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.


 * Issue 6: "The Worse of Two Evils!" - Script by Bob Budiansky. Art by Alan Kupperberg.  Lettering by Rick Parker.  Coloring by Nelson Yomtov.  Edited by Jim Owsley.

Shockwave single-handedly attacks and captures the Blackrock oil-drilling platform. In the process, designer Josie Beller is severly injured. Inside the Ark, Optimus Prime's still-living head instructs Buster to connect two wires from Prime's forehead to Buster's own. This results in an electric shock, knocking Buster unconscious. However, he remains unnoticed by the Decepticons, and returns to Ratchet to report his findings. Meanwhile, Megatron challenges Shockwave for command of the Decepticons, but is defeated. Shockwave returns to the Ark with Megatron's injured form to use as a demonstration to the other Decepticons of what they can expect if they challenge him.


 * Issue 7: "Warrior School!" - Script by Bob Budiansky. Pencils by William Johnson.  Inks by Kyle Baker.  Lettering by Rick Parker.  Coloring by Nelson Yomtov.  Edited by Jim Owsley.

While returning Buster home, Ratchet and he meet up with a group of campers. While Ratchet demonstrates a new way to cook hot dogs, Buster experiences the first after-effects of his experience with Optimus Prime the previous issue, and Buster is taken home by the campers. Meanwhile, the Decepticons infiltrate and take over another Blackrock installation: this time an aerospace plant that builds jet fighters. Blackrock breaks the news to a recovery Josie Beller, who apparently designed this aerospace plant, as well, and is already making plans of her own to stop the Decepticons. Ratchet returns to the Ark himself to verify Buster's findings, and is encouraged by the head of Optimus Prime to fight as a warrior to defeat Megatron. Although his training proves of limited use in an actual conflict with Megatron, he manages to strike a deal with him: Ratchet will destroy Shockwave in exchange for the return of the Ark and the Autobots inside.


 * Issue 8: "Repeat Performance!" - Script by Bob Budiansky. Pencils by William Johnson.  Inks by Kyle Baker.  Lettering by Rick Parker.  Coloring by Nelson Yomtov.  Edited by Jim Owsley.

Ratchet journeys to the Savage Land to locate the Dinobots, who fought Shockwave there shortly after the Ark crash-landed on Earth 4 million years ago. Meanwhile, Shockwave checks in on Megatron, who has been left to guard the Ark alone and prepare the head of Optimus Prime for transport the aerospace plant recently captured by the Decepticons. Shockwave returns to the plant with Optimus Prime's head to begin the construction of a new generation of Decepticons. After Ratchet revives the Dinobots, he arranges for Megatron to meet him on a nearby mountain, where Megatron is attacked by the Dinobots after threatening to kill Ratchet. Megatron is knocked off of a cliff, and transforms into his gun mode in a desperate effort to survive. With Megatron thus defeated, Ratchet and the Dinobots are able to retake the abandoned Ark. Meanwhile, Josie Beller is about the check out of her hospital room....


 * Issue 9: "DIS-integrated Circuits!" - Written by Bob Budiansky. Pencils by Mike Manley.  Inks by M. Hands.  Lettering by Rick Parker.  Coloring by Nelson Yomtov.  Edited by Jim Owsley.

G.B. Blackrock plans to unveil a new weapon designed to destroy the Transformers, and visits Josie Beller in her hospital room to update her on the situation. She, in turn, shows Blackrock some technology she's been working on from her hospital bed, causing Blackrock to worry that she may put herself in another dangerous situation in her desire for revenge against the robots who crippled her. These fears are proven warranted when Josie escapes from her hospital room, and shows up in Blackrock's office as Circuit Breaker, wearing a metal suit designed to compensate for her damaged nervous system and granting her offensive capability against any mechanical form. The Autobots, revived from their imprisonment aboard the Ark, seek a new solution to their fuel shortage, and Jazz strikes a deal with G.B. Blackrock to provide him with protection from the Decepticons in exchange for fuel. The unveiling of Blackrock's secret weapon is sabotaged by Circuit Breaker in an effort to get him to announce her as his intended weapon. When the Decepticons attack, the situation is made even worse when Autobots Jazz and Wheeljack appear to make good on their promise to provide Blackrock with protection. Circuit Breaker, unable to discern between Autobot and Decepticon, severely injures Wheeljack as the Decepticons escape. Although Circuit Breaker spares Jazz at Blackrock's pleading, she severs he ties with him.


 * Issue 10: "The Next Best Thing to Being There!" - Written by Bob Budiansky. Pencils by Ricardo Villamonte.  Inks by Brad Joyce.  Lettering by Janice Chiang.  Coloring by Nelson Yomtov.  Edited by Mike Carlin.

Shockwave succeeds in creating the first of his new generation of Decepticons, the Constructicons. Their first mission, to accompany Soundwave on a mission to build a transdimensional radiowave scrambler with which to contact their home planet of Cybertron. Meanwhile, the Autobots show G.B. Blackrock around the Ark, and learn of a way to spy on the Decepticons within Blackrock's aerospace plant. They learn of the Decepticons' plans, and send a team to intercept them. Elsewhere, Sparkplug Witwicky returns home from his heart attack, and Buster wonders how to explain to his father his recent experience with Optimus Prime, and the subsequent powers he's gained. Near the site of the Constructicon project, trucker Bomber Bill looks forward to a return home after a long assignment, but his truck is stolen by the Constructicons as raw material for the scrambler. Bomber Bill attempts to follow, and meets the Autobots on the way. Together, they engage the Constructicons, who reveal their ability to combine into the super-robot, Devastator. Bomber Bill is able to destroy the scrambler, but not before Soundwave gets part of a message through to Cybertron. Meanwhile, at the aerospace plant, Shockwave discovers that Optimus Prime may no longer possess the Creation Matrix. If this proves true, Shockwave no longer has any reason to allow Prime to live. The Autobots, listening in from the Ark, are helpless.