

Rodimus, Blurr, Kup, and Wreck-Gar are cornered and shot by a squad of Decepticon planes, resulting in the squad leader standing over Rodimus, taunting him to beg for his life. However it's really an ambush and a hidden set of Autobots leap into action, quickly turning the battle around. When the squad leader begs for his own life to Rodimus, his request is brutally denied.

Later Rodimus and Kup debate about killing and the difference between Autobots and Decepticons.

Cyclonus and Scourge return to Decepticon headquarters and tell Nautilus, a deep cover Autobot spy, about how Death's Head beat them up. Nautilus breaks cover and tells Rodimus Prime what he has learned. Rodimus is appalled at what he has set in motion.

In the past, Bumblebee witnesses First Aid being displaced to Limbo as Death's Head arrives. Unwilling to allow any witnesses to know he is there, Death’s Head blows Bumblebee apart.

(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

Autobots Decepticons Junkions Others

Notes

Artwork and technical errors

  • On the cover of UK issue #114, most of Rodimus Prime's wheels clearly are unattached to the body at their hubs. The body is just resting on top of the wheels.

Continuity errors

  • Bumblebee is shown as being functional in 2007 as part of the Autobot ambush, despite being destroyed in 1987 and rebuilt as Goldbug (although as he is later rebuilt again back into Pretender Bumblebee maybe this isn't an error after all).

Continuity notes

Quoting The Transformers: The Movie before it became a fad!
  • This is the first part of a story arc that continues in "Burning Sky!", "Hunters", "Fire on High!" and "Vicious Circle!"
  • There's a callback to the movie here, when Rodimus does Optimus' "you who are without mercy" scene... and then shoots the Decepticon dead. This quickly sets up for the reader that Rodimus is not the same type of guy as Optimus. (And it's also a sneaky nod to Judge Dredd story The Apocalypse War, where Dredd gives exactly the same response to someone's "beg" for mercy)
  • This story sees Bumblebee destroyed, ready to be rebuilt as Goldbug in "Hunters". This is an alternate origin to that shown in G.I. Joe and the Transformers.
  • Nobody can remember Galvatron travelling to Earth's past. Ultra Magnus and Bumblebee are around in both timelines but it's possible the alternate reality theory of time travel is in operation.
  • Wreck-Gar is uncharacteristically quite quiet in issue #113, dropping only one of the many "British Junkionisms" that he would fling about with abandon in later stories. Here, he refers to Bob's Full House, a BBC quiz show from the late 1980s. On the cover for issue #114, he drops another, with "What's yours called?" referencing a contemporary advert for the Renault 5 car.
  • After Death's Head beats the mech-fluid out of him, the barkeep says "That'll do nicely", referencing a contemporary advert for American Express.
  • James Roberts became hooked on Transformers due to issue #113, and after growing up to write Transformers comics professionally, he would pay homage to the issue that started it all by including the number 113 in many of his stories. Often it is just used to casually number or measure things (characters might travel 113 kliks, or something might occur for the 113th time), but a few of the more notable or recurrent uses of the number include Agent 113, Room 113 and the 113th Battalion.
  • The story starts on Elpasos, the first Marvel Transformers story partially set on a planet other than Earth or Cybertron. The US continuity would have to wait until Nebulos in Ring of Hate!

Other trivia

  • Like some other issues, a free version of issue 113 (with an altered corner box) was given out at the chain of British steakhouses Berni Inn.

Real-life references

Back-up stories

Issue #113:

Issue #114:

  • Backup strips: The Inhumanoids - "The Battle Down Below!" and Robo-Capers
  • This Robo-Capers strip featured Transformers who didn't quite make the grade.

Covers (8)

  • Issue #113
    Issue #113
  • Issue #114
    Issue #114
  • Issue #221
    Issue #221
  • Issue #222
    Issue #222
  • Issue #223
    Issue #223
  • Issue #224
    Issue #224
  • Fallen Angel TPB
    Fallen Angel TPB
  • The Transformers Classics UK Volume 4
    The Transformers Classics UK Volume 4

Reprints

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