Back from the Dead

	; Oh boy! More Micromasters!
	"Back from the Dead"
Publisher	Marvel Comics
First published	May 1989
Cover date	September 1989
Story	Simon Furman
Pencils	José Delbo
Inks	Dave Hunt
Color	Nel Yomtov
Letters	Jim Massara
Editing	Don Daley
Continuity	Marvel Comics continuity

Some British guy starts writing the title. This won't last...

Synopsis

Blaster's not dead, he's just a Headmaster!

In Ratchet's nightmares, the dead walk. Because he has failed to restore them to life, they have become the un-life, and thirst for his life. As the scrambling corpses pile over him, Ratchet decides he deserves to die for his failure, and gives in to his attackers as they violently—RATCHET!!

Suddenly, he startles awake. Optimus Prime has come into the medical bay and shaken Ratchet out of involuntary systems shut-down. Prime has been desperate to replenish his ranks after Starscream's rampage through their forces, but he starts to realize how much of an effect the stress has had on Ratchet. He orders the surgeon to take some downtime, but worries his demand for troops might have already damaged Ratchet's sanity. Ratchet, in turn, shows that he has hardly been comforted by Prime's pep-talk, and laments the lack of any real advanced medical technology, like he's heard exists on Cybertron now.

Meanwhile, on that very planet, a mysterious figure is addressing the Micromaster Sports Car Patrol. As these tiny Decepticons demonstrate they are ready for their covert mission and show off their faction-switching insignias, the figure contacts his other agents on Earth, the Air Strike Patrol, and tells them to begin their part of the mission.

The Air Strike Patrol stages an attack at MacDill Air Force Base, taking the humans hostage while making empty demands for the new mid-air refueling jet being unveiled. Unknown to all involved, their only true purpose is to get the Autobots' attention. They succeed. Despite their low numbers, Optimus Prime feels compelled to gather a strike team and take a shuttle down to Earth to defend the humans.

With the Ark virtually deserted, the Sports Car Patrol teleports in using a new trans-time dimensional portal. Working from a nearby circuit panel, Blackjack reprograms some crucial systems to give him remote control over the fallen Autobots. He animates them and provides a voice in order to physically and psychologically batter Ratchet into submission. With his recent nightmares coming to life around him, Ratchet almost submits to his attackers, but manages to shake loose his guilt and fight back. He breaks free and prepares to hit the emergency cut-off switch to short-circuit the "zombies", but hesitates at doing any more damage to their systems.

Fortunately for Ratchet, the choice is taken out of his hands. Blackjack's psychological torture was supposed to force Ratchet to tear apart his fallen comrades with his bare hands in order to survive, breaking him mentally. Instead, the Micromaster is forced to shut down the reanimates before they kill Ratchet, and he ceases to be of any use. Time for Plan B. Stepping out of the shadows, Blackjack and friends introduce themselves as the Autobot Sports Car Patrol. Claiming to be on their way back to Cybertron, the Micromasters offer to take Ratchet with them and let him make use of their shiny new med-tech.

Ready to jump at the chance, Ratchet quickly attempts to contact Optimus Prime and receive permission. Static on the line prevents him from getting through, however. Ratchet decides to go to Cybertron anyway, and brings the bodies of Jazz, Goldbug, and Grimlock with him to be the first revitalized. He immediately realizes his mistake when the Patrol leaves Blackjack behind on the Ark, though, and his suspicions are confirmed when the Micromasters turn their guns on him as they rematerialize. Whatever worries he had, they are soon trumped by the arrival of his old nemesis... Megatron!

Featured characters

(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

Autobots	Decepticons	Humans
Jazz (1) Blaster (2) Grimlock (3) Goldbug (4) Omega Supreme (5) Ratchet (6) Optimus Prime (7) Perceptor (8) Sludge (9) Hot Rod (20) Getaway (21)	Megatron (10) Detour (11) Hyperdrive (12) Blackjack (13) Road Hugger (14) Tailwind (15) Whisper (16) Nightflight (17) Storm Cloud (18)	General James Campbell (19)

Quotes

"Hah! We finally find a use for you, Ratchet, and what happens, eh? You blow it! Starscream wrecked us, and all you had to do was put us back together!"
"Only -- you failed! We're still dead... and i's all your fault! Somehow it seems only fitting --"
"--that we tear you limb from limb!"

— dream versions of Grimlock, Goldbug and Blaster give us a peek inside Ratchet's troubled subconscious

"Yo, Tailwind -- where you gone?"
"Get real fleshlings... and get us what we want -- now!"
"Chill out, 'cons."

— various lines of totally radical dialogue demonstrate to the reader that the Micromasters are hep to the Earth lingo

"Decepticons! I am Optimus Prime, leader of the Autobots! Surrender... or face the consequences!"
"Before I tell him to go shove it up his reactor linkage, want to put a call through to Scorponok, telling him we're under attack from Autobots?"

—Optimus Prime's threats merit only a sarcastic aside from Nightflight

"How can they be functioning? I didn't fix them yet! Well, no time to figure that out right now... gotta hit the emergency cut-off switch, short-out the repair bay's systems and.... end whatever slim chance of survival my fallen comrades have! Wait! I can't sacrifice their lives for mine! In the final analysis... I'm expendable!"

— Ratchet, already laying the seeds for the failure of Megatron's plans

"No! It-it can't be you... you're dead!"
"Sadly for you, Ratchet, today is the day the dead walk... and MEGATRON lives again!"

—Ratchet is witness to the grand return of Megatron

Notes

Artwork and technical errors

Well, at least he got a little creative with Tailwind's arms...

For Whisper and Tailwind's first appearance in robot mode on page 7, José Delbo swiped their poses from the package art for the Micromaster Air Strike Patrol, with the exception of Tailwind's arms, which are swiped from the package art for his teammate Nightflight instead.
There are several errors on page 4. It is apparently supposed to be Road Hugger who says "Right on!", as the next text bubble suggests, and Blackjack discussing the need for subtlety and sneakiness in that panel and the next. Also, the text bubble about what Blackjack excels in would make more sense switched with the one about changing their symbols.
There are a few problems with page 15 as well. The third panel seems to suggest Road Hugger remains on the Ark. Also, Ratchet asks "Why aren't they coming with us?", but only Blackjack is actually left behind. This would be corrected to "isn't he" for the IDW Classics reprint.
On the last page, Yomtov colored one of Ratchet's hands red and the other one black. Way to go, Nel. This would be corrected for the IDW Classics reprint.
Blaster's corpse is consistently drawn with a damaged left arm, yet when he was killed in US issue #50 (which was also penciled by Delbo) he only had a chest wound.
The B-204 aircraft has some...questionable design issues, covered on its page, but also some art goofs as well: the national insignia on the wing and fuselage are both wrong, and in two different ways! The fuselage insignia has the red bars on either side of the star as the only bars present instead of the white-red-white stripes they're supposed to be, while the wing insignia omits the red bar entirely...which would be accurate for a World War II aircraft.

Continuity errors

Even assuming he got suspicious at the end, Ratchet is not very bright. Someone reanimates the fallen Autobots by remote control and turns them against him, then, out of nowhere, some Transformers he's never seen before step out of the hallway and offer to take him on a magical journey. Right—when was the last time you EVER saw an Autobot wearing purple?

Continuity notes

The inactive bodies of Blaster, Goldbug, Omega Supreme, Jazz, Hound, Perceptor, Grimlock, and Sludge are shown in Ratchet's workshop.
Ratchet states that "thirty, maybe forty" Autobots are in repair bay. The Ark's crew, pre-Steelhaven, numbered 52 known 'bots (discounting a few art errors.) 26 of them (plus 5 Technobots from the Steelhaven crew) fell to Starscream on-panel back in "#50". 2 are still up and around, leaving 24 unaccounted for (and making Ratchet's numbers probably on the low side.)
- Both Prime and Getaway state how hard-up they are for troops. Only 22 Autobots are confirmed active on the Ark at this point.
This is the fourth and the last time Powermaster Optimus Prime is seen in his smaller robot form.
Starscream's devastation of the Autobot forces occurred in US issue #50.
Megatron installing flip-change faction symbols on his minions is suitably ironic, as Shockwave had the Predacons use the same trick on him in US issue #25.
Ratchet's attempt to contact Optimus Prime will be shown from Prime's perspective next issue.

Real-life references

TBD

UK printing

Issue #240:

Additional Transformers story: "Out to Lunch!"
Other strips: Action Force - "Beginnings... and Endings" and Combat Colin

Issue #241:

Additional Transformers story: "Rage!"
Other strips: Action Force - "Evasion" and Combat Colin

Issue #242:

Additional Transformers story: "Assault on the Ark!"
Other strips: Action Force - "Evasion" and Combat Colin

Other trivia

This is the first US series issue scripted by Simon Furman, who took over the run from Bob Budiansky. He'd been warned that with sales down, the comic probably wouldn't last much longer so Furman deliberately went "bigtime" to retain readers and bringing Megatron back (for US readers) was a deliberate part of this. ^[1]
Likewise, the Dan Reed cover of this issue marks the first time a UK Transformers artist would provide original material for the US comic. Reed would later be followed on the book by true Brits Geoff Senior and Andrew Wildman.
Transformers Universe profiles for Battletrap, Blot, Cutthroat, Rollbar, Goldbug, and Wide Load are found after the main story.
The page count for this issue drops from 22 to 16, with the difference made up with the aforementioned Universe profiles.

Covers (4)

US cover: the Air Strike Patrol by Dan Reed.
UK issue #240 cover: Darkwing, Dreadwind and the Mecannibals, by Andrew Wildman.
UK issue #241 cover: Thunderwing emerges from the sea, by Geoff Senior.
UK issue #242 cover: assault on the Ark, by Jeff Anderson.

US issue #56 - "Yes humans, flee from the power of my armpits."
UK issue #240 - Some people see pink elephants. Others...
UK issue #241 - Is it Thunderwing or a Viking?
UK issue #242 - SPAAAAAAAAACE!

Reprints

Transformers: Primal Scream TPB cover: Grimlock, Goldbug, Pretender Starscream, and half of Primus by Andrew Wildman.
Transformers: Primal Scream HC: Grimlock victorious over the Sports Car Patrol, by Dave Gibbons.
Transformers: Magazine #3 cover: Beast Wars Megatron battles Optimal Optimus, by Robby Musso
Classic Transformers Volume 4 cover: panels from US issues #59 and #60, pencils by José Delbo, inks by Dave Hunt and colours by Nel Yomtov.
The Transformers Classics, Vol. 5 cover: Prowl, by Guido Guidi.
Transformers: The Definitive G1 Collection:Volume 16: The Primal Scream: Optimus Prime by Guido Guidi above an interior scene of the Megatron vs Grimlock.

Transformers: Primal Scream TPB
(Titan Books, 2002)
Transformers: Primal Scream hardback
(Titan Books, 2002)
Transformers: Magazine #3 (IDW Publishing, 2007)
Classic Transformers Volume 4 (IDW Publishing, 2009)
The Transformers Classics Vol. 5
(IDW Publishing, 2012)
The Definitive G1 Collection: Volume 16: The Primal Scream
(Hachette Partworks, 2017)