The Transformers (Marvel Comics)

The Transformers
Cover to The Transformers #2 (November 1984), art by Michael Golden
Publication information
Publisher	Marvel Comics
Schedule	Monthly
Format	Ongoing series
Publication date	September 1984 – July 1991
No. of issues	80
Main character(s)	Autobots, Decepticons
Creative team
Created by	Marvel Comics
Written by	Bob Budiansky (issues 5–15, 17–42, and 44–55) Simon Furman (issues 56–80) Len Kaminski (issue 16) Ralph Macchio (issues 1 [plotted by Bill Mantlo] and 43) Jim Salicrup (issues 2 [plotted by Bill Mantlo], 3, and 4)
Artist(s)	Alan Kupperberg (issues 5 and 6) Geoff Senior (issues 61, 62, 65, 66, and 75) Dwayne Turner (issue 68)
Penciller(s)	Bob Budiansky (issue 55 [co-penciler]) José Delbo (issues 37–42, 45–54, 56–60, 63, 64, and 67) Jim Fern (issue 55 [co-penciler]) William Johnson (issues 7 and 8) Mike Manley (issue 9) Don Perlin (issues 13–15, 17–19, 21–32, and 35) Frank Springer (issues 1–4, and 44) Herb Trimpe (issues 11, 12, and 20) Ricardo Villamonte (issue 10) Andrew Wildman (issues 69–74 and 76–80)
Inker(s)	Ian Akin (issues [co-inker] 4, 19–25, 27–30, 32, and 35–37) Kyle Baker (issues 7 and 8) Stephen Baskerville (issues 70–74 and 76–80) Danny Bulanadi (issues 41, 44, 46, 48, 49, 54, and 67) Vince Colletta (issue 18) Kim DeMulder (issues 1–3) Mike Esposito (issue 3) Jim Fern (issue 31) Brian Garvey (issues [co-inker] 4, 19–25, 27–30, 32, and 35–37) Al Gordon (issues 12–14) Mike Gustovich (issue 55) Don Hudson (comics) (issue 42) Dave Hunt (issues 38–40, 42, 45, 47, 50–53, 56–60, and 63) Brad Joyce (issue 10) Tom Palmer (issue 11) Dan Reed (issue 64) Keith Williams (issues 15–18) Al Williamson (issue 64)
Colorist	Nel Yomtov (issues 1–80)

The Transformers is an 80-issue American comic book series published by Marvel Comics telling the story of the Transformers. Originally scheduled as a four-issue miniseries, it spawned a mythology that would inform other versions of the saga.

US title

Issues

No.	Title	Release date	ISBN
01	The Transformers	May 8, 1984	—
On the mechanical world of Cybertron, inhabited by gigantic transforming robots, a fierce civil war rages between the heroic Autobots and the evil Decepticons, respectively led by Optimus Prime and Megatron. Cybertron's orbit is disrupted by the war, and the Autobots eventually detect an asteroid belt that threatens to destroy their home. The Autobots build a spacecraft, the Ark, to clear the asteroids, but the Decepticons learn of the plan and force their way aboard the ship. With no other choice, Optimus crashes the Ark on a nearby planet and into a volcano, knocking all aboard offline. Four million years later, the volcano erupts and reactivates the Ark’s computer, which mistakes humanity's vehicles as the planet's dominant lifeforms and rebuilds the Autobots and Decepticons into Earth-based bodies. The Decepticons leave to search for energy while the Autobots start repairing the Ark; meanwhile, in the nearby city of Portland, the young human student Buster Witwicky heads to a drive-in movie theater with his friends. The Autobots investigate the drive-in and accidentally attract the Decepticons, who attack and injure Bumblebee, and both sides quickly realize that humans, not their vehicles, are Earth's dominant lifeform. A confused Buster drives the damaged Bumblebee back to his house, where he and his mechanic father Sparkplug are shocked to hear the seemingly normal car ask for help.
02	Power Play!	July 10, 1984	—
As the Decepticons attack a nuclear plant for energy, Bumblebee is repaired by Buster and Sparkplug and asks them to help the Autobots acquire fuel. Bumblebee explains his kind's history to Buster and his friends as the Decepticon spy Ravage listens in. At the Ark, the Autobots detect Bumblebee's distress signal and meet him at the Witwicky garage, where Sparkplug agrees to help Optimus convert human fuels into usable Cybertronian alternatives. However, the Decepticons attack and give Starscream the opportunity to kidnap Sparkplug, while the fuel-depleted Autobots are unable to pursue their enemies.
03	Prisoner of War!	September 11, 1984	—
Under duress from Megatron, Sparkplug agrees to help the Decepticons manufacture fuel out of human resources. The Autobots and Buster return to the Ark to plan a rescue, while the Decepticons begin stealing components necessary for Sparkplug's fuel conversion and attract worldwide attention. Among the reporters and military officials gathering outside the Decepticon base is photojournalist Peter Parker, who changes into his superhero alter ego Spider-Man as the Decepticons force the military to retreat. During the chaos, Spider-Man meets the Autobot Gears, and the two agree to infiltrate the fortress together and rescue Sparkplug while the other Autobots distract the Decepticons. They successfully retrieve Sparkplug and the Autobots return to base; Gears is repaired by Ratchet and informs the others that the Decepticons successfully completed the fuel conversion process thanks to Sparkplug.
04	The Last Stand	November 13, 1984	—
Several of the Autobots lash out at Sparkplug after learning he helped the Decepticons, and he tries to escape the Ark with Buster but suffers a heart attack. As Ratchet takes the two humans to the hospital, Huffer informs Optimus of a discovery he made within the ship's memory banks: shortly after the Ark crashed, the Decepticon Shockwave arrived on prehistoric Earth in pursuit. The ship's computer reactivated five Autobot warriors and modified their bodies to transform into dinosaurs, creating the Dinobots, who confronted Shockwave in the Savage Land. As contact with the Dinobots was lost immediately afterward, a probe is dispatched to search for the missing warriors as the other Autobots give their remaining fuel to Optimus, Huffer, Bluestreak, Ironhide, and Mirage. The Decepticons arrive at the Ark to destroy the Autobots, but they quickly collapse in agony as a hospitalized Sparkplug informs Buster that he had poisoned their new fuel source. Before the Autobots can celebrate their victory, however, they are all dispatched by Shockwave, whom the probe had accidentally reawakened.
05	The New Order	February 26, 1985	—
Shockwave has strung the defeated and disassembled Autobots from the Ark’s ceiling and plots to conquer the planet, unopposed by either Autobot or Decepticon. As the poisoned Decepticons recuperate, Shockwave informs Megatron that the Decepticons are now under his command and his ultimate objective is to build a new army for himself using the Creation Matrix within Optimus Prime's chest. Shockwave departs while Ratchet and Buster return to the Ark and find the Decepticons have taken over. Buster sneaks inside and discovers the disassembled Autobots and Optimus' disembodied head, who informs Buster that he is their last hope.
06	The Worse of Two Evils!	March 26, 1985	—
Shockwave singlehandedly conquers a high-tech oil rig owned by industrialist G.B. Blackrock, severely injuring its principal electronics designer Josie Beller, while Buster is electrocuted attempting to repair Optimus and returns to Ratchet outside. A furious Megatron breaks free from his repair systems and attacks Shockwave when he claims control of the Decepticons, but Shockwave quickly defeats him in his weakened state. Ratchet and Buster hide outside the Ark and watch in horror as Shockwave throws Megatron's broken body in front of the other Decepticons and forces them to swear loyalty to him.
07	Warrior School!	April 23, 1985	—
Buster begins suffering severe head pains after his experience with Optimus and is returned home by a group of human campers while Ratchet sneaks inside the Ark. Decepticon spymaster Soundwave conquers a Blackrock Enterprises-owned aerospace plant, also designed by the now-hospitalized Josie Beller, as Optimus' head encourages the reluctant Ratchet to fight and defeat Megatron. Under intense pressure to maintain Sparkplug's car repair business while he recuperates from his heart attack, Buster snaps at his friends and experiences another bout of head pain that causes several nearby objects to levitate. Ratchet is quickly defeated by Megatron but soon discovers he has lost command of the Decepticons and proposes a deal with him: if Ratchet can defeat Shockwave, Megatron must abandon the Ark and the defeated Autobots, but if not, then Megatron can destroy him. Understanding that he benefits either way, Megatron agrees to Ratchet's deal.
08	Repeat Performance!	May 28, 1985	—
Ratchet travels to the Savage Land to find the Dinobots and soon excavates the entombed Slag, who recognizes a fellow Autobot and quickly agrees to help destroy Shockwave. Megatron reluctantly brings Optimus' head to the Blackrock aerospace plant on Shockwave's orders, who prepares to build a new generation of Decepticons using the Autobot leader's Creation Matrix. Megatron attempts to double-cross Ratchet but is instead ambushed by the Dinobots and sent careening over the edge of a cliff. Meanwhile, Josie Beller destroys her hospital television with strange circuit-like strips printed onto her arm.
09	DIS-Integrated Circuits!	June 25, 1985	—
G.B. Blackrock unveils a new secret weapon designed to destroy Cybertronians to military officials and confronts Josie Beller, who escaped from her hospital room and constructed a metal suit for her damaged nervous system that can attack any mechanical object, now calling herself Circuit Breaker. The Autobots are restored under Prowl's leadership, and Jazz and Wheeljack convince Blackrock to accept their protection from the Decepticons in exchange for fuel. As Starscream plots mutiny while he and Frenzy are sent to destroy Blackrock's new weapon, Buster inexplicably gains the knowledge on how to fix a customer's engine block. Blackrock's public unveiling is sabotaged by Circuit Breaker, who intends to supersede his secret weapon as an anti-Cybertronian weapon herself, but the Decepticons attack the presentation. Circuit Breaker manages to drive them away with help from Jazz and Wheeljack but severely injures the two Autobots, and she cuts ties with Blackrock before fleeing.
10	The Next Best Thing to Being There!	July 23, 1985	—
The first six Decepticons of Shockwave's new army, the Constructicons, are sent with Soundwave to build a communications array powerful enough to contact Cybertron. Blackrock offers the Autobots a way to spy on the Decepticons through bugged telephone wires, but Bumblebee interrupts the conversation to report that the Constructicons have left the aerospace plant. Prowl sends reinforcements to intercept the Constructicons as Sparkplug returns home to discover Buster's inexplicable new affinity for mechanics; neither realizes that the true reason behind the young human's strange new abilities is because Optimus secretly transferred the Creation Matrix into Buster's mind to keep it safe from Shockwave. The Autobots find the Decepticons and the communications array thanks to a human trucker but are caught unawares by the Constructicons' ability to combine into the gigantic behemoth Devastator. Soundwave takes advantage of Huffer's hesitation to destroy the array and sends a signal to Cybertron, but the trucker destroys the machine before the message can be fully sent. At the aerospace plant, Shockwave realizes that Optimus no longer has the Matrix when he fails to bring the Decepticon jet Jetfire to life, and he decides to kill him as the other Autobots listen in from the Ark.
11	Brainstorm!	August 27, 1985	—
Still confused by his new powers, Buster resolves to keep them a secret from Sparkplug and makes amends with his friends. Shockwave discovers that Buster infiltrated the Ark by reviewing Rumble's memories and determines that Optimus must have transferred the Matrix to him. However, he is unaware the Autobots also overheard his deduction, and Bumblebee and Bluestreak are sent to protect Buster. They trick a resentful Sparkplug into leading them to Buster, but the Decepticon spy Laserbeak transmits their location to Shockwave, who programs the non-sentient Jetfire to retrieve the boy. Bumblebee and Sparkplug convince Buster to use his powers to disassemble Jetfire, who then repairs and reprograms him to help the Autobots rescue Optimus from Shockwave.
12	Prime Time!	September 24, 1985	—
Buster orders Jetfire to take him to the Blackrock aerospace plant, but they are intercepted by military fighters and Buster loses consciousness during Jetfire's evasive maneuvers. Without the Creation Matrix's influence, Jetfire reverts to his original programming and delivers Buster to Shockwave. An Autobot team brings Optimus' headless body to the aerospace plant, unaware that Soundwave discovered Blackrock's listening device, and Shockwave lures them into a trap by commanding Jetfire to dispose of Optimus' head in a nearby swamp. Unaware that the head is a Decepticon-controlled fake, the Autobots save it and reattach it to Optimus' body, which then attacks and cuts down many of the unsuspecting Autobots alongside Soundwave and his minions. Buster awakens, retakes command of Jetfire, and orders him to dispatch Shockwave and bring Optimus' real head to the swamp, who takes remote control of his body and replaces the fake head with his own. Now fully restored, Optimus defeats Soundwave and Shockwave, leaving the latter to sink into the depths of the swamp in favor of saving Buster. Optimus transfers the Creation Matrix back into himself and worries that further human lives will be endangered because of the Autobots and Decepticons.
13	Shooting Star	October 22, 1985	—
While fleeing from two hulking thugs, small-time crook Joey Slick finds a strange gun that responds to the thugs' sarcastic taunts and instantly kills them. Joey soon discovers that the gun is Megatron, whose higher brain functions were disconnected during his battle with Ratchet and the Dinobots and obeys Joey's every command without question. Joey uses Megatron's incredible firepower to wage a one-man crime spree and quickly amasses vast power and wealth, but soon realizes he does not want to be revered and feared as he is now. No longer scared of others, Joey blasts his way into the compound of crime lord Jake Lomax, who originally sent the thugs after him for an unpaid debt, and punches the mobster out. In doing so, he accidentally restores Megatron but stands unafraid before the furious Decepticon; impressed with the tiny human's bravery, Megatron spares him and leaves to rejoin the Decepticons as Joey turns himself over to the police.
14	Rock and Roll-Out!	November 26, 1985	—
Optimus brings Jetfire fully to life and inducts him into the Autobots. As Ratchet struggles to repair the large group of Autobots damaged in the assault on the Blackrock aerospace plant, Optimus reactivates the minds of five more Autobots stored within the Ark – Grapple, Hoist, Skids, Smokescreen, and Tracks, – and has Wheeljack implant them into new Earth bodies. Optimus requests Grapple's help on a secret project as Bumblebee leads the other new Autobots on a drive around their new home. Meanwhile, Starscream, Skywarp, and Thundercracker are trapped on Blackrock's oil rig by a human naval fleet but are unexpectedly rescued by Shockwave, who demonstrates a new power siphon that can convert any form of energy into Cybertronian energon cubes. Blackrock relays this new information to the Autobots as the Decepticons escape, and Skids realizes they are planning to attack an upcoming concert to steal its sonic energy. Blackrock is summoned to the White House to help create a cover story for the existence of giant alien robots and prevent public hysteria while Bumblebee and the new Autobots attack the Decepticons at the concert. The Autobots stop Shockwave from stealing the concert's energy and incinerating the audience, and Optimus commends them for doing the right thing despite disobeying orders.
15	I, Robot-Master!	December 31, 1985	—
Megatron runs out of fuel and deactivates inside a coal mine, which unwittingly forces the government agents tasked with covering up the existence of the Cybertronians to accelerate their timetables. One of the agents, Walter Barnett, is inspired by his son's comic book to invent a fictitious supervillain named the "Robot-Master" as the secret mastermind behind the giant robots. Barnett convinces the comic book's original author Donny Finkleberg, recently laid off from his job at Marvel Comics, to play the role of the Robot-Master on live TV, which greatly confuses the Autobots and alerts Soundwave to the unconscious Megatron's location. Inspired by the Robot-Master broadcasts, the military attacks the Autobots, inadvertently giving Soundwave and his minions the opportunity to restore Megatron. Finkleberg is nearly executed by Megatron in the resulting battle, but he convinces the Decepticons to spare him in exchange for further Robot-Master broadcasts denouncing the Autobots. Although Megatron is reluctant to even pretend to submit to a human's control, Soundwave pressures him into agreeing.
16	Plight of the Bumblebee!	January 1986	—
Starscream, Skywarp, and Buzzsaw are sent by Shockwave to capture Bumblebee so he can test an electro-calcinator module on him capable of controlling his movements. Feeling useless following their previous battle and believing the Autobots would be better off without him, Bumblebee leaves the Ark and is quickly ambushed and damaged by Shockwave's Decepticons. He manages to evade them by hiding inside an auto dealership, but two teenagers break in later that night and steal Bumblebee, inadvertently overriding his motor functions and allowing the Decepticons to track him again. The teens enter Bumblebee into a street race and repair his damaged engine, but the Decepticons attack and incite a high-speed chase between themselves, Bumblebee, and the military. Just as Bumblebee prepares to make a last stand to defend himself and the teens, the Autobots arrive and force the Decepticons to retreat, convincing Bumblebee that they do care about him.
17	The Smelting Pool!	February 1986	—
Within the war-torn ruins of Cybertron, controlled by ruthless Decepticon warlords, the Autobot spy Scrounge infiltrates the Decepticon fortress Darkmount to retrieve a kidnapped Neutral engineer named Spanner. Instead, Scrounge discovers that the Decepticons recently received a coded interstellar transmission of extreme importance and abducted Spanner to translate it. He attempts to copy the message and escape but is captured by Shrapnel before he can pass it to his partner Blaster. Scrounge is brought before Darkmount's Lord High Governor Straxus for interrogation while Blaster convinces the other Autobots in his resistance cell, led by Perceptor, to mount a rescue mission. Blaster breaks into Darkmount alone and allows himself to be captured, and Straxus orders Blaster to be dumped into the smelting pool. As Blaster finds the half-melted Scrounge and reluctantly sacrifices his friend for the coded message, the other Autobots arrive and help Blaster escape. They decode the message and learn that Optimus Prime and a small contingent of Autobots are alive on an alien world called Earth, filling the team with newfound hope.
18	The Bridge to Nowhere!	March 1986	—
A young human couple witnesses half of a strange suspension bridge materialize out of thin air, which produces a giant metal creature that promptly explodes before both vanish as quickly as they arrived. The humans flee, unaware that they witnessed the failed test of a Decepticon space bridge designed by Spanner capable of traveling between Earth and Cybertron. A furious Straxus orders the space bridge shut down for repairs, giving Blaster and the other Autobots in Perceptor's resistance cell the opportunity to attack the bridge. At the Decepticon-held coal mine, Megatron's irritation over the imprisoned Donny Finkleberg's complaints is interrupted when Starscream, Thundercracker, and Skywarp return with Shockwave. The two would-be commanders prepare to duel for leadership again, but a transmission from Straxus regarding the space bridge's forthcoming activation forces them to put aside their enmity of one another and accept joint command of the Decepticons for now. Perceptor's Autobots attack Darkmount and give Blaster the opportunity to wire the space bridge to explode, but he hesitates after discovering the Decepticons mutilated Spanner and incorporated his broken body into the machine. The space bridge is activated and Blaster tricks Straxus into rupturing the main fuel line, destroying both him and the space bridge and stranding Perceptor's remaining Autobots on Earth.
19	Command Performances!	April 1986	—
Optimus presents the results of Grapple's secret project to the assembled Autobot forces: a titanic warrior named Omega Supreme, brought to life by the Creation Matrix and tasked with guarding the Ark. As the Autobots attack the Decepticon base, Megatron leads Starscream, Skywarp, Thundercracker, Laserbeak, Rumble, Buzzsaw, and Frenzy in a counterattack on the Ark after assuming the Autobot attack depleted the base's personnel. However, they are soundly defeated by Omega Supreme, and only Megatron and Laserbeak escape with their lives. Shockwave orders the Constructicons to combine into Devastator as the Autobots retreat and Finkleberg mounts an escape attempt, but Skids is knocked into a gorge and seemingly killed. Megatron and Shockwave berate each other for their respective failures, and Shockwave reluctantly cedes command of the Decepticons back to Megatron upon being convinced that his defeat was more significant than the latter's failed attack on the Ark.
20	Showdown!	May 1986	—
Ravage pursues the recently escaped Finkleberg, who manages to evade the Decepticon spy long enough to find the Autobots and warn them of the space bridge's activation. A human cowgirl named Charlene finds Skids' wrecked form and convinces her coworker Wendell to repair him. Skids is forced to reveal his Cybertronian nature to Charlene to escape an angry motorist, and she agrees to keep him as her car after learning he no longer wishes to fight in the Autobot-Decepticon war. The two bond over the next few days as they explore the natural beauty of Earth together, but Finkleberg recognizes Skids as an Autobot and accidentally leads Ravage to their location. Skids manages to escape with Charlene and Finkleberg to a deserted mine but is knocked unconscious by the angry motorist, who later attacks Ravage and gives Skids enough time to recover and throw Ravage down a mineshaft. His faith in the Autobot cause restored, Skids reluctantly says goodbye to Charlene and returns to the Ark with Finkleberg.
21	Aerialbots over America!	June 1986	—
The Decepticons on Cybertron repair the space bridge and send the Insecticons to reinforce Megatron, who rebuilds them with native alternate modes. Bombshell takes mental control of a human engineer working at the Hoover Dam power plant, who smuggles Megatron inside and takes the plant's workers hostages. Skids and Finkleberg report the appearance of more Autobots via the space bridge at the Ark, and Optimus tasks Jetfire with verifying Finkleberg's claims before sending Wheeljack's newest creations, the Aerialbots, to the power plant. The Decepticons reopen the space bridge at the power plant and send Ramjet, Thrust, and Dirge over with a massive drill and pipeline to transfer the plant's energy back to Cybertron. The Aerialbots arrive and combine into the gigantic Autobot Superion, who destroys the drill but nearly kills the mind-controlled engineer wielding Megatron's gun form. The engineer's young daughter gives him the strength to resist Bombshell's control and shut down the space bridge. The Aerialbots decombine and retreat, unaware that Bombshell hitched a ride on Silverbolt's wing, as Jetfire finds evidence that more Autobots are indeed on Earth. However, both he and Finkleberg fail to realize that the new arrivals have been captured and disassembled by a secret anti-Cybertronian government task force known as RAAT and their leader, Circuit Breaker.
22	Heavy Traffic!	July 1986	—
At RAAT headquarters, a concerned Walter Barnett debriefs Circuit Breaker regarding the force used on the captured Autobots as Bombshell infiltrates the Ark. He attempts to mentally control Optimus Prime but can only read the Autobot leader's thoughts, allowing the Decepticons to eavesdrop on Skids and Finkleberg's assignment to find the missing Autobots. Megatron siphons off some of the Creation Matrix's energy from Optimus via Bombshell and uses it to bring the Stunticons to life. Skids and Finkleberg attract the attention of RAAT and Circuit Breaker, who disregards Barnett's suspicions that not all the giant robots are evil and leaves to capture them. RAAT forces eventually track down Skids, Finkleberg, and the recently-arrived Aerialbots, but the Stunticons arrive and trick them into attacking. The Aerialbots merge into Superion and the Stunticons combine into the giant Menasor in response; as the two titans fight, Skids and Finkleberg escape as Circuit Breaker incapacitates Superion and is saved from Menasor by Barnett. Later that night, Finkleberg secretly calls Barnett and offers to betray Skids in exchange for money.
23	Decepticon Graffiti!	August 1986	—
Skids is taken captive by RAAT and dissected by Circuit Breaker as Megatron summons the Battlechargers,