The Transformers (comic)


 * Issue 1: "The Transformers" - Plot by Bill Mantlo. Script by Ralph Macchio.  Pencils by Frank Springer.  Inks by Kim DeMulder.  Lettering by Higgins and Parker.  Coloring by Nelson Yomtov.  Edited by Bob Budiansky.  Advertised as part 1 in a 4-issue limited series.

The Transformers are a race of sentient robots from the planet Cybertron. They have been involved in a eons-old war between the heroic Autobots and the evil Decepticons. In an effort the save their home planet from destruction as it passes through an asteroid field, the Autobots lead a mission into space to clear a path through the asteroids. After the mission is completed, the Decepticons attack the weakened Autobot warriors. In a desperate effort to defeat the Decepticons, Optimus Prime, the Autobot leader, crash lands the Autobot spaceship, called the Ark, into the (believed to be) lifeless planet nearby. Four million years later, the Transformers are awakened to discover that this planet (the Earth), is not so lifeless after all. The war begins anew....


 * Issue 2: "Power Play!" - Plot by Bill Mantlo. Script by Jim Salicrup.  Pencils by Frank Springer.  Inks by Kim DeMulder.  Lettering by Janice Chiang.  Coloring by Nelson Yomtov.  Edited by Bob Budiansky.  Advertised as part 2 in a 4-issue limited series.

In an effort to secure fuel sources, the Decepticons attack a half-completed nuclear power plant. Meanwhile, an injured Autobot Bumblebee has been taken the garage of Sparkplug Witwicky by his son, Buster. They soon learn that what appears to be a Volkswagen Beetle is much more than he seems, as they find themselves right in the middle of a battle between the Autobots and the Decepticons, who kidnap Sparkplug with hopes of forcing him to find a way of converting Earth's fuel resources into a form the Transformers can use.


 * Issue 3: "Prisoner of War!" - Written by Jim Salicrup. Pencils by Frank Springer.  Inks by DeMulder & Esposito.  Lettering by Janice Chiang & others.  Coloring by Nelson Yomtov.  Edited by Bob Budiansky.  Advertised as part 3 in a 4-issue limited series.

Guest stars Spider-Man in the symbiont costume. The Decepticons bring Sparkplug Witwicky to their fortress, and force him to work on a fuel conversion system. While the Autobots plan a rescue mission, Spider-Man infiltrates the Decepticon fortress in hopes of breaking a story for the Daily Bugle. He is assisted by the Autobot Gears. Together, they are able to rescue Sparkplug, but Gears is critically injured in the process. His last words before going off-line inform that Autobots that the Decepticons got what they wanted out of Sparkplug.


 * Issue 4: "The Last Stand" - Written by Jim Salicrup. Pencils by Frank Springer.  Inks by Akin & Garvey.  Lettering by John Workman.  Coloring by Nelson Yomtov.  Edited by Bob Budiansky.  Advertised as part 4 in a 4-issue limited series.

Some of the Autobots accuse Sparkplug of betraying them by giving the Decepticons the fuel conversion they needed. Panicked, Sparkplug and his son attempt to escape, but Sparkplug suffers a heart attack. He is rushed to the hospital by the Autobot Ratchet, and the remaining Autobots are forced to make a desperate gamble to fight the Decepticons one last time. All the Autobots sacrifice their remaining fuel resources to Optimus Prime, Huffer, Ironhide, Bluestreak and Mirage. These five fight the Decepticons within the volcano the Ark has crashed into, as the Decepticons arrive to destroy the Autobots once and for all. Although the Decepticons begin to win the battle by virtue of their greater numbers, at the moment of apparent victory, the Decepticons all begin to fall. Sparkplug has corrupted the fuel he provided to the Decepticons, and they are now poisoned. As Optimus Prime proclaims the debt that they and the entire world owes to Sparkplug Witwicky, a blast from above knocks out the Autobot troops. The Decepticon Shockwave stands supreme! "NOT the end..."


 * Issue 5: "The New Order" - Script by Bob Budiansky. Art by Alan Kupperberg.  Lettering by Rick Parker.  Coloring by Nelson Yomtov.  Edited by Jim Owsley.

Having destroyed the Autobots, and with the Decepticons poisoned by Sparkplug's corrosive fuel, Shockwave now leads the Decepticons. He and the Decepticons move into the Ark to begin a new age of conquest. The age begins by planning an attack on Oil-Drilling platform financed by G.B. Blackrock and designed by Josie Beller. Meanwhile, as Sparkplug recovers from his heart attack, he makes Buster promise not to have anything more to do with the Transformers. Ratchet takes Buster back to the Ark to say his good-byes, only to discover that the Decepticons have taken over. Buster convinces Ratchet to stay outside while he sneaks in to investigate. Buster discovers the Autobots, deactivated, hanging within the Ark to be used as spare parts. When Buster realizes that Optimus Prime is among them, he holds out hope, only to have that hope destroyed when he discovers Prime's detached head located in another room. Prime, still functional despite this, informs Buster that he is the Autobots' last hope.