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interests / alt.toys.transformers / Comics Reading Club: Zob's Thoughts on Marvel Comics THE TRANSFORMERS #23

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o Comics Reading Club: Zob's Thoughts on Marvel Comics THE TRANSFORMERS #23Zobovor

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Comics Reading Club: Zob's Thoughts on Marvel Comics THE TRANSFORMERS #23

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Subject: Comics Reading Club: Zob's Thoughts on Marvel Comics THE TRANSFORMERS #23
From: zmf...@aol.com (Zobovor)
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 by: Zobovor - Sun, 15 May 2022 03:27 UTC

THE TRANSFORMERS issue #23 was released in September 16, 1986, with a pull date of December 1986.  This issue, which would remain on newsstands until close to Christmas, featured the Battlechargers... two of the worst-selling Transformers toys in history.  I remember my local Toys "R" Us store having an entire endcap of nothing but Runamuck and Runabout.  They weren't popular.  However, the characters got the spotlight on them in the comics in a way that they never did in the cartoon, so there's that..

The month this issue was printed also saw the release of THE TRANSFORMERS: THE MOVIE issue #1 as well as TRANSFORMERS UNIVERSE issue #1, which we'll look at separately. Transformers had finally become big enough, at least in Marvel's estimation, that it was deserving of multiple spin-off titles, albeit in limited series form (G.I. JOE AND THE TRANSFORMERS was just around the corner as well).

This issue is entitled "Decepticon Graffiti!" and was written by Bob Budiansky.  Don Perlin penciled the story, with Ian Akin and Brian Garvey inking his work.  Janice Chiang was credited as the sole letterer, but you can tell at least two or three people worked on it.  (Some of the lettering later in the issue looks like Rick Parker's handwriting to me.  I am told Ken Lopez did some lettering on this issue as well.)  Nel Yomtov, naturally, colored the story.  

The front cover (I can't see a signature, but it's probably Herb Trimpe's work) showcases Runamuck and Runabout battling helicopters and human soldiers with the Statue of Liberty in the background, and the words "HUMANS ARE WIMPS," with backwards "S's," painted in hot pink across the statue.

So, some background about this story.  There was a real-life restoration of the Statue of Liberty in 1986, which took two years to complete, and marked its 100th anniversary.  It had begun to deteriorate, so the entire statue was cleaned and refurbished, rivets were replaced, and a new structural skeleton constructed.  It had only been recently unveiled that summer, and was a major event.  It was likely still on Budiansky's mind when this issue was penned, and was almost certainly the inspiration for this story.  (The issue takes place when school is still out for summer vacation, making a September setting somewhat unlikely.)  

At RAAT Headquarters in New Jersey, Circuit Breaker is musing over the tiny size of a Transformer brain, marveling that it can control something so large and complex.  We see poor Skids strapped to an operating table, his limbs jerking this way and that as Circuit Breaker manipulates his brain with electrical impulses.  He's got wiring coming out of him in all directions, and he has no face (it's no doubt mounted on a wall somewhere).  It's honestly horrifying.  

Donny Finkleberg is on hand and isn't super thrilled about Skids' fate.  After all, he's had quite a few adventures with the Autobots now.  Skids saved his life.  Finkleberg was the one who had turned Skids over to RAAT in the first place, but in his own words, he thought they'd just "ask Skids a few questions and lock him up."  He wasn't expecting to see his would-be friend dissected before his eyes.  

 Finkleberg, incidentally, is now wearing a shirt with the RAAT logo emblazoned on the front.  ("I RAATed out the Transformers, and all I got was this lousy T-shirt!")  Because he's Donny Finkleberg, though, the tag on the back of the shirt is visibly poking out of the neck hole.  This is the sort of joke that might be lost on audiences now, since nowadays they just print the tag information on the inside of the shirt material itself.  But, back in the day, you were considered a hapless loser if your tag was sticking out.  It was right up there with missing a button hole when you put on a dress shirt.  Major fashion faux pas.

Unlike Finkleberg, though, Circuit Breaker has no sympathy for the robots she's captured so far.  Also unlike Finkleberg, Circuit Breaker doesn't wear clothing, so she doesn't have to worry about her shirt tag poking out..  We see now that she's captured over a dozen Autobots including Skids—Blaster and Perceptor's entire group from Cybertron, as well as all five Aerialbots, all of whose faces have been cut off their heads and are mounted on her wall in a grotesque trophy wall of horrors.  (Also, Blaster is finally being colored correctly, and not like Optimus Prime's body.)  Finkleberg realizes she's just going to keep deactivating Autobots until there's nobody left to stop the Decepticons.

Elsewhere, at the Decepticon base (the strip mine in Wyoming), Megatron, sitting in a junk throne made out of automobile parts, has recently summoned Runamuck and Runabout from Cybertron in order to deliver a message to Optimus Prime.  He wants to challenge Prime to a duel to the death.  Soundwave points out, quite correctly, that he could open a communications channel easily, but Megatron will hear nothing of the sort.  He whacks Soundwave in the face with a muffler for his insolence.  The Battlechargers are sent on their way.

A lot of fans online in the 1990's compared the Battlechargers to Beavis and Butt-Head, even though the Battlechargers predate those characters.  They snicker a lot to themselves and seem to be amused by the most devilish things, certainly.  If anything, they remind me of Mac and Tosh, the Goofy Gophers from the Merrie Melodies cartoons.  ("After you. Oh, no, after you, I insist!") They also chattered continuously and used lots of alliteration.  Regardless, they're a fairly comical pair, and very different than most of the Decepticons we've seen up to this point.  They're less interested in obeying Megatron and more interested in going off on their own and having some fun.

Not too far away, we meet the Acton family, on vacation—mother Judy, father Gary, sister Leah, and brother Noah.  (Noah Acton wears a Spider-Man T-shirt, by the way.)  Noah is an amateur graffiti artist and wastes no time writing "VACATIONS ARE THE PITS" on a brick wall.  He's scolded by his dad, but the Battlechargers look on and admire how the kid isn't afraid to talk back to the "bigger fleshling."  They're curious to watch him further, and decide to follow the family.

A few days later, Walter Barnett arrives at RAAT Headquarters and shows Circuit Breaker images of unusual, alien-looking markings that have appeared on various landmarks—a Wyoming football stadium, Mount Rushmore in South Dakota, and the Gateway Arch in Missouri.  Barnett says there have been Transformer sightings at each locale, and Circuit Breaker confirms that the language matches the ones she's found while digging through the Autobots' data files.  Barnett urges Circuit Breaker to figure out where they will strike next and be ready for it.

The Acton family continues their whirlwind tour of American monuments, and have reached the Washington Monument in the District of Columbia.  By this point, the Actons are aware that the strange graffiti has appeared at each of the sites they've visited, but are naively dismissing it as a coincidence.  Sure enough, Runamuck and Runabout pop up—literally.  They spring into robot mode (and the narration specifically describes them as being able to transform super fast, an attempt at working their toy gimmick into the fiction).  They're each carrying a great, big barrel full of paint and they proceed to decorate the Washington Monument with witty rejoinders—in Cybertronian, of course.  What they're really trying to do is incense the general populace, but can't quite figure out why nobody's getting as angry as Gary Acton did at his boy.  They figure their jokes are just too clever for the unwashed masses.

Circuit Breaker is determined to stop the Battlechargers before they strike again.  Donny Finkleberg offers to contact the Autobots for help, but Circuit Breaker is convinced they're probably behind the vandalism in the first place.  The Acton family finally pipes up and explains that they've vacationed at all the spots that the Battlechargers have shown up, so there's clearly a connection.  The next stop on their itinerary is Independence Hall in Pennsylvania, so Circuit Breaker plans to be there before the Decepticons arrive.  Barnett is concerned about the civilians that may be present, but Circuit Breaker promises it won't be a problem.

Unlike the cartoon, which had flying cars and jaguars and tape decks, Budiansky was always very good about distinguishing the aerial Transformers from the non-aerial ones.  Runabout makes mention of being equipped with "short-range rocket jumpers," so they can achieve limited flight without it being completely preposterous.  Circuit Breaker personally leads the RAAT strike, but when the Battlechargers open fire and buildings start to crumble, the RAAT squadron leader calls a hasty retreat.  

Runabout and Runamuck are threatening to do all sorts of horrible things to Circuit Breaker with their weapons—"my friction ray will heat up her molecules!  Make her explode!  Heh heh.  Big mess. I love a big mess!"  He's disgusting.  When Noah wants to get a closer look at the battle, rubble from the ruined buildings begins to fall upon him and he cries out in distress.  Circuit Breaker realizes she's been too preoccupied with destroying the Decepticons, and rushes to save the kid.  She takes the brunt of the falling debris and falls to the ground.

The Actons are, rather inexplicably, still planning to visit the Statue of Liberty in New York.  Barnett orders Circuit Breaker to sit this one out, citing her faulty judgement.  Afer he leaves, though, Finkleberg suggests that Circuit Breaker join forces with the Autobots she's captured.  With their brains removed, though, it would take too long to reconnect all the circuitry.  Finkleberg suggests that she take control of them herself, using the powers in her suit.  She struggles with the idea of cooperating with the robots she hates so much, but recognizes she has little other choice.


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