The Golden Boys

Transformers vs. G.I. Joe #0 »
"The Golden Boys"
Publisher	IDW Publishing
First published	May 3, 2014
Cover date	May 2014
Written by	Tom Scioli and John Barber
Art by	Tom Scioli
Colors by	Tom Scioli
Letters by	Tom Scioli
Editor	Carlos Guzman
Continuity	Transformers vs. G.I. Joe

When a pair of mysterious alien robots stumble into the middle of a US special mission force's strike against the headquarters of their ruthless terrorist enemies, the stage is set for bombastic action in the mighty Marvel IDW manner!

Synopsis

"The Flight of Bumblebee"

Out in the void of space, tiny Autobot Bumblebee flees aboard his Autobot Resistance Karrier from the wrath of Starscream, who is determined to capture him so that he can be used as bait to draw Optimus Prime out of hiding. Starscream mounts the craft and rips its cockpit open, but Bumblebee is able to steer the ship toward an asteroid, which knocks his pursuer off. The furious Starscream continues to give chase as Bumblebee puts his damaged ship down on a nearby planet, and heads off towards a ruined, temple-like structure in the distance, seeking somewhere to hide...

"Operation: Doomsday Seed"

That temple structure is, in fact, the headquarters of the ruthless terrorist organization Cobra, and is under attack by America's highly trained special mission force, G.I. Joe. As they descend upon the ruins on "J.U.M.P." jetpacks, new team member Duke asks Scarlett out on a date, but she is far more focused on their mission: the apprehension of Cobra Commander, killer of both her sister, and the parents of Duke's rival for her affections, Snake Eyes, though she jokingly promises to marry the Joe who brings her the commander's helmet. The team is faced with Cobra's "Project Creeper", killer vines that threaten to engulf them, but the Joes are able to use the flames from the engines of their J.U.M.P.s to fend the vicious vegetables off. They blast through the Cobra troopers standing against them—costing Cobra poet Major Bludd an arm and an eye in the process—and capture the vines' creator Doctor Venom, though he smugly professes that Cobra forced him to do so, and suggests the Joes focus more on stopping the villains from dropping creeper payloads all across America.

As the Joes split up to search the base, Snake Eyes finds his way into Cobra Commander's garage, where the materialistic terrorist leader has gathered hundreds of cars—but what Snake Eyes does not expect to find is Starscream, searching through the vehicles. Assuming the giant robot is a Cobra automaton, Snake Eyes hurls a grenade at it, but Starscream merely slaps the projectile out the air and sends it spinning back toward the Joe. A car's door suddenly opens, and Snake Eyes dives inside to escape the blast, unknowingly winding up behind Bumblebee's wheel!

At the same time, another group of Joes locate Cobra Commander, who cuts down several soldiers before fleeing aboard a Rattler piloted by the Baroness. Duke and Scarlett board another Rattler to follow them, narrowly avoiding the creeper bomb that Cobra Commander drops into the temple to cover their escape. Hawk orders the pair to stay back and leave the aerial warfare up to Wild Bill and Ace, but just then, Bumblebee comes roaring out of the ruins with Snake Eyes aboard and Starscream on his tail. Leaving the 'bots to their battle (with the other Joes sharing his assumption that they are Cobra robots), Snake-Eyes uses his J.U.M.P. to close on Cobra Commander's Rattler. Scarlett uses her crossbow to nail the jet with a creeper grenade, and as the vines begin wrapping around it, Snake Eyes lands on its fuselage and raises his sword high. Just as he sinks his blade into Cobra Commander's chest, however, the villain discharges his sidearm directly into Snake Eyes's face. Snake Eyes topples from the Rattler, but is snatched out of the air by Duke and Scarlett and flown to safety as the other Joes blow Cobra Commander's jet out of the sky. The Rattler's creeper payload detonates in the blast, blanketing the surrounding area in vines, but while the Joes are able to get to safety, the same cannot be said for Starscream, who loses a wing escaping their grip, or Bumblebee, whose body disappears into the vegetable mass.

"Battle Damage"

Some time later, back at the Joes' headquarters, T.H.E. P.I.T., Scarlett visits the injured Snake Eyes as he recovers. The blast from Cobra Commander's weapon has ruined his face, but this matters not to her: while Cobra Commander's body has not been recovered, his helmet has been found, and as she sets it on the silent Snake Eyes's bedside table, she takes his hand and asks if he has picked a date for their wedding.

Epilogue

Across the galaxy, on the metal world of Cybertron, Starscream returns to his master Megatron with a terrible prize—while Bumblebee's body may have been lost to the vines, Starscream was able to tear off his head, which Soundwave now scans for information. Megatron congratulates Starscream on a job well done, sure that the intelligence the little 'bot's mind contains will ensure Optimus Prime's end.

Featured characters

(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

Quotes

"Snake Eyes isn't the kind of man who asks for help. He relies on the brains his mother gave him, the training his master gave him, and the tools G.I. Joe gave him--but today unexpected aid comes from a golden guardian, born light years away. In our infinite cosmos, life takes many forms. TODAY... SALVATION IS A GOLD BUG!"

—The narrator is excited!

"Megatron--is a kind--and generous god."

—Starscream accepts his lord's praise

Notes

Transformers references

• The opening page is based off the scene of the two factions' flagships attacking each other in "More than Meets the Eye, Part 1", with Bumblebee taking the place of the Ark, and Starscream that of the Nemesis. Bumblebee has a little spaceship based off the Ark, while Starscream just turns into a spaceship resembling the Nemesis.
• The narration piece stating "TODAY... SALVATION is a GOLD BUG" pays direct homage to the name of Bumblebee's classic Generation 1 upgraded form, Goldbug.
• In a cameo that is unexpected on the face of it, but in-keeping with the tone of a book where it feels like any crazy thing could happen, Straxus appears on the last page as part of the Decepticon elite. He even has his trademark pickaxe!

G.I. Joe references

• Scarlett's affections are competed for by Duke and Snake Eyes, referring to how other Joe media paired her off: the original 1980s cartoon had her with Duke, but the Marvel comics, and most subsequent media, saw her in a long-term relationship with Snake Eyes.
• The title of the middle chapter of the book, "Operation: Doomsday Seed", is a reference to the title of the first issue of the original Marvel G.I. Joe comic, "Operation: Lady Doomsday".
• Duke was the leader of the G.I. Joe for the first couple of years in the cartoon, and tends to occupy the position in the pop culture hive-mind. This comic depicts him as a new member of the Joe team, in a nod to the fact that in the Marvel comics, he actually didn't appear until nearly two years after the book began.
• General Hawk is introduced on his filecard as "General "Tomahawk" Abernathy", a combination of the various alternate names Hasbro used for the character's toys in the early 2000s: "General Abernathy" (his real name) and the "General Tomahawk", which is here given some actual meaning that it previously lacked, as Hawk wields a tomahawk in battle (a family heirloom and good-luck charm, the after-story bonus section reveals; see "other trivia" below).
• The creeper vines in this story are based on the strangler vines from the early G.I. Joe cartoon episode, "The Vines of Evil". The Joes used the heat from jet engines to combat them in that story too. The creeper bombs also appeared in issue #44 of the Marvel comic series, where they were invented by Dr. Venom's successor, Dr. Mindbender.
• "Operation: Doomsday Seed" features a one-page sequence labelled "Silent Interlude" featuring Snake-Eyes, in homage to issue #21 of the Marvel G.I. Joe series, which went by the same name, famous for being an entirely silent issue devoid of dialogue. The joke here, of course, is that while not one word of dialogue is spoken, the florid Kirby-esque narration continues throughout the page, meaning it probably has the most text on it out of any page of the comic!
• Narration identifies Cobra's headquarters as "Koh-Buru-Lah", a take-off on Cobra-La.
• Of the four "Greenshirt" Joes that Cobra Commander mows down, the name of the one on the far right is deliberately cut-off on panel; it's "Shooter", an "extra" fourteenth member added to the roster of the original thirteen Joes in the first issue of the Marvel comic to fill up some extra panel space, named in reference to Jim Shooter. Shooter actually got translated into being a real character during Devil's Due Press's G.I. Joe comics, in a one-shot story that also included her death.

Real-world references

• Rock'n'Roll's identifying caption labels him as "Jimmy Page on a Machine Gun", referring to the lead guitarist of English rock band Led Zeppelin. However, see "Errors" below.
• As Cobra Commander drops the creeper bomb as they make their escape, he mentions "the world that's coming," referencing the caption on issue #1 of Jack Kirby's DC comic, OMAC.

Errors

• While delivering a poem, Major Bludd uses the phrases "apples and pears", Cockney rhyming slang for "stairs", which Scioli notes in the commentary he learned from the Austin Powers movies, and included for some regional authenticity. The error, however, is that Major Bludd isn't Cockney—he's Australian, but Michael Bell's dodgy fake accent in the original G.I. Joe cartoon sounded fairly Cockney; a common American ailment of the mouth and ear.
• Jimmy Page's name is misspelled as "Jimmie Paige".

Other notes

• This issue was released as part of Free Comic Book Day 2014.
• All the Transformers speak entirely in electronic signals, represented in their speech bubbles as modulated sine waves, which are translated into English in footnotes.
• The story is followed by a bonus section that includes: a "Battlefield Report" that provides fact-files on Scarlett's crossbow, Snake Eyes's sword and Hawk's tomahawk; an afterword from John Barber welcoming readers to the series; a "wanted" poster for Optimus Prime; and a full page-by-page commentary on the story by Barber and Scioli.

Covers (1)

• Standard cover: Starscream and Bumblebee struggle as Scarlet, Stalker, Snake Eyes, and Roadblock tackle the creeper vines, by Tom Scioli and Josh Burcham

Advertisements

• Dawn of the Autobots
• The Transformers Classics and The Transformers Classics UK
• G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero
• IDW My Little Pony comics
• G.I. Joe: The Complete Collections and G.I. Joe vs. the Transformers trades
• IDW: Getting Into Your Head for 15 Years (back cover)

Reprints

• Transformers vs. G.I. Joe Quintessential Collection Hardcover
• Transformers: The Definitive G1 Collection: Volume 73: Transformers vs. G.I. Joe, Part 1

• 

  Quintessential Collection; cover art by Tom Scioli

• 

  Definitive G1 Collection: Vol. 73: Transformers vs. G.I. Joe, Pt. 1; cover art by Don Figueroa and Scioli

External links

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