Story of the Week

[The Doctor]

Here's an idea. Every Sunday anyone who feels like it can nominate any TF comic story from any publisher as the topic to discuss for the week. Treat it anyway you like. Post reviews, general comments or tell us what you had for breakfast the day you first read it.

To kick off, this week's story up for discussion is...

BUSTER WITWICKY AND THE CARWASH OF DOOM

...from Marvel US.

-Ralph

[Gav]

I never much cared for heavy metal...

[Shockprowl]

This one passed the time for me, I seem to remember, but I was always not too fussed for over 'humaned' stories, and much preffered the all robot stories.

[Deleted]

This was one of the most disappointing stories that I ever read in the original run. It played out like a terrible b movie (that may or may not have been deliberate). Still, it wasn't as bad as that later story where Skullgrin becomes a movie star.

[legios]

Well, I was going to do a full review of this issue, but in honesty it can't bear the weight of any real analysis. It arguably isn't even a "Transformers" story as such - it fits firmly into the "invaders from mars" category of B-movies, with alien robots coming to earth will a somewhat insane plan to steal the gas from the cars of good patriotic americans. Complete with evil corporate car-washes that are invading the small town landscape and "durn gone done washing folks brains".

If the intention was to evoke the kind of double-feature alien invader movies that were oft-shown in drive-in's and fleapit cinemas across America then I would have to say that it succeeds in what it is attempting. Whether the limits of ones ambition should rest in invoking the spirit of the B-movie is another question. To a certain extent it does feel like the strain of doing this book is starting to tell on Budiansky - he spends as much of the issue as he can manage away from the Transformers and with the human supporting cast.
(Perhaps I'm the only one but I do get a bit of a laugh out of the fact that the only reason Buster isn't initially hypnotised by the brain-wash is that he is... otherwise occupied. That and the fact that his Girlfriend comes up with the idea of going through a very slow carwash as a good impromptu date strikes me as mildly amusing)

The Transformers don't come over as the sharpest chips in the motherboard either. Shockwave's henchmen are reduced to almost Keystone Cops level - stealing an Oil Tanker that is empty doesn't exactly speak well for the level of their "pre-caper" information gathering. Especially as three of them turn into insects, and one can control minds.... That said, Ratbat's plan seems to be a little bit.. over complicated for that matter. Given that he has access to mind-controlling hypnotic technology, his plan is to use it to hypnotize car-drivers to drive to his staging area in an oil-refinery/storage depot and then siphon off their fuel. Hang on a minute, he's hiding in a storage depot. Surrounded by huge quantities of gasoline.... Wouldn't it be easier to just hypnotize the refinery staff and skim of a couple of percent of the daily production? Surely it would give you a greater yield, with less chance of discovery. I think Ratbat has taken the B-movie aesthetic a little too much to heart in honesty.

All told, it isn't quite as bad as I remember it - Buster and Jessie are actually quite fun and once you settle into the idea that it is B-movie pastiche it is possible to see how it is quite successful at its pastiche. Hardly a high point of the Marvel titles existence though, and definitely a candidate for the point that the stress starts to show. In honesty I'd say it marks the start of the period where, with hindsight, it would have been kinder to allow Budiansky to leave the title - his heart isn't really in it anymore, but he keeps plugging away because he has a work ethic (and because he needs the work).

Karl

[grahamthomson]

I've long suspected those carwashes were Decepticon Micromaster bases... still there, still waiting to transform Portland into a Decepticon city!

[Andy Turnbull]

Looking back at The Car Wash of Doom it's not as bad as the knee-jerk reaction to it is. It's certainly not Uncle Bob's finest moment and I'd agree with the point made that it does feel like the turning point of Bob's run as the quality slips.

It's one of those issues that doesn't really add anything to the run and could be excised relatively painlessly.

The art isn't quite up to par we're at the stage in the book now that Ian Akin and Brian Garvey's inks have given the lineart a distinct feel and Jim Fern just isn't up to the task.

Andy

[Grand Moff Muffin]

I nominate for this week's musings, the strange beast that is

PRISONER OF WAR

Strange not least because in a four-issue mini-series to promote a toy line, they choose to make the hero Gears, one of the cheapest toys and least glamorous robots to look at. Even his function, 'Transport and Reconnaissance', doesn't exactly mark him out as the obvious one to storm the Decepticon fortress with Spider-Man.

In the course of the story, Gears catches a tank lobbed through the air by Skywarp, knocks out Ravage and Soundwave with one punch each, and demonstrates to readers just how hard it is to kill a Transformer.

We also have in this issue the first mention of Scraplets, another glimpse of the repair robot from Prime's trailer, and the immortal line "Bazooka Joe's all tied up - let's call a cab and split!"

A good solid fill of 23 pages by Jim Salicrup (writer), in my opinion. Two thumbs up.

Martin

[The Doctor]

I've always had a soft spot for that one. The absurdity of Gears teaming up with Spider-Man on an assault on Castle Decepticon is a winner for me.

-Ralph

[Mark_Stevenson]

Prisoner of War will always have a special place in my heart, as TFUK #5 (whence the first half was printed) was My First Transformers Comic. It obviously did the trick...

Mx

[legios]

I have a bit of a soft-spot for this story. It is a good strong "middle" to the mini-series, but also is structured properly as a story in its own right. It has a good "in media res" beginning which establishes swiftly that Sparkplug Witwicky has been kidnapped by evil alien robots, and that the good robots have to rescue him before he can be intimidated or tortured into helping the Decepticons with their evil plans - and then it gets on quite swiftly with the story. It has a great pace, with plenty of cutting back and forth between Autobots and Decepticons to keep things moving.

Gears is not the natural choice for an Autobot action hero, but the story does a good job of convincing the audience that he is up to the part. It almost feels like he is being swept along by events at times - reacting in ways that he would likely be too intimidated to try if he actually stopped to think about them. Being more of an "everyman" Autobot than someone like Prime or Prowl actually makes him a better choice for this issues main plot, as he fits in well alongside Spiderman - a quintessential "everyman" amongst Marvel's superheroes. Speaking of the Spiderman team-up, it works quite well in the context of being part of a mini-series, but I'm not sure that it wouldn't have been a dead-end for the on-going. Placing the Transformers squarely in the mainstream Marvel Universe would have made them just another odd thing in a very odd world. Whereas I feel that they work better in the context of being the principle oddness in a recognizably normal world. That said Salicrup does a good job with Spiderman, capturing his "voice" well. In terms of characterisation Sparkplug fairs quite well here - in his brief appearances we get to see a little bit of steel (as one would expect from a retired marine) and also we see that he is doing some thinking about how his captors operate. His son doesn't come across so well - pretty much all Buster gets to do this issue is angst a little about his dad being captured and get kissed by Jessie.

The art is not bad, if a little bit variable. Frank Springer turns in a good shift in general, but there are a few panels where things fall apart a little (the "shrunken head" Prime on the last page for example), and the fact that apparently the US army are equipped with large-scale mock-ups of Gi Joe toys should perhaps detain us no longer...

All in all, a good read - pacy, fun and with some nice repartee from Spiderman. Reminds me why this comic first caught my attention when I was younger to be honest.

Karl

[Grand Moff Muffin]

Jun 1, 2008 19:36:09 GMT legios said:

Placing the Transformers squarely in the mainstream Marvel Universe would have made them just another odd thing in a very odd world. Whereas I feel that they work better in the context of being the principle oddness in a recognizably normal world.

Agreed, and I would say most superheroes would benefit from the same thing - more than a handful of superheroes on Earth tends to make them less than super.

As it is, we have four superheroes that we know exist in the Marvel TF comic universe: Spider-Man, Rapture, Thunderpunch and Dynamo*. And despite only appearing in one story, I have no hesitation in saying that Spider-Man brought more to the saga than the other three combined. I doubt anyone here will challenge that.

(*plus a few non-human alien visitors to Earth - Death's Head, Firebug, Deathbringer)

Martin

[legios]

Jun 1, 2008 19:51:08 GMT Grand Moff Muffin said:

Agreed, and I would say most superheroes would benefit from the same thing - more than a handful of superheroes on Earth tends to make them less than super.

More of anything tends to dilute its impact - whether that be magic (the One Ring is awe-inspiring because of its history and uniqueness, in some other fantasy settings where magic is more commonplace such items are reduced to "oh look, another McGuffin") or even particular character types (being "The Vampire Slayer" makes a character special and distinctive, being "A Vampire Slayer" makes them blend into the background a little bit). The same trend begins to take effect on "The Transformers" towards the beginning of Bob Budiansky's run - there are so many characters running around that in some ways each of them is devalued a bit by becoming "A N Other Autobot/Decepticon".

As it is, we have four superheroes that we know exist in the Marvel TF comic universe: Spider-Man, Rapture, Thunderpunch and Dynamo*. And despite only appearing in one story, I have no hesitation in saying that Spider-Man brought more to the saga than the other three combined. I doubt anyone here will challenge that.

You'll get no arguement from me there - I tend to forget the existence of the Neo Knights a lot of the time anyway, which is perhaps a measure of the level of impact that they have made on me.

Karl

[charlesrocketboy]

I wish I could forget the Neo-Knights but there they are right in the middle of the final Unicron story and death-of-Cybertron, stinking up the place.

[The Doctor]

It seems apt then to make this week's story...

ON THE EDGE OF EXTINCTION!

-Ralph

[charlesrocketboy]

The Neo-Knights stand out like a sore thumb. This is the Transformers facing their destiny, this is their possible end - and these dull, barely-related characters are taking up precious space (and they didn't do anything anyway!). The exception is Circuit-Breaker and Blackrock, who do deserve to be here, and Blackrock having to make Josie lose her mind after years of trying to help her gives their story a grim, memorable end.

TF-wise, the assembled heroes and villains running in incomprehending terror from Unicron at the start is great, it sells the threat and is the only time I can recall a Big Epic Menace causing that. And then Primus falls easily...

I also really like Galvatron firing the first shot and Scorponok & others viewing him as a heroic figure for it. (In fact, everything Scorponok)

[Grand Moff Muffin]

Well, on the plus side, like 'Target: 2006' it is a hundred times better than the animated movie or any comic book adaptation thereof, in terms of plot and characterisation. Scorponok alone sees to that.

Also, this story came at a time before Simon Furman's epic apocalypses got repetitious. Yes, the UK had already seen 'Time Wars', but that was all to date. I think 'On the Edge of Extinction' was better than 'Time Wars' and later ends of the world such as 'A Rage in Hell' and 'Reaching the Omega Point'. The artwork was also better than in any of those.

I'm not as fond of the story as I used to be, but that's mainly because the sheer number of Furman apocalypses has cheapened it over the years. One of them adds a lot to the saga, but doing it again and again makes me feel I'd rather not have any, and just stick to lower key stories like my favourite of Furman's works, namely those in the first 100 or so UK issues.

On a completely biased point, I liked the way OTEOE killed off characters I wasn't bothered about and brought back the ones I wanted to see more of (the exact opposite of the animated movie). Scorponok was a great character but got a fine send-off, one that I would be happy for any of my favourite characters to go out on.

Re: the Neo-Knights: Circuit-Breaker, who built her weapons system in 1985 from her hospital bed, using only Earth technology, electrocuted Unicron. Think about it.

Martin

[grahamthomson]

The one thing that ruins OTEOE for me is the colouring. (Aside from that I really enjoy the story.) Horrible washed out colours and too many pinks and whites. Bleurgh.

If this story is ever republished as line art only I would be the first in the queue to colour it in.

I agree about the repetitiveness of this type of story. After 75 issues of (mostly) Transformers on Earth, I think OTEOE made for a fantastic climax to the series and glad Simon Furman had the chance to build the entire story and its characters over 20 issues before the axe fell.

The "light our darkest hour" aspect of the Matrix is really only something that can be used once. So with the likes of Rage in Heaven it was a bit of a cop out.

[Andy Turnbull]

On the Edge of Extinction is a splendid capper to the Transformers saga, marred by a couple of bum-notes. 1 - the epilogue page because they got another five issues. Ending it on the second last page would have made more sense.

I'm not as down on the NeoKnights as some people here but they are pretty surplus to requirements. Rapture especially, I can let slide Circuit Breaker's energy attack affecting Unicron, seeing as how he is just a massive Transformer and we've seen her damage TF's before. But there's absolutely no way Rapture should have been able to use telepathy to connect with Unicron (even for an instant). That's just as wanky as Death's Head fighting off Unicron on the astral plane.

It was good to see some of the random toy characters bite the big one.

Scorponok got a good send off,which you can't complain about.

The Matrix as all powerful maguffin worked here but I agree it's usage in Rage in Heaven was a big retread.

Andy

[Andy Turnbull]

PRISONER OF WAR (seeing as how I forgot to post on it).

Frank Springer starts to get a much firmer handle on the character models now (obviously going for the animation model approach as opposed to the toys) and the art is less erratic than the previous issues. The microhead Prime panel not withstanding. The colours are abhorrent as Yomtov has some dayglo fit in his brain and can't keep on model from panel to panel on the same page.

The story itself moves the mini along quite well, with a quick catch up and some fleshing out of Sparkplug as well. After all we need a reason to be interested in his kidnapping other than his family ties. The presence of Spider-Man is an interesting choice and as has been said Salicrup has a good handle on him (no surprise given his first job in comics was writing Spidey-Super Stories). The team up with Gears works well and in contrast with a lot of guest appearances it doesn't feel like he was shoe-horned in.

Obviously aside from the Savage Land's appearances this is the Transformers last hurrah in the mainstream Marvel Universe (616). It would be interesting to have seen how the Transformers played out in the marvel universe had they been left there. ROM made a good fist of it over the years so there was no real reason the Transformers couldn't have worked.

I'd have to say that having too many heroes/superheroes is not the problem, I've no problem with the tales of Greek/Norse myths where there are loads of gods swanning around. There's nothing wrong with a large distinct group of heroes. The problem is so many of them aren't distinct and are just identikit clones and that's where the damage comes in. The same thing is true with the Transformers, as each new toy got shoehorned in, they were given a speech defect and a character trait and left to mill around. Looking at Bob's run you can quite clearly see that so few of the characters introduced are even remotely engaging. Out of the "master" generation there are only two interesting characters who come out of it - Fortress Maximus/Galen and Zarak/Scorponok.

I think with the weekly UK comic, Furman got a better shot at having to deal with the toy introductions and comes out of it a little better than Uncle Bob.

Andy

[Grand Moff Muffin]

Jun 3, 2008 12:05:02 GMT Andy Turnbull said:

I think with the weekly UK comic, Furman got a better shot at having to deal with the toy introductions and comes out of it a little better than Uncle Bob.

Hm, I'd like to come back on that - in agreement, with deeper exploration - but will hold off if I can reserve next week for perhaps a dual assessment/contrast of "Second Generation" (the Special Teams origin) and "Enemy Action" (Seacons/Sparkabots/Firecons).

Back to this week's story, I disagree about the last page, because I thought the Grimlock/Prowl/Bludgeon arc that followed was excellent. And although the final issue was not excellent, I did get a greater sense of closure from it than I do from any other TF ending. Even Ratchet got the death he deserved (assuming at that stage that he successfully killed Megatron, Shockwave and Starscream).

In #75 itself, still have a problem with Circuit-Breaker. Just because she can electrocute a robot the size of an aeroplane doesn't mean she can electrocute a planet. That's like saying I can squash an elephant underfoot because I can squash an ant. I was just irritated by the logic of "Well, it has circuits, doesn't it?"

Here's a question: Did anyone shed a tear for anyone who died in #75 apart from Prime and Scorponok?

Martin

[Andy Turnbull]

Jun 4, 2008 7:05:12 GMT Grand Moff Muffin said:

Jun 3, 2008 12:05:02 GMT Andy Turnbull said:

I think with the weekly UK comic, Furman got a better shot at having to deal with the toy introductions and comes out of it a little better than Uncle Bob.

Hm, I'd like to come back on that - in agreement, with deeper exploration - but will hold off if I can reserve next week for perhaps a dual assessment/contrast of "Second Generation" (the Special Teams origin) and "Enemy Action" (Seacons/Sparkabots/Firecons).

Back to this week's story, I disagree about the last page, because I thought the Grimlock/Prowl/Bludgeon arc that followed was excellent. And although the final issue was not excellent, I did get a greater sense of closure from it than I do from any other TF ending. Even Ratchet got the death he deserved (assuming at that stage that he successfully killed Megatron, Shockwave and Starscream).

In #75 itself, still have a problem with Circuit-Breaker. Just because she can electrocute a robot the size of an aeroplane doesn't mean she can electrocute a planet. That's like saying I can squash an elephant underfoot because I can squash an ant. I was just irritated by the logic of "Well, it has circuits, doesn't it?"

Here's a question: Did anyone shed a tear for anyone who died in #75 apart from Prime and Scorponok?

Martin

Sounds good to me.

I do like the final arc that follows as well, except the last issue as it's so blatanty rushed and a hotch-potch but giving a good open end to the series would have been much better than than the Last Maguffin showing up.

I take it it's the blatant display of pain that she causes Unicron that really bothers you? I do see where you are coming from in relation to the difference in scale and power, but she certainly could have overloaded some small part of him with her abilities.

Oh and what about Xaaron? He was really the only other established character who bought it.

Andy

[grahamthomson]

Jun 4, 2008 9:37:08 GMT Andy Turnbull said:

I take it it's the blatant display of pain that she causes Unicron that really bothers you? I do see where you are coming from in relation to the difference in scale and power, but she certainly could have overloaded some small part of him with her abilities.
Andy

Maybe she only electrocuted him a little bit and it was a positive feedback loop chain reaction that multiplied it all and caused him such pain?

Though if that were the case then Unicron would need to be careful attacking any planets with power lines that he might step on.

[Grand Moff Muffin]

Oh, forgot Xaaron - how unthoughtful of me!

I always liked him. Like Ratbat, he was an example that you didn't have to be the biggest robot of the year's releases to be an intelligent leader. But it was cruel the way Primus basically reformatted his brain without so much as a by-your-leave.

When he died, I think Scorponok shouted "Xaaron!" and Prime shouted "Primus!" It would make a good story some time to find out how well Scorponok knew Xaaron, to make him care so.

Martin

[The Doctor]

I've always been irritated by Xaaron's end as he was more or less zombified by Primus and seemed to have long 'left the building' by the time the body was destroyed. Annoyed the hell out of me that such an important character was pretty much left to rot. Irritates me just as much as the 6th Doctor in 'Doctor Who' being taken out by bumping his head on the TARDIS console. Damn you, Pip and Jane Baker.

-Ralph

[charlesrocketboy]

I quite like it - it brings up hints of Primus being a dodgy bugger, and is a somewhat nasty end (the fact it happens to such a long-timer makes it more surprising).

Jun 4, 2008 15:54:38 GMT Grand Moff Muffin said:

When he died, I think Scorponok shouted "Xaaron!" and Prime shouted "Primus!"

Yup.

Does Scorponok care so about Xaaron or does Prime just not care?

[Deleted]

This issue was one of the best TF issues I had read in a long time and it was just disappointing that you knew that the comic was coming to an end. Fans had waited quite a while for a decent TF story and when they finally get one it was on the deathbed of the comic.

Jun 4, 2008 16:29:06 GMT The Doctor said:

Irritates me just as much as the 6th Doctor in 'Doctor Who' being taken out by bumping his head on the TARDIS console. Damn you, Pip and Jane Baker.

Pip and Jane Baker did tend to come up with some oddities in the 80's like this kids series called Watt on Earth which seemed a little too silly for me.

[Grand Moff Muffin]

Going back to superheroes in TF canon, I have just ascertained that the Adam West Batman TV series must exist in the Marvel TF universe.

In tonight's episode, Catwoman stole the voices of British teenage heartthrob pop duo 'Chad and Jeremy'. We know Shockwave watched a good deal of Earth telly at the start of 'New Order', so I infer that this is where he got the idea for his dastardly scheme to steal sound energy from a rock concert in 'Rock and Roll Out'.

If Bumblebee hadn't stopped him, who knows if he would have progressed to duplicate stage two of Catwoman's plot, namely to hold Britain to ransom on account of the fact that our economy would collapse without the income tax paid into the Treasury by Chad and Jeremy, due to record sales.

Batman: "Fear not, Commissioner. We'll have your voice back before you can say Jack Robinson."

Martin

[Grand Moff Muffin]

This week we pit

SECOND GENERATION

against

ENEMY ACTION

'Second Generation' is Simon Furman's first stab at introducing new toys before Bob Budiansky brings them in, and he does it with massive enthusiasm. Despite Shockwave building the Constructicons without making a song and dance out of it, the next four combining teams are THE FUTURE OF THE TRANSFORMER RACE, based on a MESSAGE FROM THE CREATION MATRIX, which must be obeyed if the Transformers are to SURVIVE ON EARTH.

(Aside: Why?)

But anyway, Furman went all out to talk these guys up as an incredibly big deal story-wise.

By contrast, in 'Enemy Action' Furman seems to be sticking two fingers up at Hasbro. Whereas in 'Second Generation' Buster's nightmare had Superion blasting Shockwave to bits with one shot, in 'Enemy Action' we have Galvatron versus the Seacons. Galvy generously allows the new toys to show off their special weapons and banter, before blowing Pirranacon to bits. Meanwhile, the Firecons and Sparkler Mini-bots fight for the right to claim Galvatron, but when Galvatron arrives on the scene he laughs at them and buggers off.

Either Budiansky didn't have the inspiration to write like this when he got fed up with new toy range after new toy range, or (more likely) he had Hasbro keeping him on a tighter leash.

Martin

[Andy Turnbull]

SECOND GENERATION

The importance of the gestalts/fusilateral quintro-combiners as the "future" of the Transformers is somewhat overplayed in this story compared to what impact they actually do have overall. Obviously Simon has went for this with wild abandon but it does somewhat lack a substance to it. They get to show off their skills a little but no more than any other Transformer really. At that point Furman didn't have as many familiar tropes to fall back on. If the story had been done recently they would have been a response to some vague apocalyptic thread.

That being said there is a cheerful exhuberance to the story and the fact it is capped off with a rather splendid Decepticon leadership contest means I have a soft spot for it.

ENEMY ACTION!

Now this is how you do it. Now while we do get something of a shouting name and power introduction of the Seacons they don't feel shoehorned in. Indeed the fact they end up in the fight is a diversion from the reason for them landing on earth which is a very nice touch indeed.

The Sparkler Mini-Bots. I'd have to say they are among my favourites when concerned with the latter era of Transformers simply because they are the first characters introduced who feel like low level grunts. These are the front line sort of troops. Now I know strictly speaking we had some randoms thrown in here or there previously but they didn't really have any substance to them. They are not too powerful and showy but have some chops.

Likewise the Firecons come off very well in this indeed probably because we are spared their godawful robot modes.

Galvatron is splendid in this and as part of the overall arc of his character helps the new folks get some decent air time and feel like legitimate additions to the cast, some more than others.

This is how to add new members of the cast to both sides without having to kill off any pre-existing ones. They've all got a reason to be there and feel like they might add something to future tales.

Andy