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THE TRANSFORMERS: COMICS, BOOKS AND MANGA

Marvel Comics
(1984-1994)
Japanese
Manga
Other Books
and Titles
Titan Books
(2001-2010)
Club/Con
(2001-2016)
Dreamwave
(2002-2004)
Devil's Due
(2003-2007)
IDW Publishing
(2005-now)

MARVEL TRANSFORMERS COMICS GUIDE

UK #21 - #30

| #21 | #22 | #23 | #24 | #25 | #26 | #27 | #28 | #29 | #30 |

#21 - "Raiders of the Last Ark" Part 4

[cover]
Cover: Mike Collins, Jeff Anderson

Cover Date: 29/06/85

Writer: Simon Furman
Art: Mike Collins, Jeff Anderson
Letters: [Richard] Starkings
Colours: Gina Hart

Synopsis: Megatron uses his antimatter ability to try and short out Auntie's hold on himself and Optimus. But then Windcharger and Ravage arrive, the former having dealt with Guardian, and the latter disconnects Auntie. Megatron then goes to kill Prime, but Windcharger hurls him out of the Ark with his magnetic powers, only to short out. The Decepticons withdraw, leaving the Autobots to tend to their wounded.

Notes: By the end of the story, Windcharger, Jazz, Prowl, Hound and Brawn are out of action. Prime's dialogue, and the casualty list [all Autobots we don't see taken out in the first eight issues], and the editorial note all point towards the story happening before #8, but it can't fit there, and as an editorial box isn't actually part of the story I still side with my initial theory [see #13]. Guardian is a non-sentient robot used for security by the Autobots.

Errors: Most of Mount St, Hilary, and a fair chunk of Oregon, should be atomised the second Megatron releases the antimatter.

Transformers featured [in rough order of appearance]: Optimus Prime, Megatron, Ravage, Windcharger [who suffers systems overload], Gears.

Notable Others: Auntie [disconnected with extreme prejudice by Ravage], Guardian [knocked out by Windcharger].

Production Notes: The strip is five pages, with page 5 printed in black & white. This would be Sheila Cranna's final issue as editor. The final page of the Transformers strip from #8 was reprinted also, to set the scene for the resumption of US material next issue.

Extras: Sunstreaker features in the July Calendar. There's also the second part of the Transformers Checklist, covering the Decepticons. Soundwave's name is omitted, and he's left with just his grouping as "Cassette Man"...

Back-Up Strips:
Matt and the Cat
Chromobots
Robo-Capers
Planet Terry
From the Fact Files - "The Saga of Erik the Red" [the one who discovered America, not the one who bothered the X-Men every now and then]

Review: Another rather sudden ending, with Guardian going down off-panel and the Decepticons making a similarly-sudden exit, though it's nice to see Windcharger having a shot at being all-powerful. The best bit, though, is that the storyline's over, frankly...

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#22 - "The New Order" Part 1

[cover]
Cover: Mark Bright

Cover Date: 13/07/85

Writer: Bob Budiansky
Art: Alan Kupperberg
Letters: Rick Parker
Colours: Nel Yomtov

Originally Printed In: Pages 2-11 of US Transformers #5, dated June 1985.

Synopsis: Now installed on the Ark, Shockwave muses over the humans, the deactivated Autobots, and the repairing of the Decepticons. Shockwave announces to Megatron that in lieu of the latter's failure, he will be taking command. Meanwhile, the last remaining Autobot, Ratchet, meets Buster Witwicky at hospital, where Sparkplug is making a full recovery.

Notes: This follows on from #8, and Shockwave has gathered the Autobots drained by the Tubes and raided the sickbay since then, and now has all the Autobots bar Ratchet at his disposal, all bar Optimus deactivated. Starscream, Ravage, Laserbeak, Buzzsaw and Thundercracker are shown to be revived by Shockwave, with Megatron soon to follow. Megatron swears by the Great Matrix.

Errors: Yomtov completely buggers up the splash page of dead Autobots - Windcharger is coloured as Brawn, Wheeljack and Ironhide have unwarranted slabs of blue on them, Trailbreaker's coloured like Sideswipe, and Jazz has red hands and a red head, with white arms. On page 11, Shockwave dismembers Sunstreaker, who's blue with red arms.

Transformers featured [in rough order of appearance]: Shockwave, Thundercracker, Ravage, Starscream, Megatron, Ratchet. The bodies of Cliffjumper, Bumblebee, Windcharger, Huffer, Wheeljack, Gears, Bluestreak, Prowl, Hound, Sideswipe, Ironhide, Trailbreaker, Jazz and Sunstreaker are seen.

Notable Others: GB Blackrock [first appearance] and Josie Beller [first appearance] are seen on TV. Buster, plus Sparkplug in flashback.

Production Notes: For the UK printing, the first page was replaced by a monochrome photo from the TV mini-series V. The same image is overlaid onto page 2 on one of Shockwave's screens. Presumably this was to make the image more relevant to the UK audience [the V mini-series had been a huge hit on ITV in summer 1984]. Pages 1-2 were printed in black & white. The cover is adapted from US #5. The new editor is unnamed. Openers is replaced by a new contents page, Trans Formation. Also, the classic "Next" box makes its' first appearance.

Extras: There's a Robot War feature, recapping the first 21 issues. This slots the events of #9-12 between #5 and #6, and #13-21 between #7 and #8. Make of this what you will...

Letters Page: The letters are moved to a new page, Soundwaves, "hosted" by the Decepticon Soundwave.

Back-Up Strips:
Machine Man - "Jolted by Jack O'Lantern" Part 1.
Matt and the Cat
Chromobots
Robo-Capers
Planet Terry

Review: A superb start for Shockwave, firmly establishing his primary concern of the Decepticon cause, and his cold, calculating manner. It's very slowly paced, with the initial sequence of Shockwave observing Earth TV and a recap of the first four stories feeling like padding, however. Kupperberg's art isn't especially good, though Yomtov's way-out colouring on some of the more dramatic pages, such as the "dead Autobots" spread on pages 4-5, really doesn't help. Promising, though.

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#23 - "The New Order" Part 2

[cover]
Cover: Robin Smith

Cover Date: 27/07/85

Writer: Bob Budiansky
Art: Alan Kupperberg
Letters: Rick Parker
Colours: Nel Yomtov

Originally Printed In: Pages 12-22 of US Transformers #5, dated June 1985.

Synopsis: Buster opts to say goodbye to the Autobots, and tells Sparkplug. Meanwhile, back at the Ark, Shockwave reveals his plan to Megatron - to get the Creation Matrix from Optimus Prime and build an army of Decepticons. Ratchet and Buster return to the Ark, and find it full of Decepticons. Buster sneaks in, and finds the Autobots deactivated and strung up, and Prime's head placed in a holding apparatus, telling him he is the Autobots' last hope.

Notes: Shockwave followed the crashing Ark to Earth. The Matrix is an encoded program, given to one Autobot every millennia [we later find this isn't true - it's possible Shockwave doesn't know the truth, but more Matrix talk when it changes state, much later...]. Megatron swears by 'The Divine Weld'.

Errors: Mirage's arm has been stuck back on him by the nice Decepticons [who also leave his missile launcher on]. On page 6, Shockwave's upper arms are uncoloured, and the miscoloured Sunstreaker's still about. On page 10, Ratchet has a blue chest.

Transformers featured [in rough order of appearance]: Ratchet, Megatron, Shockwave, Rumble, Skywarp, Soundwave, Frenzy, Optimus Prime [just his head]. The bodies of Mirage, Brawn, Sunstreaker, Cliffjumper, Bumblebee, Huffer, Wheeljack, Gears, Bluestreak, Prowl, Hound, Sideswipe, Ironhide, Trailbreaker and Jazz are seen.

Notable Others: Buster and Sparkplug.

Production Notes: Pages 1-4 & 7-9 were printed in black & white.

Extras: The August Calendar features Skywarp [with some nice art].

Back-Up Strips:
Machine Man - "Jolted by Jack O'Lantern" Part 2
Matt and the Cat
Chromobots
Robo-Capers
Planet Terry

Review: It's still feeling a bit like a prologue, but we get more development on Shockwave and Ratchet, arguably Budiansky's best two characterisations, as well as Megatron, who's still fairly ruthless. The art's average, though the last frame is quite a memorable image. Again, promising.

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#24 - "The Worse of Two Evils!" Part 1

[cover]
Cover: Robin Smith

Cover Date: 10/08/85

Writer: Bob Budiansky
Art: Alan Kupperberg
Letters: Rick Parker
Colours: Nel Yomtov

Originally Printed In: Pages 1-11 of US Transformers #6, dated July 1985.

Synopsis: Shockwave attacks an oil rig belonging to industrialist GB Blackrock in a show of power. Shockwave overcomes the rig's defences, and Blackrock orders the crew to abandon the structure, but not before his secretary, Josie Beller, is electrocuted. Meanwhile, Optimus transfers the Matrix to Buster's mind to keep it away from Shockwave, and the human passes out.

Notes: Optimus can mind-link to a human.

Errors: Blackrock's oil rig is insanely well-defended. His glasses reappear and disappear throughout. Shockwave's Decepticon symbol on his gun mode shifts all over the place.

Transformers featured [in rough order of appearance]: Shockwave, Megatron, Soundwave, Rumble, Frenzy, Skywarp, Optimus Prime [his head].

Notable Others: Buster [who receives the Creation Matrix from Optimus], GB Blackrock, Josie [electrocuted this issue].

Production Notes: Pages 5-8 were printed in black & white.

Letters Page: In the first inkling of the wit that will come to characterise the letters' page, Soundwave claims that Cassette Man, the name given to him in #21 's checklist, is a nickname select humans are allowed to call him that. He also says there are plans to include the Insecticons in upcoming stories - however, they won't appear until #82...

Back-Up Strips:
Machine Man - "Jolted by Jack O'Lantern" Part 3
Matt and the Cat
Chromobots
Robo-Capers
Planet Terry

Review: Pretty good, with another show of just how powerful Shockwave is, and a decent intro for GB Blackrock [though he was seen briefly in #22]. Megatron's well characterised too, and the storyline's developing nicely.

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#25 - "The Worse of Two Evils!" Part 2

[cover]
Cover: Alan Kupperberg

Cover Date: 24/08/85

Writer: Bob Budiansky
Art: Alan Kupperberg
Letters: Rick Parker
Colours: Nel Yomtov

Originally Printed In: Pages 12-22 of US Transformers #6, dated July 1985.

Synopsis: Shockwave tells Megatron the Decepticons will be moving their base to the oil rig. After he leaves, Megatron breaks free of his life-support machine. Buster reawakens after the mind-link with Prime, and reports back to Ratchet. Back inside, Megatron sneaks up on Shockwave and blasts him clean out of the mountain. The pair battle in the nearby town, and Shockwave wins. He considers killing Megatron, but instead makes him swear loyalty in front of his fellow Decepticons. Meanwhile, Ratchet and Buster ponder a bleak future.

Notes: Megatron loses his fusion cannon in the fight with Shockwave.

Errors: Shockwave's hand and gun go pink as Megatron blasts him out of the Ark. His gun goes pale blue after he blasts Megatron, and his chest follows suit as he transforms. As Megatron begs to Shockwave, his neck is at a ludicrous angle. Shockwave's shoulders go white again. They repeat this on page 10, while his waist and those things on his shoulders go blue. In the second frame, the left third of Ravage's face goes pink. In the final frame of page 11, the front of Ratchet's ambulance mode is much too flat.

Transformers featured [in rough order of appearance]: Ratchet, Shockwave, Megatron, Soundwave, Skywarp, Frenzy, Ravage.

Notable Others: Buster.

Production Notes: Pages 5-7 were printed in black & white. The cover is adapted from US #6.

Extras: A new profiles format - Inter Face, giving two fact files a lot closer to the Transformers Universe ones [no doubt taken straight from the writer's bible], with black-and-white versions of the characters' boxart. This instalment covers Warpath and Ramjet. Ratchet has the October calendar, with the art adapted from the splash page of the forthcoming #27.

Letters Page: In the first inkling of the wit that will come to characterise the letters' page, Soundwave claims that Cassette Man, the name given to him in #21 's checklist, is a nickname select humans are allowed to call him that. He also says there are plans to include the Insecticons in upcoming stories - however, they won't appear until #82...

Back-Up Strips:
Machine Man - "Jolted by Jack O'Lantern" Part 4 - there's also an update on Machine Man, as the reprints will shift to material set in 2020. While I'm not going to delve into the merits or otherwise of the back-up material to any great depth, the Machine Man material ran from #27 onwards is rather good stuff [including a memorable showdown with the Iron Man of 2020, Arno Stark] and was probably the best back-up material the series ever got.
Matt and the Cat
Chromobots
Robo-Capers
Planet Terry [which finally finishes...]

Review: Dark and dynamic. Kupperberg delivers a superb fight scene, and Shockwave's growing in stature with each issue. An exciting story brought to a close, with Budiansky well on top at this stage.

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#26 - "Warrior School!"

[cover]
Cover: Mark Bright

Cover Date: 07/09/85

Writer: Bob Budiansky
Pencils: William Johnson
Inks: Kyle Baker
Letters: Rick Parker
Colours: Nel Yomtov

Originally Printed In: US Transformers #7, dated August 1985.

Synopsis: Ratchet and Buster stumble on a group of students in the woods and speak to them for a while before Buster has a seizure caused by his mind-link with Optimus. Buster then leaves with the students, while Ratchet tries to come up with a plan. Meanwhile, in Portland, a human worker is tricked into taking Soundwave into the Blackrock Aerospace Plant. There, he and Laserbeak capture the plant from the inside, much to Blackrock's dismay. He then visits a recuperating Josie, who resolves to herself to stop the Transformers. Back at the Ark, Ratchet has sneaked on board, where he finds the sights Buster had told him of. Prime persuades him to carry on the fight. He is then jumped by Megatron, and a brief scuffle ensues before Shockwave interrupts them, giving Megatron fresh orders. Ratchet strikes an uneasy alliance with Megatron, with the Autobot agreeing to find the Dinobots and defeat Shockwave.

Notes: There's no wood on Cybertron. All the Decepticons have moved to the oil rig base, and are transporting the important things from the Ark to there. The Matrix appears to have given Buster telekinesis, over tools at least. Megatron has regained his fusion cannon. Ratchet has medical tools, including a surgical laser and a cryogenic hose, in his forearms. Megatron and Ratchet seal their alliance through the Rite of Oneness, which involves mixing their fuel in a vessel. Blackrock also owns a hospital, the Blackrock Chronic Care Institute, which is where Josie is being treated.

Errors: It's surprising that the viewscreen in the Ark is one-way.

Transformers featured [in rough order of appearance]: Ratchet, Soundwave, Laserbeak, Optimus Prime, Grimlock [flashback], Sludge [flashback], Slag [flashback]. The bodies of Cliffjumper, Jazz, Bluestreak, Sideswipe and Ironhide are seen.

Notable Others: Buster, GB Blackrock, Josie Beller.

Production Notes: All 23 pages of US #7 were printed in one issue. Pages 1-4, 9-12 & 21-23 were printed in black & white. The cover is adapted from US #7.

Back-Up Strips:
Matt and the Cat
Chromobots [which concludes, as the editorial team clear out some of the rubbish clogging up the comic]
Robo-Capers [in colour from now on]

Review: A superb piece of work, possibly the best Transformers story yet. Ratchet is shown to be witty, resourceful and realistic, in all a well-rounded, realistic characterisation rather than the blank functionary from the cartoon. Megatron also is given considerable intelligence, using his cunning rather than brute strength, and the whole thing's very well drawn by Johnson, the best Marvel US artist yet seen. Even the dialogue, Budiansky's biggest early failing, is pretty good. Excellent.

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#27 - "Repeat Performance!" Part 1

[cover]
Cover: Robin Smith

Cover Date: 21/09/85

Writer: Bob Budiansky
Pencils: William Johnson
Inks: Kyle Baker
Letters: Rick Parker
Colours: Nel Yomtov

Originally Printed In: Pages 1-11 of US Transformers #8, dated September 1985.

Synopsis: Ratchet searches the Savage Land for the Dinobots, and luckily finds Slag almost straight away. He accesses the off-line Dinobot's mind, finding out how the five were dispatched by the Ark to tackle Shockwave. Initially they had the upper hand, but Shockwave soon overpowered them, although Snarl forces a stalemate, burying all six Transformers in tar. Just then, Slag reawakens, and after some brief confusion, agrees to help Ratchet.

Notes: The Ark has shuttlecraft, one of which was taken by the Dinobots [who, according to Slag, set out a while after the crash] and another of which is taken by Ratchet. The Savage Land thing neatly explains why the Dinobots were based on dinosaurs when the Ark landed some time after the creatures were extinct. At the time, the Ark actually got the dominant lifeform for that part of the world correct...

Errors: On page 1, the sides of Ratchet's head are yellow rather than red. In the first frame shown by Slag's mind, Snarl's head is yellow. For the rest of the issue, it will be red - for the comic it should be black. Slag's head is also red, rather than black.

Transformers featured [in rough order of appearance]: Ratchet, Shockwave, Megatron, Optimus Prime [head], Slag, Snarl [flashback], Sludge [flashback], Grimlock [flashback], Swoop [flashback]. The bodies of Wheeljack, Bumblebee and Gears are seen in flashback.

Production Notes: The comic is now in full colour, and weekly.

Back-Up Strips:
Machine Man - "He Lives Again" Part 1
Matt and the Cat [in colour from now on]
Robo-Capers

Review: Another excellent story led by Ratchet, who's really carrying the series at this point, with an imaginative "intro" for the Dinobots. Shockwave's threat isn't diminished either as it's depressingly revealed his initial defeat was a fluke. It's superbly drawn once again, with pretty good amounts of detail put into the Savage Land backgrounds, and even Yomtov's colouring is pretty good. A classic.

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#28 - "Repeat Performance!" Part 2

[cover]
Cover: Mike Collins

Cover Date: 28/09/85
Writer: Bob Budiansky
Pencils: William Johnson
Inks: Kyle Baker
Letters: Rick Parker
Colours: Nel Yomtov
Cover: Mark Bright
Back-Up Strip: Machine Man - "He Lives Again" Part 2.
Originally Printed In: Pages 12-22 of US Transformers #8, dated September 1985.

Synopsis: Shockwave continues this plan for the next generation of Decepticons, with Optimus' head now installed in the aerospace plant. Meanwhile, Josie is building herself an exo-suit to overcome her handicap, and gain revenge on the Transformers. At the Ark, Ratchet contacts Megatron. Ratchet sends him a recording of the Dinobots beating Shockwave, telling him it has just happened. A pleased Megatron heads for their rendezvous. There, Megatron reveals he never planned to upload his part of the bargain. Ratchet is prepared, and the Dinobots leap out of hiding to attack Megatron. To Ratchet's dismay, though they are easily beaten. In desperation, he charges Megatron alone, and seems to be unsuccessful, when the cliff below Megatron crumbles, sending the Decepticon over the edge. He then leads the Dinobots back to the Ark.

Notes: Shockwave's armour is "nuclear-hardened steel". There are, or were worker droids on Cybertron called mechodrones. Prime's head is now in the Aerospace plant.

Errors: Blackrock's missing his moustache. On page 2, Soundwave's lower legs are grey [they should be either blue or purple, depending on which colour they've done the rest of him]. The next frame, the colours for his head and faceplate have switched over. Laserbeak's also horribly miscoloured, with a gold head, white underside and red neck. In the same frame, Shockwave's laser "hand" is uncoloured. On page 3, the second caption in the fourth frame, "Moving it causes her great pain", is in a wildly different style. In the first frame of his conversation with Ratchet on page 4, Megatron's fusion cannon is missing [he wouldn't be able to get that arm to the keyboard]. In the next, it's pointing at an odd angle, 90° from his arm. On page 9, in the third frame, Ratchet's forehead "horns" appear to have detached from his nose. There's too much black on Megatron's gun mode, which is also missing the scope, stock and silencer.

Transformers featured [in rough order of appearance]: Shockwave, Soundwave, Optimus Prime [head], Megatron, Sludge, Snarl, Slag, Swoop.

Notable Others: GB Blackrock, Josie Beller.

Production Notes: The cover is adapted from US #8. The epilogue from US #8, consisting of the third frame onwards of page 22, was cut from the UK reprint to allow the story to flow into the next UK strip - a similar sequence was used at the end of #32 instead.

Extras: A nice A2 poster of the Dinobots, drawn by John Higgins. There's an Inter Face profile on Snarl also.

Back-Up Strips:
Machine Man - "He Lives Again" Part 2
Matt and the Cat
Robo-Capers

Review: A great conclusion. Much has been made of the fact that Ratchet sets out to cheat, but to be honest, this is a bit irrelevant - not only is a war going on, but Ratchet's the only guy left on one side, and there's five or so billion humans at risk - he'd be idiotic not to bend the rules a little to find an edge. The flipside is he does something like abandon the planet to the Decepticons even though he knows they're evil, which would be cartoon-esque... It's a great ending to the Ratchet-led mini-arc, with the Autobot surgeon one of the more engaging characterisations thus seen, and Megatron wins back some respect following his heavy defeat in #25. Another strong story, with the US entries currently better than the home-grown stuff.

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#29 - "Decepticon Dam-Busters!" Part 1

[cover]
Cover: John Ridgway

Cover Date: 05/10/85

Writer: Simon Furman
Art: John Stokes
Letters: [Richard] Starkings
Colours: S [Steve] Whitaker

Later Reprinted By: Transformers Collected Comics #5 [UK], Transformers Winter Special 1993 [UK].

Synopsis: Ratchet is leading the Dinobots to the Ark, but they keep scaring humans. They don't understand why the humans are scared, so Ratchet tells them a story. The Decepticons attacked Sherman Dam, planning to get energy by flooding the river. The Autobots arrived to stop them. Megatron and Prime battled on top of the dam, and Megatron won.

Notes: For the first time, a UK storyline fits into the US plot - this follows on from #28. The story Ratchet tells the Dinobots is taken from the TV episode "More Than Meets the Eye" Part Two, right down to some of the dialogue. Episode writer George Arthur Bloom isn't credited, but then he wasn't on the telly either. One question is does the story actually happen, or is Ratchet just making it up? I tend to agree with the latter, mainly because there's no clear slot for the events to fit into [because of the cast present, they must have happened somewhere between #2 and #8]. He probably got the idea off a badly-written, low quality TV series...

Errors: Snarl's dinosaur head is coloured grey instead of yellow.

Transformers featured [in rough order of appearance]: Grimlock, Slag, Snarl, Sludge, Ratchet, Swoop. Megatron, Soundwave, Rumble, Skywarp, Thundercracker, Bumblebee, Sideswipe, Optimus Prime, Jazz, Prowl, Hound, Red Alert, Starscream and Bluestreak all appear in Ratchet's story.

Extras: Another A2 poster. No idea what of, though - it's missing from my issue. As ever, if you know, please mail me. Also, a superb Shockwave October calendar - so good that the Richard Fisher art would be reused for the cover of #305.

Letters Page: Soundwave claims that the comic is the true story of the Transformers, and things like the cartoon and Ladybird books are stories based on the rough facts. This is actually true. He also points out the inferiority of the US Transformer comics' production.

Back-Up Strips:
Machine Man - "He Lives Again" Part 3
Matt and the Cat
Robo-Capers

Review: Hmm... it's nicely drawn and fairly fast, but not very diverting. The whole thing reeks of "oh my God we've got two issues to fill". Still, it's something of a minor landmark, as from this point until around #255 [we'll get to that later...] the UK stories will be seamlessly interwoven with the US material.

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#30 - "Decepticon Dam-Busters!" Part 2

[cover]
Cover: Mike Collins

Cover Date: 12/10/85

Writer: Simon Furman
Art: John Stokes
Letters: [Richard] Starkings
Colours: Steve Whitaker

Later Reprinted By: Transformers Collected Comics #5 [UK], Transformers Winter Special 1993 [UK].

Synopsis: In Ratchet's story, Megatron then destroyed the dam, to flood the town below. Prowl took a team to protect the town. The remaining Autobots first block the river's path with boulders, then cut a huge trench to hold the water. The measures aren't successful. Prowl has evacuated the town, and a second set of trenches dug by Ironhide and Bumblebee were more successful. However, the townspeople were ungrateful, believing all the giant robots to be on the same side. Ratchet and the Dinobots continue their journey. Swoop flies ahead to the Ark, but when the others catch up, they find him unconscious, and in the clutches of the reactivated Guardian.

Notes: One Autobot [can't tell who] swears by "the Celestial Spires".

Errors: Ratchet's story briefly involves Inferno, who shouldn't be on Earth until #188. Prowl is part of the team making the water-break when he has already part of the team sent to evacuate the city. Bumblebee has the same problem,as well as two head designs in as many frames.

Transformers featured [in rough order of appearance]: Ratchet, Grimlock, Slag, Snarl, Sludge, Swoop [knocked out by Guardian]. Megatron, Optimus Prime, Prowl, Jazz, Mirage, Ironhide, Sideswipe, Bumblebee, Hound, Inferno [see Errors], Bluestreak, Wheeljack, Trailbreaker and Brawn all appear in Ratchet's story.

Notable Others: Guardian.

Extras: Another A2 poster. Again, no idea what of, it's missing from my copy. Please mail me.

Back-Up Strips:
Machine Man - "He Lives Again" Part 4
Matt and the Cat
Robo-Capers

Review: Again, competent, but predictable and inconsequential. Stokes' art is great for the large part, although there are several errors and some lack of detail in group scenes. Interesting, but hardly great.

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